Suggestions for essential components

Hi,

I just read the post on the rapid sale and I thought I might as well get a stock pile of essential parts in one go.

So I was wondering if any of you kind people could suggest the bare essentials for starting off.

Would this be a good buy to get me going with resistors:

http://www.rapidonline.com/Electronic-Components/Resistors-Potentiometer/Carbon-Film-Resistors/CR50-Carbon-film-resistor-kit/65195/kw/resistor pack

I'll be buying 5x08m and 5x18x chips.

What sort of soldering iron should I go for, would it be ok to buy a cheap one to get me going before splashing out a load of money on a soldering station?

I know this is a bit of a random question as I don't have any specific projects in mind, I just wanted to get myself started.

Thanks

@cheeseslice

Been there, done that etc.

I've thrown out several sets of cheap and nasty gear over the last few years.
It just breaks, and then you say very naughty words.

1.Buy the best Temperature controlled soldering set-up that you can afford.
2.Get a couple of spare tips. (1mm or less.)

Resistors? Just my view
Packs of 220R, 360R, 1K, 4K7, 10K, 22K
A giant bag might just languish.

Breadboards. / connection wire
Chip sockets
Turned pin connectors.

AND, importantly, for Picaxes.

At least a couple of project boards, for each Picaxe type.
(If you build them correctly, they just work!)

And don't forget the download cable.

I'll stop now. You're bound to get lots more replies.

I concur with eclectic.

That bag of 1000 resistors has around 125 at 100 Ohm and below, plus 50 at 1 MOhm and above. Even 150 at values 120k to 680k will unlikely see use.

Having a good selection is great for analogue circuits but in digital electronics, the reuqired values are few but you will use many of each value.

Resistors like:
330 and 470 for LED current limiting
1k to 10k for digital input pull-up/down resistors
2k2 to drive single transistor into saturation,
4k7, for i2c pull up, transistor drive
10k, 22k for PICAXE programming circuit.

You could buy 50+ each of those values in the 330 to 10k range.

I think one giant bag of resistors, and then lots of 330,470,1,4K7,10K,22K,100K.

Capacitors - lots of 0.1uF, 4.7uF, 10uF, 22uF and 100uF

Minature LDRs.
Minature thermistors
100M reels of wire, both single core and multicore (red, black, green).
Standard red and green LEDs
RGB or bi/tricolour LEDs
10K potentiometers
1N4001 diodes
A few IR diodes and 38kHz recievers
DS18B20 digital temp sensors
Some of each:
L239D motor driver
4026 7 seg LED driver
ULN2803 darlington drivers
BC639 NPN transistors
78L05 regulators (low drop out)
7805 regulators (high power (1A))
74HC595 shift registers with latches
SIL - a few 36 ways strips of headers and sockets
Standard IC sockets and a few turned pin IC sockets
Download sockets
Breadboard jumper leads
Breadboards
Nice multimeter (nice to use, easy to see)
SPST toggle switches
PTM switches
Battery clips
4 cell and three cell battery holders
Some piezos (some uncased, some cased)
N Channel FETs eg IRF530

I'm sure I'll think of more & add it later.


Dippy - STOP READING HERE

RE soldering iron - I was fine with a 25W standard 'yellow' antex one for years, and not I am very happy with my Chinese variable temperature 48W iron with LCD display. Dippy - (if you disobeyed my instruction) - I know the temperature readout may not be 100% accurate, but it is definitly hotter when it says 380C, than when it says 250C. Good enough for me.

A

85-1145 is a perfectly acceptable soldering iron, and the heatproof silicon cable version is worth the extra cost - you could buy 10 for the price of a decent soldering station.

Make sure you buy a stand (85-0585) and a spare sponge (85-0587) and a couple of tips - 0.5mm (85-0531) and 1mm (85-0532) - the standard tip supplied is relatively enormous for fine work and even the 0.5mm tip does surprisingly big joints.

HTH, Martin

My short list:

I'd get some PICAXE14Ms too--very versatile
ds1307 real time clock (don't forget battery and crystal)
24LC256 256K serial eeprom
ds18b20 temperature sensor
100nF ceramic capacitors (decoupling)
47uF electrolic capacitors (and/or 10uF, 22uF, 100uF--a wide range of values can be useful)
330R, 680R, 1K, 4K7, 10K, 22K, 100K, 1M resistors
10K potentiometer
breadboard(s) & wires (I usually get the 63-row breadboards and cut them into 2x11 rows and 2x19rows)
diodes--maybe BAT85 (for the enhanced download circuit), 1N914 switching, 1N4001 or 1N4004 power
various LEDs (I like the resistorized ones for breadboard use)
Infrared LED & receiver
Red-green LED, perhaps RGB
Transistors: low voltage: BC548 or 2N2222A NPN, MPSA92 PNP;
BS170 N CHANNEL MOSFET FCH (RC) 47-0142 £0.05
P CHANNEL MOSFET -- low power
switches-- small pushbutton (momentary), slide SPST, lever
LM2940CT-5 1A REGULATOR (RC) 82-0678 £0.58 ("Low dropout" battery-friendly 1A replacement for 7805--check cap requirement)
LM2931AZ-5 ldo regulator To-92, 100mA (gracefully passes on its input voltage when below needed headroom of ~5.1V)
LM358AN LOW POWER DUAL OP AMP (RC) 82-0332 £0.09
4N25 TRANSISTOR OPTOISOLATOR (RC) 58-0810 £0.10
PCB MOUNTING electret MICROPHONE INSERT (RC) 35-0192 £0.26
buzzers--piezo or other
LDR
for solder, I'd avoid lead-free--you have to get it too hot. 100GR REEL 22 SWG 60/40 SOLDER (RE) 85-0592 £2.09 seems good (haven't used it)

(The resistor pricing seems not so good--Jameco in the US sells packs of 100 for $1.)

Except for the first few items, many of these are just pennies. If you used each in a project, you would gain a great deal of practical experience.

Just thinking of the components I reach for most often:
Get a few 22uF capacitors and some 0.1uF ones as well. Put one of each across the picaxe power supply.
Leds.
Tools like wire cutters. Small pliers. Buy them as you need them.
Down the track - diodes like 914 and 4001s, and small signal transistors (BC547 and BC557).
5V regulators. I use a lot of the 100mA ones for picaxe work.
Batteries and battery holders.
Stan will back me up on this: go for breadboarding before soldering. And if you are breadboarding then you need wire to breadboard with. Down the track if you can get prototype PCBs with the same layout as the breadboard it makes it much easier to transfer circuits over.

I agree with Martin re: soldering iron and tips/bits.
Then, when funds permit, get a decent soldering station. LCD or not.
I will make just ONE comment re soldering stations.
Some time ago I left my Antex TC???? siwtched on for several days.
A few days later it died.
I sent it to Antex and they fixed it for a small-ish fee.
I found it easier than sending it to Beijing.
And, of course, a repair was far more environmentally friendly.
And silicon wire oh yes.

I can't disagree with the proposed shopping lists as they are far too long for me to read and remain concious.
But, basically, they cover the components needed in some of the projects so that's a very good idea.
Personally, I would choose cheap high-brightness LEDs as you can use them effectively with higher value resistors and thus reduce load on PICAXE and batteries.

One thing everyone forgot was a pair of good spectacles for reading DATA SHEETs

Actually, come to think of it, a magnifier eyepiece thing (a loupe is it?).

And one bit of arguable advice.
I have seen dozens of posts where the "PICAXE is duff", only to find the user has muggered it up by inexperienced use of the the infamous breadboard in conjunction with fat fingers and excitement.
Breadboards are great, don't get me wrong I use them a lot, but it is very easy to end up with a big hairy thing and the wires touch.
I would suggest getting a couple of the cheapest prototype boards to practice downloading programmes.
(That is in addition to a breadboard or two).

In fact, if you can steal some money, I'd suggest that Starter pack with the breadboard (AXE090??).
Yup, it costs a few quid, but so does popping PICAXEs (and the associated carriage costs and spending a week on the Forum asking how to resurrect a PICAXE and also chewing finger nails waiting for the replacement).

And one last little tip: Multimeters.
Tempting to buy cheapo isn't it.
Spend the extra 17p and get one with a bargraph.
And see if you can find out what fuses it takes and get some spares. Sometimes they are funny sizes and have a very un-funny price tag.
So, 30 minutes research may save later.

Oh dear, i've just realised how long my post is.... I swore blind I'd never do more than 3 paras as people fall asleep. yawn.....

Isn't it fun spending other people's money? *grin*

Of course, if money is tight, then you can always salvage. Electronic "junk" often has all sorts of components. Everyone has a different "price point" where you will unsolder some componenents but not others. For me, I'll unsolder big electrolytics and tantalums, but not resistors or diodes. I haven't bought electrolytics for years. You can even recycle boards you made yourself - for me a picaxe board has a 0.1uF, a 22uF and a 5V reg, plus the connecting wires, and there is always a socket. I keep those boards even when they are not needed right now, and recycle them into new projects.

I'm going to need a new shed soon...