I always found the capacitor decade boxes more useful. It's easy enough to find the ideal resistance value with a pot and then measure it, but if you need to find the ideal capacitance without the decade box, you're sol...
I think I’m going to make the poly film assortment. And a SMD resistive decade too. I was going to get some selectors but after seeing those dip switches I think it will work fine with old IDE ribbon cable connectors as a breadboard.
it’s surprisingly easy to lay out boards and fairly cheap to get unpopulated boards manufactured. one (“one”) could make some of these with the right jack spacing and... sell ‘‘em as kits to “defray the cost of design and production” ...
I made a resistor box myself just to have a standard, I've used 1% resistors with the values of 10, 100, 1K, 10K, 100K and 1M ohm. I thought it would be useful but I've never used it, I just don't have any use for it. I guess there may be once a time in the future that I need it and then I know I'll have it within reach because I put it in a box that I use very often that has a volt and ammeter combo with a switch on battery which is very handy.
Because we are doing it on the cheap... Just use common linear (not audio) potentiometers, gleaned from old equipment. Bracket their values. For the lowest value pot, use a multi-turn, to be able to dial in with precision. Roughly set it, initially, with a multimeter. Plug it into the DUT. Change the values, until the DUT preforms in the way intended. Then, read the value of the pots with a multimeter and solder in a resistor of that value. Here's a bit of test kit that I just cobbled together... I am forever needing a potentiometer for testing DUTs. I hate temporarily wiring them in and then trying to hold the pot while I fiddle with the knob and try not to pull the wires lose. 10K is the most common value that I need. So, I attached a ten-turn to a wooden base made from scrap MDF board, an empty medicine bottle and an old CD. I put no-slip shelf liner material on the bottom, so it stays put while I dial it in with just one hand. The knob is a 3" diameter circle of scrap MDF. (3" Diameter + 10-Turn = High Precision.) I put a rubber band on its outside diameter, so I can scroll it with just one finger. I put small alligator clips on the color-coded leads. Yes, it is big for what it is, but its size is what makes it great. No fiddling, just s-m-o-o-t-h sailing. It was a fun build and generated a most satisfying and useful result. It is truly at the top of my favorite bench gear.
That's a good idea definitely, especially for those who have tons of old parts laying around. I'm mostly working with guitar pedals and amps so I already have tons of audio pots lying around in bulk but for those who have the time, repurposing kit saves so much cash.
Looks like the ArduinoMall boards were designed to be used with Arduino microprocessor boards, hence the euroblock terminals and four-post form factor. They were never designed for a multimeter. Also, yes, the lack of proper spacing on so many banana terminals drives me insane as well. I don't get it! Why bother if you won't do it right? Also, what kind of stability do you get on these kit boards? Do you ever see appreciable drift in values?
Hmmmm, for a hobbyist/professional who didn't have alot of money, sure looks like you must of been doing some dumpster diving over in Silicon Valley with the "Kays" and the HP instruments you've got.
I always found the capacitor decade boxes more useful. It's easy enough to find the ideal resistance value with a pot and then measure it, but if you need to find the ideal capacitance without the decade box, you're sol...
I think I’m going to make the poly film assortment. And a SMD resistive decade too. I was going to get some selectors but after seeing those dip switches I think it will work fine with old IDE ribbon cable connectors as a breadboard.
it’s surprisingly easy to lay out boards and fairly cheap to get unpopulated boards manufactured. one (“one”) could make some of these with the right jack spacing and... sell ‘‘em as kits to “defray the cost of design and production” ...
I made a resistor box myself just to have a standard, I've used 1% resistors with the values of 10, 100, 1K, 10K, 100K and 1M ohm.
I thought it would be useful but I've never used it, I just don't have any use for it. I guess there may be once a time in the future that I need it and then I know I'll have it within reach because I put it in a box that I use very often that has a volt and ammeter combo with a switch on battery which is very handy.
Because we are doing it on the cheap... Just use common linear (not audio) potentiometers, gleaned from old equipment. Bracket their values. For the lowest value pot, use a multi-turn, to be able to dial in with precision. Roughly set it, initially, with a multimeter. Plug it into the DUT. Change the values, until the DUT preforms in the way intended. Then, read the value of the pots with a multimeter and solder in a resistor of that value.
Here's a bit of test kit that I just cobbled together... I am forever needing a potentiometer for testing DUTs. I hate temporarily wiring them in and then trying to hold the pot while I fiddle with the knob and try not to pull the wires lose. 10K is the most common value that I need. So, I attached a ten-turn to a wooden base made from scrap MDF board, an empty medicine bottle and an old CD. I put no-slip shelf liner material on the bottom, so it stays put while I dial it in with just one hand. The knob is a 3" diameter circle of scrap MDF. (3" Diameter + 10-Turn = High Precision.) I put a rubber band on its outside diameter, so I can scroll it with just one finger. I put small alligator clips on the color-coded leads. Yes, it is big for what it is, but its size is what makes it great. No fiddling, just s-m-o-o-t-h sailing. It was a fun build and generated a most satisfying and useful result. It is truly at the top of my favorite bench gear.
That's a good idea definitely, especially for those who have tons of old parts laying around. I'm mostly working with guitar pedals and amps so I already have tons of audio pots lying around in bulk but for those who have the time, repurposing kit saves so much cash.
thanks
Looks like the ArduinoMall boards were designed to be used with Arduino microprocessor boards, hence the euroblock terminals and four-post form factor. They were never designed for a multimeter. Also, yes, the lack of proper spacing on so many banana terminals drives me insane as well. I don't get it! Why bother if you won't do it right?
Also, what kind of stability do you get on these kit boards? Do you ever see appreciable drift in values?
Hmmmm, for a hobbyist/professional who didn't have alot of money, sure looks like you must of been doing some dumpster diving over in Silicon Valley with the "Kays" and the HP instruments you've got.
I've been deep in dumpsters for decades 😊
🍌