Written by knopsl

my essential setup

I guess for beginners it is interesting what tools and materials are most frequently used. I cannot speak for anyone but myself but these are the types of products I use in almost any build.

Disclaimer: there are no products linked and I don’t want to do that because I don’t want to make any money with this.

This is my weapon of choice! The cost effective Weller WE 1010 – I tried cheaper ones but the build quality is way better with higher priced soldering irons that’s for sure
generic multimeter – usually ones in a price range between 30€ and 50€ (I guess this applies to $ as well?) is good enough for a beginner.
variable powersupply, this is not an essential and you could get away with two 9V block batteries for testing most stuff but I like the convenience it offers. It is really noisy tho!
small parts magazine to store most used components like sockets, diodes, resistors, caps, cables, you name it.
clipper – don’t ever use on anything else but copper/alu wire!!! they are very fragile (soft plastic is okay)
my most used model of plier, you can get sets/kits. Never used any other model tho.
cheap breadboard kit for beginners alright. Later on maybe too shabby
Boxcutter – secret tip- for cutting alu panels with max 2mm thickness
scalpel – used most for fixing wrong connections on stripboard when everything else fails 😅
Lead free solder – some hate it, I can’t find anything wrong with it

All little snippets go in here to keep the workspace clean and safe – not only once did I step into small parts and hurt my foot

So this is really most of the stuff I use. Other than that materials are mostly 24AWG hookup wire and 0.5mm solid core wire for connections on stripboard or protoboard.

About the board used, my preferred board is protoboard because I mostl use point to point soldering for bigger projects. I break the schematic up into manageable portions and the connect the boards woth header pins and sockets later on. For small projects I find stripboard to be easier because I usually don’t need as many cables for that bit that really depends on the project itself.

If you’re missing anything here let me know 🤔