what diy stuff did you do as a kid?

[liquidpaper]

also, what diy-related info do you wish people had told you when you were little?

we mainly did things related to our bikes. attaching stuff that made noise to them, building jumps, etc. we also built forts, etc.

by the way, if this is in the wrong forum, please feel free to move it.

[etaoin]

http://www.rrd.demon.nl/Philips%20experimenteerdozen/foto_ee2040.htm

[v-un-v]

(thread quite appropriate )

I built my first synth (around an SN76477) at the age of 11, while living in Canada- with a little help from my Mother's cousin's hubby Phil- who now owns a computer-based business in Silicon Valley in CA (true!)

Actually Phil did most of the work, but I did do some soldering

[Pehr]

My father and I made an electronic dice once. I also remember we that made a noisebox around the XR2206 chip that could make your voice sound like a robot. We also started building a model railway, but we didn't get so far.

[EdisonRex]

I grew up outside of Boston, MA. We did the cards in the spokes thing and hot rodded our bicycles with other stuff too. I pimped out my banana seat 5 speed stick shift with rear slick.

I was always into building things. Lincoln Logs, Legos (still build with those!), Erector Set (meccano), all started me off. Mechanically, by the time I was about 6 or 7 I was taking things apart and putting them back together again. I guess that made me different, as when I put them back together again, they worked better. I fixed a lot of clocks that way, by the time I was about 10 I could repair most wind up clocks and a fair amount of electric ones.

My first experience with electronics was using a Lectron set (1967?). They are still available, it turns out. I was a regular addict at the local Radio Shack by the time I was 12, having been introduced to op amps and TTL logic by then. Built a bunch of Griefkits too. First synthesizer in 1974, second one in 1976-1977. Fairly into ham radio/CB around then too. For spare cash in my teens, I installed car radios and CBs. I wasn't very good at joinery, but I did manage to build some speaker cabinets that didn't shake apart. I replaced the AC motor in my Leslie with a DC servo motor for continuous control. I was playing in bands from 14 on, so a lot of my DIY was focused around keeping my kit healthy on a budget.

I was an Electronotes subscriber from 1974 to about 1981. I should have never stopped it, but when I went to college, I had started as an EE but ended up majoring in CS and SS instead, around then, I gave up electronic building for quite a few years. Of course, I was into MIDI from the start, and ran a small recording studio for a number of years, that requires good fixit and DIY skills too. I tend to fix my own stuff, to hell with that "no user servicable parts inside" crap. So even though I didn't build much, I was fixing PAs, mixers, blown amps, power supplies, etc.

Took a break when kids came along. Soldering irons and 2 year olds don't work together (NB, Loss1234!). Also I got too busy. Now that they're older, I've had time to get back into it, in fact, one of them wants to help and is now building Velleman kits.

Somewhere in there I spent 7 years as a programmer. The debugging process is a good analytic skill builder.

[v-un-v]

maybe I should add that I actually spent more time pulling things apart then not really knowing (or caring) about putting them back together again, which meant I always ended up with lots of junk- which really wound my mother up!

When I lived in Canada, I was more into building model rockets than electronics (Rockets were so much FUN!!). Rockets meant that you spent more time in the sunshine rather than the dark. However when I got into photography, 95% of the time was spent in the darkroom anyway!

[elektro80]

[RF]

I was given a Heathkit "Electronic Workshop 19" by my electronic engineer uncle when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. That was a great start that lead directly to my career work

I was building Heathkit stereo equipment in 6th grade, and in Jr. High school built a radio station in my bedroom and was broadcasting to the neighborhood. Ham radio began to interest me in High School...

Needless to say, I was a bit of a nerd.....but I've had a 26 year career in broadcast engineering because of it.

bruce

[TheAncientOne]

My first electronics set was a Heathkit too - but I can't remember the name or number. I think I was 10 years old. Fabulous Christmas present from my parents. I'd asked and they said it was rather too expensive. I'd agreed and just left it. They decided to buy it for me anyway. Probably my best Christmas present ever. I wanted to build a duplicate of the lamp flasher and walked all the way into town trying to get the bits. A very kind partner in the Hird-Brown company, where I was enquiring about buying a relay, gave me a whole collection of parts and a soldering iron to start me off. I've been doing electronics ever since.

First music bits were Fuzz boxes and the like for my guitar playing friends. I built a mixer and ring modulator, my first real electro musical toy, in the 6th form.

Still got my Philips Mech set, I got at about 13 years old.

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[elektro80]

In Scandinavia the Jostykit range was very popular.

I googled Jostykit and found that they changed the logo and they are all about computers these days.

Now the logo looks like this:



Anyways, they also published this book which was very popular at the time:






..

[State Machine]

My favorite at age 9 Tandy corporation ... now vintage ....

Bill

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[jksuperstar]

I grew up with the 205 in 1 version of that kit State! Those kits are WONDERFUL. Like breadboarding, but much better for teaching (& early learning). it was "205" because it also included a few logic chips, 7-seg LED display, and a row of LED lights. Then, you could mix logic & radio, sending "sequences" of bleeps over radio! How cool! This was definitely my true beginning down a path of wanting to understand, rather just mess with things out of curiousity.

[richardc64]

I had something similar to the Philips -- 2 little plastic tables with grid of holes. It was more electrical than electronic, though: buzzers, small incandescent bulbs, lever switches -- even a sort of key for morse code. Can't imagine what inspired my parents to get it. I might even have asked for it. I must've been younger than 10 at the time.

Later on I built a Lafayette(!!!) kit regenerative short-wave receiver. I'm sure it interfered with radios for blocks around.

<squelch>

[frijitz]

[v-un-v]

Until about 3 weeks ago, I had a Denshi block kit- but the wife got me to chuck it

I'd had that since the age of 9

Oh well- I'm now dedicated to the new order of throwing stuff away

Its still a glorious mess in here still- up in the loft........

[richardc64]

[elektro80]

Hey, I almost forgot.. the Sinclair Micromatic kit:

[marr]

Mostly model rockets of the brown sugar / saltpeter / sulfur variety. The only electronics was the launch controller. I guess I did a bit - a crystal radio in Scouts and a PAiA vocoder I got via the back of a magazine or something. Lots of tweaking and stuff on a 4.77MHz PC.

Re what I wish people had told me...

I did go out and buy one of the old Radio Shack books and a breadboard. I think I just stared at it. Didn't understand how putting stuff in all the holes was supposed to make a circuit. *sniff* But, I was utterly fascinated by the schematics and had a good time trying to recognize patterns in them.

[State Machine]

[Tim Servo]

Man, some GREAT retro pics here!

I built a PAiA Gnome when I was 17. Does that count? I actually still own that little bugger, although I haven't fired it up in a couple or decades. Maybe I'll recap it (or at least replace any tantalums) and give it a shot.


Tim (hopefully the Gnome won't produce any magic smoke) Servo

[State Machine]

[State Machine]

[bugfight]

man this brings back some memories... great thread!

among other such items i had a strange kit that had electronic components in blocks with terminals on the sides which stuck to a metal sheet with magnets. you couldn't do much with it, though, and in the end i wound up pulling the components out of it and soldering them to perfboard with my woodburner (gasp)

i remember making a radio with a penny, a diode, a safety pin and an earphone... or such as...

hehe i also remember making an arc lamp with carbon rods from batteries and a salt water rheostat powered by mains. damm lucky not to get electrocuted or burn the house down. whee! (it was a very different world back then)

[blue hell]

[State Machine]