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Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide

badar.tech

21–30 of 274 posts

Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide

#21

I see a fume extractor under the desk. As someone who was in the market for one recently, I'd love some discussion (like loudness, price, performance, etc).

I use the simple fan+filter ones at work, I've always found them to work fine.

Although the comparison is against normal lab air conditions, which aren't great, as opposed to something like a home lab. At home I just open the window.

Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide

#22

This is great. My own setup would benefit a lot from some of these ideas. Glad to see the omnifixo in there! It’s one of my favourite things I keep on hand. I’ve never found the need to keep heaps of components on hand, but I guess I’m not an electrical engineer or anything remotely like it. I just fix stuff and make junk when I’m inspired. What kind of situation would justify having so much stuff on hand? Maybe if y…

Yes, if you design and prototype PCBs you find pretty quickly that you don't need that many standard components. It's nice then to think about what you need again and again, and then organize it somehow. You can also just collect it over time, but then you end up with large digikey bags filled with smaller digikey bags of components, and it becomes easier to just order everything you need each time instead of sorting…

> large digikey bags filled with smaller digikey bags of components

Ha, this is me. Maybe I should get some bins…

Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide

#24

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.

Or the author is incredibly thorough and detail oriented, and cleaned it up for the photos. I agree, it's a great setup.

Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide

#26

I see a fume extractor under the desk. As someone who was in the market for one recently, I'd love some discussion (like loudness, price, performance, etc).

Absolutely essential. Fumes from lead-free solder fluxes are nasty [1]. I find that bench-top "fume extractors", consisting of a fan and thin dust filter, are extremely noisy and essentially useless. I love my Hakko FA430-16. It's relatively quiet such that a regular conversation can be had in its presence, and it really works with the right hose & hood setup.

1: https://www.hse.gov.uk/lung-disease/electronics-soldering.ht...

Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide

#27

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…

> why aren't more on the internet like this, with specific parts lists and sources?

There are forums where people post pictures of their benches, but it's a lot of work to document everything and you're going to use whichever distributor has sufficiently similar items in stock at your price point and can ship to your country.

Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide

#29

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.

Re: Electronics Lab Bench Setup Guide

#30

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!)

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