Electronics Merit Badge: Class Night #3

We've been taking some of the Boy Scouts in Troop 6 through the Electronics Merit Badge. This night, we built the Electronics Merit Badge kit from www.electronicsmb.com, and did requirements testing. 

Thanks to the Scouts - they were all prepared and did a GREAT job soldering their kits AND with their requirements testing. By the end of the night, we had 6 Scouts who had fully completed the requirements!

Thanks to the Parents who not only purchased the materials and gave their boys the opportunity, but also supervised their Scouts and helped with other Scouts.

Thanks to FamiLAB for loaning the soldering equipment, and to the FamiLAB members that helped prepare for the classes and instruct / supervise soldering.

Thanks to my friend and co-worker Jeff for also helping instruct, supervise, and take some photos (hey look - I'm in a photo!)

A quick inspection of a completed kit. This process allowed me to ask questions - they were completing requirements without even realizing it :)

I used this kit from Radio Shack to demonstrate Binary using a BDC to 7-segment LED integrated circuit...

Showing off his completed kit...

He learned to solder AND built his kit AND did his requirements testing on the same VERY LONG night - Love the determination!

This scout also learned to solder, built his kit, and completed his requirements testing. Great preparation!

Electronics Merit Badge: Kit from electronicsmb.com - Part 2

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I'm teaching the Electronics Merit Badge for Troop 6. Since my nephew is staying with us for the summer, I gave him the option of taking the class - and he did. He soldered his kit today, after doing "Intro to Soldering" last week.

More detailed step-by-step information can be found on this post...

He built the entire kit himself, I gave him a few tips, then left him to build it. He's now ready to build his next kit, we will have to find something fun for him - given his age and amount of texting, he needs the MintyBoost that holds two CAR batteries to keep his phone charged - so a big USB charger might be just the thing...

Don't tell him that I caught him smiling on camera :)

Electronics Merit Badge: Kit from electronicsmb.com

I'm teaching the Electronics Merit badge for Troop 6 this summer. We will be building a kit from www.electronicsmb.com to meet the requirements. My son is part of the class and we did his kit as a practice run... He'd only been awake for a few minutes that morning, but he was ready to go!

If you are building this kit, the instructions are here: http://electronicsmb.com/ElectronicKit.htm - look for "Class 4: Building Kit / Soldering"

Opening the bag...

Parts sorted...

Instructions ready...

The ATTINY ready to be soldered...

Carefully soldering IC pins, and commenting that Dad's Hakko iron is MUCH better than the Harbor Freight iron he started with...

Its not in his mouth, just the photo angle...

Inserting the LEDs - with the correct polarity

Inspecting the LEDs to make sure they are flush...

all the LED leads are bent over...

Someone just learned that LED leads stay hot for a while... He's not letting me see that it hurt... I feel bad, but it is an essential part of learning - I did not hold his hands - he built it himself.

Sometimes the solder gets stuck in the joint - don't remove the iron and the solder at the same time - keep the iron on the joint for another second after removing the solder...

Soldering in the resistors...

Finishing up the with the capacitor and switches...

All components installed and soldered...

Battery pack soldered - the only component that is soldered on this side of the board...

Mounted in the box...