AI Tools
AI tools for makers: what is new in November 2026
Gemini 4 Carbon and GPT-6.1 Terra, a price change on 1 December, the free AI plans for code and projects, and what to check before you trust an answer.
Electronics
Components, circuits and the maths behind them, explained from the breadboard up.
Electronics
Light the Lamp: a logic gate puzzle game
A free logic gate puzzle game with 153 levels: flick the switches to light the lamp, starting with one wire and working up through NOT, AND, OR, NAND, NOR and XOR gates to number displays, adders and memory, then 50 levels from hard to extreme.
Electronics
Capacitor code calculator: what 104, 473 and 2A104J mean
Type the code printed on a capacitor, such as 104, 473J or 2A104J, and get the value in pF, nF and µF with the tolerance and voltage. Works both ways.
Electronics
LED resistor calculator: what resistor for 12 V?
Work out the series resistor for an LED on 12 V, 5 V or any supply. Rounds up to a standard value and shows the current and the resistor's power.
3D Printing
The best free 3D prints for October 2026
Ten free 3D prints for October 2026: five for Halloween and five you will still use in January, with print tips and what people who printed them report.
Electronics
Charging Lithium Cells with a Bench Power Supply
How to charge a lithium cell safely from a bench power supply: read the datasheet, set the voltage and current, and know when to stop.
Electronics
555 timer astable: flashing an LED on a breadboard
Wire a 555 timer in astable mode to flash an LED, with the frequency and duty cycle calculated for the parts used and a diagram to copy.
Electronics
Make a simple LED circuit on a breadboard (maths included)
Light an LED from a 9 V battery on a breadboard, with a wiring diagram, which way round the LED goes, and the resistor maths worked through step by step.
Electronics
Capacitors: what they are, how they work and the main types
What a capacitor is and how it stores charge, the main types and what each is used for, how to read the value printed on one, and how to combine capacitors in series and parallel.
Electronics
What are resistors & how do they work?
What a resistor does, Ohm's law, colour codes and materials, with worked examples of a voltage divider and choosing a resistor for an LED.