Is it worth building your own DIY Electronics Test Equipment Projects?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
- This video is kindly sponsored by PCBway. Please give PCBWay a try for all your PCB needs. / pcbway
In this video I look at six Electronics Repair related projects, chosen pretty much at random. Let's see how much these projects cost to build and if we can save money. The projects in this video are:
10KHz-225MHz RF Signal Generator
Accurate LC Meter
T12 Soldering Station
Weller Compatible Soldering Station
Variable Electronic Load
MilliOhm Meter
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CHAPTERS
00:00:00 Introduction
00:02:16 PCBWay Shared Projects
00:12:25 10KHz-225MHz RF Signal Generator
00:16:01 The Accurate LC Meter
00:18:26 T12 Soldering Station
00:20:55 Weller Compatible Soldering Station
00:23:33 Electronic Load
00:26:43 MilliOhm Meter
00:29:46 Conclusion
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Richard
Just to Clarify - PCBWay sent me the pcb for free but any of the projects I build are paid for out of my own pocket
Oh man this is like one of my biggest hobbies. Other than it being my business to do metrology work and component level board repair work on test equipment for companies and research labs… DIY test equipment is something I’ve been passionate about for a long time.
There is never any harm in having an accurate milli - Ohmmeter in your test kit. Got to be worth doing to see how it performs.
I’ve also been looking at building some test equipment this week as I can’t really afford/justify the cost for what little I do as a hobbyist. I noticed a diy component tester was basically cheaper to buy fully built than in component form especially including the case, on fleabay at least. Still bought the diy kit for fun like I did a dso138. Now have a Kikusui cos5060 scope I have acquired, took me ages to even get the square wave test signal to show with any sense as it was largely alien to me apart from obligatory yt learning. Thanks for your videos, enjoying them all.
I have just started designing some high accuracy test equipment for sale in kit form.
Custom made cases and vinyl panel stickers will make the finished items look like professional units. Most will be battery powered with the option to build a mains powered version. Having common cases across the range will mean stackable and a common appearance. First item will be a milliohmmeter with 10uOhms accuracy VCO for shorts tracking and a scrolling graph showing each measurement taken. Then a 250MHz differential scope probe.
@Irish Viking
That's good to hear. Why not come over the the LER discord as well it is free to join (if you are not already a member) and PCBWay are sponsoring our projects so I can also help you get free PCBs
DISCORD: discord.gg/vam6YC8vwU
Like to see it
Back in my Younger days, while I was in the USAF, I learned to solder on a Weller Soldering Station, and I have used Weller my entire life, albeit very limited usage. So I can attest to them being Very good, for what I leaned on back in the Very Early 80's. I've not much experience with anything else, however I would recommend that you build the Weller, just for the A) Experience, and B) the Chance to see how well the Weller's really work.( You did ask for our opinions). Hope that helps.
I like the idea of the triple channel dummy load. The LC meter sounds good too.
The Weller soldering station project is very interesting, the hot tweezers are quite handy for smd soldering / desoldering
Well played 😆👍 you had my full attention by doing my favourite type of stuff... building DIY equipment 👍👍👍
Richard what about building the ultimate ATX power supply tester. A three channel electronic load that incorporate your ATX power supply tester you have now into the electronic load
design it so that you simply just plugg-in your ATX power supply it will switch on the ATX power supply, then you will be able to see all the voltages under load also you could build into the project a current limiter also a switch to turn off the AC mains power supply when you're working on the unit. Just some helpful ideas.
That sounds like a very interesting idea. Yes I could combine the ATX analyzer I already have with the electronic load.
This seems really interesting, i am expsecially interested in the Soldering iron, because i am using a TS100 and i would much rather have a proper station with more power.
Really looking forward towards what you will try out!
I LOVE this Idea ! I also have an interest in DIY test equipment and I like the projects you have chosen. I built a micro current meter based around the microcurrent gold (don't tell Dave Jones !) although I did add an OLED display and touch buttons to access the display and wrote the very basic software as well so I don't feel to guilty, I think it's open source anyway, and I find it useful enough to build myself but couldn't justify buying the $90 ready made one, and it works very well and dosent tie up a meter, so big thumbs up from me (for what its worth !) ...cheers.
Heya, that are some nice project would love to see you bild them and explane the elektric working of them for learning experince and understand the elektronics better
The Projects that use a PIC, You would require a PIC programmer aswell, This would add to the cost of those projects
Thanks for the videos Richard.. been watching hours of them the past 2 weeks.
A few years ago I ordered a built-it-yourself Blue ESR meter online... seems to work well enough. bit pricey though
I am definitely interested in the milliohm meter project.
Very interesting days ahead, I see. All the best! It's easy for us to say yes to all the projects, but ultimately, it's your pocket that must finance it all. We'll go with your choice.
Hi Richard
Of course i'll help design some cases and the 3d prints for the soldering station.
just a thought for the projects that are too "expensive" why not make it as cost effective as possible(make all 5) and do a giveaway or sell them off to highest bidder :D
Then the viewers have a chance of owning a LER built device :)
i'll provide some 3d printed cases if you want for the projects :D
awesome video as alway richard
and for the viewers from richards channel that came over to mine Thanks so much :) i'll have a new video this weekend i promise :D
A nice addon for a rf sig gen is a good stepped attn, as it good to know how sensitive the front end it.
squeak !
I would definitely like to see the Weller soldering iron be completed. The side by side against the T12 would be very informative. My 2 cents. Love your videos. Be safe.
Would be nice if they offered parts kits.
Even if sometimes the costs is not really worth the "hassle" of building it yourself, for people like me, sometimes just seeing the finished product working as intended, with maybe a personnal touch also added to it can be quite gratifying!! XD I also find it amazing how popular and accessible diy stuff has become over the years!!! One project that is quite popular and that could be fun to see your take on it, and maybe even see if with all your knowledge you could have some ideas to make it even better(like adding functions or even just making it more reliable?) is turning an old psu into a diy lab bench power supply!! On top of being a very useful tool to have for someone dabbling in electronics, i'm pretty sure you probably already have a few spare psu laying arround!! 😄 In case you'd ever decide to do it, here's a suggestion for something i haven't really seen being done with them in the videos i've watched so far that could make it even more useful, if you have the knowledge(pretty sure you do!! XD) and if it's easy enough to do, would be increasing the maximum voltage you can get out of it(12v is enough for a lot of stuff but sometimes you just need a little extra!!) XD I guess that would probably involve either changing or modifying a transformer?? Would be fun if you'd only have to swap a resistor like you did on the power supply for the monitor, but i'd be really surprised if it was that easy if you want to double the voltage or more!! XD
A up rich,I've just signed up with pcbway ,I checked the shipping cost and it was stupid money,is there a cheaper option ? Love the site tho 👍
Please build the Weller welding tool
you can get ten oled displays for £20 from Ali. I just did that. so that does scale out. Most likely the older bootloader versions of the nano might be kicking around for cheap, for a bit at least.
I think a nice little Arduino/pi based THD distortion meter would be a good one, but not really finding much in the way of those, and commercial equipment (even 2nd hand on eBay) comes with an unjustifiable price tag for the occasional use... I expect it'd need good precision DAC and ADC and well enough isolated for the best noise floor to make it useful, along with some nice calculations in software!
Richard, I do not see a microammeter in this list of projects. I was just hoping to see one somewhere. I don’t know where to start to build one. Would a d'Arsonval movement be best to use or better off using a seven segment display with supporting circuitry?
Cool...
I would like to watch a few of these builds :) if you post it :) I will watch it Richard :)
did any of this projects come to life any links ? tnx!
Very interesting . I will look forward to your building video, thanks.
Love your work mate. Do you know if PCBWay can supply the parts as well as the pcb in a kit? If not maybe that would be a good idea?
Hey Jason, glad to meet you this way. Regarding your question, we do support parts for our Assembly services, also some interesting projects have been introduced on PCBWay Store which might facilitate some newbies to skip the design parts. Here attaches our link: www.pcbway.com/project/gifts_list.html?itemsboxid=8&sortid=1&stock=0
it's a pity whoever made that site didn't get anyone do do a project of a search engine for that site.
My primary EE hobbyist interest is in building lab-grade DIY Test Equipment. If you make that a priority for your channel, you will have my direct attention, in a big way. I understand your reasoning for justifying the build cost against the buy cost. However, for me, the cost is of less concern, because I am building the equipment to learn electronics. The learning is the fun and important part of it. That does not mean that every project needs to be massive. Actually, I like the smaller ones better. Say a Wheatstone Bridge Tester, or other such small, but useful projects. HTH.
Hi t1d100 Thanks for your reply. I don't particularly intend to make project building a priority for the channel as LER is very much repair based. PCBWay currently offered to sponsor two videos per month on a 12 month contract , and as they are a PCB manufacturer there will be a couple videos of this type each month, the remainder (I publish around 16 videos per month - or at least try to) will always be 'learning to repair electronics' related. Of course there is a crossover between these topics and I consider this a good thing which I was happy to go with this sponsor and don't think that detracts from the channel, I actually think it adds to it.
Are you on the LER discord server? We have a special section there related to DIY test kit and you are welcome to lend your expertise. As PCBWay are sponsoring us, I can provide free PCBs for projects being developed on LER Discord, on the understanding that the completed project (Gerbers, Schematics etc) will be uploaded to PCBWay shared projects - credited to the author(s) - and featured in a sponsored video here.
DISCORD: discord.gg/vam6YC8vwU
@@LearnElectronicsRepair Thank you for all of those details. Very interesting. Thank you for the invitation to Discord. No I did not know about your site. I will give it a look. Cheers!
14 pounds for the weller project CPU ...are you kidding me???!!!
forget weller and t12. build the rest
Just a long pcbway ad video
21% vat .. yikes that's worse than Canada 😉
That is fairly standard for EU countries - from a quick google, the lowest EU VAT is Malta 18% and the Highest is Hungary 27%. Almost all are 20% or more. Of course the UK voted to leave the EU and take back control and once they successfully did that they decided to keep VAT the same as it was before at 20%. Canary Islands is 0% VAT. We do have IGIC (an internal sales tax like VAT) which is 7% but that only applies to items bought locally, anything you buy from the USA EU or China for example is VAT exempt.
That is the case when you have "social state" aka nobody wants to work, everybody wants to have good life. And you have no oil or gas to sell and pay it. I have just found your chanel. I am a retro-hardware enthusiast and my biggest hobby is reviving old HW parts...Older is better. I think I can learn a lot here 👍
The Weller project is INSANE, using an ULTRA EXPENSIVE CPU!!!! If it used a STM32F103 etc.. you would save a packet. ....CRAP DESIGN!!!!!!!!