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This page is archived material from a previous course. Please check for updated material.

    Useful Links

    Other Courses

    Vendors

    • McMaster-Carr – home of every possible mechanical device and contraption.  Short descriptions on usage of each as well.
    • Newark (we get the majority of components for the Phys 253 course from this vendor and long-time course sponsor.)

    Reference Material

    There is no required textbook for the course

    Suggested (NOT REQUIRED) textbooks – please don’t rush out and buy these blindly – there’s lots of good resources in the web links listed below as well.

    “Robotic Explorations” by Fred Martin (textbook written by the designer of the Handy Board. A very general overview of principles for instrumentation (feedback, sensors, etc), with a focus on using Lego.  We have a few copies in the Project Lab.

    “The Forrest Mims Engineer’s Notebook”, by Forrest M. Mims, Harry L. Helms. Paperback (August 1993). A very useful and cheap book of a variety of electronics circuits and general principles. Note that some of the pinouts are incorrect, or make use of outdated IC’s.

    “The Art of Electronics”, by Paul Horowitz, Winfield Hill. Hardcover (1989) (This is expensive but it is the EE  bible)

    “Microelectronic Circuits” (Oxford Series in Electrical Engineering) by Adel S. Sedra, Kenneth C. Smith (Hardcover – June 1997). Similar to Horowitz and Hill but used at UBC.

    “Design of Machinery” by Robert Norton. (This is very theoretical. Only buy this if you will be using it for one of your ME courses)

    “The Way Things Work” by David Macaulay. This is a book designed for children, but it is full of quite accurate descriptions of how machines work – it makes for fun, light reading)