The workbench. We’re always looking for ways to make the most out of the tools we have, planning our next equipment purchase, all the while dealing with the (sometimes limited) space we’re allotted. Well, before you go off and build your perfect electronics lab, this forum thread on the EEVblog should be your first stop for some extended drooling research.
You’ll find a great discussion about everything from workbench height, size, organization, shelf depth, and lighting, with tons of photos to go with it. You’ll also get a chance to peek at how other people have set up their labs. (Warning, the thread is over 1000 posts long, so you might want to go grab a snack.)
We should stop for a moment and give a special note to those of you who are just beginning in electronics. You do not need to have a fancy setup to get started. Most of these well equipped labs is the result of being in the industry for years and years. Trust us when we say, you can get started in electronics with nothing more than your kitchen table, a few tools, and a few parts. All of us started that way. So don’t let anything you see here dissuade you from jumping in. As proof, we’ve seen some amazingly professional work being done with the most bare-bones of tools (and conversely, we seen some head-scratching projects by people with +$10,000 of dollars of equipment on their desk.)
Here’s some links that you might find handy when setting up a lab. [Kenneth Finnegan] has a great blog post on how his lab is equipped. And [Dave Jones] of the EEVblog has a video covering the basics. One of the beautiful things about getting started in electronics is that used and vintage equipment can really stretch your dollars when setting up a lab. So if you’re looking into some vintage gear, head on over to the Emperor of Test Equipment. Of course no thread about workbenches would be complete with out a mention of Jim Williams’ desk. We’ll leave the discussion about workbench cleanliness for the comments.
George George George… I was having a pretty productive day tooo…
Seriously, I love the ideas I could get from 1000 posts, but I might just search Google images instead. I need help in cleaning up between projects and staying organized. For some reason having multiple irons in the fire seems like it saves down time to me, but it always results in chaos.
+1. The reason there are so few comments is because everyone is still lost in that EEVBlog thread, haha
Setting up a lab, organising a workbench is one thing. Keeping it clean and organised is another. Cleaning up everything often is a hard thing to do. Tomorrow your go to continue anyway; so why clean up now? It seems like a terrible los of time, but in reality it saves a lot of time : you looking for things you know you have but cannot find.
So, let’s be disiplinned ! ps love the picture
The key is to have lots of organized storage space close at hand. Define a proper place for everything. Make your parts and tools easy to find, so they easily go back where they came from. Projects on hold go in bins so they don’t accumulate on the bench.The more organization and routine you have, the less discipline you need. After 30 years of disarray, this is the only cure I have found. It makes all the difference.
The trick I try to stick with to keep my lab sort of clean, is every time I walk in, I first have to put away 5 tools. Or I have to first put back all of my resistors scattered on the bench before I can turn on the iron.
Best of!?!
(Pls)
Reads like someone need more work on overcoming their weaknesses. ;) The again you could look at it this way; you might learn something that might make you more productive in the future. Ya know as George said call it research.
Characterising time spent visiting the included links as research, may identify George as an ils an old hand coming up for justifications, like that keep George around’ Hackaday masters :) When I had oilfield wages I was a member of an electronics related book club. Somewhere in my library storage there is a book directed towards service shops that has a chapter on setting up a service shop. I have a 30’x 30′ shop. My plans had always bee to add a shed roof extension on one side that would be heated. In that I panned to have an electronics bench a drafting table lounge area with kitchenette, toilet, and a laundry to wash my oilfield “greasers”. As fate would have it a medical condition has left me disable, changing a lot of my plans. I’m now “working disabled” at minim wage to supplement disability income. Hell it took 21 years for me to reach that point One of the posts at the evvblog forum that revealed their bed is over the bench. As a 59 year old partially paralyzed man that’s not an option for me, but remind me of this over at instructables http://www.instructables.com/id/Bedroom-Office-Workspace/ This is away a furn topic no matter how often it’s brought up.
Not Edison’s workbench, too clean. I see only one mains outlet in the picture. It’s at the back of the bench, where it’s hard to reach.
You do not need to have a fancy setup to get started.
True!
I still have most of the pieces of the Radio Shack Soldering Starter kit I bought back in 1975, It cost $9.99 then, a similar one is $29.99 today.
I have two seats in my mancave, one for sitting on and the other for soldering / building / mending because the worktops are too full.
And after you decided to order stuff: Did you guys hear about DHL testing delivering packages to car trunks? They give the delivery guy a one time code to open the trunk and he can deliver packages to it, and they are thinking about picking up such too.
But it’s a cooperation with the a car manufacturer thing so it only works for those cars, and obviously you need a trunk and not a hatchback.
But maybe some HaD visitor can think up something like it, make a box on the porch, recognize the delivery guy and allow him access. So the question then becomes how to recognize him/her? They do carry electronic PDA’s with some sort of wireless functionality, and uniforms often. Or you can detect if a delivery van is near the house maybe, depending on the company you use. And they probably have ID which often has RFID.
It’s called a mailbox. Some have postman skeleton key locks for parcel deliveries. But keep up champs… I heard there device that make light at night… Maybe you can come up with an idea like this…