261–270 of 274 posts
I 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…
The way to overcome that is to start off with broken gear and to repair it. You'll be forced bit by bit to understand how the circuits work. It helps if there is a schematic and if there isn't then you'll have to trace the circuit yourself which will help even more in building up a mental model. Of course this all presumes that there is a circuit worth examining to begin with, more often than not these days you'd be…
This bench really looks focused on hobby prototyping, nicely done with that in mind, and with the proper assortment of components in multiples so you can go from idea to funtional circuit directly without encountering the show-stoppers (or delayers) that can be so common otherwise.
A repair bench can be made to avoid a somewhat different set of show-stoppers, there will not only be a number of different things more useful at your fingertips, but a deep store of off-bench material and tools still accessible allowing much more powerful operation. Also taking up much more auxiliary space than any one optimized bench.
Either way you never avoid all the unforseen show-stoppers, so you need a clear location to shelve & preserve an incomplete prototype or repair/restoration project, for instance while waiting for parts, in order to fully clear the bench for other work which can then be quickly accomplished from start-to-finish.
And then there's the "production" bench for hobbyists where prototyping and repair is not so much of a consideration.
Collect 'em all.
This is a very nice guide. Lots of good choices. One thing I would add is that having a solid bench with a replaceable surface to do dirty/cutting things on is really useful. I have a really solid desk I made out of scaffolding planks and recycled roof timbers. The surface is then made using either Ikea bamboo chopping boards (they were on offer) or some other replaceable work top. Another thing that might be useful…
This 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…
FWIW, I bet the guy has an ESD mat and it was just too ugly to show. The only other thing I would add is boxes or large bins. Not for tools or components, but for project work, so you can put it away and work on something else when you need to. Otherwise it ends up spread all over your desk, Jim Williams style: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyohm/6926143499 (which is now at the computer history museum, apparently…
Most people who saw my lab when I was in private practice would not have noticed any difference from this museum piece.
This looks like a beautiful setup that isn't used too much. Or perhaps I am just jealous that I can't keep my active work spaces neat.
That's exactly what I thought- no actively used bench would ever look this clean unless it had been setup/staged.
This looks like a beautiful setup that isn't used too much. Or perhaps I am just jealous that I can't keep my active work spaces neat.
Do you buy alot of surplus components/equipment? 50% of my garage workshop is from bulk buys from hamfests and machine shop auctions. Its nearly impossible to keep organized because you always get extra stuff that you "can use later" which just adds to the clutter since there isn't always a place to put it.
Not any more, I already have thousands of kilos.
A $70 screwdriver. Must be nice to have the kind of budget where numbers just don't matter. Ironic that he said about his iron, "Get this once and never think about it again". But he got it twice! What do you do with dual soldering irons? Does he need someone to foster the spare $120 tool in a good home?
If I were to attempt to re-buy any large portion of my tools all at once, I'd consider it an absurd amount to spend. But over a lifetime of things breaking, you'll get a lot of large quotes for professional repairs, or replacement of a much bigger part than what actually broke. When the washer fluid sprayer on my old Tacoma failed due to decades of a wire rubbing against a sharp metal edge, I was quoted $300 for the…
I still use the cheap soldering irons, carry about a dozen different ones for different occasions in my truck in a travel case.
One of the most challenging was a fish-finder on an offshore boat where the very expensive underwater sensor was just fine but it was only the business end of a long waterproof multi-shielded power, analog, digital cable which was what the marinas replace whole-hog when somebody ends up with the cable caught in the propellor or something like that.
Can't bring that kind of thing to the bench anyway.
Earlier 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…
Getting to a point of intuition means becoming a knowledge expert, which is why you have diploma and degree programs in various fields of electronics.