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  • Author Author: jw0752
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Shop Tips - Meter Stand

jw0752

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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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

 

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GOOD:

 

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And

 

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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

  • in reply to jw0752

    Hi John,

    finally I found the other images of the alternative methods. This first is the "application" of the stand described below used to make multiple tests of the same application (not only the size and resolution changes), also documented for the clients.

    image

    The next ones instead shows how is the hacked version of the anti-theft stand used for tablets. This is the cheapest version of the Android POS product I have done and the stand solved in an excellent way the usability at a cost that has no influence on the final product.

    image

    The super-cheap version, all wireless and battery only

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    The cheap-deluxe ( image ) version with screen and optionally also keyboard and mouse. I saw clients that has attached the tablet stand (never call it with its real name image) screwed on the table, on he wall etc.

    The last image is how the magnetic connector is glued (all is part of the anti-theft kit) to the device. They was happy that at the end of the days they can unplug the tablet and take it to their home for email, sell reporting, chatting etc.

    image

  • Great idea.

     

    Simple and easy is always the best way to go.

     

    DAB

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Thanks Enrico,

    These are good ideas. Thank you for sharing.

    John

  • in reply to jw0752

    Hello Jon,

    at the moment I have adopted two extra-cheap solutions. The first in this moment can't be shown because I have sold it to clients image For about 6$ I will buy from China plastic stands or anti-theft. I simply cut the cable (that is blocking the device) than a small magnetic element with the adhesive is put beside the device (tablet, smartphone, measure device, etc.) With a simple click it is in its place and can be used on the stand or took for moving. For my internal usage I have dismissed this (but it is liked so much by clients, especially in shops where there is a lot of disorder on the tables)

     

    Instead the solution of the images below is a 2$ solution per piece, so I bought a bunch of them to stand any kind of device as you can see. Some hack will be added on the base when it is needed a more robust support, but I am using the same by three years without problems.

     

    Enrico

     

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  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Thanks Enrico,

    Please post a picture of your modification as I am interested.

    John