Electronics
If you want to teach yourself more about electronics, buy the book "Practical Electronics for Inventors, 2nd ed" by Paul Scherz (amazon.com or wherever). Excellent resource. For even more coverage, get the bible which is "The Art of Electronics, 2nd ed" by Horowitz and Hill (used bookstore if you are lucky).
Lab Stock
List of electronic components stocked in Durfee lab.
Recommended Parts
Tools, Instruments and Equipment
Suggested Connectors
Suggested Enclosures
Information on Parts
Integrated circuits (op-amps, microcontrollers, ...)
Transistors (signal, power, MOSFET)
Resistors
Hardware (wire, cable, connectors,...)
Enclosures (boxes, packaging)
Printed Circuit boards (how to, software, resources, schematic capture)
Circuit Simulation
Tutorial for LTspice, a freeware application for simulating electronic circuits (PDF File)
Additional Resources
How to test and debug electronics (link)
Great resource for electronics (epanorama.net)
Making a nice front panel (first way)
How to make a nice front panel (another way)
For a little bit of $, Front Panel Express can make you a nice, custom panel. Download their easy-to-use design software.
ExpressPCB is a great place for having printed circuit boards made. Easy to use, free schematic capture and layout software. Prices reasonable, turn around fast. This is what Durfee uses. Also see PCB resources link above.
EAGLE is a pretty respectable CAD package for schematic capture (drawing electronic circuits). More horsepower than the ExpressPCB package, but harder to learn. Get the freeware version from www.cadsoft.de
Sample BOM (Bill-of-Materials).(Excel file) Use this style when documenting lab equipment building projects. List EVERYTHING on the BOM, even the duct tape. And, here's another sample BOM
Another board house is Olimex at http://run.to/pcb Low prices, but watch out for shipping charges.
Olimex has a good list of public domain and shareware schematic capture and board layout software.
Application notes
Audio circuit collection (from Nov. 2000 TI Applications Journal). Introduces concept of single supply op amp circuits and virtual ground (PDF, 68 Kb)