Has Miniaturization Killed the Hobby Enthusiast?

[Dave Wakely]

Hey Guys,

Apologies if I'm not meant to mention it (Couldn't find the rules section, mods feel free to push me in the right direction!) But I run a brand new YouTube Channel, Hi-Tech4All, in which we cover technology and Electrical Engineering. In our last episode we discussed the fact that we feel that Miniaturization and Surface Mount Tech have been slowly killing the Hobby Enthusiast, and so I just wanted to get an idea as to this communities view on the subject.

Also whilst I'm at it, can anyone recommend any good Electronics Kits for Beginners? I used to love making Velleman Kits back when I was younger!

All the Best!

Dave

 

[shrtrnd]

I'm nobody, but I'll give my opinion. I'm in my 60's When I was a kid, if I wanted a particular electronic circuit, I had to build it. When my kids were born, I built them electronic toys, but soon found them disinterested in what I made,
because for $5, they could buy a toy that had many more functions. You can call it miniaturization, but I'd call it complexity. When I started school they were teaching vacuum tubes, when I finished school they had stopped teaching transistors and began focusing on integrated circuits. Hobby stuff isn't dead, it's just become more complex and expensive. And frankly, why build something from scratch that's not as good as something you can buy
ready-made for the same price. All the hobby stuff I see lately, is not stand-alone, it's something to be interfaced with a computer in one form or another.
I will add this. My daughter is a school-teacher. She asked me one day, if the other people I work with know how to fix things like I do. I thought about it, and realized most of us are about the same age.
She told me, that she didn' know anybody her age, who knew how to fix electronic things like I did. So I think you're right about the basic hobby interest dying-off. That's where it all starts.

 

[Dave Wakely]

I'd definitely have to agree with you there. Although I'm only in my early 20's, I often tinker with older technologies. The Commodore 64 for example, is a great little computer that I decided to modify slightly by adding a reset button to. It was only a simple push-to-make switch applied to 2 pins on the user port, but it was my first solo tinker with electronics. As you say the cost of parts etc has gone up, hence I've let my interest in electronics remain at a theory level. As a kid I remember sitting down with my Dad to make a hat for a contest at school, mine won due to our use of LEDs which were a great addition to any young man's attire at that age. But nowadays everything is so small and as you say complex, its hard for me to work out which parts would go well in my project, and which ones i even stand a chance at being able to solder!

 

[cjdelphi]

Absolutely not...

Let's take the lm386 amplifier, you can still buy dip16 and now sop16, a lot of the old chips come in smaller and smaller sizes, sure it can put people off but it should not there are many adapters that convert sm chips into regular dip sizes to place on a breadboard...

So why is miniaturization a problem? It's not.. it's actually a lot easier and quicker to populate, repair, replace components with a cheap hot air gun in seconds not minutes.

 

[Dave Wakely]

I agree there are Adapters I have seen, but unless you buy a module that holds the component you want to use, you still need to be able to solder the sm device onto the adapter.

 

[cjdelphi]

http://m.ebay.com.au/itm/251602661617?nav=SEARCH

There are adapters like that for other different types as well

 

[(*steve*)]

To the question "Has miniaturisation killed the hobby enthusiast?" I'd say that it is unlikely that miniaturisation has resulted in the direct deaths of any enthusiasts.

However, in answer to the question you probably meant to ask "Has ministration killed the hobby?", I'd have to answer "A little bit".

In reality, there are many components only available in ridiculously tiny packages, some of which are practically impossible to solder at home (I refer to BGA as a prime example).

However, the larger SMT packages are relatively easy to solder, and actually make PCBs easier in some respects to design (fewer holes to drill). The tools we have today are far better than when I started (I think back to my old soldering irons) and so it is arguably easier to do finer work.

The easy availability of various modules and breakout boards mean that we can use things in projects today that were either top secret military devices or plain not dreamed of when I started. Think of multi-axis G sensors, etc.

 

[GreenGiant]

I do a lot of hobbies with Arduino's which are admittedly very complex projects, and years ago would have been quite massive undertakings if you had to do it with discrete components, even with specific IC's many would have been difficult.

But even though I am only 25, I have a deep appreciation for the art that is discrete logic, I have a set of schematics for a clock (both with 7-segment displays and with vacuum tubes for the numbers) that runs completely on diodes, resistors, and capacitors, I have yet to get around to buying the components and building it, but I really want to soon.

I love fooling around with discrete things, getting back to the roots of electronics, it helps me to appreciate all that I can do with an Arduino, and the like.