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

[richnormand]

here is my main bench in its natural state. To the right (not shown) are a binocular for smd work and a high magnification microscope.

I forsee a major problem ahead for you - where are you going to put your next acquired piece of test gear?

New lab required? 

The place is much bigger than the bench. Since the thread was focused on e-benches I just posted that. For example here is a pix of the high vacuum turbo and ion pumped deposition station. There is also the Canberra MCA cosmic ray telescope and the workshop (lathe, drill press, bandsaw, etc...)

[MarvinTheMartian]

The place is much bigger than the bench. Since the thread was focused on e-benches I just posted that. For example here is a pix of the high vacuum turbo and ion pumped deposition station. There is also the Canberra MCA cosmic ray telescope and the workshop (lathe, drill press, bandsaw, etc...)

Wow ,  I'm really impressed  (and seriously envious  ) 

Great setup!

[bitseeker]

That paperclips thing for tidying cables is a good idea. I'm going to steal that.

Binder clips are excellent for cable management and come in a variety of sizes. In addition to using them as Rich did, if you want your cables to be able to extend and retract, but not drop onto the floor, run one (or a couple) through one or both handles (they come off easily), then clip within convenient reach. No snags, no sharp edges. Add some ferrite cores or other weight to the cables to make them auto-retract.

[VK5RC]

What do you use the ion deposition system for? (Apart from the obvious depositing ions-  HiHi)   seriously nice setup+++.

[richnormand]

What do you use the ion deposition system for? (Apart from the obvious depositing ions-  HiHi)   seriously nice setup+++.

The ion pump is to keep the system around 10^-7 torr in between uses. Main pump is a small Pfeiffer TPH062 turbo from ebay. System has been used several times to evacuate my EG&G 1412 OMAVision cooled ccd detector on my spectrometer (LED and diode laser work)  as well as to work on the various Photometrics vacuum CCDs that I have from ebay to use on the telescope. Also for deposition of thin metallic coatings and such. The system is quite versatile and can be put in many configurations. Also has electrical feedthroughs, window and internal water cooling. The RGA has an electron multiplier and leak detection mode.

Present layout in the photo was someone who recently asked me if I could see and get an RGA spectrum of leakage from an integrated circuit package. It worked OK to identify the gases but I could not really quantify the leakage rate to the precision she wanted.

I am presently getting the bits and pieces needed for making a small homemade scanning electron microscope attached to the pumping station, but that is long term.

[richnormand]

here is my main bench in its natural state. To the right (not shown) are a binocular for smd work and a high magnification microscope.

Nice! HP 1630x logic analyzer, a good assortment of Tek 7000 series gear including a rackmount one, a Tek TM500 frame, composite video monitor, LCD screens that aren't widescreen format, Fluke 8020A(?), old tower PC case with missing cover...
I like it.

That paperclips thing for tidying cables is a good idea. I'm going to steal that.
What are they clipped to? Is that some kind of aluminium extrusion, fixed to the shelf edge?

The shelves are a sort of flat U shape of heavy gauge sheet metal. Very sturdy and the clips are perfect to grip on that and move around when a different cabling layout is needed....
 crude but effective. Also not shown on the right and back are two microscopes, a Tek576 curve tracer, Tek 2465DMS, Sony/Tek 305Dmm and Tek 545A in addition to the Canberra multichannel analyzer and a Spex double spectrometer. All in perfect working condition.

[AF6LJ]

here is my main bench in its natural state. To the right (not shown) are a binocular for smd work and a high magnification microscope.

Nice! HP 1630x logic analyzer, a good assortment of Tek 7000 series gear including a rackmount one, a Tek TM500 frame, composite video monitor, LCD screens that aren't widescreen format, Fluke 8020A(?), old tower PC case with missing cover...
I like it.

That paperclips thing for tidying cables is a good idea. I'm going to steal that.
What are they clipped to? Is that some kind of aluminium extrusion, fixed to the shelf edge?

The shelves are a sort of flat U shape of heavy gauge sheet metal. Very sturdy and the clips are perfect to grip on that and move around when a different cabling layout is needed....
 crude but effective. Also not shown on the right and back are two microscopes, a Tek576 curve tracer, Tek 2465DMS, Sony/Tek 305Dmm and Tek 545A in addition to the Canberra multichannel analyzer and a Spex double spectrometer. All in perfect working condition.

I have to find a dry rag to wipe the drool off my chin, neck and lap.
NICE.

[Alex Eisenhut]

Why does everyone leave such a small bench surface for actually working? Most of the benches I've seen couldn't accommodate a decent size audio amplifier, let alone a large piece of equipment.
Perhaps everyone just works on tiny little smd boards!

That's my problem, I live in a modest closet but I'd like to repair my RT-909: ain't gonna happen. My bench is shared with the computer, I have maybe a square foot at best for electronics.

[Vgkid]

here is my main bench in its natural state. To the right (not shown) are a binocular for smd work and a high magnification microscope.

I see a Keithley 181 , Ithaco filter, and a 1201 preamp

[richnormand]

here is my main bench in its natural state. To the right (not shown) are a binocular for smd work and a high magnification microscope.

I see a Keithley 181 , Ithaco filter, and a 1201 preamp

You are looking at the stuff grouped for audio work in the middle: HP332A distortion analyzer, Ithaco 1201 low noise preamp and 4123 electronic filter, PAR 113 and EGG 115 preamps and to the left an old Phillips GM2317 audio signal generator. Of all the bunch of signal source I have in the audio range the Phiilips is the lowest distortion one. Not bad for a vacuum tube unit! Below is a Tek sampling scope.

Most of the keithleys are on the right hand side and include electrometer, current and voltage, thermocouple and scanners, etc... Most are operated via GPIB with the old computer under the bench when I need to automate a measurement.

[willb]

I need more space

[xrunner]

I need more space

You need more stickers. 

[AF6LJ]

I need more space

Yah I think you Do ....

[TerraHertz]

I need more space

Nice, but you need to NOT co-site a bench grinder and electronics. These are 'different room' things.

[Cubdriver]

I need more space

You and me both!!

Nice collection-o-test gear you have there!

-Pat

[MarvinTheMartian]

I need more space

Nice, but you need to NOT co-site a bench grinder and electronics. These are 'different room' things.

I agree - the workshop is a dusty, messy place and should be separate from the lab. 

Of course, it all depends on whether you have the available space to do it. 

[richnormand]

I need more space

What I do like in your work area are the old Teks. Here is my 545A, that I got in the mid 70s. Still works like a factory new with about 8 or 9 plug-ins (some had A.V. Roe company stickers on them. Perhaps they saw the Arrow) , including a calibration one with a reed mercury switch for risetime adjustment after changing the array of tubes in the vertical amplifier. It will most likely outlive me!

Yep, although just like you, the house second fridge is sitting next to my bench.  Well, its not that bad actually. Its a just short stretch for a cold beer.....

[Soraen]

Hey Guys! New member here, thought I'd show y'all my workstation! It's a computer I built when I was in University, circa 2008. It's evolved over the years, so I'm not exactly sure what the specs are, but they aren't impressive. The CPU is a 3.2 GHz Quad-Core... just plain slow when you can get a 4.7 GHz 8-core monster for ~$230. 

As for the pictures, sorry they are slightly blurry I shot them with my Cannikon and it has an f-stop of 1.2, and I didn't stop it down that much. There wasn't much light, and I tried not to use flash, as I just don't like the way it looks, but maybe I should have. Oh well.

Cheers all!
Soraen

P.S. After much try, I have compressed the crap out of the pics because of the files size limit and I may have to post twice or thrice

[Soraen]

Here are the second set maybe if it will let me post them

[tautech]

P.S. After much try, I have compressed the crap out of the pics because of the files size limit and I may have to post twice or thrice

Welcome to the forum.

Good try on pic compression but you can go even further.
2 main reasons; easier on Daves sever storage and faster to load for those on poor internet connections that want to view pics.
However when fine detail is needed ~500kb is normally large enough.

[nctnico]

@Sorean: if I where you I'd try to be less messy and think about a storage system for tools, components and equipment. It is a lot more fun to work on a project when you can grab things from a fixed/designated place.

[Soraen]

P.S. After much try, I have compressed the crap out of the pics because of the files size limit and I may have to post twice or thrice

Welcome to the forum.

Good try on pic compression but you can go even further.
2 main reasons; easier on Daves sever storage and faster to load for those on poor internet connections that want to view pics.
However when fine detail is needed ~500kb is normally large enough.

Thanks! Ah, darn! I should have compressed it to maximum compression! I was thinking approx. 500kB was good enough (down from 5 MB), but I stand corrected!
I wonder what it would have looked like then.... Ah, for next time!

@nctnico: It takes all sorts; I find that having to worry about keeping a 'clean' workspace does not add to the fun I get from electronics. The way my brain works, it's much more of an 'organized chaos'. And this is nothing compared to the labs of the researchers at my old university. Holy cow! I think they always just acquired more of what they needed rather than search for it. But thanks for the kindly suggestion!
(Pssst, and I think you meant "If I were you...")

[TerraHertz]

Ah, darn! I should have compressed it to maximum compression! I was thinking approx. 500kB was good enough (down from 5 MB), but I stand corrected!
I wonder what it would have looked like then.... Ah, for next time!

Another way to get the file size down, is simply to scale the images to a smaller pixel XY size. You are posting images at the native size of your camera (4752x3168) and only using jpeg compression. But how large will the image be when people view it onscreen? 1000 to 1500 H pixels, typically. So why upload anything more than that?
Use irfanview or any other pic util to rescale to smaller size, and also choose an appropriate jpeg quality factor. At say 1000H, 80% jpeg quality, the file size will be less than 200K, more like 120K, depending on amount of detail. And it will look exactly the same on screen as what you uploaded.

Also, you can swap the pictures. Just edit your post and use the pic upload/delete options at the bottom.

[bitseeker]

Welcome Soraen.

Well, TerraHertz beat me to posting that the fastest and cleanest way to cut down the size of your photos is to resize. Excessively compressing them introduces more and more artifacts, which kills the benefit of the higher resolution. Around 1000 pixels on the longest side is fine for general purpose "look at this" pics.

[Vgkid]

Welcome to the forum Soraen.
I will admit htat I don't mind my work bench being kind of messy, but yours is a bit messier .
Spec wise your pc isn't bad, but I'm entertaining myself with your pictures loading. Initially most of the colors do not load, then they do. The second set is more fun. Red is initially grey, then red.
ALSO...
_{found the weeb}