Tony,
Nothing shameful about using the only space you have available to do what you want to do. That is being resourceful!
hehe thanks rcavictim 🙂 I'm lucky that SWMBO is as tolerant as she is!! But it really does need a cleanup 😉
Tony.
Tony.
Tony, you are doing fine.🙂
As long as you refrain yourself from soldering at your wife’s bed, you’ll have no serious problem.😀
You may wish for a more spacious dedicate place, but I can assure you, space availability is not the issue. It is actually a myth.
The more space I have, the more junk I accumulate
, the more projects I work on simultaneously and the more clattered environment I am creating.I end up eating, reading, calculating, listening to music in front of my home PC monitor. There, I strangle to keep a small area free, just to move the mouse. There is no hope!
So, appreciate what you have and enjoy what you are doing. Give a warm embrace to your boss at least once a month and don’t forget to report your diy activities here 🙂
Regards
George
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This is my bench about as clean as it gets. The AP replaces an analyzer I had built myself in the late 80's. It used 18 and 20 K sources and a low noise biquad to look at the 2K residual down to 10ppb.
If you look you can see one of the notebooks that now hold almost all of my semiconductors. Three notebooks replaced hundreds of little plastic drawers. Not only is it easier to find stuff but I can even sort to parameters!
Also note the resistor drawer. Each bin has a curved bottom to make it easier to grab parts. Only every other bin is labeled so the odd values also have a home. I laminated the wood for the labels so it would engrave to match!
The big clunky power supply in the middle of the bench was my high school version of a Radio Electronics design. Very advanced for the day a pair of 709 opamps provide both voltage and current limiting!
Note the power resistor under the bench. Also to the bottom left is the Main AC supply including a removed from a theatre linear slide auto-transformer bank.
The stool is made from the cutouts of a dual 18" subwoofer!
I built this bench in 2004 after a flood pretty much ruined everything else.
If you look you can see one of the notebooks that now hold almost all of my semiconductors. Three notebooks replaced hundreds of little plastic drawers. Not only is it easier to find stuff but I can even sort to parameters!
Also note the resistor drawer. Each bin has a curved bottom to make it easier to grab parts. Only every other bin is labeled so the odd values also have a home. I laminated the wood for the labels so it would engrave to match!
The big clunky power supply in the middle of the bench was my high school version of a Radio Electronics design. Very advanced for the day a pair of 709 opamps provide both voltage and current limiting!
Note the power resistor under the bench. Also to the bottom left is the Main AC supply including a removed from a theatre linear slide auto-transformer bank.
The stool is made from the cutouts of a dual 18" subwoofer!
I built this bench in 2004 after a flood pretty much ruined everything else.
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This is very neat and functional.
You don’t follow the trend here, eh? 😀
Inevitable question: How long are you able to keep it in such a neat condition? 🙂
I can understand that the notebook is able to hold only an advanced “store logistics” program (inventory, location data, plus manufactures/shorting data for each semiconductor).
If this is the case, you still need physical space for semiconductors storage (e.g drawers) albeit with less physical segregation if you have tagged each semiconductor with a Ref. Code which traces back to the notebook’s inventory.
Or am I my missing something? 😕
A hefty frame too. Good.
I also use something like that.
Series/parallel arrangment of the two resistors sections, makes for various res. values and increased power handling.
It is fine for single-pulse testing. But I still suffer from resistance value drift due to temperature rise with any power signal lasting more that half a second.
I think that the only -acceptably stable- solution is a resistor bank immersed in a biig tank filled with oil, with motor agitation. Overkill for amateurish activities.
Regards
George
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Thanks firechief! 🙂
George, I can relate to your comments about activities in front of the pc, and I most certainly won't push my luck trying to solder in bed 😉 I can also relate to the issue of more space, I lived in a bedsit (15 square meters) for 9 years when I first left home. moved to a place that was probably more than 100 square meters after that (more including the garage) it was very empty to start, but very full by the time I moved again 12 years later 😉 I now have a 20 ft container which is almost full of stuff (well the car in it is taking up a lot of it 😉 ) I am unfortunately a horder...
Simon7000 I'm drooling 😉
Tony.
George, I can relate to your comments about activities in front of the pc, and I most certainly won't push my luck trying to solder in bed 😉 I can also relate to the issue of more space, I lived in a bedsit (15 square meters) for 9 years when I first left home. moved to a place that was probably more than 100 square meters after that (more including the garage) it was very empty to start, but very full by the time I moved again 12 years later 😉 I now have a 20 ft container which is almost full of stuff (well the car in it is taking up a lot of it 😉 ) I am unfortunately a horder...
Simon7000 I'm drooling 😉
Tony.
Look carefully, the notebook has pages with conductive foam. This is a transistor version with strips of foam. There are markings to identify the parameters. Then the transistor is pushed into the side of the foam. The IC version has the full page covered.
This was all shown in Linear Audio Vol. 0!
I learned long ago if you make it easier to do it right then it usually gets done right. As my shop is only half an acre if you don't put things back where they belong, you will never find them again. Every so often I have to look around to find my forklift! Right now there are five items on my unaccounted for list. (I did ban someone from entering my building again so I'll see if anything turns up or more disappears.)
I like your tapped resistor, it's really hot!
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After some more
and before I call the doctor for an extra fix, finally the bulb lit.😀I don’t know if it’s better to celebrate it with a few
or 
. You’ll tell me.You wrote “notebook” and you were meaning the classier which is on the left side of your bench.
When I read “notebook”, my queer mind was set for the small laptop PC on the right side of your bench. Therefore the rest of your post concerning the arrangement of the semiconductors into the #@$*&^% notebook, didn’t make any sense to me.
My apologies for having you trying to explain me further.
Regards
George
The only Greek I know comes from the names of social fraternities from drinking at college. So you don't really have anything to apologize for. I recommend Ouzo as it is getting hot around here.
Beware of it. It’s like with a hot temptation looking straight in your eyes. You can’t say no.
It also makes for a nice “day after”. No headaches, no dizziness.
It’s just that 2+2 is so difficult to compute. Finger counting for a few days. 🙂
George, I have the highest admiration for ANYBODY who can master a second language.
For the benefit of others who may be confused by the many meanings of "notebook", another English phrase for the place where semiconductors are stored is "ring binder" (or, perhaps "3-ring binder".)
" simon7000" is EXTREMELY well organized and has obviously been practicing this craft for many years. (We may have gone to different schools together - my first DIY amp was circa 1963.) I will be watching for opportunities to glean bits of wisdom from him.
Dale
Hi Dale
"3-ring binder" is as precise as it gets. (Correct. It was a foreign language issue from my part)
Thank you for this 🙂 and for reminding me that I haven’t 😱 thanked simon7000 for his very clever and useful storage and organizing advise.
Me too!
Regards
George
"3-ring binder" is as precise as it gets. (Correct. It was a foreign language issue from my part)
Thank you for this 🙂 and for reminding me that I haven’t 😱 thanked simon7000 for his very clever and useful storage and organizing advise.
Me too!
Regards
George
In my first version of a workbench I always had a large center drawer about 3"deep. It was there so if a visitor dropped by what was being tested on the work bench could be quickly swept into the drawer and hidden out of sight. This was not so much to present a clean look, but to keep some stuff secret.
