I received my Components Pack 2 today... very well done. I can't believe I'm seeing all those hard to find (or at least, slow to find and receive) parts in one place... especially the 5V regulators of which Radio Shack doesn't seem to carry more than 1 at a time. Grrr.

Anyway... rather than go through the pack, I took some video and threw together this little 8-minute overview. Questions about it? Just let me know. I'll be taking it with me (along with the book) to the WorldFest International Robotics Competition being held in Atlanta this week, Wed to Sat... if you're in Atlanta, come by the LEGO booth and say hello.

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So, I got my hands on the Make: Electronics Components Pack 1. In my best Vader voice - "Impressive."

First off, the case - hands down, this is one of the nicest storage containers I've ever seen. I've asked MakerSHED to consider selling these individually - they're that nice. (If you agree, add your voice to mine and email MakerSHED and ask them to put them up for sale.)

The pack comes with an inventory sheet, complete with labels for the individual bins and what you'll find inside them. As you can see, this thing is packed - over 350 pieces. I really do NOT want to add up the cost of all the items I purchased that are found in this kit - for $99.00, I'm sure it'll make me cry a bit. Big man-sized tears. If you are serious about following through the book and performing the experiments for Chapters 1 and 2, you'll save a bundle by buying this pre-loaded components pack.

The bottom portion of the case holds many of the larger items - spools of wire, breadboard, AC adapter, and more. The kit even comes with pre-trimmed patch wire - with heavy 22 or 20 gauge end tips exposed. I wish I'd had these when I started! You also get a whole bunch of patch cables (with gator clips on end) - way more than I purchased initially. It looks like the team at MakerSHED really put some thought into what to include that would make the reader's experiences better.

The top portion of the case contains all the smaller bits and pieces -resistors, potentiometers, capacitors, and more. There's even an X-acto knife for trimming away the walls of the spare relay - YES, they included a spare relay just as Chapter 2, Experiment 7 requires!

You've got fuses, batteries, battery holders, those crazy-difficult-hard-to-find 6027 programmable unijunction transistors, and a whole slew of LEDs.

(And for those who pre-ordered, they've thrown in some extras that you'll enjoy... )

The first thing I thought of when I inventoried my kit was how easy this is going to be for me, as a parent, to introduce my son to electronics one day... (if he's interested). Then I realized that, if I were a teacher, this would be something to recommend to those students (and their parents) who show an interest in electronics. Finally, I realized how easy MakerSHED has made it to organize classes around this material - we've got the book and now the components kits - I have a feeling we'll be hearing about "Make: Electronics" classes popping up soon.

If you've ordered the kit, let us know your own thoughts on the pack. And when I get my hands on Pack 2, I'll be sure to let you know my initial thoughts as well...

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I gathered the Chapter 4 components and tools from a variety of sources.

Below, I've included description, part #, price, and where purchased.

Looking online, I paid way more than I should have for the various chips, but I was able to obtain them locally and visually inspect them. I also got a 20 minute education in other chips, so I figure the extra I spent was worth the extra information... future chip purchases, however, will likely come from Mouser.com where I think I see the best prices... please feel free to chime in about what you've found in terms of prices.

Components

ACK Supply for all chips below:

555 Timer chips x10, CA555E RCA, $0.80 each
$1.59 each for
CD74HC00E RCA
CD74HC02E RCA
CD74HX04E RCA
CD74HC08E RCA
CD74HC32E RCA
CD74HX86E RCA

CD4026BE RCA, $2.59 each

7492, $2.05 each
7406, $1.67 each
74LS27, $1.59 each

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Radio Shack Online items below

Item: 2761995
Description: 8-Pin Retention Contact
Quantity: 5 @ $.48

Item: 2761999
Description: 14-Pin Retention Contact
Quantity: 5 @ $.99

Item: 2761998
Description: 16-Pin Retention Contact
Quantity: 5 @ $.99

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AllElectronics.com items below

12-key numeric keypad - KP-12 (12 BUTTON KEYPAD - (KP-12)) $4.95

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Mouser.com components below

638-HLMPK150 Red LED, 660nm, $0.18 each

604-BC56-11EWA,HI EFF RED DIFFUSED numeric display, $2.73 each

Latching Relay 769-DS2E-SL2-DC5V 2A 5VDC DPDT, $4.86 each

10K Trimmer 652-3266Z-1-103LF 1/4" 10Kohms 10% $2.94 each

Voltage Regulator 512-LM7805CT 1A Pos Vol Reg , $0.37 each

Tactile Switches (already purchased for earlier chapter)


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Radio Shack Store components below

100K Potentiometer, 271-092 $2.99 each
10K Potentiometer, 271-1715 $2.99 each
5K Potentiometer (already purchased for earlier chapter)

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