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

[Artlav]

Third Image, can someone please kill this file size cap, pain in the ass.

Hmmm, that's an awfully familiar bear on the wall.
Any story how it got there, if it's not a secret?

[elgonzo]

Third Image, can someone please kill this file size cap, pain in the ass.

Hmmm, that's an awfully familiar bear on the wall.
Any story how it got there, if it's not a secret?

Yeah, the good old Mishka... It's a poster from the "Museum of Communism" in Praha, Czech Republic

[TheEPROM9]

Third Image, can someone please kill this file size cap, pain in the ass.

Hmmm, that's an awfully familiar bear on the wall.
Any story how it got there, if it's not a secret?

It is from the Museum Of Communism in Prague.

[Vgkid]

@Eprom9
Nice lab, is that a DELL AT101W?
if so, we are keyboard buddies.

[macboy]

Third Image, can someone please kill this file size cap, pain in the ass.

I see you have a Thurlby 1905 bench meter there. Here's a trick I discovered in case you didn't know: Press [**] then [5.5] to get 6.5 digit mode. Not especially practical but fun to look at (kind of like nixie tubes).

[tony t]

Here are updated pictures from the beginning (2013 March) to now.

[John Coloccia]

Pretty much in a constant state of "wreck"...

[TheEPROM9]

@Eprom9
Nice lab, is that a DELL AT101W?
if so, we are keyboard buddies.

Pretty much =-)
AT102W

Got a KVM converting it to USB and also connecting my Linux box. Nothing beats a nice keyboard.

[BradC]

Pretty much in a constant state of "wreck"...

Every good workspace needs at least one strat.

[macboy]

Pretty much in a constant state of "wreck"...

I think you need to wipe the finger oils off of your phone's camera lens. And framing horizontally would help too.

[John Coloccia]

Pretty much in a constant state of "wreck"...

I think you need to wipe the finger oils off of your phone's camera lens. And framing horizontally would help too.

Lens cover is broken, and I don't feel like getting out swab.  I did try framing horizontally, though, and it didn't work.  It's still a mess.

[miguelvp]

Pretty much in a constant state of "wreck"...

You sure you are not in London? because the fog doesn't let me see your gear

[John Coloccia]

Okay, okay...I give.

Here's the view into my work area:



I'm just working on my old drafting table...for years, now.  I've never gotten around to building or buying a proper electronics bench.  It's not even like I couldn't just build a very nice one in a weekend if I wanted to, but as the old saying goes, the cobbler's children have no shoes.  One day it will irritate me enough to do something about it.

View from the captain's chair...this is mostly where I build things.  Extech meter to the left is, more or less, a piece of junk.  The continuity test sounds like an old lady playing the violin.  I'm pretty sure the auto-ranging is done via postal correspondence...it's ridiculously slow.  Makes me really appreciate my Fluke.  Drawers are filled with parts for my various products.


And this is mostly where I take things apart.  A proper desolder station is essential, IMHO.  Cheap, puke green table piece of crap from Ikea.  My wife bought it for some reason.  I was going to throw it out, but it fits just right.  Friends don't let friends shop for furniture at Ikea.  Stick to the herring.


Ah...the prototype bench.  LOL  There are a couple of prototypes in there somewhere.  Bins are packed with resistors and capacitors.  Off to the left you'll also see the two hard drives that are supposed to be my offsite backup.  I know, I know....I'm getting to it.



Just some old test equipment...   


And some more old test equipment. 

[ResR]

Nice electric guitars, John.
My work area currently, I got a new adjustable power supply I tweaked a little bit and new storage boxes for mostly salvaged components.

[r.vlad]

Hello, here are some pictures of my bench and equipment that i have.

On the bench i have:
- Wavetek Meterman 23XT multimeter  (+ UT136b on the way, hopefully I will get it in the next few days)
- homemade soldering station
- homemade prototyping board (breadboard + arduino + laptop battery + sd card module + ethernet module + lcd)
- homemade transistor/component tester
Some projects I'm working on:
- dummy load
- variable power supply
- solder fume extractor

I would love to get an oscilloscope, but I don't have the money right now (I'm a student).


Here are some of my small components: IC's, IC sockets, resistor, capacitors, diodes, LED's, transistors etc.
For now I keep most of my small components in a shoe box modified to hold zip lock bags.
I have some other tools / components / PCB chemicals in some drawers & boxes.

[Vgkid]

^^^ Not a bad beginners setup, Im intrigued on the homemade soldering station.

[r.vlad]

Thank you. The soldering station I made about 2 years ago after a design that I found based on an Atmega8 controlling a MOSFET. The microcontroller is comparing the set temperature with the reading from the thermocouple in the tip.
The control circuit is powered by a small transformer (+rectifier + 5V regulator) and the heater from a 16V laptop power supply + step-up to 24V (it is a 24V 48W PENSOL-IRON-N soldering iron). Until today the soldering iron was powered from a 24V toroidal transformer that I plan to use for the variable power supply.

For SMD drag soldering, which tip would be best ? (I'm thinking SR-625)
http://www.tme.eu/en/katalog/?search=related:PENSOL-IRON-N&used_params=1557%3A9448%3B

[Vgkid]

I will go with your choice, bigger is always more helpful.

[edy]

Hi folks,

I apologize for what you are about to see... but if there is a category for messiest turd pile of electronics gear this would be it. I promise I'll clean it up as soon as I have a moment. 

Oh and I built that bench as well from free scrap shelving at Home Depot plus discarded Ikea furniture and lumber yard scrap wood, and a fluorescent tube lamp I had laying around. One day I will make proper drawers and parts bins and organize everything, I promise! 

[nanofrog]

I apologize for what you are about to see... but if there is a category for messiest turd pile of electronics gear this would be it. I promise I'll clean it up as soon as I have a moment. 

Messy? That's a little cluttered, not messy. 

You want to see messy, take a look at the How messy is your desk? article from EE Times (first two photos are of Bob Pease and Jim Williams' desks respectively).    Check out the user-submissions from others as well.

[george graves]

Hello, here are some pictures of my bench and equipment that i have.

Do I see an ice cube tray?  I use to use those in the garage for holding bolts and such.

[lapm]

Hi folks,

I apologize for what you are about to see... but if there is a category for messiest turd pile of electronics gear this would be it. I promise I'll clean it up as soon as I have a moment. 

Thats not messy, trust me. You dont want to see before and after pictures of my humble electronics corner.. When i started my long cleanup operation, i had no work room left... I can see your desk still has plenty of space to build something...

[Red Squirrel]

I need to upgrade, but for now this is it:  Crappy little desk lol.



With all that stuff there, it almost looks like I know what I'm doing.   

I have plans to build a new computer desk though which will be half work bench and half computer area and be 4x that size.   Eventually when I finish/insulate/seal/heat my garage I'll have even more room.  I'm still getting my feet with in electronics though so not yet sure how far I'll go as far I'll get into it.  Already invested in a scope so at this point may as well go all the way.

[nanofrog]

I'm still getting my feet with in electronics though so not yet sure how far I'll go as far I'll get into it.  Already invested in a scope so at this point may as well go all the way.

It seems you've officially become an electronics addict like the rest of us. 

And do be careful with the bolded part of your last statement. Not only does it have the ability to piss off SWMBO, it's rather expensive as well (more specialized gear, more parts, .... more, more, more). So you might want to rethink going down every possible tunnel in the rabbit hole.   

Best solution however, is to simply turn back now if at all possible!     

[mcinque]

So you might want to rethink going down every possible tunnel in the rabbit hole.   
Best solution however, is to simply turn back now if at all possible!     

Totally agree!