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

[bitseeker]

That sounds like great fun, Howard. And what a smorgasbord of oscilloscopes.

[HighVoltage]

Howard, what a nice looking field lab that is and a very interesting project.

[ajb]

Are we meant to infer anything by the stacking order, Howard? 

[McBryce]

Are we meant to infer anything by the stacking order, Howard? 

I'd say it's down to physics: Try balancing a DSA815 (or any equipment) on the thin top edge of an Agilent MSO-X and let me know how you get on

McBryce.

[AF6LJ]

That is very Cool Howard.

[grouchobyte]

I use an Ergatron arm with an ultrawide monitor in my lab. BTW: Turning the monitor 90 deg is very convenient for writing code.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6757916/the%20bench.jpg

For me, electronics is not a hobby (it started out that way in the 1960's) so the lab needs to be more than just functional. The lab/office is separate from the house so my wife has less of a distracting effect on me. The dropbox link above captures about 25% of my office lab/space and is mostly the bench part of it. The microscope and SMT prototyping stuff is in another part of the room.....and yes it is usually that neat and tidy. I cannot work with parts the size of mosquitos in a chaotic environment

@grouchobyte

[Howardlong]

Are we meant to infer anything by the stacking order, Howard? 

Nope, that was logistical, i.e., what balanced on what without toppling over.

I did grimace when a student asked me where the auto setup button was. So I let him press it.... and it made a complete pigs ear of it, picking up some high frequency RF instead of the modem-speed stuff we were after, so I let him play around for a minute or two trying to make sense of it. After letting him suffer, I offered my help a short while after, and in under 5s I'd got a sensible trace. ;-)

A few stories like that came out, like I could look at a trace and could immediately say what was wrong with the software modems on a few occasions, down to within a line or two of code. I think they thought I was getting some kind of paranormal aid, but it's far more mundane than that, just a reasonable amount of experience, and, something you can't teach in front of a chalkboard, analytical skills picked up over decades of doing.

On the other side of the coin, these bloody youngsters are far faster than I am picking up something new.

[bitseeker]

LOL! I tried the Auto button a couple of times, just to see what it did. After lots of clicking relays, it made a mess that I had to then waste time undoing.

I like my oscilloscopes like I like my cars: manual.

[ECEdesign]

I use an Ergatron arm with an ultrawide monitor in my lab. BTW: Turning the monitor 90 deg is very convenient for writing code.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6757916/the%20bench.jpg

For me, electronics is not a hobby (it started out that way in the 1960's) so the lab needs to be more than just functional. The lab/office is separate from the house so my wife has less of a distracting effect on me. The dropbox link above captures about 25% of my office lab/space and is mostly the bench part of it. The microscope and SMT prototyping stuff is in another part of the room.....and yes it is usually that neat and tidy. I cannot work with parts the size of mosquitos in a chaotic environment

@grouchobyte

Where did you get those clear plastic pieces you have over your ESD mats?  I have an ESD mat on my desk but also have keyboard and mouse and worry about the oils from my hands over time reducing the effectiveness of the mat.  I could get some of that special ESD cleaner and clean every week or so to keep the ESD mat free of contaminants.  Is this an issue or just me being paranoid?

[grouchobyte]

I use an Ergatron arm with an ultrawide monitor in my lab. BTW: Turning the monitor 90 deg is very convenient for writing code.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6757916/the%20bench.jpg

For me, electronics is not a hobby (it started out that way in the 1960's) so the lab needs to be more than just functional. The lab/office is separate from the house so my wife has less of a distracting effect on me. The dropbox link above captures about 25% of my office lab/space and is mostly the bench part of it. The microscope and SMT prototyping stuff is in another part of the room.....and yes it is usually that neat and tidy. I cannot work with parts the size of mosquitos in a chaotic environment

@grouchobyte

Where did you get those clear plastic pieces you have over your ESD mats?  I have an ESD mat on my desk but also have keyboard and mouse and worry about the oils from my hands over time reducing the effectiveness of the mat.  I could get some of that special ESD cleaner and clean every week or so to keep the ESD mat free of contaminants.  Is this an issue or just me being paranoid?

The clear plastic is standard kichen drawer liner. Not exactly anti-static. When i do sonething like handle laser diodes, etc, I remove the plastic. The mats do get dirty and do trap oils, etc so the plastic liners are easy to remove, which is less frequent since most things don't require strict anti-static protocol. These days, unlike many years ago, many components are much more robust although there are anti-static nazis out there    who  believe there is static everywhere. Know your environment and climate, humidity etc and use  COMMON SENSE    and then decide if you want to emulate what I do.

PS: the blue antistatic mats i use are really unnecessary since my bench surfaces are anti-static. After doing some contract work for Intel Labs in the 90's  I fell in love with the benches there and bought myself two. They cost plenty but well worth it IMHO

[System Error Message]

A new challenge, can you eat and solder at the same time? or prepare and make food while working on an electronics project

Actually we baked ginger bread men in a re-flow oven,good enough?

Anyway Farnell delived today a new power supply, a few components and an ESD bench mat.

How did it taste? Did you have a reflow project in the oven while baking ginger bread men at the same time?

[bitseeker]

Is that flux residue on your PCB or treacle?

[Robaroni]

I have some great instruments, Keysight, Tek, etc and a full machine shop with great machines including Emco precision lathes from Austria, Miller TIG, heat treating ovens, etc. and I'd show my lab but you really don't want to see it.

OK, you people with clean benches, how do you do it? I tried and failed miserably on many occasions over the last 50 years!

Rob

[grouchobyte]

I have some great instruments, Keysight, Tek, etc and a full machine shop with great machines including Emco precision lathes from Austria, Miller TIG, heat treating ovens, etc. and I'd show my lab but you really don't want to see it.

OK, you people with clean benches, how do you do it? I tried and failed miserably on many occasions over the last 50 years!

Rob

Simple. You need to learn or develop OCD......obsessive compulsive disorder

@grouchobyte

[System Error Message]

I have some great instruments, Keysight, Tek, etc and a full machine shop with great machines including Emco precision lathes from Austria, Miller TIG, heat treating ovens, etc. and I'd show my lab but you really don't want to see it.

OK, you people with clean benches, how do you do it? I tried and failed miserably on many occasions over the last 50 years!

Rob

Simple. You need to learn or develop OCD......obsessive compulsive disorder

@grouchobyte

Or rather hide everything inside a compartment. Count the tools and components as part of the looks and design of your work area.

[mtdoc]

I'd show my lab but you really don't want to see it.

Oh come on. Show it!  The messy labs are much more interesting IMHO. 

I doubt you'd shock anyone here - look back at older posts in this thread. Plenty of very messy labs.  Personally I'd much rather see Jim Williams type lab bench photos than clean, orderly benches. I can see those pictures on test equipment manufacturer websites.

[McBryce]

Not all messy labs are interesting, some are just stomach churning!

NOT MY DESK!!!

McBryce.

[rdl]

...

...

Okay. That's pretty bad.

[Cubdriver]

Dunno that I'd call that a lab - looks more like a hard-core gamer's desk.  And are those bottle of pee?  Regardless of what exactly it is - 

Yuk!!  <imagine puking smiley here>

-Pat

[mtdoc]

That's not a lab. More like an ash tray with a computer sitting in it. Yuk.

Not an electronics tool or instrument in site.

[Robaroni]

...

...

Okay. That's pretty bad.

OK, that's worse than mine I'm feeling better!

'If a cluttered desk is a cluttered mind, what's an empty desk?'
Einstein

[AF6LJ]

Not all messy labs are interesting, some are just stomach churning!

NOT MY DESK!!!

McBryce.

I am afraid to ask what the liquid is in those bottles.
The only thing missing from that picture is the meth pipe...

[AlfBaz]

Not all messy labs are interesting, some are just stomach churning!

NOT MY DESK!!!

McBryce.

I'm not a clean freak but after clicking on that link, I'm cleaning out my browser cache!

[Cubdriver]

I am afraid to ask what the liquid is in those bottles.

Hey - when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!   

-Pat

[bitseeker]

...after clicking on that link, I'm cleaning out my browser cache!

LOL! That's a good one. I'll have to borrow it sometime.