Anyone know how to make your own components?

[Test Electrix]

Anyone know how to make resistors and capacitors etc? Looking for a way to cut costs and get individual pieces (or just individual pieces if it's going to be worth the cost)

[Steerpike]

But resistors and capacitors are so cheap anyway!

[unclejed613]

i found a DIY article from the 1920's about DIYing electrolytic caps with aluminum foil, blotter paper and a simple electrolyte formula, but i can't find the link where i got it....

electrolytic capacitors are a derivative of the early 20th century "electrolytic rectifier"

a description of how they are formed can be found here:
http://www.faradnet.com/deeley/chapt_02.htm

i don't know how to find the 1920's article... i have a pdf of it somewhere here... maybe i can upload it to the Radio Experimenter yahoo group


i also found this web page:
http://home.earthlink.net/~lenyr/borax.htm

[tinitus]

The now famous Duelund caps were created that way
He got the raw materials from Jensen

You can make resistors, with resistor wire wound on wood
But Im not sure its very reliable

[poynton]

Somewhere, I have an article from "Wireless World" c1955? which describes how to make your own transistors from a couple of diodes.

I will post it if/when I find it.

Andy

[cliffforrest]

Originally posted by poynton
Somewhere, I have an article from "Wireless World" c1955? which describes how to make your own transistors from a couple of diodes.

I will post it if/when I find it.

Andy

I hope you are joking, right?

Check the article's date!

[AndrewT]

I buy my 1% metal film 600mW resistors from Rapid by the hundred @ ~£1.50/100
Many of their capacitors are also cheap.
My PSU caps were imported from the USA. A couple of Farads in stock

Ask Rapid for a catalogue and use their Rapidonline.com internet service.

Add Farnell, Cricklewood, RS, to your sellers list.

[unclejed613]

making one's own components can be a great learning experience. actually to make a transistor, you would need a crystal detector and two catwhiskers. there has to be a common piece of semiconductor for C-E current to flow. of course such a transistor would be extremely limited in it's voltage and current ratings. i've made resistors from carbon fiber and from the black antistatic foam that ICs sometimes come in. there's also ways to make capacitors from aluminum foil and a variety of dielectrics, such as plastic wrap, waxed paper, etc...

i wouldn't use these components in an amplifier, since their voltage and temperature characteristics are somewhat unpredictable, but they are good learning tools....

[Geek]

I tried rolling my own small (1nF) PIO caps. Got pretty consistent at it too

Now, the temprature stability of them.... meh

Cheers!

[Conrad Hoffman]

It isn't difficult to make low value wire wound resistors of high quality. High values are much more difficult. It's a bit harder to wind film caps, but it can be done. Not sure if I'd trust a homebrew electrolytic. Transistors with decent specifications aren't practical, but there's a video of a guy that makes tubes (in France?) on the net somewhere. And you can certainly wind transformers. When all is said and done, you'll spend far more than if you just bought the parts.