Mike D. @ ITP

It’s fun in my thesis that I get to assemble other people’s kits, evaluate them for usability, and then abuse the final product for my own methods.

(Note to self: find job in R&D in near future.)

I started by ordering a pile of kits from the folks at Anykits — they have outstanding prices and a website that’s actually easily searchable (though, being located in India, their shipping is a bit pricey). They have a tiny board for nearly every application (amplifiers, switches, light solutions, sensors, etc.) and they aim to educate people while giving them a decent product.

Clearly aimed at hobbyists, the kits include all the parts, a printed circuit board, and a printed schematic with the layout and a a part list. It’s pretty easy to figure out what goes where and in what direction as long as you understand the mega-basics of components (and if you don’t Wikipedia will get you up and running quickly).

The board is spacious enough to not be too hard to work with (maybe still a little tough on absolute newbies, but hey), but still small enough for a lot of projects.

There are a lot of odd-ohm (to me) resistors, but they’re each also only used once, which is smart! I’m not sure if that’s due to the fact that they’re hoping to confuse people less or simply that the circuit works best that way — not all circuits ship like this, but it’d be smart of them to do so I’d think.

The holes on the board are actually a little too big for the wires and have small pads, so soldering isn’t as easy as it might be. Still it’s not difficult, and things are nicely spaced out so that people who aren’t used to cramped soldering conditions shouldn’t have a problem.

You’d have to know:

* Which side on caps is positive.

* Which resistor is which (i.e. know resistor colors)

* Basic schematic signs

* Basic soldering skills

But all in all, this kit was easy to do, and it left me with a nice-looking finished product. Granted, it turned out to be of little help to me for my audio work, but that’s not their problem.