Hello everyone! I might be going to radioshack later to buy some parts to build an IR sensor. I need some help though.
I was looking at this tutorial here but It says I need a 47nF capacitor which I can’t seem to find anywhere. Is the nF a special unit type? I thought capacitors were measured with micro-farads (uF)?
Same goes for the resistor (470E). I can’t seem to find that either.
Thanks.
uF micro farad, nF nano farad, and pF for pico Farad. Its a unit of measure. Any non polarized ceramic cap should work.
You can also use a 0.047uF cap or a 47000pF cap which is the same as 47nF.
470E Use any 470 OHM resistor.
All I can find is a 50v capacitor. does it matter what the voltage is?
I think that will be ok, perhaps someone else can chime in here and verify that. I’ve used that same cap for other circuits and it was fine.
Well it’s the only one they have so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try.
50nf cap will be ok. as long as you dont use one with lower voltages, ie, 46nf for instance! otherwise the cap will blow. 
EDIT:
i would look on ebay first. i managed to buy 100x caps for about a £1!
No, not 50nf. 50 volt.
my bad. yes, sorry that will be ok to use.
The 50V is the maximum rating that the capacitor can work with. So, as long as it is higher than the voltage used on your board, that is fine.
if you put a lower Voltage cap on it, and run a higher voltage though the board, you get to see what happens when capacitors explode!
LOL 
luckily I have never had that happen!
Thanks for the help SN96, innerbreed.
So now I need to know If i have everything. lets see…
Resistors: radioshack.com/product/index … ickid=cart
Capacitors: radioshack.com/product/index … Id=2102516
LED’s: radioshack.com/product/index … ab=summary
And I already bought soldering tools, solder, PCB.
Is that everything?
Yes that’s it. That’s all you will need.
One quick tip with the solder though:
It’s best to get thinner solder wire because it allows you more control on the amount of solder used. Thicker solder wires tend to put too much solder on the components. Thick solder is great for components with large surface areas like big caps with a large foot print.
Capacitors: radioshack.com/product/index … Id=2102516
LED’s: radioshack.com/product/index … Id=2102516
these links are the same! 
Yeah I bought rosin core solder, .032 diameter. Nice and thin.
sorry about that innerbreed. I fixed it.
I use the radio shack stuff. I like the 15w iron (they also have the replacement tips) and the thinnest solder. You may also need a small perf board to mount your project on. The extra hands gizmo is very useful, but is way over priced. Other extras would be the soldering iron holder, the small red handled wire nipper, and the tip cleaner/tinner compound.
I bought this kit the other day.
radioshack.com/product/index … Id=2062758
It works OK but it feels kinda cheap. I did buy the radioshack brand solder. And I also bought the PCB the other day too.
radioshack.com/product/index … Id=2104052
I wanted the that helper thingy but it is overpriced and i’m kinda low on cash right now.
I plan on splitting the board into smaller pieces too.
Any tips on what I should use to cut the board?
The two boards will snap apart so you don’t to cut them. I suggest you keep the leads on your components long to start with like below as it makes for easy troubleshooting and for easy removal and reuse if needed.
http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/pix/servoboard1.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/pix/para8.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/zoomkat/pix/status.jpg
Yes I know that you can split them in half, but I want them even smaller than that. about 1/4 of the size.
If you have something with a strong straight edge like a vice, then you probably line a row of holes up along the straight edge and snap the board along the holes. Otherwise you probably saw along a row of holes with a hack saw blade.
Ok thanks zoomkat. I will be sure to post the sensor when completed as well as my little two-wheeled rover I made out of stuff around the house.
What do those circuits do?
Servo controller, parallel port video/audio switcher, and parallel port switch circuit monitor.
