A Kit a Month from pocketmoneytronics

I arrived home today to find a parcel on my doormat. I’m always excited by parcels; what can it contain? It turns out that this is something I have been looking forward to for several weeks, Andrew Gale’s A Kit A Month Soldering Subscription from pocketmoneytronics.co.uk. I previously bought a little Christmas Tree circuit from Andrew late last year via Kickstarter so was very enthused by the idea of receiving small kits of parts month by month to learn more about electronics. Hence, I signed up to his new Kickstarter without delay.

The first kit is Nellie the nine volt robot.

Nellie comprises a small PCB, two green LEDs, three resistors, a diode and battery clip with a couple of wires attached. This is a very good kit because it does not try to overdo anything and is presented with easy to understand instructions. Plus, for myself, it is the first time I’ve encountered a discrete diode as a component so there was immediately something to learn.

In the photo below the kit of parts for Nellie is to the left of the battery holder. Andrew has also included a selection of parts to experiment with LEDs and a 7-segment display. The green square in the photograph is sandpaper, thoughtfully included to smooth off the PCB edges. It’s little touches like this that are great to see.

AKitAMonth1

Also included is a great double-sided newsletter that carefully explains the components in a friendly (and not text-book dry) manner, and includes links and suggestions for further things to try out with the two kits.

Nellie was straightforward to solder

It is an absolutely great start to A Kit a Month Soldering Subscription, and I’m looking forward to each future kit.

Here’s Nellie disguised as a webcam.
NellieTakesOver

And now she’s using her battery as a body:
Nellie
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