General > General Technical Chat

Electronics workbench coating, what would you recommend?

<< < (4/5) > >>

sokoloff:

--- Quote from: Berni on May 09, 2023, 10:25:37 am ---No coating will make wood into a temperature resistant or flame proof surface!
...
Another easy way out is to just buy a kitchen counter and use that as the desk surface. That stuff is resistant to a lot of things.
--- End quote ---
That kitchen counter is quite likely to be wood with a plastic laminate on it.

Xena E:
0.015" Nomex sheet.
Guys from the windings department covered my bench with it when one of them heard me complain about the state of the surface when I inherited it. I basically have 4 m² to use as a soldering iron stand... you can't burn it with an iron: it's physically tough too.

Berni:

--- Quote from: sokoloff on May 09, 2023, 09:14:34 pm ---
--- Quote from: Berni on May 09, 2023, 10:25:37 am ---No coating will make wood into a temperature resistant or flame proof surface!
...
Another easy way out is to just buy a kitchen counter and use that as the desk surface. That stuff is resistant to a lot of things.
--- End quote ---
That kitchen counter is quite likely to be wood with a plastic laminate on it.

--- End quote ---

Yep exactly, but the laminate used there is pretty tough stuff since it is designed to have sharp objects thrown around on it, hot pots placed down on it. It is also easily cleaned and has a texture that hides scratches.

At the same time it is pretty cheap from a generic hardware store while requiring no finishing applied to it, just add legs and you got a workbench. It is not exactly indestructible but for the cost and effort it is pretty good.

Metal is most definitely a bad idea for an electronics workbench surface, makes it way too easy to short things or could even be a safety hazard when high voltages are involved. If you are going to cover the surface with something just get a ESD mat.

Infraviolet:
"just add legs and you got a workbench"
For an electronics workbench, that is to say something you won't be using to mount vices against which you'll hammer, saw or use power tools, a typical "wood" topped office desk, or several together is probably going to be easier than building a custom bench. If you really need an alternative surface then fit an extra layer of the extra material atop a typical office desk rather than build the whole thing from scratch. An electronics bench doesn't need to cope with loads any greater than you leaning on it the way you'd lean on a desk where a computer keyboard was, nor to damp out vibrations from vigourous tool use.

tggzzz:

--- Quote from: Berni on May 10, 2023, 05:11:07 am ---
--- Quote from: sokoloff on May 09, 2023, 09:14:34 pm ---
--- Quote from: Berni on May 09, 2023, 10:25:37 am ---No coating will make wood into a temperature resistant or flame proof surface!
...
Another easy way out is to just buy a kitchen counter and use that as the desk surface. That stuff is resistant to a lot of things.
--- End quote ---
That kitchen counter is quite likely to be wood with a plastic laminate on it.

--- End quote ---

Yep exactly, but the laminate used there is pretty tough stuff since it is designed to have sharp objects thrown around on it, hot pots placed down on it. It is also easily cleaned and has a texture that hides scratches.

At the same time it is pretty cheap from a generic hardware store while requiring no finishing applied to it, just add legs and you got a workbench. It is not exactly indestructible but for the cost and effort it is pretty good.

Metal is most definitely a bad idea for an electronics workbench surface, makes it way too easy to short things or could even be a safety hazard when high voltages are involved. If you are going to cover the surface with something just get a ESD mat.

--- End quote ---

Precisely.

Last week I made such a bench myself:

* 132*60*2.5cm laminate: cost £0, since it was an offcut being given away on a website for such things (freecycle)
* height adjustible legs (Ikea Olov) that I had in the garage. No mounting plates, but Ikea kindly sent them free: cost £0
* ESD mat from previous worktable: cost £0 (this time)If I decide I don't like it, I'm not going to worry about the purchase cost :)


--- Quote from: Infraviolet on May 10, 2023, 05:35:44 am ---An electronics bench doesn't need to cope with loads any greater than you leaning on it the way you'd lean on a desk where a computer keyboard was, nor to damp out vibrations from vigourous tool use.

--- End quote ---

Not quite. It also has to support whatever equipment you are using at the time. An affordable decent spectrum analyser or a decent KVD or similar won't be light. Typically fleabay sales mark them as "collection only" :)

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

There was an error while thanking
Thanking...
Go to full version
Powered by SMFPacks Advanced Attachments Uploader Mod