EEVblog #570 - LAB Cleanup And Shelving

[chip273]

Well,
since now you have a lot of space, why don't you put a round table in the middle of the room for further teardowns and videos.
Benefits:
1) You can sit anywhere and put the camera anywhere, not just on 3 sides. A round table makes infinite possibilities.
2) Since a round table will be small, you will have to clean up between video shoots.
3) It's never been done before. Well not that I had seen any.
Just try it. You can still have a 2,10 m long table afterwards.

Also please make a fixed table, no wheels. We don't want shaky videos. Youtube is full of them.

[EEVblog]

Well,
since now you have a lot of space, why don't you put a round table in the middle of the room for further teardowns and videos.
Benefits:
1) You can sit anywhere and put the camera anywhere, not just on 3 sides. A round table makes infinite possibilities.
2) Since a round table will be small, you will have to clean up between video shoots.
3) It's never been done before. Well not that I had seen any.

4) I could have a swivel table and get 360deg rotational views (or a circular camera dolly track around the outside)

[chip273]

4) I could have a swivel table and get 360deg rotational views (or a circular camera dolly track around the outside)

Exactly, benefits are limitless 

[TiN]

Great vid, best way to clean and get rid of obsolete gear is to move to another country, then everything is sold/cleaned really quickly
What cannot be sold - goes to another dumpster collections
But after all, it's always too compelling and convenient to have needed part handy, rather than waiting days or weeks for orders delivery every time.

[lapm]

I wonder if messy lab is somehow related to fact that some people has brains for engineering. I like designing things even if im not engineer by work. And mess follows...

My electronics corner im re-organizing looks like a mess. My wife has asked me to clear out the junk few times now.  Figured i better do it before she does it. She might actually throw away something worth money...

Also Dave, what ever type of desk you deside to put in middle of room, make sure it has shelves under it for few plastic bins... Knowing how your lab lives, your going to need them eventually.

[(In)Sanity]

I think what we all need is a storage room right next to our "Lab" or "Shack".  It's a little easier to keep pushing the mess back in to the storage room so that when visitors come you can just close the door.   Unfortunately that's not practical for most people due to space constraints in our work environment.   It also takes some discipline to keep the mess inside.

I think it would be great if everyone who cares to stay organized shared ways to keep the lab clean.   Little tricks like hanging jumper wires from a peg.   I for one would love to know new tricks for organization while still keeping a productive environment.   It would also be nice to identify the most problematic items around the lab,  such as scope probes that never really have a good home,  etc.

Jeff

[PA4TIM]

I was pretty pleased with the result of reorganising my lab. Yesterday evening my wife entered my lab, that is she stopped in the door because she does mot dare to walk there without shoes.

I was searching a watch of hers I repaired a while back and told here. I know I have it because when cleaned up I have seen it and put it somewhere it does not get lost. Then she looked around and asked "really, are you sure you cleaned up ? "

[nihilism]

I have a 60m2 shed full of stuff i've collected over the years. I'm slowly trying to go through it all and throw stuff out.
The two main problems;
1) I have, and have had, too many hobbies. These include, in no particular order, electronics, woodwork, metalwork, fish keeping, fishing, cars and probably more i cant think of right now.
2) I work in a job where a lot of "too good to throw away" stuff follows me home.

I tend to put stuff in boxes and think i'll sort it out later, but i don't.

The more space you have, the more crap you will accumulate.

[BiOzZ]

I cant say i have the largest workspace ... but i can say i have a real problem keeping things clean ...

VIEW IT HERE
http://imgur.com/a/rSbbV

And yes take a guess who pays the most rent XPP

[Rutger]

Cleanup tips;

1) Donate back to the dumpster room, surely you don't need all this stuff
2) Donate monitors and UPS's to local hacker-space. They usually host there own webserver and can use the UPS's.
3)Get rid off the copy machine. Why do you need a giant copying machine anyway??? a small all in one printer does the same.
4) Take the bean bags home, do you really have time to sit in them?
5) Put things you don't want to trash on a website like graigslist or something like recycletheworld.org for free.

[Monkeh]

3)Get rid off the copy machine. Why do you need a giant copying machine anyway??? a small all in one printer does the same.

Without the speed.

[GreyWoolfe]

3)Get rid off the copy machine. Why do you need a giant copying machine anyway??? a small all in one printer does the same.

Without the speed.

And the cool factor.

[Monkeh]

And the decent paper tray. And the non-bullshit network printing.

[BiOzZ]

and the lower cost per page

[PA4TIM]

Thanks BioZz, I feel a lot better now 

[JackOfVA]

The most space efficient storage system I've run across was shelving with castors.

Top view looked something like this [----] is a shelf system, something like the ones Dave added but with wheels on the bottom and much stronger so that they did not flex significantly in any dimension. To access shelf system 3, you pulled it out

[1----]
[2-----]
=====[3----]
[4----]
[5----]

These were expensive shelves and ran on a track mechanism or smooth floor (not carpet). We used them for paper files back in the day before scanners and cheap digital storage, but they would work well for parts or equipment, provided nothing sticks out beyond the shelf width.

[Steffen]

I really liked the part of self-awarness that you have a serious problem Dave. :-D Insight is the first way to bless.
I really would do much to have such lab for my use. At work i have a L shaped desk with four monitors connected to 2 pcs and with the corresponding keyboards and mice. So no place for more stuff than few sheets of A4 paper. the shorter piece of the configuration is covered by a Tek TDS 460 scope (triple Hameg PSU on top), power bar at the middle and on the right side (de-)soldering stations from weller and paper registers. Files and function generator and Keithly 2000 Multimeter need to take place at a wall mounted flying shelf above. Insulating transformer and R&S FSP7 are on a small desk-high cabinet opposite the L-ankge. Tools, Stuff and measurement stuff need to find place in containers with casters under the desk.
 
In reality i have roughly one square metre to work on electronics. So my place has to stay clean and tidy. 
Few cardboard boxes behind me at the window in front of the radiators will go away when all parts are assembled to cables and put to the XFEL tunnel.
But I'm pretty okay with that. I like tidy places and would keep it tidy before it starts to get messy.
But in my lab are more colleagues and we have really not much space to mess something up. Dirty mechanic work like drilling, milling and grinding is done in another room or in field installations are done there.

At home i have to be comfortable with my one room and there is also not much space for messing stuff up. I like it to have save space around me without hazard to step on something sharp or tremble over heavy parts.

[Barny]

My hobby-room was even worse.
At the moment that I couldn't open the door and couldn't enter the room I thought thats time to tidy up.

It took me a 3 weeks till the room was useable 
Sorry no photo.

[SeanB]

Whiteboard can easily have the big board removed and a simple bar placed as a top. Then you have storage place for the bubble wrap rolls and for all test leads as well. I made one out of scrapyard railing for that at work, as we use enough bubble wrap that a stand was useful. Cost about $20 and a half day of welding to make it from scrap steel only. Heavy enough that it is hard to pull over.

[hikariuk]

Ah, the thin strip of visible floor to walk from the bench to the door without stepping on anything.

That's a sight I'm familiar with

I used to have a similar arrangement in my bedroom for many years...actually I couldn't even used my bed for quite a while because it was covered with stuff there wasn't room for elsewhere.

[hikariuk]

I don't understand why you have your work benches on a narrow corner and have shelves on the center of the room. I would totally inverse that setup.

The shelves are in a corner and the workbench is against a wall...

[hikariuk]

3)Get rid off the copy machine. Why do you need a giant copying machine anyway??? a small all in one printer does the same.

Without the speed.

And the cool factor.

Also the copier was a dumpster dive item, iirc.  So free.

[skipjackrc4]

The most space efficient storage system I've run across was shelving with castors.

Top view looked something like this [----] is a shelf system, something like the ones Dave added but with wheels on the bottom and much stronger so that they did not flex significantly in any dimension. To access shelf system 3, you pulled it out

[1----]
[2-----]
=====[3----]
[4----]
[5----]

These were expensive shelves and ran on a track mechanism or smooth floor (not carpet). We used them for paper files back in the day before scanners and cheap digital storage, but they would work well for parts or equipment, provided nothing sticks out beyond the shelf width.

Yep.  I just came up with this idea last week for storing things under my bench.  I made a prototype out of a 2x12, and so far it works wonderfully.  I'll build a few more once the weather warms up.  I can now use the full 4ft depth of my bench for storage without having to climb around on the floor to get to things.  Total cost for me was about $40 per shelf, including casters.

[papo]

Check this out, I have a similar mess! Pictures are attached. This room was used by several students who were involved with silicon molding and none of them had the time to clean up when their project was over. The rest is my own mess  . Granted, no way I can top Jim Williams but it's still quite a mess.

[wilheldp]

3)Get rid off the copy machine. Why do you need a giant copying machine anyway??? a small all in one printer does the same.

Without the speed.

And the cool factor.

Also the copier was a dumpster dive item, iirc.  So free.

Enablers!