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Home Depot Disney Swing Set
I aloof fabricated a aloft advance in my lab bank by removing the apparatus shelf. Aback I was a Silicon Valley consultant, I had a complete lab with a accelerated bench, fab area, and temperature chamber. The capital bank had tens of bags of dollars of equipment, and that’s at used-equipment prices.
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I afford a few things afterwards I chock-full consulting. I absolutely bare things bottomward aback I absitively to move to Florida. I awash a lot of accessories to admonition accounts the move. Here in Florida, I set up a lab bank in the additional bedchamber (Fig. 1).
1. Initial lab bank setup
It acclimated the aforementioned dejected apparatus shelf I acclimated in the consulting business. Somehow the oscilloscope concluded up on top of a 19-in. arbor that had a Harley architect analysis bureaucracy that I built. I assuredly put up the cable caddies, which I bought bristles years ago. A lot of the affairs were USB cables and added computer stuff.
The apparatus shelf was too low to assemblage a brace instruments, and too aerial to let me calmly use the instruments perched on it. Afterwards two and a bisected years, I got affronted and accursed up my TurboCAD mechanical-engineering 3D software (Fig. 2).
2. 3D archetypal of proposed lab bank setup.
Setting it Up
I was activity to put an 8-ft. breadth of plywood bottomward on the apparent so that I could axle the two Kennedy toolboxes on anniversary ancillary of the desk. You can still see the cocked boards breadth I was aggravating to put up a shelf aloft the desk. Afterwards arena with the blueprint for an hour, it became axiomatic that I absolutely didn’t charge a shelf. I could aloof assemblage the instruments on top of one another. I came up with an almost band-aid with the drawing. It’s a lot easier to move being about on a computer screen.
Based on the 3D layout, I went into the lab and started affective instruments about to bout the drawing. I fabricated some changes, which I accept aback back-annotated to the drawing. With the LeCroy ambit on the board surface, the probes continued a little into the assignment area. I originally had the HP 8590A spectrum analyzer on top of the scope. I accomplished I hadn’t acclimated the spectrum analyzer in seven years, so I put that off on the appropriate side. Then I put the HP 8082A beating architect beneath the ambit so I could assignment beneath breadth the ambit delving access stick out.
The Outcome
The final adjustment works absolutely able-bodied (Fig. 3). On the larboard is a Wavetek arresting architect with several ability food ample on top. In advanced of that is the Bausch & Lomb StereoZoom microscope. It’s accessible there, aback you can extend it over the assignment or beat it out of the way. There’s a dual-gooseneck illuminator abaft the microscope. I begin the microscope vertical bar is a abundant paper-towel holder.
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3. New lab bank setup.
In the centermost is the HP (Keysight) 8082A beating architect with the LeCroy LC684DXL ambit ample on top. There is a archetype of National Instruments’ Arresting Express and a Saleae Logic16 argumentation analyzer on top of the scope.
To the appropriate of the ambit is a Kikusui PLZ303W programmable load. Ample on that are two Tektronix AM503A accepted delving amplifiers. On top of that is a Tektronix P6042 accepted probe, which has lower babble than the AM503 amplifiers.
At the far appropriate is the HP (Keysight) 8590A spectrum analyzer. Aloft that was a duke abode to put a HOTweezer thermal wire stripper and a Metcal soldering adamant with both a accepted and a tweezer iron.
The left-hand ablaze has a fan to blow adhesive smoke. Modern electronics are tiny, so you charge affluence of ablaze to go with the microscope and that green headband magnifier on the desktop.
4. Looking at the aback of the new setup, the Metcal soldering adamant sits according in acme to the LeCroy scope.
A nice bit of serendipity, the acme of a Metcal on top of the spectrum analyzer was absolutely the aforementioned as the acme of the LeCroy on top of the beating architect (Fig. 4). The bung band spans them nicely. I was activity to tie the ability cords off into bundles, but accomplished that if they draped abaft the desk, I could cull out any apparatus while ability remained attached.
Desk Duty
There was a congenital board fabricated in the 1980s in the sun allowance of the house. It had to appear out so I could acrylic the walls and lay bowl tile. So I put casters on the cheers of the two abject units (Fig. 5). Breadth you see the gap there’s a bank socket. There’s declared to be a abode to sit in the middle, but I aloof cantilevered the top over the appropriate side. It’s not busted on; the two Kennedy toolboxes accumulate it in place. Yes, that’s a genuine Model 8450 Silver Beauty armature tester to the larboard of the toolboxes. Harley mechanics alarm it “the growler” for the babble it makes.
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5. Toolboxes sit aloft the awakening board adapted with casters.
The age-old secretarial board is abundant animate and absolutely strong. I put casters on it continued ago. It has a typewriter shelf that pulls out and rises (Fig. 6). For now I am befitting my Panavises and some wire on it. As I use it I may acquisition article bigger to accept abutting at hand.
6. Old animate board has a handy, daybed typewriter shelf.
The top-right drawer has the accurate Fluke true-RMS voltmeter (Fig. 7). There’s Craftsman clamp-on ammeter as well. To the larboard of those is a Fluke bifold thermocouple meter, a Fluke IR temperature probe, and a Tek A6303 100-Ampere delving for the AM503 amplifiers. And to the larboard of those are some IET decade boxes, both attrition and capacitance. Before Spice, we had decade boxes to dial-in circuits.
7. A Fluke voltmeter sits in top-right drawer of the animate desk.
The average drawer as a Kill-a-Watt ability beat (Fig. 8) In addition, there’s a Watts-Up? ability beat that additionally logs the readings so you can see them change over time. I still accept the E-Meter I took out of my electric car about-face aback I scrapped it. To the larboard of those are a agglomeration of transformers, array chargers, and bank warts.
8. In the average drawer are Kill-a-Watt and Watts-Up? ability meters, amid added accessories and compoents.
The basal drawer has a Tek P6015 high-voltage ambit delving (Fig. 9). Moreover, there are two LeCroy AP020 alive FET ambit probes. To the larboard of those is a big bag abounding of BNC, banana, and added connectors. The little atramentous box is a Snap-On agitation probe.
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9. Probes and connectors absorb the basal drawer.
The centermost drawer has a agglomeration of screwdrivers that did not fit in the Kennedy apparatus box (Fig. 10). The pencil tray has some 50-Ω attenuators, some batteries, and some jacks and analysis lights for RCA connectors. A accumulative glass, some rulers, and scissors are brindled on top.
10. From screwdrivers to attenuators, the centermost drawer is a assortment of apparatus and tools.
I still accept the 19-in. arbor with the architect analysis bureaucracy (Fig. 11). Best yet, I could booty the board drawer from that congenital board and put it on top, with the aid of two 2×2-ft. bedding of plywood from Home Depot. I accept my old mid-tower XP workstation tucked abutting to it, with the bifold monitors on top. These are broken and I ability advertise them off on Craigslist or eBay. Note the bromochlorodifluoromethane blaze extinguisher. I abiding am not activity aerosol dry chemicals on my circuits aback they bolt fire.
11. Analysis architect is set up in the 19-in. rack.
The old dejected apparatus shelf got acclimated on the board (Fig. 12). It got being off the bench, giving me added allowance to work. Note the additional HOTweezer on the appropriate side. Abaft the shelf is an original Wesley Willis pen cartoon that I will accept to move so that it’s visible. Being an engineer, this bank is in my active room. It’s handy, practical, and air-conditioned. I’m not activity to assignment in the garage, which gets to 100ºF on abounding afternoons.
12. The old dejected shelf finds a home on the workbench.
While activity through all the stuff, I begin bristles ambit probes I don’t need. I listed them on eBay and three awash in an hour. I accept over 100 dollars for my agitation and that aloof about pays for the plywood and casters. Let us apperceive if you accept a acceptable lab-bench setup, or any admonition in accepted on application and ambience up a home lab.
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