Beginner needs advice about set up?

[gbrown74]

Hi,

I have limited experience with Picaxe and I want to work on some projects with my sons who are 7 and 8 years old. I've got them some Meccano so we can build robots etc. I thought we could start by building a Pinball machine.

I know that this site is purely for Picaxe but I used to work in a school where a 'new competitor' was trying to sell the virtues of their educational version. I would like to know

-what the advantages of Picaxe are over others?
-I will no doubt need some advice on the electronics side and the documentation for this 'other' IC is non-existant (one reason to use picaxe i suppose!) But I wondered if the electronics side is the same regardless of which IC you use
-I'm mainly interested in using servos, step motors and solenoids is this easy enough with picaxe?
-Is circuit wizard enough to program in picaxe?

Thanks in advance

G

 

[Dippy]

Can't help with Circuit Wizard.

Benefits of PICAXE?
Price, value, good forum, easy variety of \BASIC, Free Programme Editor, cheap to make simple circuits.
Servos, stepper and solenoids all covered in Manuals and Forum.
Plenty of photos from Stan showing his favourite breadboards.


Step 1.
Read the Manuals. Look up ... see "PICAXE Manual". It's a dropdown.
Download Manuals and have a peruse.


The basic I/O of all PICAXEs is roughly the same.
Though, when you are ready to take the leap, the nitty gritty can be obtained from the PIC Data Sheets on microchip's webiste.

The Forum can give lots of help on electronics.
My ONLY REQUEST (and I'm begging on my knees) :-
When posting electronics questions, PLEASE:
1. Post a circuit diagram (schematic).
2. If using weird components post a link to a Data Sheet.

We won't do homework (well one or two seem to get carried away) - they know who I mean .
But you'll get lots of assistance (good and bad and downright hilarious) from here.

ENJOY!

 

[eclectic]

@G

1. What kit do you and your lads already own?
Then, folks can give advice as to what you need.
(We love spending other people's money here. )

2. Circuit wizard cannot program a Picaxe.
The Programming Editor can.
Download from the RevEd home page.
And then you'll automatically have the manuals
that Dippy mentions.

3. Did you ever get your LDR/Volume control working?

http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12190

Ec

 

[slimplynth]

Hi,

I have limited experience with Picaxe and I want to work on some projects with my sons who are 7 and 8 years old. I've got them some Meccano so we can build robots etc. I thought we could start by building a Pinball machine.

I know that this site is purely for Picaxe but I used to work in a school where a 'new competitor' was trying to sell the virtues of their educational version. I would like to know

-what the advantages of Picaxe are over others?

The support is almost limitless if you're polite, willing to read and understand.

-I will no doubt need some advice on the electronics side and the documentation for this 'other' IC is non-existant (one reason to use picaxe i suppose!) But I wondered if the electronics side is the same regardless of which IC you use

I guess the Program editor and basic download circuit will/may differ.

-I'm mainly interested in using servos, step motors and solenoids is this easy enough with picaxe?

Yes, the manuals are very well written...

Manual 1
Manual 2
Manual 3

-Is circuit wizard enough to program in picaxe?

Thanks in advance

G

It's nowhere near enough Though to be fair, I haven't compared it to the free Picaxe Program Editor.

From my own point of view I started pretty much like you. Because you've asked means you'll likely succeed in making a Picaxe do exactly want you want it do.

Merry Christmas

Slim

 

[manuka]

Good work on being such a motivational dada,but keep in mind most 7 & 8 yo. will usually have limited attention spans,reading,visualistion,manipulative & tool skills. My dad got me started on Meccano at ~4-5 yo. & I still recall being in awe of the assembly & comprehension techniques involved! My own boys were Lego fanatics (& not wild about Meccano at all)- as adults now they wouldn't be seen dead without their iPhones!

Are your lads interested in mechanics or "son et lumière" (note pun!) ? Consider something like a "PICAXEd" electronic brain box as a starter maybe? Check the "how to" Instructable ! Stan. (father of 4)

 

[gbrown74]

Wow!

There really is lots of support on here. Thanks for all the comments. I think just based on the support picaxe will be the way to go. I haven't got any kit yet apart from the download cable (USB to serial to mini jack plug). From memory you can programme picaxe in a flow chart style can't you? I want my kids to learn something instead of them watching me programme.

I'll read through the manual and see what's what. One consideration is how to make a PCB. I've tried vero and bread board in the past and just cant get my head around it. Any suggestions or ideas how much it would cost to set up for etching my own boards?

 

[Jamster]

Circut wizard wont work with picaxe (i use livewire which is made by the same people). you can use DIPs and immitate the picaxe with switches etc but if you want to simulate a PICAXE circuit properly, with code, buy picaxe VSM. see rev ed wesite.
Jamster

 

[eclectic]

Snip
One consideration is how to make a PCB. I've tried vero and bread board in the past and just cant get my head around it. Any suggestions or ideas how much it would cost to set up for etching my own boards?

Just my opinion. Etched boards for a beginner?

Bricks and mortar versus LEGO .

Welded versus Meccano.

If you make a mistake with a breadboard, or Lego or Meccano,
well you can still use it all again.

PCB?

e

 

[manuka]

gbrown74: Argh-I'd strongly recommend that you forget about PCBs & soldering at such a tender age! Even solderless breadboards are beyond most pre teens I've found.

If your lads are half as smart as you imply then they'd lap up "Snap" connectors. Your job would be to do the module conversion & show them the coding basics (using perhaps an old serial fitted laptop)- I've seen all manner of smart work done by youngsters with these. Well -Kiwi youngsters (& many of them girls) anyway! Stan.

 

[gbrown74]

3. Did you ever get your LDR/Volume control working?

http://www.picaxeforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12190

Ec

I completely forgot about that! I just got my student started on it and helped him but you can only go so far! Even A-level students have very little get up and go.

I am aware of the attention span problem and intend to do a lot of the real work when they are tucked up in bed. Hopefully if we start by just having a few micro switches to register scores and LEDs flashing we can slowly improve the pinball machine until we're using servos and solenoids

I'm getting a bit frustrated with meccano to be honest but I've already got tonnes of the stuff and I reckon it'll allow more versatility . I thought we could even extend it to a mini 'robot wars' type thing.

To be honest my inspiration for this was looking at the lego mindstorms toy and I thought (too expensive) we can do that from scratch and my kids will get more out of it even if I do most of the leg work.

 

[manuka]

Late hours by dad may be admirable, but your sons will have more time than you I'd say. You'd maybe have to justify mechanical pinball when on screen versions abound too! How about considering the just released ~£40 snap connector "Pathfinder"- these even have machine vision (of sorts).

 

[gbrown74]

I've looked at the 'snap' style connector products and although they look good. But, my objective isn't to 'specialise' my kids in electronics rather get them to 'design' stuff as quickly as possible. They are already really creative if I encourage them to look at the big picture they can always specialise if they are interested.

I suppose all I wanted was to have a project board with inputs and output then link up the circuitry necessary to beef up for higher powered outputs. I've just found some of the project boards on the picaxe website. Just the thing!

What I'll be needing at some point is mini circuits that we can plug into inputs or outputs to and existing project board. I'll look through the manuals and see how far I get by myself.

Thankyou for all your advice

 

[papaof2]

If your lads are half as smart as you imply then they'd lap up "Snap" connectors.

I couldn't agree more on the Snap sets at this age. Gave one to a granddaughter for her 8th birthday and it now resides with her most prized possessions - under her bed ;-) Her 6 year old sister is now "borrowing" it to make things - with a strong preference for things that make noise. Probably one of the best investments I've ever made.

Unless your boys are top of the class or very motivated, they will probably have more success with flowchart programming than with PICAXE BASIC. I volunteered at an elementary school (grades K-5, ages 5-10/11) for about 10 years. Most of the 10 year olds could learn some BASIC programming (Windows xx and DOS BASIC - this was a long time ago), but only the top few of the 8 year olds could do it.

There was one girl who was very interested in how the computer worked and put a BASIC program in the autoexec.bat file so that it ran every time the computer was booted. The parents weren't sure whether to be pleased with the girl's knowledge and resoucefulness or to be annoyed with the prank. I voted for being pleased.

John

 

[hippy]

One consideration is how to make a PCB. I've tried vero and bread board in the past and just cant get my head around it.

One tip - it and it took me a long time to come to understand it's the way to go - is to "build small". Put just single or simple things on a single piece of vero-board and then connect each together. If prepared to spend some money, using 0.2" pitch screw connectors makes wiring up very easy.

In many ways that's home-building the next level up from Snap Circuits. I'd take the same approach with PCB's and it fits the 'build it up, rip it down, build something else' style of construction kits.

I've got a whole load of small vero-board pieces built this way and they are really handy. For a 7-segment LED display say, you can build a board with 7-seg and BCD counter, add screw connectors for 0V, +V, Increment and Reset. Once built you don't have to worry about the actual circuit and can just use it as a 'black box' module. Building it becomes easier as there's only a simple circuit to worry about, you don't have to worry about what it's used with or connects to. That probably has advantages if you do get the kids involved in soldering or building circuits.

Another tip; buy some foam sheets and stick to the soldered side to stop shorting. Cheapskate that I am I use polystyrene pizza bases cut to size with masking tape wrapped over the edges

Also, don't forget that not everyone has the aptitude to programming !