Finally, bench build is under way.

[GreyWoolfe]

I went big on my lighting, at least the half of the bench for soldering stuff.  I got an EnviroLight 6 bulb 4' LED fixture from Home Depot.  $139 shipped.  12,000 lumens with an effective 10,000 lumens output according to the specs.  I just added a switch and power cord.  Expensive, I know but I didn't want to try to cobble something together that may or may not do what I wanted.  The other half of the desk has 6 T5 fluorescent bulbs-192 watts against 75 and the LED fixture blows it away.  I plan to get another and get rid of the fluorescents.  The side of the bench where I do company equipment repair has light envy.  At least I can get a non reimbursable business expense since it is for my home office.

[Brumby]

And then I will also run a strip along underneath the bench so I can see if I drop anything on the floor.

 

There are days when I think I wouldn't need a switch for something like that.

[rrinker]

 Haha VERY true. The model building side is getting that too. I probably work more with tiny bits on models more than electronics, even a 1/8 watt through hole resistor is bigger than many of my model detail parts. Those glass diodes though... About the only SMD I do are the resistors to put on the axles of my train cars to activate the signal detection - I figure to have a couple hundred cars, with 2 resistors per, so I just bought a part reel of them. When I was making the first batch, if one of those little buggers popped out of my tweezers I gave a cursory glance at the floor and if it stuck out I picked it up, if not, I just used another. Probably vacuumed up half a dozen once I packed up and vacated the place.