The days where electronics as a 'useful' hobby - that is, using your knowledge and wits to build something that solves a real problem - aren't over yet. It is just we see more and more novelty or 'gadget' projects being posted in hackaday, instructables, maker etc.. that use $120 worth of prebuilt modules, a ridiculously powerful raspberry pi and large OS's to make a string of LED's pulse to music. That is the hobby side! you may not see the point, but the creators do it for shits'n'giggles. Sure the design is completely overkill so is hardly commercially viable, but its a hobby.
If you saw these drives at a radio rally for £20 would you consider them to be a bargain or outrageously expensive? Seems to me that there is now a disconnect between what someone will pay for a collectable item and what it is worth, in time, to test it, list it, pack it and then post it?
There is always something special about building it yourself. Even better designing it yourseff. Both of these aspects tower over buying something off-the-shelf.
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Similar with DIY in electronics. Do it yourself, its YOURS. Something to be proud of. And it is fully serviceable. Something that might last years and show your grandkids. And if it is your pride and joy, you can even ask to be buried with it when your times comes.
There is one other point, we are up against this shit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11359517/Ladybird-books-from-the-1960s-that-would-be-banned-by-todays-health-and-safety-brigade.html
While the majority of H&S aspect is well-meaning, there is also a very negative subtext that undermines our innate desire for for exploration and creativity, which inevitably includes some risk. The problem is that the balance is not right. Nobody died, or was even hospitalised, or endured any injuries of any sort, from sucking on a couple of electrodes off a lemon. Sure, the carpet might need a clean after stripping a carbon battery though.
There is one other point, we are up against this shit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11359517/Ladybird-books-from-the-1960s-that-would-be-banned-by-todays-health-and-safety-brigade.html
While the majority of H&S aspect is well-meaning, there is also a very negative subtext that undermines our innate desire for for exploration and creativity, which inevitably includes some risk. The problem is that the balance is not right. Nobody died, or was even hospitalised, or endured any injuries of any sort, from sucking on a couple of electrodes off a lemon. Sure, the carpet might need a clean after stripping a carbon battery though.
So true. But that changed for all (most) of us. When I was at the age of 7, my parents had no problem letting me use the soldering iron for myself - mains powered of course! My father bought it for me and my uncle built a lab power supply (still works today flawlessly!) for me to have sufficient power for my experiments ...
And now I have a son myself at the age of seven. Guess what I would have a problem with ...
Just imagine: Hot iron, toxic fumes, LEAD !!!
Luckily my son is more the sports, cars and planes kind of kid anyway.
But when you think about it, its quite scary how fearsome society has made us.
There is one other point, we are up against this shit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11359517/Ladybird-books-from-the-1960s-that-would-be-banned-by-todays-health-and-safety-brigade.html
While the majority of H&S aspect is well-meaning, there is also a very negative subtext that undermines our innate desire for for exploration and creativity, which inevitably includes some risk. The problem is that the balance is not right. Nobody died, or was even hospitalised, or endured any injuries of any sort, from sucking on a couple of electrodes off a lemon. Sure, the carpet might need a clean after stripping a carbon battery though.
So true. But that changed for all (most) of us. When I was at the age of 7, my parents had no problem letting me use the soldering iron for myself - mains powered of course! My father bought it for me and my uncle built a lab power supply (still works today flawlessly!) for me to have sufficient power for my experiments ...
And now I have a son myself at the age of seven. Guess what I would have a problem with ...
Just imagine: Hot iron, toxic fumes, LEAD !!!
Luckily my son is more the sports, cars and planes kind of kid anyway.
But when you think about it, its quite scary how fearsome society has made us.
Just look at the picture (from these ladybird books), what could possibly go wrong ?
There is one other point, we are up against this shit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11359517/Ladybird-books-from-the-1960s-that-would-be-banned-by-todays-health-and-safety-brigade.html
While the majority of H&S aspect is well-meaning, there is also a very negative subtext that undermines our innate desire for for exploration and creativity, which inevitably includes some risk. The problem is that the balance is not right. Nobody died, or was even hospitalised, or endured any injuries of any sort, from sucking on a couple of electrodes off a lemon. Sure, the carpet might need a clean after stripping a carbon battery though.
Precisely, and I did them all. Cut fingers, bolllocking for messing up the carpet, dirty gob, messy everything.
Part of growing up, and growing a pair.
I even had a (compulsory) 30 minute training session showing me how to safely operate the controls on my office chair so that I don't injure myself.
This may seem absurd but engineers are now not supposed to have any sharp objects in their toolkit anymore, (so no knives or scalpels, ESPECIALLY scalpels) and RF/HW engineers are not supposed to have a soldering iron on their workbench anymore. It all has to be carried out at a communal/safe workstation. The idea is that you do your soldering change/repair and then walk back to the bench to test the change. If you want anything cut you either get an approved technician to do it or you go for training and book out the tools to do it. You aren't allowed to keep the sharp tools and nobody is allowed to own or use a regular scalpel anymore. Only special/safe equivalents are allowed and only if you fill in a form and book it out for an allotted timeslot. PCB cleaning products and strong/smelly adhesives are also banned from ownership and this all has to be done by an approved operator using materials locked away in a secure cupboard.
To preserve my sanity I still have both my iron and scalpels and other banned items and still use them (I ignored the amnesty) but it's only a matter of time before someone complains.
I think you sort of have to make the mistakes, to climb the learning curve.
You don't necessarily need to actually make the mistake, just getting into the process of making it will often make you realize something seems wrong soon enough so you recheck and manage to avoid it.
What the...