On topic: Teaching kids engineering
in [Design]
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From: Joerg on 14 Jun 2010 19:45 Joel Koltner wrote: > "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > news:87nqbmF480U1(a)mid.individual.net... >> Sure, but back in my days spending a few Deutschmarks or later Guilders >> was not so easy. Because they simply weren't there most of the time. > > I'm OK with giving kids some allowance for doing chores or whatever > given that these days it's pretty much impossible for a kid to find a > regular paying job until they're 16 or older. > > When I was first in college those HD44780 displays were 3/$24 from > Timeline, Inc. -- as advertised in Circuit Cellar Ink. At that point I > had a job making something like $5.50/hour, and I'm pretty sure I would > have rather worked another couple of hours to get one rather than > tearing apart discarded FAX machines (or whatever) and crossing my > fingers that it really was a working HD44780-compatible unit -- since I > expect that would have taken rather *more* than a couple of hours total. > :-) > Usually they work. Thing is, there's a whole lot more goodies in fax machines. Stepper motors, a 24/7-proof switch mode supply, fairly linear audio transformers from the modem part, and so on. The most important thing for me though was to learn the tricks of the trade. I wanted to know how they design a fax machine that is assembled in China for a grand total of around $10. Hands-on is the best learning experience. > On the other hand, you did occasionally come across wondeful things like > discarded fractional-kilowatt transformers or VARIAC cores -- THOSE were > definitely worth hauling away, even when they weighed 40lbs.! (There > were also a lot of multi-kilowatt transformers down in the basement of > the building I worked in... they still belonged to the University, but > since they weren't being used, usually it was no problem borrowing them > if you could find the right person to ask... although sometimes the > things had been sitting there for many years, and no one seemed to know > who that person was...) > At my university there was only one used-electronics junkyard in town, not affiliated with the university, and very small. You could find the occasional transformer there but that was about it. A really good source were the mil surplus shops in the Netherlands (dump handel) and since I live that side of the border I didn't have to get anything through customs. Nowadays kids have it easier because this border is gone. -- Regards, Joerg http://www.analogconsultants.com/ "gmail" domain blocked because of excessive spam. Use another domain or send PM.
From: Michael A. Terrell on 14 Jun 2010 19:51 Joel Koltner wrote: > > "Joerg" <invalid(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > news:87nqbmF480U1(a)mid.individual.net... > > Sure, but back in my days spending a few Deutschmarks or later Guilders > > was not so easy. Because they simply weren't there most of the time. > > I'm OK with giving kids some allowance for doing chores or whatever given that > these days it's pretty much impossible for a kid to find a regular paying job > until they're 16 or older. > > When I was first in college those HD44780 displays were 3/$24 from Timeline, > Inc. -- as advertised in Circuit Cellar Ink. At that point I had a job making > something like $5.50/hour, and I'm pretty sure I would have rather worked > another couple of hours to get one rather than tearing apart discarded FAX > machines (or whatever) and crossing my fingers that it really was a working > HD44780-compatible unit -- since I expect that would have taken rather *more* > than a couple of hours total. :-) A couple hours? More like 15 minutes. :) -- Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to have a DD214, and a honorable discharge.
From: Joel Koltner on 14 Jun 2010 20:09 "Michael A. Terrell" <mike.terrell(a)earthlink.net> wrote in message news:3aadnboug-EfXYvRnZ2dnUVZ_g6dnZ2d(a)earthlink.com... > A couple hours? More like 15 minutes. :) Perhaps. But you can spend a lot of time -- if this is the first time you're interfacing to an HD44780 -- discovering that the LCD is bad rather than your own setup! If it's actually marked "HD44780," I'd go for it... but if not... I'd spend the $8. Joerg is right to point out that it's still worth salvaging a FAX machine, though, for all the other goodies inside. And then try out the salvaged LCD *after* you get the store-bought one working. :-)
From: keithw86 on 15 Jun 2010 08:22 On Jun 14, 6:19 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...(a)yahoo.com> wrote: > "Joerg" <inva...(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > > news:87nqbmF480U1(a)mid.individual.net... > > > Sure, but back in my days spending a few Deutschmarks or later Guilders > > was not so easy. Because they simply weren't there most of the time. > > I'm OK with giving kids some allowance for doing chores or whatever given that > these days it's pretty much impossible for a kid to find a regular paying job > until they're 16 or older. The neighbor kid want's $25 to mow the lawn; not a bad hourly wage. I'd even do it for that. ;-)
From: Michael A. Terrell on 15 Jun 2010 10:47
"keithw86(a)gmail.com" wrote: > > On Jun 14, 6:19 pm, "Joel Koltner" <zapwireDASHgro...(a)yahoo.com> > wrote: > > "Joerg" <inva...(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > > > > news:87nqbmF480U1(a)mid.individual.net... > > > > > Sure, but back in my days spending a few Deutschmarks or later Guilders > > > was not so easy. Because they simply weren't there most of the time. > > > > I'm OK with giving kids some allowance for doing chores or whatever given that > > these days it's pretty much impossible for a kid to find a regular paying job > > until they're 16 or older. > > The neighbor kid want's $25 to mow the lawn; not a bad hourly wage. > I'd even do it for that. ;-) I let my yard go to seed this spring. I'll start mowing parts of it at daybreak each day, to annoy some bad neighbors who play their stereo too loud. :) -- Anyone wanting to run for any political office in the US should have to have a DD214, and a honorable discharge. |