Make: Electronics, 2nd Edition

Make: Electronics, 2nd Edition

by Charles Platt
Released August 2015
Publisher(s): Make: Community
ISBN: 9781680450224

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Book description

"This is teaching at its best!"

--Hans Camenzind, inventor of the 555 timer (the world's most successful integrated circuit), and author of Much Ado About Almost Nothing: Man's Encounter with the Electron (Booklocker.com)

"A fabulous book: well written, well paced, fun, and informative. I also love the sense of humor. It's very good at disarming the fear. And it's gorgeous. I'll be recommending this book highly."

--Tom Igoe, author of Physical Computing and Making Things Talk

A "magnificent and rewarding book. ... Every step of this structured instruction is expertly illustrated with photos and crisp diagrams. . . . This really is the best way to learn."

--Kevin Kelly, in Cool Tools

The first edition of Make: Electronics established a new benchmark for introductory texts. This second edition enhances that learning experience.

Here you will find unique, photographically precise diagrams of breadboarded components, to help you build circuits with speed and precision. A new shopping guide and a simplified range of components, will minimize your investment in parts for the projects. A completely new section on the Arduino shows you how to write properly structured programs instead of just downloading other people's code. Projects have been reworked to provide additional features, and the book has been restructured to offer a step-by-step learning process that is as clear and visually pleasing on handheld devices as it is on paper. Full color is used throughout.



As before, Make: Electronics begins with the basics. You'll see for yourself how components work--and what happens when they don't. You'll short out a battery and overheat an LED. You'll also open up a potentiometer and a relay to see what's inside. No other book gives you such an opportunity to learn from real-life experiences.



Ultimately, you will build gadgets that have lasting value, and you'll have a complete understanding of how they work. From capacitors to transistors to microcontrollers--it's all here.



Hans Camenzind, inventor of the 555 Timer (the world's most successful integrated circuit chip), said that "This is teaching at its best!" when he reviewed the first edition. Now the second edition offers even more!

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Table of contents

  1. What’s New in the Second Edition
  2. Preface: How to Have Fun with This Book
    1. Learning by Discovery
    2. Will It Be Difficult?
    3. How This Book Is Organized
    4. If Something Doesn’t Work
    5. Writer–Reader Communication
    6. Me Informing You
    7. You Informing Me
    8. You Asking Me
    9. Going Public
    10. Going Further
    11. Safari® Books Online
    12. How to Contact Us
  3. 1. The Basics
    1. Necessary Items for Chapter One
      1. The Multimeter
      2. Ranging
      3. Values
      4. Safety Glasses
      5. Batteries and Connectors
      6. Test Leads
      7. Potentiometer
      8. Fuse
      9. Light-Emitting Diodes
      10. Resistors
    2. Experiment 1: Taste the Power!
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Caution: No More than Nine Volts
      3. Procedure
      4. Setting Up Your Meter
      5. Fundamentals: Ohms
      6. Measuring Your Tongue
      7. Fundamentals: Inside a Battery
      8. Further Investigation
      9. Background: The Man Who Discovered Resistance
      10. Cleanup and Recycling
    3. Experiment 2: Let’s Abuse a Battery!
      1. Caution: Use a Small Battery
      2. What You Will Need
      3. Generating Heat with Current
      4. Background: Why Didn’t Your Tongue Get Hot?
      5. Fundamentals: Volt Basics
      6. Fundamentals: Ampere Basics
      7. How to Blow a Fuse
      8. Fundamentals: Direct and Alternating Current
      9. Background: Inventor of the Battery
      10. Background: Father of Electromagnetism
      11. Cleanup and Recycling
    4. Experiment 3: Your First Circuit
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Setup
      3. Fundamentals: Decoding Resistors
      4. Lighting an LED
      5. Checking a Resistor
      6. Background: Puzzling Numbers
      7. Cleanup and Recycling
    5. Experiment 4: Variable Resistance
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Look Inside Your Potentiometer
      3. Testing the Potentiometer
      4. Caution: Don’t Add Power
      5. Caution: Destructive Experiment Ahead
      6. Dimming Your LED
      7. Measuring Potential Difference
      8. Checking the Flow
      9. Caution: Meter Overload
      10. Checking the Current
      11. Making Measurements
      12. Fundamentals: Ohm’s Law
      13. Fundamentals: Series and Parallel
      14. Using Ohm’s Law
      15. How Big a Resistor?
      16. Background: Hot Wires
      17. Fundamentals: Decimals
      18. Theory: The Math on Your Tongue
      19. Background: The Watt
      20. Background: The Origins of Wattage
      21. Cleanup and Recycling
    6. Experiment 5: Let’s Make a Battery
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Setup
      3. Lemon Test: Part One
      4. Theory: The Nature of Electricity
      5. Background: Positive and Negative
      6. Theory: Basic Measurements
      7. Practically Speaking
      8. Cleanup and Recycling
  4. 2. Switching
    1. Necessary Items for Chapter Two
      1. Essential: Small Screwdrivers
      2. Essential: Small Long-Nosed Pliers
      3. Optional: Sharp-Nosed Pliers
      4. Essential: Wire Cutters
      5. Optional: Flush Cutters
      6. Essential: Wire Strippers
      7. Essential: Breadboards
      8. Supplies
      9. Essential: Hookup Wire
      10. Jumpers
      11. Optional: Stranded Wire
      12. Components
      13. Essential: Toggle Switch
      14. Essential: Tactile Switch
      15. Essential: Relay
      16. Essential: Trimmer Potentiometer
      17. Essential: Transistors
      18. Essential: Capacitors
      19. Essential: Resistors
      20. Essential: Loudspeaker
      21. And More?
    2. Experiment 6: Very Simple Switching
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Fundamentals: All About Switches
      3. Sparking
      4. Checking Continuity
      5. Background: Early Switching Systems
      6. Introducing Schematics
      7. Fundamentals: Basic Schematic Symbols
      8. Schematic Layout
      9. Crossovers
      10. Colored Conductors
    3. Experiment 7: Investigating a Relay
      1. What You Will Need:
      2. The Relay
      3. Caution: Polarity Problems
      4. Procedure
      5. What’s Going On Inside
      6. Other Relays
      7. Opening It Up
      8. What’s Inside?
      9. Fundamentals: Relay Terminology
    4. Experiment 8: A Relay Oscillator
      1. What You Will Need
      2. A Beginner’s Board
      3. Making Jumpers
      4. Power Up
      5. Inside the Board
      6. Relay Circuit, Revealed
      7. Making It Buzz
      8. Adding Capacitance
      9. Fundamentals: Farad Basics
      10. Caution: Getting Zapped by Capacitors
      11. Fundamentals: Capacitor Basics
      12. Caution: Observe Capacitor Polarity!
      13. Fundamentals: Fault Tracing
      14. Background: Michael Faraday and Capacitors
    5. Experiment 9: Time and Capacitors
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Charging a Capacitor
      3. An RC Network
      4. Voltage, Resistance, and Capacitance
      5. Background: The Time Constant
      6. Background: Graphing It
      7. Experimental Verification
      8. Capacitive Coupling
      9. Displacement Current
      10. Alternating Current
    6. Experiment 10: Transistor Switching
      1. What You Will Need
      2. The Finger Test
      3. Caution: Never Use Two Hands
      4. Inside the Finger Test
      5. Fundamentals: Transistor Variants
      6. Adding a Potentiometer
      7. Voltage and Current
      8. Fundamentals: All About NPN and PNP Transistors
      9. Caution: Fragile Component!
      10. Background: Transistor Origins
      11. Fundamentals: Transistors and Relays
    7. Experiment 11: Light and Sound
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Fluctuations
      3. Step by Step
      4. Coupling Capacitor
      5. But How Does It Start?
      6. Why So Complicated?
      7. A Processed Pulse
      8. Upping the Speed
      9. Still More Mods
      10. Background: Mounting a Loudspeaker
  5. 3. Getting Somewhat More Serious
    1. Necessary Items for Chapter Three
      1. Essential: Power Supply
      2. Essential: Low-Power Soldering Iron
      3. Essential: General Duty Soldering Iron
      4. Soldering Iron Terminology
      5. Essential: Helping Hand
      6. Essential: Magnifying Lens
      7. Optional: Clip-on Meter Test Leads
      8. Optional: Heat Gun
      9. Optional: Desoldering Equipment
      10. Optional: Soldering Stand
      11. Optional: Miniature Hand Saw
      12. Optional: Deburring Tool
      13. Optional: Calipers
      14. Supplies
      15. Essential: Solder
      16. Optional: Heat-Shrink Tubing
      17. Essential: Copper Alligator Clips
      18. Optional: Perforated Board
      19. Optional: Plywood
      20. Optional: Machine Screws
      21. Essential: Project Boxes
      22. Essential: Power Connectors
      23. Optional: Headers
      24. Components
      25. Diodes
    2. Experiment 12: Joining Two Wires Together
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Caution: Soldering Irons Do Get Hot!
      3. Your First Solder Joint
      4. Background: Soldering Myths
      5. Fundamentals: Eight Soldering Errors
      6. Background: Soldering Alternatives
      7. Your Second Solder Joint
      8. Theory: Heat Transfer
      9. Insulating the Solder Joint
      10. Caution: Heat Guns Do Get Hot!
      11. Wiring Your Power Source
      12. Step One: Cut and Measure
      13. Step Two: Soldering
      14. Pruning a Power Cord
      15. Twelve Steps to a Shorter Cord
      16. What’s Next?
    3. Experiment 13: Roasting an LED
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Where the Heat Goes
      3. Rules for Heat Sinking
    4. Experiment 14: A Wearable Pulsing Glow
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Fluctuations Revisited
      3. Bend Wires, Add Solder
      4. Step by Step
      5. Caution: Flying Wire Segments
      6. Finishing the Job
      7. Background: Maddened by Measurement
    5. Experiment 15: Intrusion Alarm, Part One
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Wish List
      3. Implementing the Wish List
      4. Magnetic Sensor Switches
      5. A Break-to-Make Transistor Circuit
      6. Self-Locking Relay
      7. Blocking Bad Voltage
      8. Fundamentals: All About Diodes
      9. One Problem Creates Another
      10. Solving the Problem
      11. Protection Diode
      12. Time to Breadboard
      13. Adding the Sound
      14. Reference: Take-Home Messages
  6. 4. Chips, Ahoy!
    1. Necessary Items for Chapter Four
      1. Components
      2. Fundamentals: Choosing Chips
      3. Optional: IC Sockets
      4. Essential: Subminiature Slide Switch
      5. Caution: Switching Overload
      6. Essential: Low-Current LEDs
      7. Essential: Numeric Displays
      8. Essential: Voltage Regulator
      9. Optional Extras
      10. Background: How Chips Came to Be
    2. Experiment 16: Emitting a Pulse
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Know Your Chips
      3. Monostable Test
      4. Timing the Pulse
      5. Caution: Beware of Pin-Shuffling!
      6. Fundamentals: Timer Duration
      7. Theory: Inside the 555 in Monostable Mode
      8. Fundamentals: Pulse Suppression
      9. Fundamentals: Why the 555 Is Useful
      10. Fundamentals: Bistable Mode
      11. Background: How the Timer Was Born
      12. Fundamentals: 555 Timer Specifications
      13. Caution: Not All Timers Are Equal
    3. Experiment 17: Set Your Tone
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Astable Test
      3. Theory: Output Frequency
      4. Theory: Inside the 555 in Astable Mode
      5. Fundamentals: Unequal On-Off Cycles
      6. Astable Modifications
      7. Chaining Chips
      8. Sounding Like a Siren
    4. Experiment 18: Intrusion Alarm (Almost) Completed
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Three Steps to a Functional Device
      3. Step 1
      4. Step 2
      5. Step 3
      6. What About the Noise?
      7. What About On and Off?
      8. Finalizing
      9. Most Common Perfboarding Errors
      10. Fundamentals: Perforated Board Fault Tracing
      11. The Project Box
      12. Soldering the Switches
      13. Fixing the Board
      14. Caution: Avoid Board Stress
      15. Final Test
      16. Alarm Installation
      17. Conclusion
    5. Experiment 19: Reflex Tester
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Caution: Protecting Chips from Static
      3. Caution: Be Careful When Grounded
      4. A Quick Demo
      5. Fundamentals: LED Displays
      6. Fundamentals: The Counter
      7. Pulse Generation
      8. Time for a Plan
      9. A Control System
      10. Progress Report
      11. The Delay
      12. Testing
      13. How Does It Work?
      14. Background: Development Issues
      15. Extra Digits
      16. Calibration
      17. Enhancements
      18. Next?
    6. Experiment 20: Learning Logic
      1. What You Will Need
      2. The Regulator
      3. Caution: Inappropriate Inputs
      4. Usage
      5. Your First Logic Gate
      6. Background: Logical Origins
      7. Fundamentals: Logic Gate Basics
      8. Background: The Confusing World of TTL and CMOS
      9. What You Don’t Need
      10. Fundamentals: Part Numbers and Functions
      11. Fundamentals: Rules for Connecting Logic Gates
    7. Experiment 21: A Powerful Combination
      1. Caution: The Warranty Issue
      2. What You Will Need
      3. A Three-Part Circuit
      4. How It Works
      5. More than One Button?
      6. Triggering the Relay
      7. The Logic Chip
      8. Time to Build!
      9. Setup
      10. Testing
      11. Dealing with Diodes
      12. Questions
      13. The Computer Interface
      14. Enhancements
    8. Experiment 22: Race to Place
      1. What You Will Need
      2. The Goal
      3. A Conceptual Experiment
      4. Breadboarding It
      5. Enhancements
    9. Experiment 23: Flipping and Bouncing
      1. What You Will Need
      2. How It Works
      3. Debouncing with NORs
      4. Debouncing with NANDs
      5. Jamming Versus Clocking
    10. Experiment 24: Nice Dice
      1. What You Will Need
      2. A Binary Counter
      3. Counter Testing
      4. Fundamentals: Binary Code
      5. Rising Edge, Falling Edge
      6. The Modulus
      7. Converting to Modulus 6
      8. Not Using a Seven-Segment Display
      9. Choosing the Gates
      10. The Finished Circuit
      11. Good News
      12. Chained Counters
      13. Going Further
      14. The Slowdown Problem
      15. Slowdown Alternatives
  7. 5. What Next?
    1. Tools, Equipment, Components, and Supplies
    2. Customizing Your Work Area
    3. Labeling
    4. On the Bench
    5. Reference Sources Online
    6. Books
    7. Experiment 25: Magnetism
      1. Fundamentals: A Two-Way Relationship
      2. What You Will Need
      3. Procedure
      4. Theory: Inductance
      5. Fundamentals: Coil Schematics and Basics
      6. Background: Joseph Henry
    8. Experiment 26: Tabletop Power Generation
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Procedure
      3. Lighting an LED
      4. Optional Extensions
      5. Caution: Blood Blisters and Dead Media
      6. Charging a Capacitor
      7. Next: Audio
    9. Experiment 27: Loudspeaker Destruction
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Procedure
      3. Background: Origins of Loudspeakers
      4. Theory: Sound, Slectricity, and Sound
    10. Experiment 28: Making a Coil React
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Procedure
      3. A Collapsing Field
      4. Resistors, Capacitors, and Coils
      5. Theory: Alternating Current Concepts
    11. Experiment 29: Filtering Frequencies
      1. What You Will Need
      2. A Home for Your Speaker
      3. A Single Chip
      4. Test, 1-2-3
      5. Adventures in Audio
      6. Theory: Waveforms
      7. Mangling Some Music
      8. Background: Crossover Networks
    12. Experiment 30: Make It Fuzzy
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Making the Mods
      3. Background: Clipping
      4. Background: Stomp-Box Origins
    13. Experiment 31: One Radio, No Solder, No Power
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Step 1: The Coil
      3. Caution: High Voltage!
      4. Antenna and Ground
      5. Enhancements
      6. Theory: How Radio Works
    14. Experiment 32: Hardware Meets Software
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Definitions
      3. Real-World Applications
      4. The Right Tool for the Job?
      5. One Board, Many Chips
      6. Beware of Imitations?
      7. Setup
      8. Linux Installation
      9. Windows Installation
      10. Windows Troubleshooting
      11. Mac Installation
      12. If All Else Fails
      13. The Old Arduino Blink Test
      14. Verify and Compile
      15. Upload and Run
      16. Caution: Lost Code
      17. Programming Entails Detail
      18. Background: Origins and Options Among Programmable Chips
      19. Fundamentals: Advantages and Disadvantages
      20. Longevity
      21. Obsolescence
      22. Hybrid Circuits
      23. Individual Components: Advantages
      24. Individual Components: Disadvantages
      25. Microcontrollers: Advantages
      26. Microcontrollers: Disadvantages
      27. Summing Up
    15. Experiment 33: Checking the Real World
      1. What You Will Need
      2. Using a Thermistor
      3. Range Conversion
      4. Connections
      5. What, No Output?
      6. Hysteresis
      7. Line by Line
      8. Additional Details
      9. Enhancements
    16. Experiment 34: Nicer Dice
      1. What You Will Need:
      2. The Limits to Learning by Discovery
      3. Randomicity
      4. Pseudocode
      5. Button Inputs
      6. The System Clock
      7. Final Draft of Pseudocode
      8. Hardware Setup
      9. Now, the Program
      10. Short and Long Integers
      11. Setup
      12. The “for” Loop
      13. The Random Function
      14. The “if” Statement
      15. Flash Speed
      16. Creating a New Function
      17. Structure
      18. But Is It Too Difficult?
      19. Upgrading the Nicer Dice Program
      20. Other Microcontrollers
      21. Unexplored Territory
      22. In Closing
  8. 6. Tools, Equipment, Components, and Supplies
    1. Kits
    2. Searching and Shopping Online
      1. The Art of Searching
      2. Try the Chat Option
      3. Parts on Google
      4. Datasheets
      5. General Search Techniques
      6. Exclusions
      7. Alternatives
      8. Too Much Typing?
      9. Vendor Categories
      10. Which to Click First?
      11. A Real-Life Search
      12. eBay Options
      13. Amazon
      14. Killing Autocomplete
      15. Is Searching Worth the Trouble?
    3. Checklists of Supplies and Components
      1. Supplies
      2. Components
      3. Other Components
      4. Components for Chapter One
      5. Components for Chapter Two
      6. Components for Chapter Three
      7. Components for Chapter Four
      8. Components for Chapter Five
    4. Buying Tools and Equipment
      1. Tools and Equipment for Chapter One
      2. Tools and Equipment for Chapter Two
      3. Tools and Equipment for Chapter Three
    5. Suppliers
  9. Index

Product information

  • Title: Make: Electronics, 2nd Edition
  • Author(s): Charles Platt
  • Release date: August 2015
  • Publisher(s): Make: Community
  • ISBN: 9781680450224