Electronics Laboratory

Question

I would like to know if someone could explain to me how to create an arduino electronics laboratory with soldering iron etc. with a low budget <3

Answer 1

There won't be a really complete list, since there are many many tools, that one could use for an electronics/Arduino laboratory. Also low budget is relative, so you might wanna choose out of the below list based on your real budget and the actual price of the parts at your place. Also consider, that many tools can be bought very cheap, but these tools are often bad, which means, that you most likely will buy a better replacement product later (buying cheap means buying twice). Still a low budget can absolutely justify buying cheap at first (some bad tools is better than no tool).

Note: I will use Euro as currency here (as I'm from Germany), which can about be used interchangeably for US Dollar. Your mileage may vary.

• Breadboards: For working with Arduinos you wanna first build your circuits on a breadboard for testing. You should at least get one. I've seen 3-Packs of breadboards on platforms like amazon for about 12€.

• Jumper-Wires (male-male/male-female): These wires with attached dupont jacks will make it easier to prototype on breadboards.

• Colored Wire spools: I have a few spools with 4 different colors of 0.2mm² wire. You can use these for your PCBs and for breadboards. The different colors help to color code your wires for better overview. They cost a few € each.

• Multimeter: A simple multimeter, that can measure voltage, current and resistance and in best case has a continuity check mode. This is a very important base tool for all electronics. I think most multimeters from 15€ up would be ok.

• Pliers and Wire cutter: These are good for pressing and for cutting things. If you train a bit, you can even use the wire cutter for removing the isolation at the end of your wires. Technically a proper wire stripper is better, but I think using a wire cutter for the low budget start is totally ok. A wire cutter can go as cheap as 10-15€ for a decent one.

• Soldering iron: Don't buy one of these soldering irons, that go directly into the mains. Buy a little soldering station with basic temperature control and integrated holder and a sponge for cleaning the tip. It should also have the possibility to change the tip (when you need a smaller/bigger tip or when your tip is no good anymore). A few years ago I got one of these for about 15€. Going a bit higher will benefit you with a better solder station.

• Solder wire: You need to buy the actual solder. You should buy a spool of solder wire with integrated flux. Though most little spools have that. Depending on the exact solder wire it can be useful to also buy some flux (I'm currently using a flux pen), if the solder isn't flowing good enough.

• Third hand with magnifying glass: When soldering it is sometimes helpful, when you can put a part into a clamp (like the third hand) and then use your hands for soldering iron and solder wire. The magnifying glass (which is also hold by the third hand) can help with small parts and inspection of your soldering work. It often costs only a few €, but getting up a bit can give you better durability and stability.

• Perfboard: To build PCBs yourself you can most easily use perfboards. That are simple boards with solder pads for through-hole components. You can solder the components to the and then connect the pads via solder/wires. These are available with each pad not connected to anything else, or already connected like on a breadboard (I use these ones, like in this answer), or in stripes,... Building better PCBs would involve a more complicated process with chemicals or sending the PCB files to a manufacturer.

• Heat shrink tubing/sleeves for wires and cables: To isolate wires, you might want to get correspondingly sizes heat shrink tube. They slide onto the to-isolate place and then get heated with a heat gun or a lighter. They shrink down and so enclose the part for isolation.

• Oscilloscope: This is normally one of the most expensive tools. A decent oscilloscope can cost 250€ and up (into infinity). But you can sometimes get the big old oscilloscopes second hand (for example from ebay) as others upgrade to a digital oscilloscope. Or you can buy an USB oscilloscope, which works with your PC. I got one of these for about 50€. Or there are simple kits for standalone oscilloscopes (with limited capabilities) for 35€ and up. An oscilloscope is important for analyzing analog signals.

• Logic Analyser: This is used to analyze digital signals. Standalone logic analyzers are expensive, but you can get a USB version for about 10€. The opensource software sigrok can then be used to interface the logic analyser. This tools is really really useful in relation to its low price. For example: You can use it as debug tools by setting pins inside your code at special places. That gives a better view on the temporal code flow than the typical Serial output.

• Hot glue gun: Seems pretty basic, but I really often use my hot glue gun. You can fix things, protect them, build a supporting structure,... They only cost a few € plus a few for the glue sticks.

• Scalpel and box cutter: Cutting things is also important and these two are good at it. They only cost a few € and have interchangeable blades. Especially a fresh scalpel blade can make the cutting of light materials really smooth.

That's about, what I can think of currently.

Answer 2

I can't help with the whole laboratory, but I can suggest the free ArduinOscope mini-app to turn an Arduino UNO into an oscilloscope that uses your computer as the display. Here's the link to the Help topic that describes controls, features, and performance: https://www.daqarta.com/dw_rroo.htm. This is a large macro script that comes with my Daqarta software https://www.daqarta.com. Please note that you don't have to purchase anything to use the DaquinOscope; a license is needed (after the trial period) only to use your sound card inputs, not the Arduino. (You also don't need a license to use the sound card outputs, so you can use the free Daqarta Generator to create test signals.)

Enjoy!