Electronics Projects?

So when I was growing up we had an equivalent of Popular Mechanics magazine that printed all kinds of schematics for projects and I used to build all kinds of things. 25 years gone by and I haven't really touched anything of that sort, until recently someone asked me to assemble their Nixie clock kit they purchased but it ended up way over their head. Basically couple of PCBs, handful of parts, microcontroller and a Nixie tubes. It was pretty fun putting it together. Then I went to adjust the voltage to the tubes, shorted something out with my multimeter leads and then spent 3 days troubleshooting this damn thing. Honestly, I had more time troubleshooting than assembling it. (The one with green lights and a case)

After that I bought another Nixie clock, for myself. This was another fun one to work on. (Blue lights no case)

Also made a light out of an old Craftsman drill, but not much electronics there....

But now I am looking for more projects. This stuff is fun and I want to do more. I spent couple of days researching Arduino stuff and other things, but don't really see anything really compelling. I want to build things that are usable. I am bored and I want to build shit. Any suggestions?

 

Very Nice. My Uncle and I used to build the wood projects in Popular Mechanics during the summers I used to visit him when I was young.

 

I'm of the generation that started off with the Radio Shack Tandy 150-1 electronics kits - i was just slightly too young and unfocused as a 10 year old in the late 1970's to get much out of it, but i remember the kits well.

I just picked up a couple of Arduino boards, shields, and miscellaneous devices to start playing with. I don't know if it's going to work, but i picked them up with the idea of building up a couple of touch-screen interface devices, to operate remotely located radios and other devices located elsewhere in the cab. The plan is definitely long term, and multi-faceted - learn electronics theory in depth, learn some coding to operate it all, and above all, to get creative.

Thought is to have perhaps a couple of 3.2" capacitance touchscreens and associated Arduino boards stashed into the radio cut-out of an Arb Hilux overhead console. One would take care of sensor gathering and display inside and outside of the vehicle, and the other would be responsible for remote operation of devices operated by remote switch relays using an on-screen menu. Remotely operated radio (PA system) would be located inside of the Hilux overhead console itself, and inaccessible.

I'm sure i'm reinventing the wheel - however, it's the exercise that counts.

Sorry the photo below is so murky - i was trying to take a low-light photo, squeezing the console with my knees, holding an arduino unit in place with one hand, and fumbling with the camera with the other.

 

That Nixie clock is sweet! I'm already shopping for one... Would look sweet on my desk. Thank you for this thread and my random find for the week

 

I grew up in the late 50’s and early 60’s reading the same magazines, saved a bunch of them for years but had trash them when I went into the service.

Fortunately, there is a website that has a bunch of Popular Electronics in PDF format.

http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Popular-Electronics-Guide.htm

I still like rehabing old Shortwave radios and building old tube projects.