When do you say "good enough" on a personal electronics project?

[wizard69]

Or you will discover that with the insight and skills you have developed that perfection is something far different than what you imagined when you stopped.  With electronics it is worse because the technology is changing so rapidly that your own development doesn't dominate the results as it does in piano or other similar endeavors.

This is a very interesting comment because if you have been around for awhile you can get the feeling of being left behind.   It takes active effort to keep up with electronics technology.

This rapid advancement also means that you can design something one year and a year latter there will be a more refined way to take care of the problem.   Computer power supplies are a good example, I can remember back when the very first computers (microprocessor based) came on the market (my early teens); the power supplies where massive transformers, filter caps and a bunch of 3 terminal regulators.   It didn't take long at all for the industry to move to switching regulator tech.

So if you have a project that you are piddling with, it likely will never be done because there will likely be more elegant chips to help you solve that problem in the next year.  There will always be a better solution.   Ultimately you have to ship even if it is a personal project other wise it is never done.

[dbctronic]

Most interesting point when it comes to 'tronics!

I was really busy being self employed for a long time. Now that I'm retired, I've been dusting off old project ideas, and the results are:

1. Bin time - completely obsolete approach, either
     a. Better and cheaper ways available (so many mind-blowing ICs available these days!), or
     b. Needed parts no longer available (curse the demons that drove the MAX038 out of existence!!!!! )
2. Bin time - no longer needed for anything (NiCad battery charger - hah!)
3. Bin time - meant to be an educational exercise, and now I understand the problem too well to bother
cutting, drilling, soldering, etc.
4. Might do - if I can finish it in time to get some use out of it before it becomes needless.
5. Might do - if I can finish before the parts I need for my approach are off the market for good.

And finally ... drum roll ...

6. Doing!

Right now, I'm making a solenoid with the ability to deliver a force of several pounds - possibly up to about 8, over a working distance of a few thousandths of an inch, at frequencies of up to 5 kHz or so. This has been a massive learning exercise in magnetics, and since I don't have a machine shop, I am developing a suite of tools (including a homemade surface plate) for doing fairly precise metal working by hand, mostly to make solenoid cores out of salvaged transformers.
The mechanical stuff--solenoid and semi-precision tools- is all being done identically to the way I would have done it 50 years ago, but the solenoid drive circuitry is certainly different than it would have been just 20 years ago - I can get a used class D audio amp with 300 W/channel for only US$40, and only need to design and build the driver circuitry. Cool!!