Ok so I went to england for new years, and discovered this shop, called maplins, i bought tons of stuff, and as soon as i got home(4th january) i built all the kits... they all worked, so wasnt really a challenge... But my problem is, i dont live in england, I live in portugal, in the middle of nowhere, Like there are no people in a 3 mile radius, and when there are people they are 90 yrs old.. -.- and there are no radio shacks... My mom doesnt have a credit card or paypal account (although i might have my friend nick one
) because shes ''scared the cyber space ends'' oh well... so How can i get parts?
I have allready desmantled all my kiddy toys, RC cars(one had a 555 in it
)
A printer... Lots of stuff, But i cant find this component i need very much, wich is 1N4006 Diode... I dont know wich are the equivalents, so if there are any please tell me...
So, Should i carry on with electronics?
Thanks
Hi Amando,
I'm assuming you got either the Velleman kits, the MUTR kits, or a mixture of both. Successfully building the kits and finding they work first time is a good start, since it shows you can follow instructions well and are capable of using a soldering iron.
If you enjoyed building the kits, then you probably
do have an interest in electronics. That seems to be reinforced by the fact that you have been busy dismantling things, to get more components. This is something that probably
most of the members on this forum have done, I'm still not adverse to stripping EVERYTHING off a scrap PCB. Soon enough, you'll have bags and boxes full of components that you will initially not know what is what, but as your knowledge increases you will find a use for them.
You have the advantage that a lot of the components you can salvage will be identifiable on the internet, allowing access to datasheet downloads & possible example circuits that a particular component is used in. Us older folk didn't have it that easy, but still stuck with it. (I'm not knocking you, BTW)
Anyway, getting back to the kits you bought from Maplin....once you've become bored with them as they are you can always strip them for components. By now, you should already have a selection of common value resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors, potentiometers, switches, visible LED's, IR LED's, LDR's, battery holders, buzzers & probably some IC's - Timers, Op-Amps, etc.
If you are truly interested you will find circuits to understand/build, using what you have to hand. For those circuits where you are short of a few components - do a bit of online research and find likely products that they may be used in. You never know, you may actually have the component, waiting to be sorted from the last PCB you salvaged.....
No-one else on here can give you an answer, as to whether you should continue with electronics, other than yourself. If it is something you want to do, you will find a way to do it.
HTH.