Build Your Own Home Lab (Paperback)

~ Clement C Pepper (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This book shows you how to assemble an efficient working home lab inexpensively and how to make it pay for itself through years of growth and use. Includes many projects for creating your own instruments, including a multichannel oscilloscope switch and a 100-minute timer/stopwatch.

Product Details

• Paperback: 314 pages
• Publisher: Prompt (DPI - 8/01); 1 edition (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0790611082
• ISBN-13: 978-0790611082
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,364,379 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book for Intermediate and Expert, April 6, 2002

By	Jerry W Davis (Cedar Park, TX United States) - See all my reviews

I absolutely loved this book. Clement S. Pepper will appeal to anyone that loves working in their own lab, experimenting with electronic parts or building electronic kits. If you have learned something about electronics, soldering, and assembly work, you will really find the information here useful. The first half of the book contains detailed information on building power supplies, digital panel meters, frequency counters, timers, function generators, battery monitors, etc. The second half contains component descriptions, technical data, and application notes for diodes, transistors, LED's, IC's, etc. That's enough to make this book a useful reference even after you have built your dream lab. I especially like the forward and first chapter of the book. I wish Clement had written this book back when I was a kid! If you are just getting started in electronics, I RECOMMEND YOU BUY THIS BOOK, but you should also purchase some basic electronics theory books and electronic assembly manuals. You will need to know something about circuits, soldering, instrumentation, hand tools etc. to really get the most enjoyment from your new hobby.

13 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not what I'm looking for. You?, April 7, 2004

By	Zoopax (STL Missouri USA) - See all my reviews

First, I'm writing this review because I felt like, after getting a copy from my local library, the other reviews weren't really giving the full picture. This is not a home lab chemistry book so I wonder if the other reviewer even perused a copy. There aren't wacky experiments inside. It's an electronics book.

That said: the writing style of this book is, to put it politely, "conversational". If you like that, fine. If not, be prepared for "whoa!" and "holy cow!" when stepping through the circuits.

Also, the layout/editing is pretty bad. Figures and pictures precede the text. You'll find yourself reading, confused by an adjacent image and then going back to reference a figure mentioned in the next. Ugh!

This book feels like a transcript of an unorganized class. Sometimes more than you need to know, sometimes not enough with plenty of backtracking.

Maybe I'm nit picking but I can't give much confidence to a book whose author uses the word "equal" when the industry standard for an alternative component is "equivalent".

Finally, there are a few too many trips down memory lane for my tastes. Tell me how to set up my lab and what to watch out for, not what it was like in the 50's.

Frankly, the book is a big disappointment for me. It was on my short list because I'm very interested in creating some of my own electronics lab equipment. Luckily I grabbed a copy from the library before shelling out my cash. I recommend you do the same.

5 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars very interesting, August 9, 2000

By A Customer

a must for ammatures. a very interesting book, though seemingly simple. ever wanted to be a "mad scientist" but didn't know where to start? this is the book for you, though it may seem abstract fromm the mad scientist bit.