While nearly all of my handheld meters have a built in, hinged, panel in the back that can be used as a stand I have never been happy with the stability of these panels. There are several handheld meters, in the shop, that have been designated as "bench meters". For these converts to bench meter status I have come up with a very inexpensive way to make them more stable and readable. The simple metal Bookend, available at all office supply stores makes a perfect frame on which to mount the hand held meters.
I usually bend the upright piece back at an angle to produce a better viewing angle of the meter's display. The meter itself is held to the bookend using a large nylon strap that loops through the built in stand of the meter.
Here you can see the angle of the bend that was made to the bookend. The nylon strap pulls tightly enough against the built in stand so that the meter is well secured and the function knob of the meter can be turned easily without shifting the meter's position on the stand. Here is a detail picture of how the strap engages the built in stand.
As a final touch sticky rubber feet are added to the base of the bookend so that the meter doesn't slide on the bench when the wires are pulled or repositioned.
What happens when the meter is suddenly needed as a portable meter again? The nylon strap easily slides off the bookend and the meter once again changes back to a mobile handheld meter. The meter and bookend combination even has a convenient place to hold the wires.
Just as an aside for new electronics people, experience has taught me, that for longevity, probe wires should always be stored straight or in large loops. Never wind the test leads in small loops or around the probes themselves.
Here are examples of good and bad probe storage techniques:
BAD
GOOD:
And
Incidentally, all the meters in this picture are mounted to the bookends. The letters on the stands are printed on photo paper and glued to magnetic material so that they can be moved around. You can see more choices on the shelving above the meters. I use these to remind my old brain what parameter each meter is currently set up to measure. This helps but doesn't completely prevent me from taking voltage readings with an ammeter or an ohmmeter and is particularly useful when I have two or three meters in use simultaneously on an experiment.
John
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