Does your electronics desk have a lap drawer? And is it filled with random, disorganized detritus? Well, [Handy Bear] is here to show you that you can put so much more in every drawer you’ve got if you do it right. And boy, it sure looks like [Handy Bear] did it right.
Hidden inside this beautiful antique desk is plastic storage compartment after plastic storage compartment, all situated inside custom dividers made painstakingly from 3mm MDF. The first iteration, a cubbyhole arrangement, was not modular and looked crappy by [Handy Bear]’s standards.
Back to the drawing board and the scroll saw. [Handy Bear] came up with a new scheme that mimics the dividers in the plastic storage boxes they’re using for components and more. In addition to the slotted parts are open-top boxes for things like the multimeter, helping hands, and the ever-important label maker.
[Handy Bear] used hot glue and simple joinery for everything, sealing all the seams with a mixture of glue and water to keep it from turning to dust. We especially like the caliper holder for the lap drawer. You’ll notice that not quite everything fits inside the desk, so [Handy Bear] put the bigger stuff on a couple of IKEA carts. Be sure to check out the short build video and take the desk tour after the break.
Don’t have room for a whole desk worth of stuff? Build an electronics lab in a box!
Impressive. I could never be that organized. The IKEA carts look like something I could use though…
I’ve got a couple of them, they’re real useful.
May have to fire up the CNC for this. My desk looks like something exploded inside of it.
While I don’t usually plug IKEA, i own some of these carts and they are useful. You don’t have to suffer IKEA though. I believe I have seen a near-identical version in many craft stores here stateside…. Michael’s I think?
Dude needs a laser cutter….
But where would they keep it…
Gridfinity FTW!
This right here. I just designed a cabinet specifically for gridfinity for my workshop. 4 large drawers that fit in the position where I need it to. Plan to start getting the first pieces cut this weekend and start building. If the cabinet works right, I’m building more. I want my workshop to be way more organised. I got tons of tools and not enough space on the french cleat system to hang everything. Especially the large amounts of nuts, bolts (from M1 to M22), screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, drills in all types and sizes, you name it, it takes up space and gridfinity solves the mess. I already printed out a whole bunch of things, so I got my tweezers, bits, and other stuff organised. Gridfinity is the absolute bomb.
No hutch for multimeters and oscilloscope? Kinda missing the whole point of the electronics hobby desk.
In one of my dad’s old radio books there’s a chapter about building your own radio experimenter’s table from scratch, along with DC power outlets for the apparatuses. It provides various tips for the amateur. The book is from the before the 1950s, I think. It’s from the crystal radio and early tube radio era.