My uncle has come up trumps and put together a fantastic box of electronics bits for ds1 and ds2 to solder together.
For them to get started I need to get:
Some 'boards'. They want to start doing tiny little simple circuits, so we need tiny boards, or ones that are easy to cut up. Do we need stripboards, or PCBs, SRBP matrix board or what? Could you do me a link to the appropriate products.
I also want to buy some LEDs as they are fun apparently. Will this set be OK?
Do we need 'pins' as a book we have says they are useful?
Also what is the best way to attach batteries. If we put pins on and then croc clips at the end of wires to a battery we could fasten/unfasten the battery easily. Is this a good idea?
In the past ds2 has assembled relatively complex 'electronics kits', but they are so complex he isn't actually learning what things do/how things work. So he/we actually want to start from scratch: build a simple circuit with a light. Then add a switch, see what happens. Then add a capacitor, see what happens. etc, etc. But with the 'fun' of soldering rather than just assembling.
Do we need any 'wires' at all? Or can he just solder round the corners, between the rows, or whatever?
The maplin catalogue talks about 'etching' and so on. What's that about, and does it need to affect us at this sort of level?
The book we have is useless. Do you think this would be any better?
He does have a 'special screwdriver' and also a current tester or something that his uncle included as being essential. Is there anything else you can think of that he might need to get started?
Many thanks!