How do I get started with electronics?

[pminmo]

Eagle at www.cadsoft.com is the best way to go for a free schematic capture and pcb tool. Lots of libraries, CAM packages.....

[martinw]

Also, don't be afraid to take a bunch of wire cuttoffs and an old hunk of PC board with holes in it and practice your soldering.

Some people will tell you that it is a skill that isn't as easy as the pros make it look.

Dear sdantonio,

That is good advice.

The secret of getting good results with discrete components (I am no expert on surface-mount), is to make sure the PCB surface is clean, ( the component leads will almost certainly be pre-tinned and ready to be soldered), but make sure that you heat the two parts to be jointed with the tip of your soldering iron and apply your solder to the heated joint,NOT THE TIP OF THE IRON. Just keep the solder wire away from the tip of the iron, and let it flow into the joint.

Best wishes

Martin

[sdantonio]

I have also found the use of a "no wash" rossin pen is a great help. The copper of the boards can oxidise rather quickly and screw up the solder joint. What I have found to be a very workable set of steps is (a) use a common erasser on the copper just efore soldering to clean it (b) give it a quick wipe with a rossin pen (c) solder as per Martins suggestions.

Make sure it flows smoothly and is shiney. A cold joint can be worse than no joint at all.

theory: I used fortney's principles of electronics in school. It's about as readable and understandable as any electronics book, right up here with horwitz and hill (which doesn't say much, but I never really liked the course and was forced to take it as a requirement and mostly slept through it).

Steven

[martinw]

Dear Steven,

Another way of cleaning the parts of PCB copper ( If you do not have the luxury of pre-tinned boards) is to use a gizmo that looks like a drafting(drawing) pencil, but has glass-fibre filaments instead of pencil lead . You can spot clean PCB copper really easily.

Best wishes,

Martin