I am guessing most people on here either are hobbyists or do this for a living and as such, you most likely have a neat little setup at home. I belong to a woodworking forum as well and one of the posts was for people to send in pictures of their shops. It was a huge success and many shared pics of their workshops and their triumphs and tribulations of their shops. I was just wondering if anything like that has ever been done on here or if anybody would be interested in sharing? I would send one of mine but we just moved here, I am fairly new to electronics again and haven't got my shop set up yet. Thoughts anyone?

 

Here is what my electronics workbench looked like before it got messy:

The space is very narrow, tucked in behind the house furnace.

Just behind my back are these shelves for parts storage:

 

I am guessing most people on here either are hobbyists or do this for a living and as such, you most likely have a neat little setup at home. I belong to a woodworking forum as well and one of the posts was for people to send in pictures of their shops. It was a huge success and many shared pics of their workshops and their triumphs and tribulations of their shops. I was just wondering if anything like that has ever been done on here or if anybody would be interested in sharing? I would send one of mine but we just moved here, I am fairly new to electronics again and haven't got my shop set up yet. Thoughts anyone?

I've never seen this happen before but I think you just hijacked your own thread!

 

Here is my real shop:

Just kidding. If you want to see what a real shop should look like, see the lab at Analog Services (logwell.com) and eat your heart out.

Sadly, Syd Levine is no longer with us.

http://www.logwell.com/capabilities/lab_pics.html

 

I am guessing most people on here either are hobbyists or do this for a living and as such, you most likely have a neat little setup at home.

or do both at the same time. That's me.

I belong to a woodworking forum as well and one of the posts was for people to send in pictures of their shops. It was a huge success and many shared pics of their workshops and their triumphs and tribulations of their shops. I was just wondering if anything like that has ever been done on here or if anybody would be interested in sharing? I would send one of mine but we just moved here, I am fairly new to electronics again and haven't got my shop set up yet. Thoughts anyone?

I've always wanted my own woodworking shop, like the ones they showcase in Popular Mechanics where guy has turned a two car garage into an entire shop. All I can manage is a table saw in the garage shared with a car and six bicycles. I hate having to dust the sawdust off the bicycles.

 

 

I hate having to dust the sawdust off the bicycles.

Ditto. I've taken up the habit of attaching and turning on my shop-vac for all sawing and routing in the garage, and this has helped immensely. It doesn't catch it all, especially from the saw, but it sure is easier to catch it first instead of trying to clean it up later. I hate the bother and the noise (gotta wear hearing protection), but ultimately it's more than worth it. I've learned my lesson and will never go back.

 

Gopher T and MrChips,
Thank you for sharing. It's always good to see what other people are working on or working in. You guys look very organized. Key component to getting good work done. Hope some more guys jump in and share as well.

Never seen two separate posts come together like that before. Any ideas?

 

...
If you want to see what a real shop should look like, see the lab at Analog Services (logwell.com) and eat your heart out.
...

I've got a lot more parts storage than that, but a bit less test equipment. But then I've got CNC machine, manual lathe/mill, and SMD pick'n'place machine and SMD soldering equipment etc for production. Plus an entire epoxies lab for encapsulation.

 

Gopher T and MrChips,
Thank you for sharing. It's always good to see what other people are working on or working in. You guys look very organized. Key component to getting good work done. Hope some more guys jump in and share as well.

Never seen two separate posts come together like that before. Any ideas?

If you want the thread split into two separate threads that can be done. Just say the word.

 

Here is my real shop:

Just kidding. If you want to see what a real shop should look like, see the lab at Analog Services (logwell.com) and eat your heart out.

Sadly, Syd Levine is no longer with us.

http://www.logwell.com/capabilities/lab_pics.html

What a relief to know that explosives were left outside.

 

Mr Chips,
The Word.

On another note, that is a nice little setup. I have both a woodworking shop in my basement (my son is a cabinetmaker) and headed towards having an electrical/electronics shop. Isn't empty nesting great! Other than the fact it means I'm getting older

 

You realize of course that you will only get photos of well organized workbenches. There's no way I'm going to show you my bench.
My bench is clean, spacious and well lit, and I have organized storage nearby. None of that helps prevent a half dozen simultaneous "projects" from making a complete horror story of my workbench. I have IR heartbeat sensors buried under an old TV circuit board next to some router scraps, wood drills and my breadboard. It's too embarrassing to photograph and if I hadn't just downed a nice cocktail, I couldn't bear to talk about it.

 

I can prove you wrong. You should see by workbench now. Sorry, you can't see the top of the workbench!

 

You can never have too much light or too many cubby holes to stuff parts into. PLAN for things to make cleaning and organizing easy. Vacuum ports, trash cans, that sort of thing.

I find myself working in the kitchen far too often, because the light is better and I have more room. Design your workspace so that you'd rather work there than in your kitchen.

 

I find it odd that there hasn't been a better response. Maybe we all have messy workbenches and don't want to show them. Mine isn't ready for pictures yet but hopefully in a few weeks. I just thought it would be inspirational for other people to see where all you guys do your stuff. I know the woodworking one is a long thread and every time I go there, I am inspired to do something new in the shop. Was kinda hoping for the same thing here. We will see

 

You realize of course that you will only get photos of well organized workbenches. There's no way I'm going to show you my bench.
...

Agreed! Besides being too messy and having proprietary technology, mine is spread over too many rooms.

 

This thread reminds me of something.

My eldest brother is a top modelist who used to work with VERY simple tools, something that always amazed me. Nothing that you could find in anybody's workshop. The most exotic, a small cutter.

There was a member in the club that had the best workshop ever with whatever fancy tools exist for modelists. He was proud of it and seemed his purpose in life to catch and have the newest ones all the time. Heard that he used to spent lot of money in that.

They met at every competition for several years, where my brother showed incredible nice models. Every time he heard the news about new tools.

Such is life.

Good to say as well: the other guy never built anything.

Pictures of my bench. Forget. From my circuits or boards? Maybe...well, probably not.

 

In previous jobs I have the best arrangement for a practical engineer possible: a workbench situated directly behind my desk. One could sketch something up, spin the chars 180, and start to build it. My current job has my desk some 200+ feet from my lab so I'll just sneak a few wires on a board at my desk, otherwise hand things off to the techs.

A home workbench? That's one of the first things my wife made go-away. When we moved into the house there was an unfinished room upstairs with some shelving (former pantry) and a washer and dryer for cloths. I added a very nice workbench for modeling and electronics.

After spending 6-9 months (part time of course) moving/adding electric and heating, a ton of plumbing to move the washer, re-insulating, sheet rock, paint... she has a lovely dressing room with a 10 foot closet on one side, washer and dryer on opposite wall tucked behind the chimney, and not a spec of my stuff including the workbench.

<sigh>

During the summer it is incredible what good work one can do on a picnic table in the back yard. I also pull a table saw onto the grass and have at it. My drill press sits in the shed near the belt sander, and if I remove the lawn mover and some other tools I can stand by these.

When building something electrical I don't need much space, this stuff is tiny! I'll set up my panavice and solder station on the dining room table and hack at stuff! I have tons of "Sterlite" containers, small ones for parts, medium ones for "collections" (like the one for proto supplies, some tools, some wire, some parts), and large boxes to hold the small boxes.

I have two basic "go" boxes, one holding my solder station and magnifying headset, the other my SMD parts. Handy when I want to work on something both at home and the office.

Yeah, a permanent home workbench would be great! I could set up my test equipment there (as opposed to leaving it in storage collecting dust).

But I'd choose having my wife over a bench any day.

 

This is mine taken last year when we moved in, it still isnt entirely finished but getting there! I will post upto date pics when I find the camera! I have finaly got most my test equipment in though