I guess they probably wouldn't still be hanging out here to answer, but has anyone ever lost the DIY bug? It used to be a great way to escape, something I looked forward to and now I just have zero interest in it. I have partially assembled boards that I'd love to hear but I just can't force myself to finish the build.
Yes I recognize it. Covid was bearable as one had time to build (finally). After Covid nearly all news is negative and we are told crisis after crisis. Every day the whip of the climate, genderBS, LHBTQI-BS, energy problems, not enough natural gas to survive a winter, high fuel prices and now water. At least here it is like that and the government is keen on talking us into fear. Then the extremely bad availability of parts and the much higher prices for even simple passive parts. I think it all has an influence.
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I go through waves. Currently not doing anything but eventually the bug will bite again.
I just have too much stuff lying around unfinished, and this has created a great reluctance to do any one thing in particular to completion. I still check in here daily because there's always something interesting going on, but I can't spend any more of the family's inheritance on audio "projects" that just stack up in the basement.
Kick the ball - drag fred. I keep imagining and imagining doing stuff - like a layout for 4 inductors / caps, in what box or on a breadboard, replicating a series of commands sent over a serial interface (so that I can make edits unavailable in the software), to hanging a set of speakers upside down from the rafters in the garage / shop. "Cant start a fire without a spark" activation energy.
If anyone has any to spare, please send my way.
If anyone has any to spare, please send my way.
Once bitten, one’s probably in for almost ever, but it’s probably coming and going. But since it is a flowing, developing thing, there’s no end. At least to me, even though I slowed down things a bit with another procrastinating project…
My energy and enthusiasm has waxed and waned over the past 2 decades. I have periods of frenetic building/modding/testing and then other aspects of life take over for a while. The excessive accumulation of stuff gets cleared out from time to time by giving things away or a fire sale. Inevitably this keeps me sane so not sure I will ever give it up entirely..dB
@invaderzim, as others have said enthusiasm goes up and down. Does for me. Success has a way of motivating the desire for more of the same. My inability to fix my F6 is a drain on my energy.
My hobbies rotate on a scale of years to decades. I haven't actually built anything in a few years, but am still into measurements and test equipment. You know you have a problem when you have to throw away bags of electrolytic capacitors because they've gone bad on the shelf. Right now I'm trying to get caught up on test equipment repairs because so many things have sat unused for so long. I'm also doing microphone calibrations. One gets depressed as ones physical abilities decline with age, not to mention the continuing flow of bad news around the world. I can't comprehend what it would be like to become a refugee when I can barely walk. On a positive note, for 25+ years I've got down on my knees and crawled under my workbench to turn on the various power strips in the back on the floor. A week ago I finally made up a couple boxes for a switch and outlets. Now I can just reach under the front of the bench and turn everything on or off in one snap. It sounds like nothing but it's made a huge difference in my desire to go down there and work on things. Make things easier, brighter or more fun in some way and your interest might come back. At least a bit.
Fully retired as of May, 2021. Gave away many of my amps and a preamp, sold house in CA and moved back to my hometown, Albuquerque, NM.
I've still got the motivation to complete changing the power amp boards in the Marantz 1200 to Leach Amp boards, fix the Tube Labs 45 SET amp (something got damaged during the move, I have a feeling its the power transformer wires or something associated).
Problem is now I bought a 1953 Chevy pickup to restore. Pinched a nerve in my neck and literally have a pain in the neck all day and night. It feels better today after sleeping in the recliner for two nights.
And, I still haven't finished my live steam Shay locomotive...
I've still got the motivation to complete changing the power amp boards in the Marantz 1200 to Leach Amp boards, fix the Tube Labs 45 SET amp (something got damaged during the move, I have a feeling its the power transformer wires or something associated).
Problem is now I bought a 1953 Chevy pickup to restore. Pinched a nerve in my neck and literally have a pain in the neck all day and night. It feels better today after sleeping in the recliner for two nights.
And, I still haven't finished my live steam Shay locomotive...
From time to time I check up on diyAudio members who where frequent posters, but dropped off the forum. Many have said that they have moved on to other pursuits, are taking a long break - or even that their systems have gotten to the point where they don't need any more work! 😧
I'm just starting to work on some things again after a nearly decade long break. Mostly just for a mental distraction. I was considering etching a board for something recently, but after I started thinking about the work involved, my brain short-circuited a bit. I definitely lost what little ambition I had before. Funny things is, I don't really consider myself an audiophile or even a music fan. This hobby was always just about the fun of tinkering with stuff for me.
FWIW, I won't etch a board anymore. Not worth my time and trouble. There are so many places where you can just order small quantities of boards and their quality is better than mine anyway. My time is worth more than the small cost.
The mental distraction was one of the main things I enjoyed about DIY, but I guess maybe now it isn't enough to completely distract me.
Hopefully, at some point it will switch back to being a fun escape from a chore. I keep trying, I get the parts out on the bench and start but then stop.
Hopefully, at some point it will switch back to being a fun escape from a chore. I keep trying, I get the parts out on the bench and start but then stop.
Being self-employed full-time in the DIY audio business, I go through phases where I just keep the business turning over and other phases where I design circuits 14 hours/day. This winter I ended up playing hockey 5-7 days/week, so circuit design to a back seat role. I suspect I'll ramp back up on the design side over the summer when hockey reduces to 2-3 games/week, assuming I can get parts to design with.
I sometimes feel a bit guilty for "not working" (i.e., just keeping the business going but not designing anything new). But that's probably just my general neuroticism at play. I find that it's easy to lose track of the broader perspective when I just keep pushing my nose against the grindstone. Sometimes it's helpful to take a break and actually think about what to do next.
I've had electronics as a hobby since I was 4-5 years old. Around age 12 I dove into computer programming as well. I lost interest in programming once Windoze 3.1 became mainstream and took a break from building audio circuits when I moved to North America in 1999. That was mostly a function of not having a good lab setup at home. Once I got my tools moved across the pond (2006ish if I remember right) I picked the audio hobby up again.
While audio took a backseat role in 1999-2006ish I developed a strong interest in landscape photography. That was my main hobby then and I became good enough to attract some attention from professional photographers. I had a lot of fun travelling to pretty places to take pictures. I don't do much landscape photography these days. The photography skills come in handy for my product photography, though.
So I suppose it isn't unusual for hobbies to wax and wane oven time. That's been the case for me anyway. 🙂
Tom
I sometimes feel a bit guilty for "not working" (i.e., just keeping the business going but not designing anything new). But that's probably just my general neuroticism at play. I find that it's easy to lose track of the broader perspective when I just keep pushing my nose against the grindstone. Sometimes it's helpful to take a break and actually think about what to do next.
I've had electronics as a hobby since I was 4-5 years old. Around age 12 I dove into computer programming as well. I lost interest in programming once Windoze 3.1 became mainstream and took a break from building audio circuits when I moved to North America in 1999. That was mostly a function of not having a good lab setup at home. Once I got my tools moved across the pond (2006ish if I remember right) I picked the audio hobby up again.
While audio took a backseat role in 1999-2006ish I developed a strong interest in landscape photography. That was my main hobby then and I became good enough to attract some attention from professional photographers. I had a lot of fun travelling to pretty places to take pictures. I don't do much landscape photography these days. The photography skills come in handy for my product photography, though.
So I suppose it isn't unusual for hobbies to wax and wane oven time. That's been the case for me anyway. 🙂
Tom
That pretty much describes my whole life. My interests in electronics and audio was always variable, depending on available income, knowledge of electronics, and ADHD.
The big hump of what more advanced audio amplifier design I could build depends on understanding potential designs and finally selecting one. I've been stuck there for a couple of decades. I've got a couple of Heathkit restoration projects (AA-1800 and AJ-1510a) I'm probably going to start working on this year, mostly because I'm literally getting old and may reach a point of losing the hobby altogether. It's time to start the process of letting go of possessions, but in a controlled way.
I still listen to classical music virtually all the time. But that's a passive activity in most senses. I still want to be >doing< something.
The big hump of what more advanced audio amplifier design I could build depends on understanding potential designs and finally selecting one. I've been stuck there for a couple of decades. I've got a couple of Heathkit restoration projects (AA-1800 and AJ-1510a) I'm probably going to start working on this year, mostly because I'm literally getting old and may reach a point of losing the hobby altogether. It's time to start the process of letting go of possessions, but in a controlled way.
I still listen to classical music virtually all the time. But that's a passive activity in most senses. I still want to be >doing< something.
Populating boards with non static-vulnerable components mostly done; waiting for weather warm and humid enough not to be scared of handling semiconductors. Also, getting warm enough to work in the large open-to-air shed that has my drill press...but with that comes a bunch of yard and garden work. AND deciding on late-in-the-game parts and tools like drilling/tapping stuff (and practicing and getting confident using them), connectors, etc. Whenever I've gotten a big project done, I've told myself that now I had my forever system--but something else comes a long a couple years later, like it did this time.
I used to build more circuits than I do now when the local radio station here still had an analogue studio. When a disc-jockey said something, the signal would go through a microphone, through a microphone preamplifier that I had built, through a voice processor, through a downward expander that I had built, through a mixing desk that I had repaired and modified many times, through a matrix switch, through a correction filter that I had built, through an amplifier that someone else from the station had built, through a bare copper line and through a transmitter and antenna. Studio monitoring was done through a QUAD-405 amplifier that I had repaired and modified. When you played a record, a special distribution amplifier I had built sent the signal to the main mixing desk as well as a small DJ mixing desk.
Nowadays we have a digital studio with visual radio, and the only electronic thing that still comes from me is the doorbell (two state variable filters with a high Q and an amplifier driving a small loudspeaker:
loudspeaker connected to P2, switch to P1 pins 3 and 4, 12 V supply to P1 pins 1 and 2).
Nowadays we have a digital studio with visual radio, and the only electronic thing that still comes from me is the doorbell (two state variable filters with a high Q and an amplifier driving a small loudspeaker:
loudspeaker connected to P2, switch to P1 pins 3 and 4, 12 V supply to P1 pins 1 and 2).
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