Thanks to the energetic and learned assistance of Jon, Ed, and Zach, last night I made my first foray into DIY electrics. I successfully completed the construction of a QKits 25 watt audio amplifier. WAHOO! Though she looks small, I took this same amp home, connected it to a a single Bose 301 speaker, and was quite shocked by its hefty power! (horrid pun intended)

My focus at the Fab Lab will be teaching South Bronx youth the basics of electricity through sound generation and amplification. Since I know precious little about this subject matter and I am a hands-on learner, I felt that the best thing to do was build a kit, make it work, and then figure out what it is actually doing electronically. In this way, I would be able to feel the victory of getting something done, have the enthusiasm to follow it up with some research on “how things work” and be better able to teach the concepts to others.

More pix and descriptions to follow next week…