Tribologist wrote ...

Keep your parts, You will regret if you bargain them away.

I am sending you a pair of the 260, some fast diodes and also some IGBT's and it looks like there are more coming from others to. I also included a set of the 74HC08,14 and 74's and a pair of gate drivers pushed into a solderles breadboard, two 220V TVS's and some other stuff I had extras of.

I also included a 206 current transformenr of the type used in the Mini Brute. With this you allmost have all the stuff you need to do a hybrid between Wards Mini SST and the MiniBrute (eg add syncronus switching and current limiting) I also put a sheet of 2oz double sided PCB to build on. Look at how radio amateurs build RF amps as guidance (Ugly construction, manhattan construction etc)

15 year old's that are wiling to build someting rather than playing computer games are a good thing to support.

You should have the package on Wednesday. Please be careful when removing the IC's from the prototype board. Sucks to kill them with no power applied

My parents were totally untechnical (but supportive to my toys) Mom was a home ecconomics teacher and dad was a phone lineman. I was lucky to have an older brother and his friend sharing my electronics interest. I also had a Ham (SM3HJQ) that was my mentor giving me components and old stuff to take components from.

I work for a major us corporation today and most of what they pay me to do I learned outside school (no, i did not say school is unimportant, formal schooling is required but not sufficient...) Compare what you learned by spending $10/week building tesla coils vs what you learn at a high school at a cost around $5-15k or so per year.... Passion is everything and passionate engineers make 6 figures easily

If you have a good phone manner you can get a lot of free components. If you call a local rep for the semiconductor companies and tell them that you are doing a science fair project with resonant pover conversion I am sure they give you what you need. You can also show that you actually accomplished something through your videos and postings on this forum.

One very reliable source for samples is analog devices. I got a lot of free stuf from them.

An other place to find good stuff is hamfests. (if you like building stuff you should get a ham licence. You can get on the air for peanuts if you build your own radios and take the time to learn CW). Yu can find out more about local hamfests and ham radio at

Ulf
K1ULF

Tribologist wrote ...

You are welcome,

As stated, a kid that really like to build something is worth supporting (my older son is in your age, he starts high school next year, most of his friends can barely tie their shoes... You probably know more about electrical engineering than his science teacher by now

Good luck and don't hesitate to ask for stuff you need. There is nothing wrong with that and no one would take offence of a 15 year old asking for support. Even I do it when I can. (Analog Devices and others have probably given me components for $100+ over the years.) People much rather see stuff being used than collecting dust.) I looked through your posts before commiting and you have spent serious time trying to help others on this forum, that has real value to.

No one makes money out of this, it is all a passion or driven by curiosity, Other peoples sucsess are as important as your own. Why do you think peole like Ward and McCauley are spending all the time guiding others and writing books and web pages (or your local little league coach spending all that time etc etc)

Keep up the good work!

Ulf