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How do you classify a project a DIY?

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#61
I'm thinking of any other place you see a screw terminal... I twist the wire into itself around the screw... Once I used a bolt and a bunch of washers and nuts to make a "bus connector"... Without the twisting it wouldn't have worked 🙂
 
#62
The only receptacles that work well with stranded wire are the ones in the 2nd pic of post 56. The only other way that sort of works is to not strip it all the way - leave the little sleeve on the end, twist the wires tight, then put it under the screw. Not sure if it meets code that way, but it appears safer than having it come untwisted as you tighten the screw.
 
#63
Burnedfingers said:
If you want to start analyzing threads there is probably no purpose for any thread that is posted on any forum and probably no need for a forum period or for that matter any forum. Simple....if you don't like it then simply ignore the thread and move onto something else. You have choice and that is to participate in a thread or ignore a thread.

Its real simple even for the simple... read the title of the thread... "How Do You Classify a Project Diy"

I didn't have any hidden meanings nor did I hint or mention that certain people don't belong on the forum so quit trying to read something into this that simply isn't there.
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Since you won’t clarify your purpose in starting this thread to begin with, then others can form their opinions about it.

And it appears to me that your purpose is to disqualify certain types of projects as not legitimately being DIY despite the fact that many members here are engaged in precisely those types of efforts.

The obvious consequence of that is those people who build a project based on someone else’s design are not real DIYers and therefore do not belong on this forum.

I don’t see how it can be interpreted in any other way.
 
#64
Burnedfingers said:
You could ask a number of people and get a variety of answers. Having glanced at the RCA Tube Receiving manual in question my thoughts are it contains theoretical tube applications. In my opinion again I would make the assumption that these are unfinished concept ideas needing to be fine tuned or finished to the point of actually being able to use the design in question. I personally haven't seen anything come out of the RCA book that is 100% workable without some finalization. So if I were to have an opinion on it I would assume that someone opened up the book selected a tube as most of us do and used the circuit published in the book as a basis for a usable design. Not unlike opening up a PDF file on say a 6L6GC tube and following possible suggestions for usage along with suggested bias, plate voltages and so on.

So the big question...Do I consider it DIY? It would appear to me the person that put the project together DIYed it. He took a conceptual idea expanded upon it made it stable and workable and built a finished project around it. Now, if you a person that came across this article put it together I personally would say that it would be a copy of what so and so did in the article published in such and such book. I could expand on it to say that a person DIYed this project based on the original that was published on such and such date in such and such book. Did the second person actually DIY it? Well, in my opinion they completed a project based on an original and that does warrant credit. Now, if they redesigned say the power supply or incorporated changes to the circuit then in my opinion there is more credit due as they expanded on a design modified it and made it better then I would consider it DIY. I guess the question is "How Do You Classify a Project DIY??"
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So, someone sees a tube data sheet in a manual, does specific scratch designs for driver, power stage, and power supply, calculates all the pertinent circuit parameters, builds the circuit as a prototype and tests it's performance, then tweaks the design and again builds it in a existing enclosure (one which he also made from scratch), then after testing and listening to the amp for a while, revisits the design and modifies it to achieve specific articulated goals, builds it again, with these modifications, in another fully original and hand built enclosure, tests and documents the performance and performances deltas for the new amp, and publishes all on the information a web site, and you begrudgingly admit "It would appear to me the person that put the project together DIYed it"?

"... appear..."! Excuse my impertinence but you seem to have set the bar for what constitutes "DIY" breathtakingly high. So, by your own admission, If someone copied the circuit off the website, built the circuit in an enclosure of their choosing, tested and finished the amp; that would not qualify as DIY because they didn't modify the circuit? So people that make anything from a schematic or plans don't qualify as DIY?

I can only say that it's a good thing for the DIY community that most people don't set the bar quite so high.
 
#65
Last time I checked DIY meant DO it yourself.

Not even remotely implied to "design" although obviously it does not hurt either.

One important parameter is: "going from unusable to usable", even a bunch of parts pulled from a "Kit box" which of course "do nothing" to something usable and functional THANKS to builder action.

In the 20´s it included winding own tuning coils, chokes, transformers, capacitors; up to the 60´s drilling and hand punching chassis (those wonderful Greenlee punches), up to a decade ago purchasing discrete components from various suppliers and sometimes making own PCBs .... it still goes from "random useless parts" (for an end user) to "a working product".
 
#69
Perhaps Burnedfingers was not on Santa's list and got no presents, so he felt smirky and condescending, or perhaps he wanted mods to define clearly who is the diy audio member and who is not. In any case, i am dropping my diy membership, as i never designed anything myself. All i ever did was copy, yes, i am not worthy, i do copy, and steal. I steal any schematics i find on internet interesting, i try it, compare it, listen to it, evaluate it, but i never design anything of my own. I am not worthy. No more post from me, i am returning my diy badge.
 
#70
adason said:
Perhaps Burnedfingers was not on Santa's list and got no presents, so he felt smirky and condescending, or perhaps he wanted mods to define clearly who is the diy audio member and who is not. In any case, i am dropping my diy membership, as i never designed anything myself. All i ever did was copy, yes, i am not worthy, i do copy, and steal. I steal any schematics i find on internet interesting, i try it, compare it, listen to it, evaluate it, but i never design anything of my own. I am not worthy. No more post from me, i am returning my diy badge.
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I'm afraid that you are going to have to get in line in order to turn in your DIY badge, because it appears that Burnedfingers has cause a lot of us to have to do the same as well.
 
#72
So is installing a door DIY? Or is it just following instructions? Does building a deck qualify only if you design it yourself? I don't think I've ever heard that replacing spark plugs yourself doesn't qualify as DIY.

Seems to me if you do some work you'd pay for (or buy completed), it's DIY. Some might be impressed by my DIY projects; I'm in awe of many others I've seen.
 
#74

How do you classify a project a DIY?​


Evidently I gave some here more credit than they deserve. I thought I explained my thoughts on DIY which as my opinion is allowed. However some don't agree and are easily offended. Do I care? No I don't. If it gives you a warm feeling to copy someone else's work and call it DIY then go ahead and do so. What was my purpose someone said.... the last time I knew I had a right to post a topic just like anyone else here and since I didn't violate forum rules what is your problem? I struck a nerve with some here. Too bad.

If you want to buy an ebay Chinese AE-1 board for example which is a copy of the Cary AE-1 board stuff it and put it together and call it DIY then go ahead and do so and feel great about it. After all you did it yourself....DIY. The true sense of DIY my opinion and an opinion that I am entitled to does not feel stuffing the chinese board constitutes a DIY project. Like I said... MY OPINION.

The purpose of a thead any thread is to promote conversation and the exchange of ideas on a given subject and unfortunately as this thread clearly shows this isn't possible. Maybe I should have posted a different topic maybe one like "Whats the best Capacitor?" or some other nonsense that would have been readily acceptable or would it.
 
#75
Burnedfingers said:
The purpose of a thead any thread is to promote conversation and the exchange of ideas on a given subject and unfortunately as this thread clearly shows this isn't possible.
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Actually, that is exactly what has happened (and a bonus sidetrack into opinions of terminations).

Many alternatives to your definition have been proposed and their basis explained. Granted, some have taken issue with your definition, but that is a part of discussion and exchange of ideas surely?
 
#76
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and if your going to follow code that excess of say what..., a 1/2 inch of exposed conductor is a no-no...
 
#77
as to the original post... and yes just my opinion if i take a commercial product and replace components to produce an upgrade it's DIY...

and i've gone done the route of making my own PC boards, if someone else has to deal with ferric chloride or whatever is used to etch the board i'll pay them...so long as it doesn't wind up in the water i consume...oh wait that's connective/common...so point to point with wire...
 
#80
To get back to the semantic discussion, as "it" is poorly defined, does designing but never building something count as DIY? Or starting to design something and then stopping while the design isn't even close to being finished yet? If it does, then I'm better at DIY than I thought.
 
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