LOL!
That is the same spirit I have with regard to this (electronics
stuff), it's just fun to learn and experiment with. However, having
been in manufacturing for a very long time, I have learned all too
often, that even though everything has been tried, sometimes it just
needs a little different spin. That is what is so great about
groups like this, you throw out an idea, and see what has been tried
and what has not been tried. Based on that information, reason out
the facts from the fumbles, and if there is merit in the concept,
take yet another approach at it.
I too cheated with my CNC router, I bought the HobbyCNC stepper
driver kit to drive the stepper motors, built the kit, had fun, and
the machine ran. However, between that and wanting to learn more, I
have attached myself to a couple of electronics groups where there
are enough kind people to walk me through some of the technicals.
The mechanical tasks are still a little fun, but the electronics is
really been a fun challenge for me - I just can't learn it fast
enough.
Now I am also getting into pics - very cool devices. Oddly, while
reading through the information on them, I was exposed to a lot of
basic circuits and the infromation provided really helped me a lot.
Stepper motors for example, with the PICs, I am pretty confident I
can write the software to drive the motors, and, with the
information they provided in sample schematics, I almost (that's a
big almost) think I can make a working circuit to drive either type
of stepper.
Even the most fundamental of circuits - gates. I have been
programming for many years now. But when faced with the basic
electronic gates, I just couldn't make sense of it. It wasn't until
I saw in the pic programming manual the direct relationship between
using if-and-not-then commands to the gates that it all made sense
to me. Even though I knew "Gates" in a software sense, I had a heck
of a time understanding in an electronic sense.
I guess it's like everything else in life, knowledge about one
thing, always seems to help with knowledge about something
completely different.
This sure is a hoot though!
- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Robert Hedan <robert.hedan@v...>
wrote:
> Chris,
>
> I think I can speak for everyone here when I say that we are ALL
looking for
> the easiest way to put them thar darned traces on a PC board. :D
>
> I'm also relatively new to the whole world of electronics, and
I've also
> tried to find 'that special thing nobody thought of yet'. Well,
I've
> learned that pretty much everything has been tried. The only
things not
> tested are with new technologies, and those are not readily
available.
> Etchant, transfer paper, silicone paper, toilet paper, direct
transfer, CNC
> routing, name it, someone here has tried it.
>
> The nice thing is that the experimentation is an important step.
Just like
> the drilling station I'm building, if I had bought the ready-made
components
> from Xylotex (like that cheater Willem :P ), I would not have
learned
> about center-tap transformers and unipolar/bipolar steppers.
>
> I'm also welding my own frame, so I'm going to get back into that
> technology. Shop class is a few decades behind me now, again,
I'll learn
> more stuff (unlike that cheater Willem :P ). I'll take longer
to get it
> running, but I'll have learned a lot from it. As long as I come
out cheaper
> than that Sherline kit on Xylotex's site, I'm happy. Somehow I
doubt I'll
> blow $1250 USD on this venture.
>
> Did I mention Willem cheated? He's gonna paint a Sherline blue
and say he
> built it...
>
> Robert
> :)
>
>
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com] De
> la part de lcdpublishing
> Envoyé : juillet 1 2005 17:11
> À : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> Objet : [Homebrew_PCBs] Re: Hmm, another thought....
>
>
> Jan, worry not, I very much enjoy a good sense of humor!
>
> As I am completely new to electronics and circuit board making
etc.,
> I have a very open mind to consider anything and everything. Some
> how a number of years back, I learned that one MUST ASK about
> everything,no matter how trivial. In this case, I think it is
> pretty obvious I am looking for an alternative method of making
> circuit boards. Nearly all, if not all, of the current processes
> are subtractive processes, I am just looking at it from a
different
> point of view such as an additive process.
>
> But, PLEASE, keep up the humor, it is a whole lot more fun
> investigating this sort of thing when we can share some grins!
>
> Chris
>
>
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