I'm a mechanical engineer and i have recently bought two dc powersupplies, two digital multimeters and an oscilloscope to experiment with electronics. Plan is to buy some more devices like a function generator etc. I also bought literature about electronics. Yesterday i saw a youtube film about the decline of hobby electronics.
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I'm not so happy now knowing that i bought stuff and they will probably be useless in a couple of years. I say this because nowadays you only have small SMD devices on pcb's. They are way too small to work on. There are not much individual components on pcb's anymore. All the components are packed in a small black package (microcontrollers etc) and the small packages are more and more custom made for a specific device, like a TV or so. I think it's very difficult and useless to troubleshoot individual SMD components. In most cases you can replace the whole (very cheap) pcb board. There are also not much shops anymore that sell electronic components. At some point they will stop making through the hole components. In five years i think you will not find individual transistors or capacitors on a pcb board anymore. If you find them, they will be so small. Question is, do i have to invest in more equipment if troubleshooting and repair is, replacing pcb boards and modules in future.
Many thanks
Link:
I'm not so happy now knowing that i bought stuff and they will probably be useless in a couple of years. I say this because nowadays you only have small SMD devices on pcb's. They are way too small to work on. There are not much individual components on pcb's anymore. All the components are packed in a small black package (microcontrollers etc) and the small packages are more and more custom made for a specific device, like a TV or so. I think it's very difficult and useless to troubleshoot individual SMD components. In most cases you can replace the whole (very cheap) pcb board. There are also not much shops anymore that sell electronic components. At some point they will stop making through the hole components. In five years i think you will not find individual transistors or capacitors on a pcb board anymore. If you find them, they will be so small. Question is, do i have to invest in more equipment if troubleshooting and repair is, replacing pcb boards and modules in future.
Many thanks
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