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

[nanofrog]

What I'm uncertain about is whether I should explicitly ground the metal structure... Currently I'm in favor of grounding it, at least then I'll know what potential it's at.

I wouldn't, as it could bypass the 1M resistor connected to the mat (conductive side of the mat discharge through the metal if it makes proper contact, such as through worn paint). Now if you added a 1M resistor between the metal cart and safety earth, you'll be OK. This might be of help:  http://www.esdjournal.com/techpapr/eosesd/grounds/fsg.htm

I'd connect the mat & wrist grounds through the power strip, either through a screw (verify the screw is tied to safety earth; might need to scrape some paint off of the back side of the screw to get solid contact), or worst case, make a short extension cable that has a ground wire coming out of the receptacle side along side the 3 wire power cord. Then use that to tie the ESD grounds to safety earth (presumes the structural wiring provides 3 prong outlets that are actually connected to ground; could be an issue in an older structure).

If you have an available outlet that won't be needed for power, you could also make the  following: http://www.instructables.com/id/Grounding-an-ESD-mat-and-wrist-band-at-home/

[madsci]

Meet the incredibly tiny "hack rack"....my "at college" setup.

Instruments onboard:

Fluke 45 bench meter: It's butt ugly but it was cheap with a recent cal so it got to come home with me. It has no microvolt range but it's quite a lot better than my Extech in terms of accuracy. My first "real" piece of lab gear.

Keithley 2015 THD Multimeter...bought before Dave's review; I'm sure they're all 2x as much now. I accidentally found one on ebay while trying to score an ancient HP distortion analyzer of questionable functionality.  It's not made for HiFi work but for mainstream gear, it's more than adequate. It can measure down to 0.004% THD at 20kHz.

Extech 430: Grunt work meter. Poor battery life, questionable cat rating and a *slow* cap function. I'm glad I didn't pay retail.

Tektronix TDS 744A + Dell VGA monitor; main scope that replaces the old 20MHz Hameg. The UI is sometimes ungodly slow but other than that it rocks....kicking it into InstaVu is anything but instant. I may fix the horizontal width problem on the built in display sometime soon. It passes SPC reliably.

Heathkit IT-12 signal tracer. Older than dirt and indestructible with a magic eye tube level indicator!

VIZ Senior VoltOhmyst VTVM. Older than dirt as well, dumb and tough. Good for illustrating trends and probing things with nasty spikes.

Peak Atlas DCA Pro: General purpose semiconductor tester with PC based low current curve tacing. Identifies the part with a decent amount of accuracy and allows me to gain match transistors in house too. House numbered transistor? No problem.

The stack of Technics amplifiers is a permanent resident of the rack. The sources that feed it and speakers it drives are out of the shot as is the UPS that keeps suicidal squirrels from spoiling my fun.

[TMM]

My 'lab' aka bedroom/computer desk. Soldering irons and mechanical tools live in the garage (you don't want to see that, it's a pigsty haha..)

[Circlotron]

The late, great Jim Williams. An example for us all.

[ErikTheNorwegian]

I must post this one about Jim Wiilliams.. about Tek 465B Fix and Minuteman ICBM guidance computer mounted as artwork on his living room wall.

If you dont have seen it, its well wourth the time. 




http://www.linear.com/williams.php

[Phaedrus]

Work lab:



Big: http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/275/6/3/lab_by_phaedrus2401-d6oys47.jpg


Had to censor some interesting things, sorry, but our competitors do snoop.

[Alphatronique]

That my small company shop on my basement  O0

that result of 10 year of  hunting on ebay and bankruptcy auction site

missing from image reflow oven ,pcb washing and the AIO that was in next room

Marc L.

[Vgkid]

You have a neat pcb shop.

[con-f-use]

What do you do with your shop?

[SLJ]

I like the Xcelite tool kit.

[Alphatronique]

Hi

i have past >6 year doing Design , SCH\PCB and prototype assembly/test for
a huge company   ,got tired and kick it out

now focus on low volume prototype and pcb assembly 
work now on a project that will make the bridge between ardunino
and production ready pcb  ,so take all ardunino and similar whit sheild and integrate in into custom professional pcb and if customer what do production to ..
something that may look like hackeda but really much more personalised

p.s. toolkit was remain of my alarm installer live back in 1990 

have add new panoramic pic ..
     
Best regard
Marc Lalonde
Alphatronique inc.

[andtfoot]

Here's my little corner...

Definitely thinking of building an L-shaped bench of some sort.

[usLEDsupply]

Mine is in a constant state of change and it gets cleaned twice a year. It's been over six months so here's the latest set-up.

Where did you get that work bench or what model is it? i like the metal design with all the outlets on the face?

[Robertmaks]

Nice lab i would like to see another picture in the future to see how much it has changed, a bit messy but you have some nice equipment.     

[SLJ]

Where did you get that work bench or what model is it? i like the metal design with all the outlets on the face?

I bought it around 1992.  Had a wooden one before that.  The work surface is chemical proof and has held up well.  I added an "L" brace on the underside of the top of the riser as I figured it would need some extra bracing eventually with all the test equipment piled on top.  I think I bought it through Granger's. At the time it was around $280 with the top riser and bottom shelf.  Had to wire it but all the outlet punch holes were on the front and the legs.  One outlet in the center I have wired to my variac.  The rest are all bench power and the master bench kill switch is mounted in the left leg. It shuts down everything except the two computers.

It's and Edsal.
Here's the pieces.

I think this is what I have but I'm not sure the surface is the exact same material as I remember mine was listed as chemical proof:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/EDSAL-Workbench-7D182?cm_sp=IO-_-IDP-_-BTM_BTB05209020&cm_vc=IDPBBZ2

This is the top shelf:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/EDSAL-Electrical-Shelf-Riser-5W675?Pid=search

I also added a half shelf on the bottom as a full shelf would be in the way when I'm sitting at it but i don't see that listed.

The top shelf with the space for outlets can be added to any bench that's exactly 72 inches wide. and it's under $100 (if you pick it up from your local Graingers).

[c4757p]

Hmm... I guess I'll post mine, now that I have relocated it and it's a little tidier than usual.

My camera phone apologizes for the pathetic quality of the picture... though I suspect the real culprit is the low-ish lighting, it's a convenient scapegoat

And my poor woodworking skills apologize for the bench itself. I can't find a scapegoat for that. (Yep, the top shelf really is bowed, though it's been braced better since...)

[iceisfun]

[iceisfun]

Hmm... I guess I'll post mine, now that I have relocated it and it's a little tidier than usual.

My camera phone apologizes for the pathetic quality of the picture... though I suspect the real culprit is the low-ish lighting, it's a convenient scapegoat

And my poor woodworking skills apologize for the bench itself. I can't find a scapegoat for that. (Yep, the top shelf really is bowed, though it's been braced better since...)

Want to talk about poor woodworking skills?!? I used cinder block to put my bench up!

[ahnuts72]

Ill throw mine in the mix as well.

I just noticed c4757p it looks like we shop at the same place for storage bins.

[c4757p]

I just noticed c4757p it looks like we shop at the same place for storage bins.

Mine was from Lowe's, IIRC. Could have been Harbor Fright. The smaller ones were from Walmart.

We also have the same big-ass breadboard. Is yours as much of a turd as mine?

And that might be the same antistatic mat too. Don't forget to ground it!

[ahnuts72]

Mine came from lowe's to.

You are absolutely right about the breadboard you have to search for the right hole to get it to work right.(Like playing wack-a-mole with the jumper wires.)

I was boarding up the power supply to test it and wouldn't work,wouldn't work,touch a wire work touch a wire wouldn't work.

I almost broke it in half i was getting so mad.

Got the mat from ebay cant remember the seller.(One of these days ill have a real one that's blue and everything.)

[c4757p]

Yeah, I figured it wasn't from HF, it's lasted me more than a month...

I was boarding up the power supply to test it and wouldn't work,wouldn't work,touch a wire work touch a wire wouldn't work.

I almost broke it in half i was getting so mad.

Mine pushed me to start doing dead-bug prototypes on scrap PCB. Now I'm completely hooked on that method, won't even bother trying to find a better breadboard. The thing's just as lonely as it damn well deserves to be

Got the mat from ebay cant remember the seller.(One of these days ill have a real one that's blue and everything.)

"Blue and everything" Yeah, I have no idea how good this one is. I'd probably get better protection from the bare wood underneath... but I'm pretty careful about ESD in general, I don't think the mat adds much when I'm already paying close attention to charge transfer. The only thing I did test was that it wouldn't break down and conduct at higher voltages (mains) - it held off 3.5kV within millimeters of the grounding button just fine and that's the worst I could throw at it.

Probably should have stuck a uA meter in the loop to see what its resistance was at that voltage... Edit: Just did that: 0.7uA at 2900V (4 Gohm) at 30mm, so definitely in the typical static-dissipative range.

[ahnuts72]

Yeah I live in the southeast so statics not to bad of an issue as the humidity
is like 1000% all the time so I'm probably not as careful as i should be.

I don't use a lot of really sensitive stuff right now though some op-amps,555's
and the likes so not as critical.

[metalphreak]

Just redid my workbench to try and maximise the space I have available.

Went to IKEA and grabbed a 1200x300mm shelf, and some of the desk mount brackets for it. Makes it easy to install without having to drill into the wall or anything.

Also installed some soft-wiring kit from CMS Electracom. Fantastic stuff. We specify stuff like this a lot at work for office fitouts because it makes it easy for the people making the desk/cabinetry to install all the outlets, and the electrician can just install starter sockets beforehand. Then its just a matter of plugging everything in.

All the soft wiring is rated for 20A, so to get full benefit you really need a starter socket wall plate to replace your existing power outlet. CMS sell an adapter cable so you can plug it into a standard socket outlet, with an inline 10A breaker for protection. Everything hooks up with the same standard connector, with T pieces, or 1in3out blocks. Data cabling I just terminated to standard RJ45 plugs into my desktop switch. The stuff isn't that cheap, but it's much neater than having power boards everywhere, and much safer than trying to install standard electrical outlets into a desk. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out

(you also don't need to be an electrician or business to buy from them - they have an online shop!)












Even a power strip underneath my desk for easy access Plastic bracket screws on, then the power board clips in, soft-wiring cable connects on one side, with a pass through on the other end for chaining more boards.



All Done

[DL8RI]

Hi,

here are some Pics of my 'Mancave'. Many parts have been "dumpstered" at the university or in companies I work for:



It's not that dark like it looks, that's just the camera. On the bottom of the Lowest Broder-Board I mounted two "kitchen"-Lights (36W Fluro each) so the bench is really bright. As I do a lot SMD, the big soldering-station is a Weller rework-system (arrived today ) WMD 3. All the other tools are hidden in the Desk.



My (mostly) RF-Stuff, Test-Receivers, Spectrumanalyzer (HP 141T, classic ) a HV-Supply from R&S and an quite Old HP DSA. Down on the right of the power-switch is my RLC-Meter (ESI Video Bridge).


On the Other side: Components and more chaos

Hidden in the back, my 10MHz GPS-Reference:


The last Pictures are my Power-Wiring, maybe the most interesting part especially for you, metalphreak:



I wired a complete, independent circuit-braker-box (including a RCD) for my Lab. It's also the central grounding-point for my ESD-Stuff. In this box there is a central electric contactor. If I turn the key, the whole Lab is powered up, if I hit the Button everything (except the GPS of course) is off. Good for an emergency and also quite convenient.
Since you are also making a quite solid AC-Supply for your bench, this could be an inspiration for you.

Unfortunately I don't have to much space (still at university, living in "flat share"), therefore the whole thing is quite dense. In the future I hope to get a complete work-room with different benches for soldering, measurements and so on. That would be more ergonomic.