For the moment, I am constrained to setting up my bench on a 4' x 30" table. I've been trying to maximize the use of the space. I just added a dual arm with metal shelves to hold scope, AWG, and multimeter, and while it isn't rock solid, it works very well. The addition of a small cart with drawers makes it pretty usable.



Have you got any tips, hints, or ideas about compact benches? I am still optimizing and I'd love to benefit from the experience of AAC.

 

Just random thoughts. Try to free up desktop as much as possible. Perhaps one or two shelves around eye level for equipment needs, couple of column's below workbench with all your fast moving components etc in divided drawers or plastic bins, less used stuff placed on shelving higher up in room. Depends on how much floor space you nave and what else you plan on adding.

 

Years ago I built myself a nice workbench on my workshop. But these days when I work on a project, I'm usually at the kitchen table. Why? The top reason is that I can sit comfortably. My bench in the workshop is a stand-up bench. Worked fine when I was 30. Not so much now. Your bench has seating, so you're good there.

My kitchen table gets better light including sunlight. Not only can I see my work better, it's just more pleasant to have natural light. It looks like your lighting is good and you even have the option of some natural light outside those shades.

As annoying as it can be, the absolute need to clean up my project and revert back to the kitchen table forces me to keep the area clear. My workshop bench, on the other hand, is something I can walk away from at any time. As a result it is rarely clear. When I need it clear, it's always a chore to put away all the tools, parts, and such that collect on any horizontal surface. A recent mouse invasion this fall didn't help - my cluttered bench is now also completely covered with mouse shit. I just about puke every time I look at it.

My point is to make your work area easy to keep clean and do it. Plan for cleaning frequently, and make it easy to do that. Getting more of the equipment up and off the working surface might help. It's a lot easier to wipe down the surface if it's completely clear.

Otherwise I'm jealous as hell of your setup!

 

Einstein once said “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”

I'm with Einstein and Bob Pease. This is my bench when it's clean.

 

A recent mouse invasion this fall didn't help - my cluttered bench is now also completely covered with mouse shit. I just about puke every time I look at it.

Mice here are all better behaved. They go to the rest room (but keep socializing there so I have to look for them to resume my work).
I couldn't resist.

 

Mice here are all better behaved. They go to the rest room (but keep socializing there so I have to look for them to resume my work).
I couldn't resist.

View attachment 169848

Clutter - mostly...……..

 

Amazing cave my friend. Certainly go with building your own space. A little woodworking knowledge can go a looooong way
to building yourself an awesome space. I have bare circuit knowledge but my work space is multitudes more cluttered than yours.

its a beautiful mess im in.....

 

Ikea is your friend. They have lots of tabletops, some light duty some solid maple, in many different sizes and legs to fit them. Inexpensive for the most part. I have one of their BEKANT corner desktop units on Ikea leg units and a LINMON table top across two Radio Shack drawer units (bought when they went TU) to make a U shaped workstation. I laid another BEKANT 60x30" tabletop across two pedestal drawer units for a work / soldering / repair bench. Snooping in Ikea's scratch and dent section I found another one with a busted corner for $5. Sawed that lengthwise to make a matching rounded corner shelf for a bench riser. I made a nice work desk for my wife using another 60x30 laid across two 2-drawer file cabinets. In each case, I used felt disks on the bottoms of the pedestals/file cabinets to protect the floors and some rubber no-slip disks under the tops. That and a BILLY bookcase makes a nice 2 person office in a spare bedroom.

Small parts go in an array of plastic drawer units, stacked shelf to ceiling in the closet. Bigger junk in a metal office cabinet in the garage. I avoid totes and boxes in favor of shelving that has lots of adjustable shelves to avoid lost space.

Any more than that and my wife says I have to go back to work so I guess it ends there.

Table tops are always messy.
Have fun!

 

1. I have a 3 foot wide x 18" deep x 6 foot tall set of shelves behind my chair with boxes of reels of resistors on the top shelf; so it's floor to ceiling storage.
2. I have 3 45-60 draw parts cabinets mounted on the wall.
3. I have a 6 foot shelf above my work light that's full of reels of resistors, and another at eye level (when standing).
4. I have a couple parts holders attached to the underside of the lower shelf, along with the halogen task light.
5. Have a shelf under the work bench. That shelf has 2 storage drawers; probably 30" wide and a foot all and 18" deep. Have another 4 drawers by the door.
6. Boxes of components that probably take 50 cubic feet; all with inventory tags so I know what's in each box.
7. I have 6 more of the 3 drawer storage units on the bench stacked on the floor at the end of the bench.

 

Just random thoughts. Try to free up desktop as much as possible. Perhaps one or two shelves around eye level for equipment needs, couple of column's below workbench with all your fast moving components etc in divided drawers or plastic bins, less used stuff placed on shelving higher up in room. Depends on how much floor space you nave and what else you plan on adding.

My current space is shared with a desk for my iMac, used for photo editing and software development; a set of shelves for the photographic equipment and various bags, packs, light stands, and tripods; my various radios, batteries, and charging stuff; and a shelving unit for supplies and consumables.

The arm arrangement freed up as much space as I could manage, and it's not too bad. I expect to move into a room twice as large and then I will be getting a proper bench with instrument shelf, and an (dis)assembly bench for larger projects.

 

Years ago I built myself a nice workbench on my workshop.

Long term, the plan is to build a combination shop studio outbuilding. It will be a challenge to incorporate photography studio, electronics lab, and wood/metal shop in one 25'x30' building but I am going to give it a try. I have some ideas, and obviously dust collection is going to be a very high priority. I am not yet convinced I can do it, so it might end up wood/metal only, or photo/electronics only.

 

Einstein once said “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?”

I'm with Einstein and Bob Pease. This is my bench when it's clean.
View attachment 169842

My desk is messy when I am working and clean when I am done. It is also cleaned at any point the clutter starts to cause trouble while working. I learned long ago that losing things under the mess and not being able to position things in the best way slows me down and reduces the quality of the results, for me.

 

My desk.

 

But look at this "rumble in the jungle" live here for 15 years. Car has never been inside. Do have a car port.

 

If it is of any help, my religion dictates me to strictly differentiate between a shelf and a work surface. No square inch on the work bench should be used as a shelf. That works well for me.
Even profess same religion on kitchen counters. Nothing there but preparation area.

 

Long term, the plan is to build a combination shop studio outbuilding. It will be a challenge to incorporate photography studio, electronics lab, and wood/metal shop in one 25'x30' building but I am going to give it a try.

My Wife's idea is for me to move my electronics to the barn. I told her that won't happen until after the last chicken dies (he gets in the rafters and poops on everything and kicks up a lot of dust - we have a horse stall with a dirt floor) and we get rid of the rats (they chew on everything).

25'x30' is huge. My barn is only 600 square feet and I plan to use less than half of it.

When/if that happens, I'll have a place to store my electronic parts/equipment and finally be able to set up my woodworking tools. I bought a used contractor table saw, jointer, radial arm saw, bandsaw, planer, and dust vacuum when I retired. Planned to do more woodworking, but my body isn't willing. At least I'm not willing to endure the pain...

 

My desk is messy when I am working and clean when I am done. It is also cleaned at any point the clutter starts to cause trouble while working. I learned long ago that losing things under the mess and not being able to position things in the best way slows me down and reduces the quality of the results, for me.

I'm able to keep track of where things are, even when the area looks cluttered (to others). I'm always amazing my Wife when I can recall where something is, sometimes after decades. I hate it when she moves my stuff because she can't remember where she puts things.

If my bench appears messy while I'm working on something; it only appears that way. I typically know where every thing is so I don't have to waste time looking for things.

There have been times when I'll be looking for some things and can't find them. Maybe I moved them and forgot (does happen; rarely), or my Wife moved them and forgot that she moved them. I just keep a list of things I'm looking for and scratch them off when I find them.

Posting the picture of my bench did get me to looking at what had accumulated in the cardboard trays next to the variac (which you can't see because it's behind the power supply on the bench). I did find a P MOSFET in SC-89 package. It bounced on the desk when I was removing it from the reel and I couldn't find it. I found it when I was going through things in that square foot of the bench. I thought it ended up on the floor and lost among all of the stuff residing there...

 

25'x30' is huge. My barn is only 600 square feet and I plan to use less than half of it.

When/if that happens, I'll have a place to store my electronic parts/equipment and finally be able to set up my woodworking tools. I bought a used contractor table saw, jointer, radial arm saw, bandsaw, planer, and dust vacuum when I retired. Planned to do more woodworking, but my body isn't willing. At least I'm not willing to endure the pain...

It’s a good size, but it has to do a lot of things as it is planned. There will be a lot of mobile stuff in there so it can be reconfigured as needed.

Sorry to hear of your physical difficulties, when I’ve been injured I’ve found it very frustrating not to be able to do things I normally can. I retired from my previous job (early) and now I am a literal freelancer, choosing what I want to do. I had been self-employed for most of my working life, and stayed for 15 years at the last gig, a definite deviation from my pattern. But now I am ready to be master of my own fate again.

I hope your barn plans go well!

 

I’m in a small one bedroom apartment. My strategy is to use many plastic boxes with lids (“sweater boxes”). They are stored in the space my ex’s clothes used to occupy in a large bureau. Large tools are stored by themselves.

Three boxes are used to store tools (in two boxes) and parts.

Then each project had its own dedicated box (currently there are four active projects)

I move the project box to my table along with necessary tools. They may stay there for a couple of days or until my friend is coming over. Then, everything is returned to the appropriate box

The boxes aren’t organized further. But I know where everything is until needed.

 

Then each project had its own dedicated box (currently there are four active projects)

I use a similar strategy for projects. Low, flat boxes for each, some with tempered hardboard cut to size as a work surface that can be moved from the bench to the box and back, mostly intact.

I haven’t worked out the proper size for the new bench, thanks for reminding me!