Author Topic: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.  (Read 2284855 times)

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Offline ajb

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2075 on: June 20, 2016, 11:38:15 am »
Are we meant to infer anything by the stacking order, Howard?  :popcorn:
 

Offline McBryce

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2076 on: June 20, 2016, 12:08:54 pm »
Are we meant to infer anything by the stacking order, Howard?  :popcorn:

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 :D

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Offline AF6LJ

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2077 on: June 20, 2016, 02:08:06 pm »
That is very Cool Howard.
Sue AF6LJ
 

Offline grouchobyte

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2078 on: June 20, 2016, 05:54:32 pm »
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

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Offline Howardlong

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2079 on: June 20, 2016, 06:19:49 pm »
Are we meant to infer anything by the stacking order, Howard?  :popcorn:

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.
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2080 on: June 20, 2016, 09:08:36 pm »
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. :palm:

I like my oscilloscopes like I like my cars: manual. :-+
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Offline ECEdesign

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2081 on: June 21, 2016, 01:09:45 am »
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?
 

Offline grouchobyte

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2082 on: June 21, 2016, 01:53:30 am »
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    :scared: who  believe there is static everywhere. Know your environment and climate, humidity etc and use  COMMON SENSE   :-/O 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
« Last Edit: June 21, 2016, 02:29:11 am by grouchobyte »
 
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Offline System Error Message

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2083 on: June 21, 2016, 08:37:54 pm »
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? :D

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?
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2084 on: June 21, 2016, 11:10:12 pm »
Is that flux residue on your PCB or treacle? :popcorn:
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Offline Robaroni

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2085 on: June 22, 2016, 12:49:01 pm »
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
 

Offline grouchobyte

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2086 on: June 22, 2016, 03:03:56 pm »
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

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Offline System Error Message

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2087 on: June 22, 2016, 04:11:57 pm »
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.
 

Offline mtdoc

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2088 on: June 22, 2016, 05:08:58 pm »
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.
 

Offline McBryce

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2089 on: June 22, 2016, 07:35:53 pm »
Not all messy labs are interesting, some are just stomach churning!



NOT MY DESK!!!

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30 Years making cars more difficult to repair.
 

Offline rdl

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2090 on: June 22, 2016, 07:42:34 pm »
 

Offline Cubdriver

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2091 on: June 22, 2016, 08:13:52 pm »
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 -  :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

Yuk!!  <imagine puking smiley here>

-Pat
If it jams, force it.  If it breaks, you needed a new one anyway...
 

Offline mtdoc

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2092 on: June 22, 2016, 09:42:46 pm »
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.
 

Offline Robaroni

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2093 on: June 23, 2016, 12:10:50 am »
...

...

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
 

Offline AF6LJ

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2094 on: June 23, 2016, 12:19:15 am »
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...
Sue AF6LJ
 

Offline AlfBaz

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2095 on: June 23, 2016, 12:37:58 am »
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!
 

Offline Cubdriver

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2096 on: June 23, 2016, 01:00:42 am »
I am afraid to ask what the liquid is in those bottles.

Hey - when ya gotta go, ya gotta go!   ;)

-Pat
If it jams, force it.  If it breaks, you needed a new one anyway...
 

Offline bitseeker

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2097 on: June 23, 2016, 01:27:20 am »
...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.
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Offline VK5RC

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2098 on: June 26, 2016, 12:26:11 pm »
I don't know how you guys can work in such tidy spaces ( actually mine is getting crazy untidy at present)
After a bit of discussion about size or lack of it I thought I would update my "shack" photos.
The North facing view is the main desk which is covered with stuff, currently building a thermionic tube tracer the "uTracer 3+", out of view to the left are soldering irons and the main shed PC. Behind the desk are DMMs, Freq Gens, Counters, GPSDO, LCR meter, transistor zener, Cap testers, GPIB-USB IF.
It also has the main Ham rigs an Icom 756ProIII, IC 7300, IC 5100 and HPSDR SDR radios.
The West facing view is the main component storage and lesser used test gear, spec An, 3458, RF freq gen, Nixie stack is hidden behind green bin, also is a stack of 3455, 3456, 3457, out of view to the right is noise measuring gear, Yaesu FRG7 and FT 101 on top (with Oscilloscope unit)
More to come
edit added Ham gear
« Last Edit: June 26, 2016, 12:37:36 pm by VK5RC »
Whoah! Watch where that landed we might need it later.
 

Offline VK5RC

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Re: Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.
« Reply #2099 on: June 26, 2016, 12:32:00 pm »
Cont
The South side is the work bench, has an engineers vice at the Right end but is covered with stuff, out of view to the left is a combination folder roller cutter as well as a small lathe and a small drill mill, to the right below the satellite dish ( a 10GHz set up) is a 5' high 19" rack , mainly full of text books and manuals
The East side is mainly small hardware items e.g. nuts and bolts, and bigger tools e.g. hacksaws, drills, socket sets,heavy files etc in the filing cabinets. And what shed doesn't need a chainsaw to trip over on a regular basis!!!
« Last Edit: June 26, 2016, 12:39:16 pm by VK5RC »
Whoah! Watch where that landed we might need it later.
 


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