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General Vintage Technology Discussions For general discussions about vintage radio and other vintage electronics etc. |
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4th Nov 2017, 10:14 pm | #21 |
Octode
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Liss, Hampshire, UK.
Posts: 1,870
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Our 6 year old loves his Snap Circuits kit that we bought for last Christmas. He's now at the stage of designing his own circuits (more accurately, he's building variations of the suggested circuits) and the components seem to be sufficiently highly rated to withstand his experimentation. I'm very tempted by the Haynes kit for this Christmas.
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4th Nov 2017, 11:28 pm | #22 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 10
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Yes James I found the snap kits too,good to hear thet work well,the plug in components look robust and well thought out.
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6th Nov 2017, 2:23 pm | #23 |
Octode
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,571
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Welcome, Mick
Philips Electronic Engineer kits do appear eBay from time to time. They date from the 1960s and you would have to make sure that they were complete, and you'd probably have to buy new transistors as they deteriorate over time (there is advice on what to get to replace AF116, AF117, etc., on this forum). Having said that, the Haynes kit seemed to go down well last year and is a good sure-fire start for not a great outlay. |
6th Nov 2017, 3:06 pm | #24 |
Pentode
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Halesworth, Suffolk, UK.
Posts: 188
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Usborne used to print (in the '90's) -and possibly still do- a good, well illustrated book on electronics for children, including various projects to build with veroboard and a soldering iron. I had it as a kid, but sadly can't remember the title now. Rest assured it had ELECTRONICS in big letters somewhere on the front.
Oliver Edit: I've just done a google image search, and it was called Fun With Electronics, from the Usborne Pocket Science series. I feel it may be out of print, but well worth getting hold of, I'm sure there must be loads out there. |
6th Nov 2017, 6:02 pm | #25 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 10
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Thanks Junk Box and Oliver,more great info,feel quite inspired,maybe I'll retire and start an after school class for kids interested in electronics!
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6th Nov 2017, 6:03 pm | #26 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: London, UK.
Posts: 3,496
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Wonderful!
As the single parent of a young teenager (so I've been through this earlier developmental phase) I'd say, go easy on the facts and keep it fun at all times. However bright the child is, it's better to 'meet' their interest rather than to lead it. That way, the child is in control and doesn't get overloaded unintentionally. 8 is a stage when a child is still looking around, and interests may come and go and come and go. It's better to not be too attached to the outcome (in this case, that the interest will stay and keep developing! )otherwise exactly the opposite may happen! Do's, for this developmental stage... Invite curiosity and expermentation. Better to hook up a bulb and battery and measure all around than to do a diagram. Encourage deduction and thinking skills Be positive about observation and adopt a 'let's find out' attitude. Ask, what do you think is happening, and why? Accept that it's normal for attention to wane and isn't something to be criticised. Particularly this new generation are used to things moving fast, and being interactive. Keep it fun, fun, fun!
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6th Nov 2017, 6:15 pm | #27 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Wiltshire, UK.
Posts: 13,951
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Re: Help with explaining please.
I agree with Astral Highway's comments: would suggest rather than starting with radio look at simple things like a photocell 'beam' [LED and LDR/photocell] into a single-transistor which controls a bell/buzzer/sounder.
Sell it as an 'invisible tripwire' and show your young friend how to set it up to alert if anyone tries to come into his room. [In past-times I've elicited the help of a cat to test this out!] Then maybe move on to 'lie-detectors'? |
6th Nov 2017, 6:48 pm | #28 |
Octode
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: St Osyth, Nr Clacton, Essex, UK.
Posts: 1,482
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Re: Help with explaining please.
As for AM radio stations, up there in Lincoln you might be lucky enough to pick up Radio Caroline when it starts in the near future on 648kHz. Receiving distant stations is a specific aspect of radio known as DX (Distance eXtra). Good fun in its own right.
Graham
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Half my stuff is junk - trouble is, I don't know which half! |
6th Nov 2017, 7:34 pm | #29 |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,872
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Re: Help with explaining please.
For what it's worth - I just made a motor with my kids (girls, 8 and 12) - idea was from a mag their gran gets them. 24swg enamelled wire, 10 turns round a D cell, pull the ends out diametrically opposite (wrapping round the coil a bit to hold it together) to make a (very bendy!) spindle from the wire itself.
Strip enamelling from one end entirely, and the other end strip *one side only*. This is how you get away without a commutator and brushes. Make two eyelets for bearings from some stiff wire, and solder to a D cell holder or use elastic bands around the battery. Find a strong magnet - voila! They *really* got into it when we got a strobe light out, and having looked at the motor (and done aliasing / sampling theorem) we pointed it at guitar strings, and then the girls blowing raspberries! Mine is a nice-looking, ancient DAWE thing (and rather dim), but they seem cheap enough on ebay - kids loved it. |
6th Nov 2017, 7:57 pm | #30 |
Octode
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: St. Albans, Hertfordshire, UK.
Posts: 1,477
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Re: Help with explaining please.
It may be a bit too elementary for her (!), but you could do worse than find a copy of the Ladybird "Magnets, Bulbs, and Batteries", as mentioned in this post:
http://www.vintage-radio.net/forum/s...ad.php?p=95983 Edit: Just found it here: http://www.vintage-radio.info/books -Along with several other useful books.
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6th Nov 2017, 8:49 pm | #31 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Oh my word,even more to think about! Understood Astral,and many thanks for taking the time, I'm not bad (so I'm told)at engaging with kids,all about letting them set the pace,...photocell sounds neat G6,I guess it's a simple circuit,I don't have the knowledge to make it from first principles though.gears,cams lathes and woodruff keys easy peasy,photocells,transistors...get the books out!
Llama,cheers for the a.m info,this blinking radio lark is infectious! mark...sort of got it...the motor...as for aliasing...nope...nothing registering...the strobe though..sooo cool!So do you need a strobe with a variable frequency(no,I have no idea what I'm talking about) dickie: I'll be looking up the ladybird book! Seems I've entered an alternatve and friendly world of enthusiasts I never dreamed existed,very heartening,maybe there's hope for mankind after all! Thanks all! |
6th Nov 2017, 8:55 pm | #32 |
Octode
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Manchester, UK.
Posts: 1,872
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Oh, you do know what you're about - yes, a strobe with variable frequency is just what you need. (Aliasing is just that thing where wagon wheels look stationary or even go backwards on the screen if you get the movie camera shutter, or strobe, rate just right. Or why folks sometimes say we shouldn't put a lathe under a fluorescent light, in case the flicker rate makes it look stationary when it isn't).
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6th Nov 2017, 8:57 pm | #33 | |
Dekatron
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Haarlem, Netherlands
Posts: 4,184
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Quote:
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6th Nov 2017, 9:10 pm | #34 |
Pentode
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Downham Market, Norfolk, UK.
Posts: 143
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Re: Help with explaining please.
This range of kits .............(link for info only) https://quasarelectronics.co.uk/Item...-elenco-mx-908
.........are still easily obtained by visiting a certain well known auction site and may be worth seeking out
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6th Nov 2017, 10:46 pm | #35 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 10
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Ah, so THAT'S aliasing Mark..cheers...err and sampling theory..statistical stuff??
Last edited by AC/HL; 7th Nov 2017 at 1:02 pm. Reason: OT aside edited |
6th Nov 2017, 10:49 pm | #36 |
Retired Dormant Member
Join Date: Nov 2017
Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK.
Posts: 10
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Re: Help with explaining please.
p.s. off to see if I can track down a kit or two...and that srobe!
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6th Nov 2017, 11:35 pm | #37 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Ramsbottom (Nr Bury) Lancs or Bexhill (Nr Hastings) Sussex.
Posts: 5,814
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Possibly too much information jtj. An engineers understanding of electronics may be more than enough for an eight year old anyway but I don't know what you mean by that really I've had the privelige of a brief meeting with Marc in Manc's delightful daughters [8+12] so he is probaly a bit of a base line [although his technical knowledge is pretty advanced from my point of view! ]They seemed very confident, in the way that you describe your grandchild but it's easy to forget how young assertive children still are. My two grandaughters are very similar. They do ballet/Gymnastics and Athletics and are not technical [yet] but they are very good at questioning almost everything. The more assertive and bright they are the more you need to go carefully I'd say. Just listen and learn that's all you need to do really.
Older female cousins were amazed when my [eleven year old] self made them simple night lights with a battery and bulb that they could understand and fiddle about with the wires. All much better than a torch! I explained that you could switch off the light by breaking the circuit or shorting the battery but only one was a good idea. Look up Gilbert Davey. His books were water in the desert during the sixties. Most of them seem to be very expensive now but there is info on line! He was popular for a reason Dave Last edited by dave walsh; 6th Nov 2017 at 11:47 pm. |
6th Nov 2017, 11:45 pm | #38 |
Octode
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: West Midlands, UK.
Posts: 1,571
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Re: Help with explaining please.
Glad to know that they carried on for so long. I thought they were brilliant toys and probably the reason I've ended up posting here. (Okay, now you know who/what to blame! )
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7th Nov 2017, 11:49 pm | #39 |
Dekatron
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: Colchester, Essex, UK.
Posts: 4,081
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Re: Help with explaining please.
I just thought of the Ladybird book (we all had it when we were kids) but i see Dickie has beaten me to it. The useful thing is most of the experiments in there can still be done, and also there is education in guiding the student on which parts have dated a little since the book was first published.
Might be best to skip page 32 ! |