Help me choose equipment for a community electronic maker lab

[ddavidebor]

Here in italy a local association is building a open fablab with cnc, lasercut, 3d printer, normal bricolage tools, music, auditorium and a lot of things like this.

I've the responsibility of found the equipment, tools, spare pieces...

So, for the equipment, the various must are:
-good quality
-hight bang per €
-available in europe
-new, not usued
-simple to use, robust.

Probably we need

Power supply (triple, robust... I like the hameg HM7042-5)
Oscilloscope. (rigol 2000 series ones)
Multimeter (portable ones, a few, maiby cheap brymen)
Function gen (simple to use, any suggestion is accepted)
Soldering station (simple, ROBUST, cheap tip... Analog hakko maiby, or pace, ersa, weller... Any suggestion? Must be robust)
Desoldering station (is not necessary, medium quality, suggestion accepted)
Hot air station (medium quality, atten?)
Bench fume extraction (any suggestion accepted)
Lcr meter (with esr, cheap but solid, no cheap china ones)

Pcb etching machine... Suggestion accepted.

Anything else, suggestion assembled.

So... Should we do some brainstorming?

[free_electron]

get a bench multimeter ... handhelds do have a tendency to disappear from public places ...

[Rasz]

get a bench multimeter ... handhelds do have a tendency to disappear from public places ...

there are ways to deal with that problem

[ddavidebor]

Thanks, this is a real problem.

Bench meter are less user friend and more expensive.

Probably we will use the brymen... Something like a couple of the tiny cheap ones...

A bench one will maiby come later.



Remain a lot of indecision about function gen, soldering station, lcr meter, bench fume extraction.

Any suggestion?

[Lightages]

The lowest Brymen I would think would be good for a hacker space would be the BM807. It has TRMS and temperature. The next step up would be the BM257. I think I would recommend 2 or 3 BM807s to loan out and a BM867 locked away to check the other meters and for higher accuracy under supervision when needed.

I also think that one problem might be fuses. It might be a good idea to have some spare fuses, especially the low amperage ones, stored in a safe place, and a coupe of spare test leads too.

[ddavidebor]

Blow 5€ fuse is not funny

I love the minipa et 997 because has a ptc for uamp protection... But can not be bought

[alm]

Blowing up the meter and possibly injure the user is not funny either. Some people will likely with work with mains or large batteries, so safety is a concern.

[alm]

Lcr meter (with esr, cheap but solid, no cheap china ones)

Anything new and cheap is most likely coming from China. There have been a few around the $200 mark or so that have gotten decent reviews. Names that come to mind are CEM, Applent, Mastech and IET, although I'm sure I've missed some.

Don't forget plenty of leads, probes, clips and adapters. You need to wire instruments together somehow, and they can be surprisingly expensive. I might also imagine these could be considered consumables in a hacker space, since they will get damaged or disappear.

[jpb]

For the bench power supply I'd recommend
http://www.test-measure.co.uk/
I got my power supply from him. They are new but old-model power supplies from TTi. I think that they have 90 day warranty. He is also open to offers.

The supplies are shipped directly from TTi. The one I got already had a European plug - I use an adapter to use it in the UK.

The only drawback is power supplies are heavy so shipping to Italy might be expensive though he says on the web site:
"For European destinations there are excellent rates available. "

[ddavidebor]

@alm yes and that is another real problem. Lucky here tme.eu , wich is our reference shop has very good price.


Power supply are the only gear on we don't have problem...

For the woldering station...
I've just search and we really can't buy an hakko.

So maiby a fu**ing weller, with his orrible weller legacy color...

Ersa are exxxxxxpensive, jbc too.

[Lightages]

You will also need:

Safety glasses: get caught not wearing them and get thrown out
First aid kit and eye wash station
Fire extinguishers

Knibbling tools
Drill and bits
Hacksaws
Small hammers
Files
Screw drivers
Wrenches
Pliers
Side cutters
Bench vises
Magnifiers
Good lighting

DONATION BOX!

[ddavidebor]

Yes yes thanks i know this things...

I'm asking your help to choose the equipment.

[TimNJ]

UNI-T UT612 is a good LCR meter. It's around $130USD. Autoranging and everything.

[TimNJ]

For a soldering station, you really can't beat the Hakko FX-888 for the price. Digital or analog, they are both good.

LCR Meter, I just posted about, but I think the UT612 is a pretty good one considering the price

I know Weller makes an extraction system, but it's very very expensive. You'd better off getting some standard box filters, some flexible ducting, and some sort of fan.

Hot air stations are pretty pricey from a "reputable manufacturer" most likely because they are lower volume than traditional soldering stations. I'd honestly just get the cheap ones from eBay.

[Lightages]

For a good power supply, and to get a good multimeter as the master meter in the shop:
http://www.tme.eu/en/details/e3630a/multichannel-power-supplies/agilent-technologies/#

[alm]

For a soldering station, you really can't beat the Hakko FX-888 for the price. Digital or analog, they are both good.

Good for the price in the US or the price in Europe? European prices appear to be about $200.

[Lightages]

http://dx.com/p/hanko-fx-888-70w-soldering-station-ac-220v-126505

Shipped anywhere in the world!

[Rasz]

http://dx.com/p/hanko-fx-888-70w-soldering-station-ac-220v-126505

Shipped anywhere in the world!

DX comments suggest this is a knockoff (terrible build quality)

[ddavidebor]

We need to buy in europe, so no uni-t, no hakko uNfortunately....

[Psi]

You should probably wire the place with some E-stop buttons.
So the power can be cut quickly if someone does something stupid. 

[ddavidebor]

You should probably wire the place with some E-stop buttons
So the power can be cut quickly if someone does something stupid.

Awesome idea.... Thanks.

[ddavidebor]

For a soldering station, you really can't beat the Hakko FX-888 for the price. Digital or analog, they are both good.

LCR Meter, I just posted about, but I think the UT612 is a pretty good one considering the price

I know Weller makes an extraction system, but it's very very expensive. You'd better off getting some standard box filters, some flexible ducting, and some sort of fan.

Hot air stations are pretty pricey from a "reputable manufacturer" most likely because they are lower volume than traditional soldering stations. I'd honestly just get the cheap ones from eBay.

Yes i've seen... The hot air station start from 700€. Si think we're gonna with the atten.

[Lightages]

http://dx.com/p/hanko-fx-888-70w-soldering-station-ac-220v-126505

Shipped anywhere in the world!

DX comments suggest this is a knockoff (terrible build quality)

You are right. I didn't look enough. DX is getting rather bad for hiding bad reviews now too. Time to ignore them.

[ddavidebor]

So... The main problem now is the etching equipment...

Cnc router are damn expensive, 10k€++

Chemical etching is the only way to go...

But do it in safe and cheap way is very difficult, and is difficult to do it whitout practise...

[ddavidebor]

I think this should be a good esr meter http://www.tme.eu/en/details/u1733c/lcr-meter/agilent-technologies/#

400€ is not bad...