Did you ever ask yourself where I get the schematics of the Theremin circuits and other gadgets that I present on my YouTube videos? The answer is simple: I do some research on books, on specialized magazines and on the Internet. I see solutions created by other people, if any, and then I think about what would better work for my case. Sometimes it ends up to be a modification of something that somebody else did, maybe for a totally different purpose. Sometimes, I just use the general idea to create something different, new, my own design that is more appropriate for my needs.
Either way, I usually build a number of prototypes of what I need, then I take some measurements in lab, then I start making further modifications to my original design, until I obtain exactly what I am looking for.
Also, more often than not, I figure that the circuit I am testing is too sensitive to certain parameters of the circuit itself. Maybe is a capacitor which value needs to be adjusted a little bit, or a connection between two or more components that causes issues because of capacitive or inductive coupling with other components. That is when I try to change my design to reduce such sensitivities, so that the circuit can be assembled by anyone with the exact same results as mine. And this is what is called engineerization, or adjusting the design for mass production.
And sometimes, to do so, it is not enough to test the single circuit. Instead, I need to connect the circuit with other pieces that have to work together with it, and see if further unwanted interactions happen, so that I can eliminate them or, at least, reduce them so that they become negligible.
Sometimes this process goes fast, sometimes takes a long time. And that’s why my videos are not published at fixed intervals. Unfortunately, since this is done only as a hobby, I don’t always have enough time to dedicate to my project, so days go by until, finally, I am done. Then I finalize my schematics, I build the last prototype and the final product and, in the process, I also record all these activities so I can end up making a video out of them.
Then the video editing process starts and, once the video is finally ready, I release it on YouTube for you to watch it.
One day I will be able to do this full time. Who knows, maybe when I retire. Or, maybe, if you all give me a hand, this could become my new full time job (donations, donations, donations). We’ll see.
Thank you for reading this article. And, as usual, happy experiments!
A classic method for doing so is to use a rheostat, which is essentially a potentiometer capable of dissipating the amount of power produced by the power supply. The resistance of the rheostat can be changed and therefore different amount of currents can be used to test the power supply. However, rheostats are big, heavy and cumbersome.
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