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  • Author Author: e14mindi
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Cool Tools Bench Awards 2018

Hello Community Members and happy June.

 

It is officially summertime here at the element14 offices, which is enough of a reason to celebrate but as we batted around some ideas we thought - why don't we involve the Community in some fun?  We have already been asking you about your favorite tools for our RoadTest reviews and now we'd like to present to you the Cool Tools Bench Awards!

 

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Starting today and going through the entire month of June, we want you to submit photos and/or videos of your own bench or workspace for other Community members to see.  Then in the month of July we'll pick out some winners every week and send them some of our favorite Cool Tools chosen by us and other Community members like the ones below:

 

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Duratool PL 501 Cutter

Klein Tools 4-1 Screwdriver

Duratool PC Maintenance Tool KitDuratool Soldering Station
Milwaukee Bit SetDuratool Wire Stripper

 

We will have ten (10)  winners total for the following categories:

 

•      Where’s my Cat? (messiest bench)

•       Tony Stark’s Dream Bench (state of the art bench)

•      Fire Hazard Award (Worst cable management)

•       Pepped to the Post Award (Best coffee mug)

•      Totally Screwed Award (Worst organisation of screws, nuts and bolts)

•      Bat Cave Award (Award for wide range of tools)

•       Mom Would Be Proud (Neatest bench)

•       Man Cave Bench (Best use of personal space for a bench)

•      Jury Rigged Award (Most improvised or makeshift repair or bench)

•       Time Machine Award (Best piece of Retro Tech on display)

 

Along with the above, we'll also have a special “In Their Element" award (best representation and love of element14)

 

Let's have some fun with this and show us the benches and workspaces where all of your amazing projects come to life!

 

Comment with your photo/videos on this post through June 30th.

Attachments:
imageCool_Tools_Bench_Awards_2018_Contest.pdf
  • in reply to fmilburn

    wrote:

    Anybody else use Ikea to outfit their lab?

     

    Oh yeah.

     

    imageimage

    All the desk (the clean one is my wife's), all of the underdesk drawer units, the book case and the monster storage cabinet (office supplies and such) are from Ikea.

     

    Gene

  • in reply to neilk

    Frankly the answer is almost no. 5 Kgs of clothing are sufficient for one day travelling and four days finding some cheap store image

     

    Enrico

  • in reply to fmilburn

    Thank you. Sometimes, it's a pity that my lab remain alone for long periods...

  • in reply to fmilburn

      wrote:

     

    .  Anybody else use Ikea to outfit their lab?

     

    The desk which forms my workspace is from Ikea - separates: tops and legs

     

    Neil

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    Really nice setup you have there, Enrico. Does the 45kg of baggage include any clothing?

     

    neil

  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    It is great that you are able to keep your home base and still have tools away from home.  Nice home base too....

  • As a student who has a cheap soldering rod to work with for now; I would be interested in Duratool Soldering Station very much.

     

    It would be a nice upgrade to the next level.

  • When I moved from Ibiza to Denia (70 miles northern on the Spain "Costa Blanca") I planned to organise a laboratory room to host all the stuff and the computers I also use for working, development, projects, prototypes etc. The idea was just to have a place where I can continue en every moment any kind of project without having to close every time I stop. The images below shows some of the building phases of the new lab, version 1.

    imageimageimage

    imageimageimage

    Lab was finished and setup in about one month, but I started using it in quite few time. Then in February 2016 I moved for about one year in the Netherlands, and during the first months I replicated some of the most important tools to be able to continue working there on the projects. And bought a second 3D printer, hand tools and a new soldering station.

    imageimage

    imageimage

    As you can see, everything has been compressed in a part of the single room where I lived. But I have also assembled and started working with a small laser engraver (that followed me when I am back to Spain in the mid of 2017)

    image

    Then the "main" labs was finally completed with four main areas. To the right, the development zone (Mac and Windows machines, screen, local cloud etc. followed by the (two) 3D printers and laser engraver. To the left, a big shelf where I store the stuff, tools, projects in progress and more, the 3-axis route and the soldering area.

    imageimageimageimageimage

    In the above images one of the last settings of the Spanish lab in detail. Below, a suggestive view while laser cuttin during one of last nights.

    image

    One of the most important aspects I put the attention when setting my place zone is the flexibility. Depending on the kind of project I should be able to reorganise the environment in a very short time to set the needed space. Including a clean area to make video and photography documentation. The short video below shows the development area set for the last project in development.

     

    What's next?

    I've moved by about one week in Gent, Belgium for a long term project. The Spanish lab has been put in standby ready to be activated in less than one hour every time I'll be back in Spain. The below image it's me with my 45Kg of hardware and tools in the Valencia airport, waiting for the fly to Bruxelles past 1 June.

    image

    Hope you enjoyed this vagabond maker's story image

     

    Enrico

  • in reply to neilk

    I guess from my perspective my lab is mostly a collection of stuff from decades of scrounging junk. (It is the lab built with pocket change - I just couldn't justify shelling out big bucks on a hobby when there was a family to take care of) Some of the best things in my lab, like the microscope, were free, although the microscope wasn't complete when I got it. Until I discovered element14 road tests and contests, there was nothing in the lab that I paid serious money for, except I always had a decent computer, and I now have a pretty capable camera and a 3D printer. I have a lot of computers because I scrounge them too and have never thrown one out. Now that my kids have moved out (for the nth time) the studio is a reclaimed basement bedroom. Looking at the pictures, it would seem that decades of pocket change do add up to something - but I've been scrounging so long, I just haven't seen it in that light before.

  • in reply to fmilburn

    Cool mug - probably just as well it isn't used for drinking - I think I remember aluminum contributes to Alzheimer's.