(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.nelson666/bench1a.JPG)
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.nelson666/bench2a.JPG)
To date, I havent built 1 tubescreamer. (although there is a board for one on there somewhere)
Quote from: nelson on March 04, 2006, 12:48:26 PM
To date, I havent built 1 tubescreamer. (although there is a board for one on there somewhere)
nor have I, nor have I.
http://jrem.webhop.org/stuff/addict (http://jrem.webhop.org/stuff/addict)
and that's not all of it.
:o Oh my god!
(http://x10.putfile.com/3/6214090963.jpg) (http://www.putfile.com)
It's funny how things can get out of hand so quickly!!!!
JRem: nice Tektronix T922.
My favorite scope for the audio repair bench.
Quote from: ErikMiller on March 04, 2006, 03:43:14 PM
JRem: nice Tektronix T922.
My favorite scope for the audio repair bench.
yeah, thanks, that's the one thing I wish I bought when I was a kid. So many projects were so close but I didn't have the right tools to debug them.
That is a decent scope, it's not perfect, I bought it used for $50 about six years ago on ebay. It isn't perfectly calibrated, and it's washed out at higher speeds, but it's a lifesaver. Dual channel, external trigger, up to 15mhz, works for me. Got a couple of BNC to RCA adapters, then I just use the real cheap shielded audio cables with the molded RCA plugs on them, cut them in half, instant probes. Solder on a piece of single strand wire and they plug right into breadboards. Doesn't do capture and compare, though, which would be nice but I think I would rather have a PC scope to do that, like http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=28014 (http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=28014).
no way on the pics.
I have a Large, flat Door, mounted between the ceiling/floor boards and the floor, @ 36'' because I'm tall.
12'' Under that I dowel/hung a long tray/shelf.
Stacked Dowel 'tables' [more like shelves on the door/table really] and tall cardboard boxes I glued shelves in go along the back and sides of the 'main work area' which gets cleaned and grows to 3' when necessary, stuff keeps growing back in like bushes...just...'everything' keeps making the work area increasingly populated with 'stuff'...cereal box bottoms with caps, another with resistors, another with transistors, another with 'misc.', and one that has what was scraped off a shelf to make room for some project that has 'front burner' status....like when I made the tube amps, I'd just scrape off the transistor stuff into a box...lol/// :icon_mrgreen:
Boxes on floor, piles of PCB's for scavvin' off...on the floor, in boxes...I routinely sweep the part of the floor I'm going to walk on, and let the rest rest...but occasionally I use a snow shovel to fill large trash container, and go on an hour long sorting session. I like keeping most of the 'generic' stuff about 1/2 sorted...anything I can make a small pile out of gets a tray made from a certain size box bottom or clear bag, something that can be seen through or stirred... ::)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y190/superjoe/worksapce.jpg)
fun fun fun
I've posted this before but here goes. It's what it ends looking like eventually anyway.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/rickydon/mvc-003l.jpg)
RDV
Well...I just breadboard on the top of my bass amp, so no bench for me! I keep all my breadboarding stuff in one small cardboard box and all my soldering stuff in another for eas storage.
Here's a pic though! The regulator on my tube power supply was getting so hot that it could burn your finger, so went overkill with some heatsinks :P It still gets pretty freakin' hot, but I'm sure it could be solved in a pedal by using some thermal compound and screwing the regulator to the inside of the enclosure...
(http://aronnelson.com/gallery/albums/Schematics-etc/powersupply.jpg)
Here's the bench I built last fall. The wire and solder spools are in a little shelf thing next to the receiver. The breadboards currently underway are a Bi-Filter, a Blackfire and some abandoned PIC stuff. Note the awesome Marshall practice amp I picked up for $2, and the variac that some Internet goons yelled at me for buying.
(http://davebales.com/me/stompboxStuff/Bench_5043.jpg)
A little further back showing my Bassman head (sitting on the speakers and currently on a 2x6 jig). The top shelf of the bench is a graveyard of old e-drum projects, tube amps, a Gauss speaker, and a Commodore 64.
(http://davebales.com/me/stompboxStuff/Bench_5036.jpg)
Finally, my trusty 1947 Delta Drill Press, with some sawdust from yesterdays project.
(http://davebales.com/me/stompboxStuff/DeltaDrill_5049.jpg)
Nelson, that looks just as terrible as mine. ;D
EDIT: Actually, my messk looks more like RDV's.
Here's my bench as of the 15th... all the stuff you see is someone else's.
(http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f76/cx-deluxe/wkshp.jpg)
Currently the second bedroom in our 2br apartment serves as home office, library, workshop, darkroom, paint booth, brewery, den... No pic. It's ridiculous. Several floor to ceiling bookcases, milk crates full of salvaged electronics, racks of bottles... I'll be glad to move into the new house...
Here's mine. Yes, I am indeed the messiest slob on the planet. It's a wonder that I can get any work done at all, but my screwy mind actually has this weird inventory that knows exactly where everything is under all that crap! Note the old Altec tube signal generator, one of my best Ebay finds ever!
I built both of the benches (there's actually 2 there in an "L" shape) from the plans here: http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/workshop/bench/below20.html (http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/workshop/bench/below20.html). I bought the track lighting at Lowe's along with the bench materials and I think it all cost me less than $100.
(http://www.andyharrison.net/files/bench1.jpg)
(http://www.andyharrison.net/files/bench2.jpg)
Oh hell, that's what my space looks like after I clean it up for company coming over!
http://photobucket.com/albums/a320/Doug_H/My%20Workspace/ (http://photobucket.com/albums/a320/Doug_H/My%20Workspace/)
Show you my bench? And have it declared a Superfund site? No way!
well, I don't have a bench to show, but this one is really good:
http://www.glguitars.com/newtour/Leo-Fender-laboratory/index.asp
(http://andre.timbolino.nl/workbench.jpg)
My bench with some unfinished projects
Here's how mine looked last year. It still looks the same and is just as neat. I just have some more recording stuff to the left of the main work area now.
(http://www.diyguitarist.com/Images/Workbench-New.JPG)
(http://www.diyguitarist.com/Images/Workbench-Corner.jpg)
I showing my wife these pictures, just so she knows it really CAN get worse!
An average bench:
[img=http://img366.imageshack.us/img366/1482/dscn00570tb.th.jpg] (http://img366.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn00570tb.jpg)
Greetings JME
Pauls got the cleanest bench so far ( the one set of pics i won't let my wife see)
QuotePauls got the cleanest bench so far ( the one set of pics i won't let my wife see)
LOL. Believe it or not, I keep it that clean and organized for two reasons:
1. I
hate hunting around for tools. I like them in the same spot every time so I can always find them quickly.
2. I have small children (2 and 4), so I can't really leave small parts and tools lying around. Stuff needs to be put away so little hands don't get into things.
Quote from: Paul Marossy on March 06, 2006, 03:22:29 PM
QuotePauls got the cleanest bench so far ( the one set of pics i won't let my wife see)
LOL. Believe it or not, I keep it that clean and organized for two reasons:
1. I hate hunting around for tools. I like them in the same spot every time so I can always find them quickly.
2. I have small children (2 and 4), so I can't really leave small parts and tools lying around. Stuff needs to be put away so little hands don't get into things.
I have a big grin right now because I need to keep my bench messy for the complete opposite reason! If tools are too easy to find, my wife will walk off with the scissors, my older son will walk off with the screwdrivers, and my younger son will sit down at the bench, boot up and install a game or something. Chaos is probably the only thing that keeps their grubby hands OFF of my bench and away from my tools! Well, that, and stepping on little wire bits embedded in the carpet that go right through your socks. :icon_lol:
About 2 years ago, we had a major flood resulting from a dishwasher hose that sprung a leak. The entire kitchen subfloor had to be ripped out and rebuilt with a new lino floor installed. To do that, all the appliances had to be moved out to nearby rooms. My workshop/office is a little room adjoining the kitchen on one side and garage on the other. The fridge got moved into my workshop. When my older son got home from school and saw my office with the fridge plugged in and parked right beside where I sit to work on the computer, he thought he had died and gone to heaven. "SwEEEEEEt!!" was his comment. The idea of being able to work on the computer and not even have to get up out of the chair to grab a nibble was his idea of what Valhalla must be like.
QuoteI have a big grin right now because I need to keep my bench messy for the complete opposite reason! If tools are too easy to find, my wife will walk off with the scissors, my older son will walk off with the screwdrivers, and my younger son will sit down at the bench, boot up and install a game or something. Chaos is probably the only thing that keeps their grubby hands OFF of my bench and away from my tools! Well, that, and stepping on little wire bits embedded in the carpet that go right through your socks.
That's funny! :icon_lol: Funny how life evolves, isn't it?
Quote from: Mark Hammer on March 06, 2006, 03:43:39 PM
When my older son got home from school and saw my office with the fridge plugged in and parked right beside where I sit to work on the computer, he thought he had died and gone to heaven. "SwEEEEEEt!!" was his comment. The idea of being able to work on the computer and not even have to get up out of the chair to grab a nibble was his idea of what Valhalla must be like.
Don't mean to derail the thread but I couldn't help but think about another kid&computer story. A few days ago my 11 yr old son had a row with his 17 yr old sister about the family computer. He thought she was loading stuff on it that was "slowing it down" or something. His solution? He disabled admin privileges on everyone's account (including my wife & I) except for *his*, of course... We had an interesting "chat" about that one...
Doug
Mine looks like the alot of these, but there are always at least two empty coffee cups and beer bottles, and more random junk that serves no purpose.
I really envy all of you with your own space... I share a tiny (new york) apartment with my girlfriend and I have to fold out the 'kitchen' table and pull all my stuff out of various storage places whenever I want to tinker... and I can't stay up too late or I keep my girlfriend up! I'd share pics, but that'd just be too depressing. Sometimes I wish I lived in South Dakota...
Quote from: Paul Marossy on March 06, 2006, 02:15:02 PM
Here's how mine looked last year. It still looks the same and is just as neat. I just have some more recording stuff to the left of the main work area now.
You are a sick man! :icon_mrgreen: May my wife never see that picture... :o
QuoteYou are a sick man!
Shhh!!! Don't tell anyone... :icon_wink:
Quote from: Doug_H on March 07, 2006, 09:13:12 AM
Don't mean to derail the thread but I couldn't help but think about another kid&computer story. A few days ago my 11 yr old son had a row with his 17 yr old sister about the family computer. He thought she was loading stuff on it that was "slowing it down" or something. His solution? He disabled admin privileges on everyone's account (including my wife & I) except for *his*, of course... We had an interesting "chat" about that one...
Doug
We solved that around our house by everybody having their own. Well, actually my wife has "her own". Me and the boys have several each. Still doesn't stop people from monkeying around with mine, though. I'm the only one who seems to avoid installing anything and everything on their machine, and the only one who engages in preventative maintenance, so sometimes I'm the only one with a functioning machine.
Don't think of me as a husband and father. Think of me as live-in tech support. :icon_rolleyes:
Quote from: David on March 06, 2006, 01:41:20 PM
Show you my bench? And have it declared a Superfund site? No way!
DOn't worry, Superfund went bankrupt under Bush... the site near me in the National Park is just sitting there...
i should do something to clean up my mess/bench i think :s
http://sic.fotopic.net/c883713.html
Hey Birt, what are those blue tubes you're using for your resistors? I've just about had enough of the shop organizer things like this:(http://www.organizes-it.com/images/26drawerorg.jpg)
this is enlightening. i discover that i am actually better than most people about organiztaion.
better than everyone but Paul, who has a soldering iron that doubles as an eating utensil... :)
Quote from: bellyflop on March 07, 2006, 06:23:41 PM
Hey Birt, what are those blue tubes you're using for your resistors? I've just about had enough of the shop organizer things like this:(http://www.organizes-it.com/images/26drawerorg.jpg)
something like this: http://www.hightechfinland.com/2005/healthcare/nutrition/en_GB/raisio/_files/72485605716796700/default/raisio2b.jpg :D
but i need to make something good to put them in because i've got so many. and i want to put some caps in those too.
oh and they have a hole punched in the side so it's not completely closed from the outside.
Quotebetter than everyone but Paul, who has a soldering iron that doubles as an eating utensil...
Yep. Gotta eat a hearty breakfast each morning. :icon_wink:
(http://www.scotthenderson.net/bonepic2.jpg)
Here's an interesting option for people with enough space:
now that professional graphic art, architecture etc is largely paperless, those multiple wide flat drawer stacks that used to hold posters & architects drawings are being thrown out. You can get a lot of little bits into those! including coiled leads!
I'm trying to find a better way to manage my odd-value resistors. I've had good luck keeping them in their Mouser bags sorted by value but as the collection grows, that's going to be more difficult to keep organized.
What do you all do?
(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y150/shwanghourt/P1010346.jpg)
its changed since, but this is roughly what it was.
now i do it on an old green suitcase.
im building one in the garage, cut me some slack. :icon_biggrin:
Hey is that the wire stripper from a ColdHeat soldering iron? I noticed you use a regular soldering iron though.
Me too, that peice of crap is worthless, but the wire stripper works great! My setup is almost exactly the same as yours, just some beige carpet instead.
Quote from: calpolyengineer on March 09, 2006, 02:37:08 PM
Hey is that the wire stripper from a ColdHeat soldering iron? I noticed you use a regular soldering iron though.
Me too, that peice of crap is worthless, but the wire stripper works great! My setup is almost exactly the same as yours, just some beige carpet instead.
yeah my mom broke down and got one. at 10 bucks, what the hell?
but the strippers are great. (wire).
the solder they provided as well is TERRIBLE! absolutely garbage. i prefer the old shakey-hands-lead, thank you very much.
How small a wire can those strippers strip? I was thinking about purchasing the equivelent from partsexpress.com but it only strips up to 20ga, and i need at least to 22 or 24ga.
Although more and more people are migrating to digital cameras, there are still plenty who take regular photographs with film. I imagine it must be possible to get fistfuls of empty film canisters from a local photo development lab if you ask nicely. That might be a good source of containers for an arrangement like Birt has (which I like).
The resealable sandwich bag idea is also one I've been using for a while, partly because of how I would shop. The place I would go to most often in Toronto has bins and bins of things, and it would take forever to total up the purchase if everything was mixed together. I lived in constant fear of the tow trucks circling the block (and if you've ever been to downtown Toronto, you'll know what I mean). So what I would do is bring a box of sandwich bags and a permanent marker with me. Then, as I pulled out parts from the bins, I'd mark the quantity, unit price, and component value on the bag. When I brought it up tot he counter, they'd just read the bag, add it up, and I'd get out in a hurry. Once I got back home, all my parts would be neatly sorted already. I'd throw them into a shoebox-sized tupperware container, but you can also just have a pegboard and hang parts off that, just like a store might. Your very own Radio Shack! :icon_lol:
I have a bunch of 35mm film cans with various parts in them. They can come handy for things like that. :icon_cool:
Quote from: Mark Hammer on March 09, 2006, 04:21:54 PM
I lived in constant fear of the tow trucks circling the block (and if you've ever been to downtown Toronto, you'll know what I mean).
I remember Toronto:
1) being really clean
2) having a spiderweb of power lines in some parts (for a trolly system?)
3) having a bunch of competing 24-hour Chinese restaurants that served flank 140 different ways. ;D
My desk is about 20cm x 50cm... the top of a Laney LC-30 II. Big enough to place a breadboard, a DDM and 2 plastic boxes, one with resistors, caps, etc, the other with my precious germaniums. I love to see how everything dance when I crank the amp.
And no, I don't solder over the amp... yet.
mac
Heres my contribution, a not very impressive bench(wardrobe) which is too high! But hey ive got a beer fridge in it! ;)
(http://img212.imageshack.us/img212/2516/picture0103od.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Quote from: bellyflop on March 09, 2006, 09:57:04 AM
I'm trying to find a better way to manage my odd-value resistors. I've had good luck keeping them in their Mouser bags sorted by value but as the collection grows, that's going to be more difficult to keep organized. What do you all do?
Even the strangest resistor gets its own drawer or bag here, but some people put them together in clumps.
I've been suprised how many pro technicians (at least at home!) keep resistors in trays by decades, eg "under 1K, 1K to 9.9K, 10K to 99.9K" and so on. I've even seen a resistor collection divided into THREE bins, that's a bit rough..
Quote from: Also Wik on March 09, 2006, 03:38:05 PM
How small a wire can those strippers strip? I was thinking about purchasing the equivelent from partsexpress.com but it only strips up to 20ga, and i need at least to 22 or 24ga.
I have gone down well below 24 guage (not sure how small it actually was). I was sure the stripper would break it but it worked beautifully. The only problem is that the handle is just a piece of bent sheet metal, mine got bent a little from dropping it and now it doesn't work.
(http://beggat.com/Planket/Sam/bench.jpg)
This thinkshop (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v442/lectronix/hoax/stomi055.jpg) has been posted before, the metalshop too... (http://www.pure-tube-technology.de/metalshop057.jpg),
but is moved, now (still under construction...):
workshop:
(http://www.pure-tube-technology.com/Furth/workshop693.jpg)
storage:
(http://www.pure-tube-technology.com/Furth/storage697.jpg)
that isnt a bench, its a factory!
Damn you Ton, im jealous.
So, I organised my bench again.
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.nelson666/photos/bench%202%20after.JPG)
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/paul.nelson666/photos/bench%202a%20after.JPG)
Ready to take care of those graveyard projects now.
this is about as organized as i get :icon_biggrin: notice the diskscan at work on the right ... :icon_confused:
(http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e270/gaussmarkov/bench.jpg)
What is the pedal there on the table Nelson? If you dont mind me asking.
Quote from: finkfloyd on March 12, 2006, 06:13:29 PM
What is the pedal there on the table Nelson? If you dont mind me asking.
You mean the board sitting next to the helping hands?
Its a Polyphase.
There are a couple of dead pedals on there too, a modified clone theory, a modified Red Llama and an opamp muff thats gating badly.
I really need to get some shelfs and storage. My semiconductors have outgrown there storage.
Some amazing pics you guys. Here's a sample of my work area, after I've let it get disorganized for a day or so. I'm not the classic 'neat freak', but I do enjoy a little more order in my workspace:
(http://home.mia.net/~phaeton/avatar/bigdesk.jpg)
Most of the magic happens on the right half, of course. The pile of newspapers and the digicam box were placed there by the lovely missus. The rest of the mess i have to take the blame for all by myself.
Nelson, I like the 'adjustor' sitting on top of the scope! And, are you left handed (it's driving me nuts..).
I knew there was something strange about his setup. I was just thinking how akward it would be to reach across his projects to get to the soldering iron. Left-handedness was not one of the rational I thought of though.
-Joe
i will have to show this thread to my wife haha, i dont feel bad for having a messy bench now.
Quote from: Paul Perry (Frostwave) on March 13, 2006, 05:53:09 AM
Nelson, I like the 'adjustor' sitting on top of the scope! And, are you left handed (it's driving me nuts..).
No I am right handed, the scope and soldering Iron are on the left because thats where the nearest outlets are. (The cables are rather short).
I am used to them being there.
The adjustor is there for emergency use only :icon_twisted:
Here's the desk (not shown - garage with tubs of salvaged pcbs, second workbench, pedals out the yin yang, guitars, amps and my "studio"
8)
(http://webzoom.freewebs.com/martyb/wrkarea%2Dlarge.png)
Hi.
My workshop (in artistic B&W !), bench and stash of components.
Not shown - various power tools, junked circuits, abandoned amps, etc
There's a welder on the floor, a tube tester under the bench and that blue thing near the soldering iron that kinda looks like a multimeter is a tiny oscilloscope. The amp on the floor is an 18 watter waiting for a new rectifier tube.
Bit of a mess. Feel free to show your significant other how bad things could be.
(http://members.optusnet.com.au/~jethro.dog/mypic170.jpg)
(http://members.optusnet.com.au/~jethro.dog/mypic171.jpg)
(http://members.optusnet.com.au/~jethro.dog/mypic172.jpg)
cheers
Cheap amp (Park G10R), cheap guitar (DeArmond SG copy), cheap soldering iron (Rat Shack) and expensive Radio Shack parts. I just finished boxing up the Fetzer Valve. I usually try to keep it at least this clean because our cats love to play with components that have been left out.
(http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a278/Noplasticrobots/100_6420.jpg)
When I first got started last October, I labeled my bins with schematic symbols so I'd learn them faster. I also had all this stuff spread over our dining room table. I was lucky enough to get this table from a family member. The funny thing is, my girlfriend think it's for her crafts too! :D
And no, there's no Pop Tarts in that box, just my irons when I don't use them and various pieces of junk.