About EiM

Tim Surtell at the Kew Bridge Steam Museum Exhibition in 1998 Welcome to Electronics in Meccano On-Line!

Electronics in Meccano is a four-page magazine which I published quarterly from 1998 to 2001 to encourage Meccano modellers to use electronics in their models. This website is the on-line version of the magazine and it includes all of the published articles, plus several other features such as Interactive Wizards and datasheets.

The circuits described in the articles range from simple wiring, such as reversing switches for motors, through to more complex circuits for controlling lamps and motors.

In all the articles, I have tried to place the emphasis on the use and construction of the circuits, rather than explaining in detail exactly how they work. Of course, in some cases it essential to learn some of the technical terms and do some simple math's, but this is kept to a minimum by the provision of examples of the most likely situations you will come across.

As in the printed version of Electronics in Meccano, the contents of this web-site are split into sections. There are also some special sections which exploit the interactive nature of the Web...

All about...	Each of these short articles gives the essential details you need to know about a particular component. For example, All about resistors tells you about Ohm's Law and how to identify resistors by their colour code

Model Study	This section shows how electronics has been used in a Meccano model

Practical Matters	Find out how to build circuits with articles on soldering, breadboard, stripboard etc.

What's That?	Answers to all those niggling questions!

Component Calculator Wizards	Get the wizard to do the awkward math's for you! Each wizard calculates the components you require for a circuit by asking you simple questions. Because VBScript and Dynamic HTML is used, you will need Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or above to use this section

The EiM Index	Find what you're looking for quickly with the on-line index

At the end of each issue there is a Shopping List giving details of the parts needed to build the circuits. Prices and order codes given are taken from the Maplin catalogue, the best place in the UK for the electronics hobbyist to obtain components.

Some tips to get you started

	The Issues tab gives the contents of each issue of Electronics in Meccano. You can click on a purple arrow to go directly to the article you are interested in.
	When you need to print out a copy of an issue, you will find there is a Printer Page which includes the most important diagrams from the issue you are reading on one sheet of paper. This page is accessed by clicking the Printer Page tab at the bottom of the menu.
	The index lets you find what you are looking for quickly. All articles under the section headings described above are shown in bold type, and technical terms are included as well, shown in italic type. You can click on the Index tab at any time.
	You can keep all the wizards on your computer for quick reference by downloading all the files needed in one go using wizards.zip on the Wizards menu.

If you have any comments or suggestions about Electronics in Meccano or the website, please e-mail me at timsurtell@eleinmec.freeserve.co.uk or fill out the on-line form. Details of the printed edition can be obtained by clicking here.

Tim Surtell
July 2001

About the website...

For anyone into HTML, here's how I produced this website:

As you may have guessed, this site uses frames. However, each page includes a simple piece of JavaScript which automatically loads a new page into the left-hand frame.
The options on the menus are highlighted when the mouse runs over them by changing the images. This again uses JavaScript.
All images were done using Paint Shop Pro versions 5, 6 and 7. It makes things like the background image in the top frame and the 'feathering' on the images in the main menu easy.... Get it!
The diagrams are generally grabbed straight from the Microsoft Publisher file of the relevant Electronics in Meccano issue.
The actual HTML was written both by hand in Notepad, and using Microsoft FrontPage 2000.
The 'Wizards' are my first attempt at Dynamic HTML and VBScript. Because of this they will only work on versions 4 and 5 of Microsoft Internet Explorer.
The website is hosted by Freeserve, the totally FREE Internet Service Provider from Dixons. I intend to re-design the site and move it to my Fasthosts account, where use will be made of their extensive database and ASP facilities.
The hit counter was from TheCounter.com, but they stopped sending email stats for a while, so I decided to write my own statistics scripts. I have a statistics server which enables me to keep track of the hits on all pages of the website, along with statistics on browsers, screen properties, referrers and search engines. TheCounter.com has started charging its users for anything more than basic statistics now. I have started using the excellent www.statcounter.com for my other websites.
The movies were shot by Gilbert Ghyselbrecht who sent me the .mov files. I have converted them into Windows Media Player streaming format which dramatically reduces their size. Both the Windows Media Player and the Encoder software are available free from the Microsoft website.
You can view my full web design portfolio at:

Electronics in Meccano is edited by Tim Surtell.
Electronics in Meccano On-Line is designed and edited by Tim Surtell.

No responsibility is taken by the editor or individual authors for damage, loss, or injury caused as a result of constructing and/or using the circuits described in Electronics in Meccano and Electronics in Meccano On-Line.