From one faceless loser to another: congratulations on deciding to
build your own! It's a very do-able thing, belive it or not, even if
you don't really understand what's going on. What makes is do-able
is the simple fact that Paul has created the ultimate kit. Great
instructions, everything you need, and really good explainations of
the circuits.
I have an $89 yellow Radio Shack brand meter that has served me
well. It even has a frequency counter and capacitance measurement.
So if you're gonna spend two hundred clams, you should be stylin'.
If you spend another $150 on a soldering station, you will be OK.
Mine has digtal temp setting and has been a real pal for the over 40
kits I'vve built so far.
When I goof up on a kit, Paul has always been helpful and reasonably
kind. SOme of my mistakes were, uh, humorous to him I'm sure!
Let us know how it goes...
Mike
--- In motm@yahoogroups.com, "klstay" <kevinstay@e...> wrote:
> First of all, forgive my ignorance. (I got through Serway's 3rd
> edition of Physics, but that was a fair number of years ago. I
freely
> admit to being one of the faceless losers for whom electricity
> is "magic stuff" that comes out of the wall socket.) I understand
we
> will need at least a voltmeter for some of the newer modules. I
would
> like to be able to perform the full range of calibrations on the
> various modules. So, any advice on which multimeter would be a good
> choice? (Someone mentioned extech instead of fluke because
> the "higher resolution" was better for calibrating oscillators at
> lower frequencies.) I'm willing to spend a few hundred dollars on
one.
>
> Next up on the parade of topics which yield highly opinionated
> responses - a soldering iron. I have decided, perhaps foolishly, I
> might be able to pull off a 1/5 or 2/5 difficulty kit without
burning
> the house down or irreparably damaging multiple digits. (Since I
have
> 2 eyes I figure I can live with the inevitable "poking out" of one
of
> them.) I want a quality soldering iron that will last but also
don't
> need one somebody who does this for a living would get.
> Unfortunately, the Weller model everyone seems to like looks to
have
> been discontinued.
>
> The rest of the tools needed to "venture forth" seem pretty
> straightforward. I would prefer to get the soldering iron and
> multimeter right the first time ;-)