What's On Your Bench?

I have always liked seeing and learned from what others have for a test bench.

So what is on yours?

Equipment, tools, lighting, storage...what?

Links to pictures would be great.

Thanks

TMT

Reply to
Too_Many_Tools
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Add to that, current projects!

I have roughly the bare minimum... Wavetek 193 20MHz function generator Tektronix 475 oscilloscope (aging a bit..) An Eico 377 signal generator I never use, I just like it for the nostalgia Heathkit (I didn't build it) V-7A VTVM.

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A few small cabinets/trays of parts, and a +/-15 2A bench supply. At the moment, I also have two car batteries in the room, for messing with these beefy servo motors.

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The circuit:
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Desperately needs current limiting on the MOSFET ala UC3844 type circuit.

On the right, the induction heater project stagnates. Actually, I was going to add per-cycle current limiting today...

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And, hairy me in front of the bench...

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Tim

-- Deep Fryer: A very philosophical monk. Website @

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Reply to
Tim Williams

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I love it. Well done.

Reply to
Dan Bloomquist

Only state of the art test equipment in my workshop:

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Note the latest in o'scopes and computing technology as well:

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--
Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
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Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

I'll tell you what I don't have.. No function gen box....I use sound card or make a source. No pile of parts...I file my parts like documents. No fire extinguisher.... I'm going to regret that someday. No lead free solder. No more than 2 burnt holes on the workbench. D from BC

Reply to
D from BC

I don't have any holes *in* the bench, but I have spilled molten brass on it.

Tim

-- Deep Fryer: A very philosophical monk. Website @

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Reply to
Tim Williams

nice museum... :) except the scopemeter !

--
Jean-Yves.
Reply to
Jean-Yves

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Need I say more?

Well OK.

3 multimeters, a scope, a few logic tracers and injectors, a PC, 1 or 2 "universal" programmers - (which you wouldn't need two of if they were truly "universal"...), a Pace desoldering / vacuum extractor, and the most important of all: a magnifying glass to see what the hell I'm doing.

My last project had me hand soldering a 8-pin MSOP part for a prototype. So, that explains the Advil...!!

-mpm

Reply to
mpm

Marconi 1370 AF generator 10Hz-10 MHz Marconi HF 2115+2171 Generator 10 MHz - 512 MHz + synchronizer MiniVNA network analyzer HP141 HP432 Trio dual channel scope (35 MHz) Philips 10 Hz 10MHz pulse generator Frequency counter from kit to 1 GHz Homebrew powersupply 3-30V 3A with adjustable current limit (723 based) Homebrew powersupply -12 -5 +5 +12 1A

3 Digital multimeters 2 Analog multimeters Atlas transistor tester AADE L-C meter (replacement for homebuilt LCR bridge) Weller soldering iron 4x Magnifying lamp 10x stereo microscope (ideal if you are 50+ and doing SMD work ;-) Tweezers Kocher clamps Chinese clones of dental hooks Small Dremel drill The usual set of screwdrivers and pliers

Wim

Reply to
Wim Ton

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Difficult to see, but it includes:

Farnell PSU 2 x 0-50v @ 0.5 amp Farnell PSU 1 x 0-30v @ 1 amp Marconi LCR bridge Weller TCP soldering iron Philips solder sucker Side cutters, angled pliers etc. Savbit solder Philip Oscilloscope PM 3212 Home-made mains isolating unit with variac Home-made A.F. amplifier/measurement unit, with step attenuator and 0.1 dB resolution meter. Solartron A.F. Sig Gen Home-made A.F. isolation & attenuator unit Marconi V.H.F.. Sig Gen Home-made R and C substitution boxes Heathkit Distortion Meter (never used) Arc welder

Stored elsewhere:

Marconi A.F. Wave Analyser Marconi R.F. Sig Gen Edometer Avo Coil Winder Lathe (unidentified manufacture) with 4ft bed & 1.5 Kw motor. Airmec PSU 50-500v DC, 6.3v AC + screen and grid-bias supplies. Tandy SPL meter BBC Tone Source BBC PPM/measurement units (2 off) HP X-Y display modified for stereo audio analysis. Quad 50E amplifiers (2 off, used as variable frequency 200v mains source). E.M.I. 2300 disc-recording lathe. Dawes Wow & Flutter Meter Home-made audio impulse generator (electric spark).

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~ Adrian Tuddenham ~
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Reply to
Adrian Tuddenham

hey, i have one of those O-SCOPES. i had to jury ring a trippler in there to repair the HV once, but the rest of it is great!

--
"I\'m never wrong, once i thought i was, but was mistaken"
Real Programmers Do things like this.
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Reply to
Jamie

I botched that line... It was supposed to be : big open bottles of concentrated acid (with scope probe cables wrapped around the bottles) :) The joke being something useless and hazardous on the bench. D from BC

Reply to
D from BC

The chemical kind I keep in the other end of the basement, but it's been opened many times; if you meant the drug kind, I will neither confirm nor deny. ;-)

Tim

-- Deep Fryer: A very philosophical monk. Website @

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Reply to
Tim Williams

Tim, I looked at the web page, but need a little background. I'm curious... what in the heck are you using that induction heater for? You doin' home-based bronze sculpture casting? Why the inverter?

Thanks, Sparky

Reply to
SparkyGuy

On Mar 24, 1:30 pm, "Too_Many_Tools" wrote:

One VERY useful item on my bench is a "Lazy Susan" (turntable), with a wood top that's about 20 inches in diameter. If I'm working on a piece of equipment, it makes it very easy to turn it around, without scraping the bench or the equipment. I made it by attaching the top of a small round table to a "TV Turntable" from WalMart.

One of my sons made my bench, for me, using some ideas I gave him. The benchtop is a very large, thick, salvaged (formerly unused) desktop, with a front edge that's curved. It's supported by two sets of under-the-kitchen-counter-type drawers, one under each side. There are two deep shelves above the bench. The left and right shelf sections are angled, so they face directly toward me, and are about as easy to reach as the center section. The shelves also slope downward toward the front (there are lips on their front edges), so that the test equipment's front panels are all facing more-or-less directly toward my face, making them easier to reach and easier to read.

I also installed some hooks, above the bench, from the ceiling, so there are convenient places to hang all of the probes and cables that are usually used with the test equipment, within easy reach but not in the way.

I can't list all of the test equipment I have. I used to buy, refurbish, and resell it and have hundreds of pieces "left over". In the USA (and at a few sites abroad), you can get almost all of the test equipment (and probably _anything_ else) you'd ever need, through

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. But beware: You almost have to go pick it up, in person (or pay exorbitantly), and should go inspect it before bidding (usually QUITE an interesting and enjoyable experience; recommended!). It's not guaranteed to work, or be complete, and can not be tested before bidding. Their pictures and itemized listings might be somewhat fictitious. Their Condition Codes may be lies (but maybe in your favor). Only a few of their warehouse sites have the really-big test equipment sales, usually monthly. Prices are not nearly as low as they used to be, now that the auctions are mostly "live" on-line, with much smaller lot sizes in many cases. But, in a lot of cases, you should still be able to get three or more of whatever you want for the price of one on ebay, which might make up for the fact that some (or all) of them are non-functional (However, with Tek scopes, for example, a few years ago at least, if I was very careful, usually at least 75% of them worked fine. But it might depend on where they were used. Mine were mostly from research labs.). There are also, occasionally, some truly-great pieces available, there. For example, sometimes you can find _unused_ older equipment, maybe sold because of the military's "shelf life" regulations. And sometimes you can find "perfect" stuff that was only sold because someone's Calibration budget was empty but their New Equipment budget was not empty (I've seen yellow tags that said things like "Unit is perfect. No money for Cal."). And regulations usually require that all equipment must be calibrated, or it can't be used. Check it out. But be prepared to "lose" a few days, perusing.

- Tom Gootee

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Reply to
tomg

Check out the rest of my website (see sig).

Eventually, I want to melt about 10 pounds of steel. At the moment, I've melted an ounce or two of copper and done a few alkali fusions (producing sodium manganate and chromate).

The inverter is required to run this power level. I figure about 10kHz for

10kW.

Tim

-- Deep Fryer: A very philosophical monk. Website @

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curious...

Reply to
Tim Williams

Here is an old photo. The bench is still in use, but the Heathkit gear has pretty much been upgraded.

Current equipment that sits on the bench is:

Tek TDS2024B Protek 9301 function generator B&K 5492 bench multimeter ( a HIGHLY underrated unit) EZ Digital 1 GHz counter Various power supplies Heath audio generator Extech LCR meter Weller WPS soldering station

3 GHz Pentium computer w/LCD screen

There is more equipment available, but that is the stuff that sits on the bench, primarily due to space. Closet contains Tek 7904A, 547, both with lots of plugins, a few 2225/2235s mess of audio test gear.

Reply to
BFoelsch
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Please don't post binaries to a textual group. Either get access to alt.binaries.schematics.electronic, or put it on a website somewhere.

Thanks, Rich

Reply to
Rich Grise

Stuff I wish I had on my work bench:

  • Piles of cash
  • Two 25 year old girls with big hooters dancing on the bench
  • A book entitled "Why I Don't Need a Bench Anymore"
  • Plane tickets to Mexico
  • A "You're Doing Something Stupid" alarm
  • Something that works perfectly
  • A big pile of fire works and a long fuse
  • All my parts on order
  • Self testing electronics

D from BC

Reply to
D from BC

You can see my workbench on

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I just lie down and let the rollers go over me whenever I feel doing some electronics design.. :) D from BC

Reply to
D from BC

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