OK, I'm all ready to learn. What equipment should I be collecting in preparation for our DIY projects? What do I need? What would be nice? What features are necessary?

Experienced recommendations appreciated. And it wouldn't take much to be more experienced than me



Jason A.

#1: soldering iron. can't imagine a DIYer w/o one.

#2: tweezers. very handy.

#3: safety glasses. yes, sometimes it may be necessary, especially when handling chemicals.

#4: appropriate gloves. if you intend to make your own PCBs this is a must.

#5: ... this intentionally left blank. please feel free to add from here

I'd get a digital multimeter (DMM) next. It's, used to measure voltage, current, resistance, and test continuity. Some even allow you to measure capacitance, inductance, frequency and transistor hfe.

My basic kit which would do for 90% of DIY needs would be :

Soldering iron & solder
Side cutters
Long nose pliers
Multimeter
Solder sucker / desoldering braid

From there, one would look at a power supply, signal generator & oscilloscope for test gear. I would think it best to build a battery powered stompbox effect before buying the test gear, in case the hobby is not for you.

Recoding.org has a good page for beginners here :
http://www.recording.org/e-mag/article_76.shtml

Lots of stompbox & starter info here as well :
http://www.diystompboxes.com/pedals/index2.html

Regards
Peter