Free Downloadable Resistor Value Computer

Education Technology
Free Downloadable Resistor Value Computer

OK, so, it’s not really that hard to learn to read a resistor without a special tool, but ever since I saw the free downloadable nuclear bomb effects computer I have had a soft spot for these circular slide rules. And this one from Rob Ives might make a cool gift for a young maker to get him or her painlessly over the hump. [Thanks, Rob!]

14 thoughts on “Free Downloadable Resistor Value Computer

    1. Sean Michael Ragan says:

      Thanks, blogging this!

  1. Anonymous says:

    Just what my workspace needed :)

  2. Ren Tescher says:

    While you’re on the topic of resistors and sliderules…
    From an old posting on the USENET sci.electronics newsgroup….(edited for relevance)

    From: Dave Slee
    Newsgroups: sci.electronics
    Subject: Re: Sliderules (do they still exist?)
    Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 21:52:16 GMT
    Organization: Soil Machine Dynamics Ltd.
    […]
    Take your standard slide rule and doctor the scales. Add some new markings: the standard resistor
    values:

    1, 1.5, 2, 2.2, 3.3, 4.7, 5.6, 6.8, etc. (have I missed a few? so what you get the idea)

    Mark them as little dots on the ratio scales.

    Now a pair of scales on a slide rule work on ratios. If you want a potential divider that has a 3:7
    ratio, put the 3 on one scale against the 7 on the other scale. Now find the pair of dots that come
    closest. These are the standard resistor values that are the best approximation to the required
    ratio. The error in dot spacing gives you some idea of how far you are out.
    [end of quote]

  3. Paulo Azevedo says:

    Made a little experiment in HTML5 inspired by this idea:
    http://halufa.blogspot.com/2011/02/resistor-value-calculator-in-html5.html

    You need to have a non Internet Explorer browser, since it doesn’t support HTML5.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Check out http://www.buythebestpc.com

    It reminded me alot of this article!

  5. Anonymous says:

    Helpful advises above. I have noticed that many people are using twitter for marketing. I would love to try this too for my business.
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I am descended from 5,000 generations of tool-using primates. Also, I went to college and stuff. I am a long-time contributor to MAKE magazine and makezine.com. My work has also appeared in ReadyMade, c't – Magazin für Computertechnik, and The Wall Street Journal.

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