Comments on: EEVblog #51 – A tour of the EEVblog Electronics Lab

By: Hyuckjin

Hyuckjin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:23:35 +0000

For you is the best time of the lecture. You’re well-equipped facilities in the garage.

Good JOb!!!

By: EEVblog

EEVblog — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:44:59 +0000

A pot doesn’t tell you what value it’s set at, you have to measure it. That’s kinda annoying.
Hot tweezers are very handy if you do a LOT of rework. Otherwise two soldering irons is more versatile.

By: chuck

chuck — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 23:23:07 +0000

Is there a reason why a little pot wouldn’t be better than the decade box?

Are hot tweezers for stripping or rework worth it?
http://www.circuitspecialists.com/prod.itml/icOid/7488

By: ee

ee — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 23:36:06 +0000

your bench is very tidy and organized.
but most things are very old and outdated. cannot figure out how to do a serious project with these tools.
where are your agilent instruments?

By: bluehash

bluehash — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 00:29:37 +0000

Thanks for the tour Dave!
I have a small workshop and building it slowly. maybe it will give a few people ideas
http://www.machinegrid.com/2009/12/the-jerker-geek-desk-workbench/

By: EEVblog

EEVblog — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:18:36 +0000

I can

By: Kyle

Kyle — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:12:30 +0000

I can’t imagine soldering SMD components with 2 soldering irons I have a Circuit Specialists SMD Tweezer (~$20-$30) that has been really handy in my projects.

By: signal7

signal7 — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:47:36 +0000

I like the solution you came up with for the SSD connections. For the longest time, I’ve only had a ground wire snaked up to the bench and clipped to a wrist strap. A banana plug terminal permanently mounted to the bench would be a big improvement.

For datasheets, I’ve been using a Kindle or a laptop. I think I’d find it very difficult/inconvenient to be disconnected from the internet while at the bench, imho.

I recognize those R$ analog meters you have. My dad had one for many years until I came along and tried changing the mode dial while it was hooked up. Let’s just say it doesn’t have very good input protection.

By: Chic

Chic — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 13:37:26 +0000

Hi Dave
your setup reminds me quite a bit of mine, I do have a hot-air source, apart from smd rework it gets a lot of use with heatshrink sleeving. And surely there’s a lab-book for scribbling pinouts, tweaking logic and jotting down memo’s to yourself as you go?

By: JohnW

JohnW — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 03:46:36 +0000

Dave

Love your blog. I bought the same Tandy meter at 12 years old!

Keep up the good work.

By: EEVblog

EEVblog — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:58:29 +0000

I get my boards made by http://www.pcbcart.com but I do all my own assembly.
I’ve got a local Melbourne guy who does hand assembly for me for low to medium volume stuff.
Haven’t gone into machine assembly yet for my own projects though, that’s a whole different ball-game.

By: Brodieman

Brodieman — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:57:00 +0000

great stuff as usual dave!

Slightly unrelated but when you need a prototype board built (1 or 2 only) that requires a lot of components in multiple layers – have you got any sources for us?

found a few that will make the PCB but none really state whether they are populated aswell… (i have very shakey hands)

By: george graves

george graves — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:08:23 +0000

I’d love more details on your resistor box. I really can see where that would come in handy. More info please? Or how about you build a couple, and walk us through it as an installment for the next eev blog!

Keep up the good work – I don’t miss an episode!

George Graves

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 10:44:03 +0000

Dave,

I keep a fire extinguisher in my lab. Rarely used but essential when needed.

Mark

By: EEVblog

EEVblog — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 07:59:08 +0000

Looks like I’ve been fooling a lot of people for some time now! :->

By: Alan Parekh

Alan Parekh — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 08:02:59 +0000

Hey Dave,

Great tour, funny how I envisioned your lab in a room in your basement. I would have never guessed it was in your garage. I also had the feeling that it was 3 or 4 times larger.

Alan

By: John McVirgo

John McVirgo — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 04:06:55 +0000

Interesting that the previous videos gave the impression of it being a large lab, whereas in reality it’s put together in a very basic, but functional sort of way. In fact, this is the same as any TV studio where the basic setup is very basic.

By: EEVblog

EEVblog — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:27:06 +0000

The wife did make me clean it before the latest blog :->

By: Jo

Jo — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:47:06 +0000

Hi Dave,

By: Armandas

Armandas — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:33:27 +0000

Here is a great article on setting up a lab: http://www.duntemann.com/12vtubes/shoptips.htm

By: Sofian

Sofian — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:58:34 +0000

Hey Dave, nice lab. i am a little amazed and jealous at the same time, at the age of 8 you had a multimeter, WOW, i am more amazed by the fact that you knew what electric current and electric voltage meant! never seen a guy like you. Keep up the good work.

And yeah, the lab looks much bigger on your previous blogs.

By: Kelvin

Kelvin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:18:50 +0000

Thanks for the tour Dave. I am impressed by how well organised and neat your lab is.

I am wondering if others would like to share a picture of thier labs too? I would like to slowly buidup one myself.

By: EEVblog

EEVblog — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:15:49 +0000

Sorry, that one got caught in the Akismet spam filter somehow. 2nd time that’s happened now. Usually it’s very accurate.

By: Joel

Joel — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:20:54 +0000

Thanks Andrew. It’s not eBay cheap, but I think I’ll have to get one anyway!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:39:57 +0000

I wrote some longer reply with URL earlier this day, but it disappeared. So the short form is google for coilcraft designer’s kits.

By: David

David — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:30:03 +0000

Its quite remarkable how viewing the blogs through the webcam you get the impression of the lab being much larger then it actually is.

By: Cuno

Cuno — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:17:26 +0000

Thanks Dave,

In shorts and t-shirt in the garage round Christmas.

Here in Europe its now winter, snow and temperature around 0 deg C.

I like the elbow hight table you have.
Stuff gets smaller and you have to put it closer in front of you nose.
I like the HP multimeter.
It has a fet input up til the 20 Volt range.
You can measure on the input of an opamp virtually without loading.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:32:07 +0000

http://www.coilcraft.com/kitssm.cfm

They used to be very generous with samples, but got abused by amateurs and *ssh*l*s reselling the samples on eBay. So it’s “pay to play” now.

By: walter delbono

walter delbono — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:21:22 +0000

thanks for the tour…

By: Tony P

Tony P — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:39:39 +0000

Oh fun. I could solder those resistors in no time. Every time they do a kit build at Providence Geeks or DC401 I’m usually the first one done.

I use the additional time to help out people that are new to soldering electronic components on circuit boards.

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 03:24:36 +0000

Does anyone have suggestions for inexpensive low value (up to 1000 nH) SMD inductor kits for RF? eBay is great for resistors and capacitors, but I’ve really only seen single values of inductors and kits of power inductors. The Farnell ones are about $125, which is a lot to pay to get out of winding a few coils.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 22:50:19 +0000

DIY current source

http://www.edn.com/article/CA6566536.html

I build one to get rid of some surplus BCD pushwheel switches that were fetching dust for some time. But it works quite well, and the switches give the whole thing a nice retro look.

Soldering the 48 resistors is a little bit boring, but might be a good soldering practice for beginners.

By: EEVblog

EEVblog — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:32:29 +0000

If I was out there working all day, then yeah, I’d have a PC available. But I don’t miss it. I take a wireless notebook out there if needed.

By: EEVblog

EEVblog — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:30:52 +0000

Like I said, work has all the gear, so I don’t have real need for a hot air gun or reflow machine at home.

By: Armandas

Armandas — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:20:36 +0000

Dave, what do you do when you’re in the lab and need a quick look at the datasheet of some part, or find something on the web, or anything? Do you never miss a computer in the lab? :O

By: Tony P

Tony P — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:02:28 +0000

Thanks for the tour. I notice you mention SMD but you don’t have a hot air gun for rework. The guys at Sparkfun figured out you don’t need one, a basic electric skillet works great for rework/reflow.

By: APS

APS — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:58:34 +0000

Great tour. Thank you.

By: Deyanuz

Deyanuz — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:38:23 +0000

Great blog! As a EE student I find your post very interesting and informative. Keep up the good work.

By: Newton

Newton — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 17:13:48 +0000

Very cool mate!
Thank you !

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:17:15 +0000

Thanks for your tour, very interesting indeed. All that in a one shot video – i like it .