What Is Electronics? My Mission For FranLab

Nope: Not an audience of one. I know just what you mean about starting with the whole. I was born in 1947 and my mother told me my third word was "radio." I get it!

Jeffrey R. Broido

I really like seeing you build things, doesn't have to be just electronics.

Jamie Magin

I think part of the problem is I've been a patron of yours since January 2017 but I never comment because I either like what you produced or I realize not every video is going to be for me. but those who feel they are owed exactly what they like are the ones that complain every time you're not talking about how to wire something up. You do you, I'm sure there are a lot of people who just don't speak up about how much they enjoy the variety of your content

Zach Allin

If I had any complaints at all it is that I want to see the projects as opposed to videos about the channel and how it is being received. I’m a patron supporter (and will continue to be) for the projects. I look forward to more of them. You say you’ve been working on what’s on your desk for weeks and weeks—I would sure love it if we were a part of that. I’d much rather see a video of you struggling through some issue with your in-flight project then a video about why your viewership is the way it is it isn’t.

Peter Todd Decker

I would take exception to one statement, however (there is always one in the crowd). Analog is not st all dead with respect to music. Simply look at the Eurorack synth format and revival of pure analog signal path synthesizers. I do agree the art is being lost. Hence why we need folks educating a new wave of folks about them. If you start limiting yourself only to the modern, you’d be doing nothing but FPGA and micro controller work. I would love to see more analog electronics—what’s a current mirror, how do opamps work, what are opamp applications, etc.

Peter Todd Decker

I understand where you are coming from and appreciate you taking the time to explain your approach and philosophy.

Peter Todd Decker

Well, you’ve convinced me! Wise and eloquent as ever.

Mark Wilkes

If someone wants pure electronics Mr Carlsons Lab etc would be more suited for that. I like all the variety and all the facets that you include.

Gilbert Pfaff

I work with an old guitarist. He remembers "Frantone."

There did not used to be circuit boards. Components with wires were soldered to little metal loops and stood in the air.

Hey Fran! Love what you do, keep it up. You don't have to explain yourself. My only problem is I don't often have attention span to watch a 30 minute youtube.

Ok, you got me to become a Patreon with this video Fran. I’ve been a long time lurker and enjoying what you do for free, but I’ve always thought your videos capture everything about electronics and is much more broad than almost any other channel I subscribe to. I just left a message on YouTube - you are a similar age to me and I started my love of electronics the same way, there’s smells and other things that just can’t be explained. Keep up the great work. 👍

I get what you are saying and in truth it is more about the totality of a project that is what it missing, which I find an irony after what you said. Look, I am interested in electronics, computers, biology, astronomy, history, music etc. But why I am interested in you is how you think. But I would like to see how you get to the conclusions you get to. For example, you show me these wonderfully crafted buttons for an unnamed project but you give us no insight into how you came up with that design. What were the requirements, what did you find out didn't work, I would like to see all of that. It is something I have never thought about before and would not know how to start. This is the interesting part no? Either way I am just interested in everything but I can see why people are complaining about missing parts. It does seem you are only dealing in completed solutions not the testing or design of what you are doing.

veritanuda

Keep doing what you're doing Fran, you can never please everyone no matter how hard you try, you have a unique channel on YouTube so keep going with whatever you're passionate about at the time! There are other channels for viewers who want to see pure technical electronics engineering. I think that electronics is nothing by itself, just a PCB sitting on a desk. You need interfaces, enclosures, actuators and mechanical components in order to create anything interesting. The design of these things is part engineering, and part creativity and art, and this is exactly what you do :)

A fascinating insight Fran. My work is almost exclusively in computers. They have their own unique smell, not as varied and fruity as old electronics but still something that I associate with my work. Overall I agree with your definition of electronics. Not just the circuit boards but the whole in infrastructure that surrounds it. I say carry on doing what you do, in the unique way that you do it.

Dr Andy Hill

That . . . was beautiful and inspiring. Thank you, Fran.

Ken McGlothlen

I'm with you 100%. My curiosity as a child was much like yours. I love to build things. From make the PCB to the enclosure with knobs, sockets, display, speaker and so on.

I like the variety of what you do. But I think in modern terms what you do is show being a “maker” across a variety of crafting and production techniques. Thank you for explaining why you call it “electronics” due to your past, but I don’t think it’s going to be helpful to argue about semantics (ie, what words mean) with those who “came for the electronics”. If they’re only interested in a subset of what you do, that’ll still be true even if you *call it* the thing they claim to be interested, or protest that “it’s related”. Ewen PS: the closest I can come to defining what you do (in modern terms) is “vertically integrated, small scale, making” — ie DIY from raw parts through many skills to make an integrated complete project, without just outsourcing key bits of it.

Ewen McNeill

I see it the way you do All parts of the whole package. That is why I am a patron. LOVE what you do!

William Alsing

Dear Fran, thanks for the video. In the last Pateron post you asked for my opinion. I personally prefer to watch the electronics as in components on boards, what makes it go, repairs or how the enclosures are made. It's my preference like you may or not prefer sugar in a hot beverage. Best wishes.

Nuts 'n' Proud

Thanks for your view of electronics. You brought back old memories of discovering the magic and wonder of electronics as a kid. I had a similar experience as you growing up. I now understand where you are coming from. I don’t want you to change. Keep up the great work.

As an amateur radio operator, I enjoy electronics. My (current) ham radio interest is microwave transverters. Building a transverter on the bench isn't too difficult. Being able to package it up in an enclosure with switches, readouts, power supplies, and everything I need to make it function out in the field... that's a whole 'nother matter. It's amazing just how much machining goes into a home made enclosure! Anyway, maybe you need to emphasize that you show entire finished projects on your channel, rather than just the prototype working on the bench. I continue to learn a lot from you, and am so glad that you continue to do all the work that goes into these videos. Thank you.

I get it, and feel the same way. But I'm 40 years old now. I remember Black and white TVs, old electronic games with simple interfaces, the smell of a warm tube and well designed cases. I miss the smell of tube monitors and the way they look.

Jessica McIntosh

@electronics and the crafts "around" it: I love your stile of making, and the way, you present it, be it making a tshirt print, or a DSKY display! Also the way, you bring old making/craft techniques to life, like the lettering tools from a viewer.

Oh, I'll still be here. I do like the product design aspect of your channel. Too many people are content to stop at a working circuit with no thought of how it will be applied or its desirability. Having said that- The hatch latch series, while a cool project to be involved with and a clever material choice, was something I could not watch all the way through. You are caught in a space between artistic expression and paying the bills. I don't envy that, but as I said, I'll still be here.

Bill Kerr

I think that the astonishing breadth of your knowledge and abilities has a strong appeal to all your viewers, even the ones "only" interested in electronics. Keep on truckin' and stop worrying so much!

I think Franlab is a sort of skunkworks for all sorts of interesting projects. It's what we would all do if we could just afford to retire.

🥳 Frantone!! ❤️🎸 Love my Frantone pedals. But I'm with you on what you're saying. I enjoy your channel and the fun projects you do.

I agree with you completely, Fran. Just because a project contains electronics does not mean it is only about the electronics. The design, manufacture and construction of the whole thing is just as interesting, at least to me anyway.

David Peaker

Fran, thank you for the trip down memory lane. I'll add to your list of smells: blown selenium rectifiers, ozone and hot wax. I operated vacuum tube computers in the 60's and when one failed we would turn the lights off and look through the bays for missing filaments. One that would be illegal today is the Univac I which used mercury delay lines for memory (a big coffin size tank). I'm constantly amazed by what can be accomplished for so little money and real estate. Thank you so much for your videos.

Just remember, you can please all of the people none of the time. When you talk about the olfactory, tactile, visual, and audio characteristics of the stuff you work with, you remind me of my early teenage years building a Heathkit A7 amplifier. I loved the case and the knobs especially. When I worked as a tech. at HP I loved the tactile part of handling the parts and materials necessary to build whatever it was I was building. I loved venturing into labstock to find those color striped resisters and dotted colored capacitors or the little droplet shaped tantalum capacitors. I feel like what you share is fabricating or making complete products, made by hand, of which the electronics in them are part of the product. I enjoy seeing all that come together. It's basically what I did at HP, making one-off test systems or jigs or whatever. Some folks might not be interested in anything but the electronics. It seems to me they can skip those videos if they like. For me, watching your videos is like watching a Renaissance woman at work. <3

No, your videos aren't "nutty". Some of us are interested primarily in the electronics, but I suspect that many of us are "makers" who are also interested in 3D printer issues and in programming them, are interested in wood working, metal working, machining, etc. Some of us are also musicians and collect and play electric guitars. Don't change your channel because of complainers; change your channel as your interests change.

Robert S. Owen

Right to the point Fran! Electronics is everything from the idea of a device or a solution to a problem to a finished product, with a visual and emotional appeal. It is mechanical engineering, it is visual engineering, it is human engineering, as well as electronic engineering. I'm looking forward to see what this big project you are working on with all those 3D printed parts.