HELPING HAND

INTRODUCTION:

Welcome to this new edition which is an extension to your favorite magazine Techno
Te(a)ch. This edition will now cover some practical difficulties which are faced in the
projects that are released lately. So hope this method of providing some very practical tips
will help you to accomplish the works with in a short span of time and also maintaining the
‘standards’as well. Alright, now let’s go to this month’s tips and errata!

BREAD BOARD:

The bread board is a very basic instrument that is used to test a circuit which is at
hand. It is very important because connections can be easily made and repaired in no time.
The bread board has some basic ‘rules’to make its working smooth else, it will turn out to be
an ultimate time consumer (not to mention patience).

If u closely observe, the bread board has three main sections. The first section is the
power rail. The power rail is located on the extreme ends of the bread board, thus, two such
rails can be found per board. The usage of this rail can be used to supply different voltages to
different parts of a same circuit. For example, an amplifier sometimes requires four sets of
power supply. That is both positive and negative (+15V and -15V to +21V and -21V). If this
is over your head then read the following paragraph carefully.

The power rail is such interconnected that all the cells (that is what the small sockets
to insert wires are called) are one single line connected. There will be a break in the rail
indicating that the rail connection is broken. Thus, there are two sets are rail per row .The
rails have 4 sections (totally) in a bread board. If your purpose is not using more than two
power ratings then a rail can be connected by simple wire thus making the entire rail as one
single connection. Now use this to supply the bread board from the rectifier circuit which was
published in the previous editions. Connect in such a manner that the top rail carries the
positive supply (+5V) and the bottom rail carries (GND). Do the similar modifications to the
bottom rail. Never use the cells to power your circuits. It will confuse you at later stages
when the circuit grows. Always use the power rails to supply power. You can follow the
same procedure for the rail on bottom of the bread board.

The second section is the normal connection system. It is seen that the bread board
has columns and columns of cells. Each column is interconnected; it can be used as a single
interconnected wire. Totally 5 cells form a column. Use it wisely to avoid misconnections.
Never use too much wires it can confuse you. Instead use the component leads to
establish connections. Not only it gives a very good look, also it enhances the working of the
circuits (it’s called response. Ever heard of external disturbance or noise?).

The third basic is the IC connection. There is a mid line that divides the board into
two halves. Use it to fix the IC on either side of the board staying along the axis of the mid
line. Then the IC can be powered from the rail and connections can now be made.
WIRING: SKILL OR CHALLENGE?

It really depends what is your age in wiring. The length of wire stripping, the length
of the wire both changes the connection pattern. There is also a method in stripping the wire.
Being a single stranded wire it’s quite easy to strip it. If it’s a multi stranded wire then the job
becomes tedious. Better get some practice and improve your accuracy, depth of cutting,
length required, and many more.

The cutting device is called a wire stripper. It has two handles and a very sharp
cutting edge. There is also a small gap in the cutting edge. Place the wire in the small gap.
Use your fore finger to limit the depth. To use it put the fore finger between the two handles
and apply force slowly. The spring will resist your force try to push the handle and feel the
depth using the fore finger. Now the sheath is cut. In order to slice it, without releasing the
grip slide it out. The length should be optimum to insert in the cell. And the core should not
be damaged by the cutting tool else the wire may be struck in the cell unable to remove
forever. It can be justified that the wiring is both skill and challenge. Use your skill to face
the challenge.

ERRATA!

This month’s decade circuit is posing some problems. In the clock circuit using IC
NE555 please apply the following changes: connect a 1000 microfarad, 16V electrolyte
capacitor. Remember the capacitor has polarity so connect the positive side to pin 2 and
ground side to pin 1 which is already grounded (the ground in the capacitor is indicated with
a very thick line on its wall). Instead of using 1K resistance between pins 7 and 2 use 10K
resistance. In order to vary the clock frequency manually use 100K preset instead of the 1meg
preset. Also use a 1k resistor in series with the preset to limit current flow. For the preset
short the lower and the middle arm to use it wiper mode. (See circuit below). If you still
encounter problems, then change the capacitor to a 3.3 microfarad, 16V electrolyte capacitor
(same connection pattern as above), R2 to 3.9K and preset to 10K and retain 1K resistance.
Also connect a 0.01microfarad capacitor of ceramic disk type (no polarity) between pin 5 and
pin 1 (that is ground GND).

The LEDs in the decade counter will glow randomly if the clock input is absent. So
check the clock circuit for its speed.

If there is any problem hindering your work please do report about that on our email id
eee0610@gamil.com or post a comment on www.eee0610.blogspot.com . all the beset for
your projects!
1000µ, 16V

0.01µ