You should sell this page as a kit.
Buy all this stuff, all in for $ + shipping.
Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
141–150 of 274 posts
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#142This is some unpopular opinion but please, do not buy extra components thinking that you will use it in some extrea projects. Only buy components that your current design needs. It's even better if you can get a board house to assemble them before it arrives at your desk. Otherwise it is the beginning of the fall to a hoarder life. Except if you are playing in RF or some black magic where simulation does not cut it..…
This is not good advice. If you are just doing paint-by-numbers projects, sure. But they usually come with the parts. Being blocked on a lack of parts is not a good use of your time.
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see "self-healing" cutting mats all the time in tech videos, with the measurement grid and angles printed on top. I'd like to get one at some point.
As someone who runs an University electronics lab I'd recommend to instead get on or more silicone mats (they come with slots for small parts and such). They withstand heat better (curtting mats can deform permanently when heated wrongly), prooved to be more durable and are very easy to clean. If you need a cutting mat for actual precision cutting of paper, get one and treat it carefully.
I have both the silicone antistatic mat and a cutting mat. Different tools for different purposes. I would never solder anything on the cutting mat, nor cut anything on the silicone mat.
If I could only have one of those two, it would be the silicone mat. The cutting mat is great, but really, you can use any expendable surface in its place.
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#144This is just a fantastic page, why aren't more on the internet like this, with specific parts lists and sources? Very similar to the stations we had when I was doing computer repair a decade ago (no, I will not fix your computer.™) and out of everything on there, be sure to get a good ESD mat, or else you'll never stop chasing random glitches. I just want to add that the best way to get over starting friction is to h…
I definitely agree. As someone who is very tinker-minded, I've had various "workbench" setups on my desk. These range from watch repair, to gunsmithing, to electronics repair, to woodworking.
I'd LOVE if all of those hobbies had a concise, illustrated guide to not only the tools I should get, but *how to organize them*. Organizing is a strength of mine on a computer, where every file fits in every folder and there's no limits of size or shape. But tell me to organize my office, and I'll end up with a perfect system that goes entirely out of whack as soon as one item is added or removed.
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#145I urge people to ditch leaded solder in favor of lead-free.
Most difficulties people have in using lead-free comes from one of three things:
1. a poor soldering iron
2. bad quality solder (the cheap stuff with bad flux is bad, duh)
3. poor technique (among other things, wipe your tip just before using, not before putting it away)
I like the Chipquik SAC305 with no-clean flux and other people I've recommended it to find it no harder to work with than Sn63Pb37.
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#146I used be an ameteur electronics enthusiast. When I was young, I used to assemble trivial circuits (dancing lights etc.): I could go to an electronics shop. They used to sell hobby kits for simple, accessible, devices. The kit had circuit layout, component list, labels, what goes where and all. I then assembled them per the layout ("this leg of the transistor goes to the left leg of the capacitor"). It worked - I use…
[deleted]
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#147I used be an ameteur electronics enthusiast. When I was young, I used to assemble trivial circuits (dancing lights etc.): I could go to an electronics shop. They used to sell hobby kits for simple, accessible, devices. The kit had circuit layout, component list, labels, what goes where and all. I then assembled them per the layout ("this leg of the transistor goes to the left leg of the capacitor"). It worked - I use…
I have learned electronics and now can design gps trackers and other equipments by myself after these:
- eevblog (youtube), particularly the “fundamental fridays” episodes
- Andreas Spiess (youtube)
- different topics looked up mentioned on these
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have (had? getting better!) this same issue, and it really killed excitement of electronics for me for a long time. I asked @theacodes on here this same question, on a post they'd written that like.. actually got into "ok, I'm putting this capacitor here, because it's gonna do for me, another way I could do the same thing is..", and their reply is here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33484848 I do think there…
Are there any YT series that are worthy of mention? I think I've a PDF copy of The Art of Electronics. One day...
Eevblog
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#149Earlier quoted context omitted.
You are unlikely to get amazing dimming performance using constant current with a 24V strip intended for constant voltage operation. For a bench application like this, get a constant current strip from Bridgelux. They’re cheap and excellent. Digi-key sells them. The “thrive” series is a bit less efficient but has a very nice spectrum. The tiny drivers from Cuvee Systems work well, start quickly, and dim well, but any…
Yeah, with a CV strip the Mean Wells with CC dimming have an abrupt shutoff at low brightness - maybe 5% (I haven't measured it), and a brief flash upon increasing brightness just above that threshold. Otherwise they work reasonably well for my use case. Thanks for the additional recommendations.
I would also expect some degree of uneven output at lower currents, especially as it ages. But maybe LEDs are more consistently manufactured these days.
You may also experience worse failure modes with the fancier strips that have current limiting ICs instead of resistors.
(Pixel strips can be quite good, too. They seem to mostly have very high PWM frequencies. I assume this is because the electrical behavior is better that way rather than due to any particular care for the pleasantness of using them.)
Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide
#150I wonder how much this entire setup costs is it like $20,000?
No, much much less. That o-scope is $349 and that's the most expensive item (well outside of the computer workstation), and everything is cheapish (which as pointed out elsewhere is only going to be used for a restricted set of hobbyist work).
It is somewhat telling that there is more money paid on the computer - this is more a computer enthusiast who dabbles in electronics setup (not that there is anything wrong with it) - but if you're doing serious circuit design work you're going to find this setup lacking in many ways.