Cool Tools Bench Awards 2018

At work I have space that resembles a storage room to work in : ) I love it - nice and quiet, and a coffee machine immediately outside the door. I also have access to several labs, and it is just 20 minutes away from home.

At home it's another story. My home lab is really tiny, I have not got the luxury of space. I tried to make it such that most of it can be hidden when not in use. This space is only a few square metres.

It is nearly all IKEA..

The vertical cabinet/storage on the left contains (from top to bottom) hot air tool, soldering iron, most frequently used tools in the top drawer, less frequently used tools in the next drawer, and then miscellaneous stuff (handheld multimeters etc) in the lower two drawers. The rack to the right of the photo is home-made, it has a lot smaller footprint than a 19" rack. It contains various miscellaneous test equipment plus some radios (I'm into radio..). The oscilloscope stand is home-made too. I have not much space for seating : ) I literally sit on the storage box.. it's fine for a few hours of soldering!

The sliding keyboard tray under the table is home-made too. I still need to paint it. The monitors were a mistake - they are hardly used, swung out of the way mostly. I've found that I'm very comfortable just working from a laptop screen, I hardly ever use the desktop PC.

The rack has IEC C13/C14 power distribution on each shelf, and also several network connections (Ethernet) too. This lab is upstairs, not near the Internet connection, so I use a wireless bridge to connect to downstairs - there is a combined bridge and router on the bottom shelf:

From this router, there is a just a single connection to the desk - I've placed a small 8-port switch (with power over Ethernet or PoE) on a small shelf at the back of the desk, it is not visible in the photos since I'd have to move the desk to access it. It provides as many network connections as needed for anything on the desk. In summary connectivity is excellent!

There is electricity in the storage cabinet too, again using an IEC C13/C14 power distribution unit. Since I'm keen on LED lighting, it is lit:

You can also see the black storage cabinet for static-sensitive parts in the photo above, sitting on the floor in the corner.

Here are the hot air and soldering iron:

Since they are powered inside their storage space, I just use them from inside there, although I could take the entire base out and place it on the desk. The cable for the iron reaches fine (I'm left-handed when using the iron, but right-handed otherwise). Normally I put down a mat when soldering.

A close-up of the PDU inside the storage cabinet:

All power is switched off from outside of the storage cabinet when not in use.

Although I use the Kindle mainly now, there are still lots of books at home, I would not like to get rid of them. A close-up of some of the engineering ones, mainly software and hardware related:

The brown drawers in the photo above contains crimping tools.

Some more mainly engineering books:

There is some storage for miscellaneous parts, there are a few of these storage drawer modules, attached to a wall in a corner. They hold basic stuff (mainly through-hole parts) for prototyping:

The stuff I use more frequently is the surface mount bits and pieces. The popular resistor and capacitors are in tiny vials from Farnell:

There are MOSFETs and stuff in anti-static round pots:

It is not practical to sort everything into pots, and it takes too long, so generally any spares from projects are sorted into just basic categories of Resistors, Capacitors, ICs, etc., and thrown into the relevant box. It was supposed to be temporary until it was properly sorted, but now I prefer to just keep it this way.  Each box has dozens/hundreds of bags, but it doesn't take long to search for the relevant part. I keep a slightly inaccurate spreadsheet to approximately know if something is inside one of those boxes or not:

There is more of the IKEA cabinet type storage (each storage compartment is record sized I believe) at the other end of the room, and I wish it was deeper to store long test equipment. Still, it is very useful. I also have a microscope and camera with clamp stored away, I only get them out when needed.

Any delicate RF cabling and connectors are stored in shallow drawers:

Test leads are just hung up in a corner:

The most commonly used wire is in a storage cabinet which doesn't have a door unfortunately. It's a bit messy:

Screws are not stored very well. They are just in bags until they inevitably split!

I've not photographed the shed which contains the oven, solder fridge, power tools etc.. firstly because this thread is about benches and I have already digressed, and secondly it is a mess currently because I need to get the floor painted and wood panelling attached to the walls, but since winter all I've achieved is filling what space I had in the shed with cans of paint and wood panels...

In summary, if I could re-do things this is what I'd change:

1. get rid of monitors and the PC, for me at least the laptop is sufficient - maybe purchase a second laptop.

2. If possible find slightly deeper storage than the IKEA storage - it is adequate mostly though.

3. have a second desk and some nicer seating. I don't have the space for a second desk however.

At work I have space that resembles a storage room to work in : ) I love it - nice and quiet, and a coffee machine immediately outside the door. I also have access to several labs, and it is just 20 minutes away from home.

At home it's another story. My home lab is really tiny, I have not got the luxury of space. I tried to make it such that most of it can be hidden when not in use. This space is only a few square metres.

It is nearly all IKEA..

The vertical cabinet/storage on the left contains (from top to bottom) hot air tool, soldering iron, most frequently used tools in the top drawer, less frequently used tools in the next drawer, and then miscellaneous stuff (handheld multimeters etc) in the lower two drawers. The rack to the right of the photo is home-made, it has a lot smaller footprint than a 19" rack. It contains various miscellaneous test equipment plus some radios (I'm into radio..). The oscilloscope stand is home-made too. I have not much space for seating : ) I literally sit on the storage box.. it's fine for a few hours of soldering!

The sliding keyboard tray under the table is home-made too. I still need to paint it. The monitors were a mistake - they are hardly used, swung out of the way mostly. I've found that I'm very comfortable just working from a laptop screen, I hardly ever use the desktop PC.

The rack has IEC C13/C14 power distribution on each shelf, and also several network connections (Ethernet) too. This lab is upstairs, not near the Internet connection, so I use a wireless bridge to connect to downstairs - there is a combined bridge and router on the bottom shelf:

From this router, there is a just a single connection to the desk - I've placed a small 8-port switch (with power over Ethernet or PoE) on a small shelf at the back of the desk, it is not visible in the photos since I'd have to move the desk to access it. It provides as many network connections as needed for anything on the desk. In summary connectivity is excellent!

There is electricity in the storage cabinet too, again using an IEC C13/C14 power distribution unit. Since I'm keen on LED lighting, it is lit:

You can also see the black storage cabinet for static-sensitive parts in the photo above, sitting on the floor in the corner.

Here are the hot air and soldering iron:

Since they are powered inside their storage space, I just use them from inside there, although I could take the entire base out and place it on the desk. The cable for the iron reaches fine (I'm left-handed when using the iron, but right-handed otherwise). Normally I put down a mat when soldering.

A close-up of the PDU inside the storage cabinet:

All power is switched off from outside of the storage cabinet when not in use.

Although I use the Kindle mainly now, there are still lots of books at home, I would not like to get rid of them. A close-up of some of the engineering ones, mainly software and hardware related:

The brown drawers in the photo above contains crimping tools.

Some more mainly engineering books:

There is some storage for miscellaneous parts, there are a few of these storage drawer modules, attached to a wall in a corner. They hold basic stuff (mainly through-hole parts) for prototyping:

The stuff I use more frequently is the surface mount bits and pieces. The popular resistor and capacitors are in tiny vials from Farnell:

There are MOSFETs and stuff in anti-static round pots:

It is not practical to sort everything into pots, and it takes too long, so generally any spares from projects are sorted into just basic categories of Resistors, Capacitors, ICs, etc., and thrown into the relevant box. It was supposed to be temporary until it was properly sorted, but now I prefer to just keep it this way.  Each box has dozens/hundreds of bags, but it doesn't take long to search for the relevant part. I keep a slightly inaccurate spreadsheet to approximately know if something is inside one of those boxes or not:

There is more of the IKEA cabinet type storage (each storage compartment is record sized I believe) at the other end of the room, and I wish it was deeper to store long test equipment. Still, it is very useful. I also have a microscope and camera with clamp stored away, I only get them out when needed.

Any delicate RF cabling and connectors are stored in shallow drawers:

Test leads are just hung up in a corner:

The most commonly used wire is in a storage cabinet which doesn't have a door unfortunately. It's a bit messy:

Screws are not stored very well. They are just in bags until they inevitably split!

I've not photographed the shed which contains the oven, solder fridge, power tools etc.. firstly because this thread is about benches and I have already digressed, and secondly it is a mess currently because I need to get the floor painted and wood panelling attached to the walls, but since winter all I've achieved is filling what space I had in the shed with cans of paint and wood panels...

In summary, if I could re-do things this is what I'd change:

1. get rid of monitors and the PC, for me at least the laptop is sufficient - maybe purchase a second laptop.

2. If possible find slightly deeper storage than the IKEA storage - it is adequate mostly though.

3. have a second desk and some nicer seating. I don't have the space for a second desk however.

Hi Shabaz,

Thanks for sharing. Your shop is an excellent example of the value of good organization. You have managed to put a major functional lab that produces a disproportionate amount of the great content on element 14 into a small area. It is really very inspirational.

John

Hi Shabaz,

I am right handed too but I prefer the solder iron in the left and the solder in the right. I wonder if this is the norm or not.

John

shabaz

That's a lot more organised than I visited.

Well done It's impressive.

Mark

Hi shabaz

A great setup and, I imagine, easy to hide the mess until you have time to sort out each compartment. I really like the idea of the IEC PDU in each cabinet + lighting; it must really take the frustration out of finding items you know are in there.

Perhaps Ikea could make their shop more interesting by including a set of 'mini' workshop themed rooms (like they do for bedrooms, kitchens, bathrooms etc).

Rod

Your bench is far too tidy, but I gave you a 'like' for all the books (including that electronics classic, The Hobbit).

How do the Hagen and Bowick books compare to the Sayre one? Do they cover much the same ground or do they have strengths of their own?

I see some familiar books here.

Clean setup you have there with a sweet spot for the cables

Regards,

Great lighting approach, nice idea the light in the drawers. I will copy some solutions for my next lab I will start here in Belgium.

Enrico

Hi John,

Thanks! I think like you I'm a fan of those large cardboard boxes and also small bottles.. I didn't take a photo of the insides of the storage drawers, but some of them have small bottles of capacitors etc..

Hi Mark,

Thanks! We still think of you each time we watch a movie, since we put one of your NZ stickers on the DVD case : )

Hi Rod,

Thanks! I was always short of mains sockets in the right place, but the IEC PDUs and about 3 mains strips around the room have finally solved that. Also in a few places there are C13 to UK mains socket adaptors, for the few bits of equipment (like radios) with non-C14 sockets.

It would definitely make it more appealing to visit IKEA if they had a workshop theme area! : )  They already have some cool ideas (like wireless charging in-desk) but tool storage ideas would be awesome, and I wish they had lighting techniques on display for intricate work.