Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.

[Cubdriver]

@David77
What is the blueish box on the left of you first photo?

My guess would be a circuit board etching tank.

-Pat

[richnormand]

@David77
What is the blueish box on the left of you first photo?

My guess would be a circuit board etching tank.

-Pat

Makes sense, thanks.
I get mine done outside (BAC) all the time.

[david77]

That's what it is. It is not cost effective for me as a hobbyist to send out for single boards, so I etch them myself. It is quite handy, from layout to finished board in under one hour.

[bitseeker]

Novell Netware box, that brings back memories.

Yeah, tell me about it. I did my share of sitting in front of Netware servers feeding them floppy after floppy. Oh, and the hard drive surface scans. Oof, those took forever.

[xrunner]

Nice rack o' equipment.

I know that wall thingy is probably built well but it still makes me shudder what with those nice units there. 

[bitseeker]

Cool. It's like a Murphy bed for test equipment. You could do a whole wall with two or more rows of them.

[bd139]

My father-in-law had an arrangement like that in his living room as a pull down table and the top hook came out and poured burning hot curry in his lap

Just looking at it scares me.

[med6753]

I like it. Gives me some ideas. 

[nfmax]

I like it. Gives me some ideas. 

It needs palm trees that fold down out of the way...

[German_EE]

FAB

[SeanB]

Was in the garage this weekend, looking to fix a UPS, and on the shelf there was this mess, from a can of Positiv20 that is probably 30 years old, when I first started to etch boards, using a mercury vapour lamp without the outer glass (yes, had drawbacks, but as a point UV source excellent, plus the ozone, and it made a dandy Eprom eraser as well), which had decided to rust through at the liquid level, and literally came apart into 2 pieces. Also was contemplating hitting it with some "Gentle Persuasion", but decided against it, reserving that for the 2 scanners that decided that flaming tantalum was a good thing.

Going to be bye to 2 HP scanners, but the old Canon will stay, despite being beige, and as the last drivers for it are for ME and XP, it works well with Linux as well, unlike the newer ones which are supported up to, but not including Win10, so are very cheap to get used.

UPS debating, do I try a battery in it, or just turn it to scrap, as I have a few around doing no use, and I have run out of batteries.

[JustSquareEnough]

My lab.  Two things of note:
1. The AMScope on the articulating arm is about the most useful thing in the lab.
2. The Keyboard on the computer is an original IBM Model M from a long gone server.  It's dated 01-18-1990, so it's older than a lot of the people on this message board.

@kkessler, I'm thinking of picking an AMScope up and am very tempted by the articulating arm versus the beast that is the boom arm. Would you still go with it today?

[kkessler]

@kkessler, I'm thinking of picking an AMScope up and am very tempted by the articulating arm versus the beast that is the boom arm. Would you still go with it today?

I'm still very happy with it. If you have the right place to clamp it, it is much more convenient than the desk standing arm. It's also very solid, and I never felt that it was going to come loose and fall into my lap.

[nanofrog]

@kkessler, I'm thinking of picking an AMScope up and am very tempted by the articulating arm versus the beast that is the boom arm. Would you still go with it today?

I'm still very happy with it. If you have the right place to clamp it, it is much more convenient than the desk standing arm. It's also very solid, and I never felt that it was going to come loose and fall into my lap.

I was interested in the articulating arm as well, but was too afraid it wouldn't be solid enough based on what little info I could get on them at the time.

Turns out it was the right choice in the end for space reasons (makes me move it of the bench). Otherwise 3 swing arms would have been a disaster (oscilloscope & monitor).

[BillB]

Just squeezed in a few more pieces of gear on my secret hide-away micro-bench.  I think the shelf is at its maximum capacity; I'm afraid to place anything else on it.  I think I might be done with this one? 

[richnormand]

This is very neat and organised.

Any way to re-position all the probes, test leads and jumpers so you can add shelving upward and regain a bit more bench space though?
May not be an issue if you only work with small size items.

In my case I ended up with the binocular on a close-by bench at 90deg and share the soldering/rework station between the two. All the probes and stuff hangs between the two.
The main bench ended up with three layers of instruments on the wall prioritized by how often I use them.

Nice setup overall given that your say there is little space available.

Cheers.

[nanofrog]

I second the relocation of all the probes and add in a shelf or two. 

As per probe management, I use nylon pencil holder bags meant for 3 ring binders. I get them cheap out of dollar stores during back-to-school periods. Different colors for different probes makes it very easy to ID them IME. For windows, I prefer plastic over mesh as you won't lose all the tiny bits, such as the color rings or ground bits for passive oscilloscope probes, pogo pins for SMD probes, ....

[BillB]

This is very neat and organised.

Any way to re-position all the probes, test leads and jumpers so you can add shelving upward and regain a bit more bench space though?
May not be an issue if you only work with small size items.

In my case I ended up with the binocular on a close-by bench at 90deg and share the soldering/rework station between the two. All the probes and stuff hangs between the two.
The main bench ended up with three layers of instruments on the wall prioritized by how often I use them.

Nice setup overall given that your say there is little space available.

Cheers.

Thanks.  Yeah, I do have most of the materials to install another shelf.  But, it's probably going to need to wait a while.  The wife may get suspicious.   

[xrunner]

I second the relocation of all the probes and add in a shelf or two. 

As per probe management, I use nylon pencil holder bags meant for 3 ring binders. I get them cheap out of dollar stores during back-to-school periods. Different colors for different probes makes it very easy to ID them IME. For windows, I prefer plastic over mesh as you won't lose all the tiny bits, such as the color rings or ground bits for passive oscilloscope probes, pogo pins for SMD probes, ....

Dang that's a great idea  - I'm off to the $$$ store tomorrow. 

[bitseeker]

I second the "dang that's a great idea" sentiment.

[GreyWoolfe]

I second the relocation of all the probes and add in a shelf or two. 

As per probe management, I use nylon pencil holder bags meant for 3 ring binders. I get them cheap out of dollar stores during back-to-school periods. Different colors for different probes makes it very easy to ID them IME. For windows, I prefer plastic over mesh as you won't lose all the tiny bits, such as the color rings or ground bits for passive oscilloscope probes, pogo pins for SMD probes, ....

I use Chinese take away containers.  See through lids and I use a label maker to mark them.

[nanofrog]

I don't eat enough Chinese food to collect enough containers (it'd take me years). They're really handy though (great for left-overs). 

[rdl]

I use those plastic containers that lunch meat comes in for a lot of stuff. They're not big enough for scope probes though. I also like peanut butter jars. The store brand doesn't have any logo molded in the lid and they come in a variety of colors. You can see some here on each top shelf.

[Mr. Scram]

I don't eat enough Chinese food to collect enough containers (it'd take me years). They're really handy though (great for left-overs). 

I assume you can buy them without the food in them. Try a local wholesaler that specialises in the food industry.

[Cubdriver]

I don't eat enough Chinese food to collect enough containers (it'd take me years). They're really handy though (great for left-overs). 

I assume you can buy them without the food in them. Try a local wholesaler that specialises in the food industry.

Or maybe go to the local purveyor of oriental cuisine and slip them a few bucks for some new ones...

-Pat