I want to build a continuity tester. The book I have has a parts list.
555 timer
56k 0.5W resistor
6.8k 0.5W resistor
47nF ceramic disk capacitor (min 16V)
100uF electrolytic capacitor (min 16V)
Small loudspeaker 64 Ohm 0.3W
4.5V battery
The problem is that I only have 1/4W resistors and I only have a Pizo. I can't find a loudspeaker.
I'm wondering if the project will still work, or if something will be damaged
I don't see a schematic.
You can limit the current to the speaker with a series resistor try 220 Ohms.
Here is the schematic.
I realize that I will need to add a couple wire leads to it to test things but that is simple enough to do after the circuit works.
Hi, 1/4W will be fine, and do as LarryD suggests and it should work.
Tom..... 
Not the best way to do it!
Better circuit is this: with a few caveats (This was just one version of the circuit).
Basically, any general-purpose PNP and NPN trnsistors.
For a buzz box, a single 1.5 cell is perfectly adequate.
Obviously, you need only the 470k resistor in the base circuit on the left.
Where it cites a 100 ohm resistor, you would usually put a (small) loudspeaker, my original (wherever it went in the last 30 years or so) used a telephone earpiece, but if you have a piezo, just wire that across the 100 Ohm resistor.
Now this circuit is much superior to the NE555 because the tone changes with the resistance or reactance of whatever you connect it to, via your test leads, in series with the battery. It gives you a lot of information in the process. If you use it to test loudspeakers or headphones, it generates the tone in them in addition.
Why do I not still use my original? Quite number of years ago, I bought a couple of disposals PMG Buzz Boxes with all sorts of functions and "professional" test leads. 
I'm not really sure how to read the schematic yet. I have a hard time picking parts for a project. I still have no idea why it seems that people randomly add a capacitor or transistors, or in this case two transistors. I know there is a reason, but I have no idea what it is.
I don't know why there would be a 500k and 1k resistor right next to each other. Why not just use 501k resistor..
So it looks like I just need to buy those 6 parts? I didn't see a 470k resistor in the schematic, that you were talking about.
You just use a 470k resistor instead of 500k and 1k. I used that schematic simply because it was easy to find on Google.
The point is - no component should be critical in value; it should work "as is" but you can (and probably should) experiment with different values if you prefer different frequencies.
yea, I'm just worried about deviating from the schematics since I don't fully understand how things work yet. I don't want to destroy something.
Will you be concerning yourself whether the continuity is exactly zero ohms.
I don't know what you mean.
I bought a multimeter that doesn't have the continuity tester, so I am just trying to make one myself because I saw a video on them and they were really useful.
The guy used it on a PCB board that didn't have any instructions to figure out what what connected to what, so he could build his project.
I will use it for things like that, and I'll use it to check wires to make sure they aren't broken, and other things like that.
I just want it to beep when the circuit is completed so I can tell what is going on.
Plus, it seemed like a simple project to start with.
Here is something similar you may be interested in:
I like that last schematic the most because it's using the 555 chip like I was trying to use.
I bought the parts to built both circuits and I'm going to see which one I like better. Plus it gives me a chance to mess around with a couple different ways to build the same thing.
