How to Electronics
New tutorials (newtorials?), courtesy of Dave and SparkFun's education department!
Happy October! We know we can't pull anything over on you guys, and you're right: This is not your regularly scheduled According to Pete. Pete and the SparkFun crew are in New York for Maker Faire, but he'll be back to make it up to you on Monday, October 15. The good news is, if there's one thing we aren't short on around here, it's electronics enthusiasts.
You might already know Dave Stillman, our developer and pseudo arch-rival of Rob Cowan. Dave's been working with our education department to launch an improved redesign of their tutorials at learn.sparkfun.com. When it's finished (we'll announce it formally but hopefully in a few short weeks!), we'll have a shiny new system built to cater to those just entering the wonderful world of electronics. The tutorials site will be easier to navigate, with improved step-by-step instructions, pictures and details. As a Pete's offering (get it?!) and sneak preview, here are a few tutorials that we've been working on for the site, starring Dave himself.
Dave builds a twin gearbox -- useful on its own or as an integral part of the ProtoSnap MiniBot.
Dave shows us how to harness the power of hot air to fix common soldering mistakes. You can also use these techniques to set heat shrink tubing or salvage parts from other circuit boards.
Dave covers the basics of using a multimeter -- an essential tool for electronics experimentation.
We hope anyone interested in getting started in electronics will find them useful; we think they're pretty handy, and we can't wait to introduce you to the new tutorial setup at learn.sparkfun.com!
