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.

A careless 20 year old girl t-boned me and caused my Wife, Daughter, and me a world of hurt. My Daughter and I had two surgeries each. My Wife and Daughter are essentially fully recovered. I'm going to have constant back pain for the rest of my life; which I hope will be at least 20 more years.

I can tolerate severe pain for most of the day. But it's like a switch. I have no capacity to tolerate anything above severe and need to take prescription pain relief. My doctor is so stingy with opiates that I can only take them when pain is intolerable. But, you'd be surprised what you can endure if you have to. The pain level I have when I wake up in the mornings (the lowest it's going to be for that day) would have been reason to stay home from work when I was working. Now I just deal with it and try to take a nap if it gets bad. I can get by with OTC NSAIDs if they'll ease the pain enough for me to be able to fall asleep.

My advice to everyone is to be careful when you're driving. For most, it's the other driver that's most likely to cause an accident. And it could be life changing...

 

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.....

My cave is rathe prone to avalanches...………….

 

• 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...

Now you are talking ! True ! Look at my disgarded goldsmith bench. I just kept the roller and the polishing mac

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...

Look at this. My goldsmith bench. Just kept roller and polishing machine.

My cave is rathe prone to avalanches...………….

Where would that be ? Never seen snow !

 

My cave is rathe prone to avalanches...………….

Do they make static foil bubble wrap haha

 

Do they make static foil bubble wrap haha

Never heard of that - but the new propellant in freezer spray can zap stuff.

 

Do they make static foil bubble wrap haha

 

Woodworking first, electronics close second. If only my wife would stop piling up my shop....

 

Never heard of that - but the new propellant in freezer spray can zap stuff.

That I haven't heard of

 

Reworking the electronics storage shed after a brutal cleaning. Adding a few worktops of marine quality plywood . Need to round a few corners and sand the routed edges smooth but it's lookin OK for a future bench.

 

Shelves, drawers, parts cabinets and boxes. Go Vertical. Prioritize! I only keep a limited number of parts and tools "handy". The rest get stored away from the bench. If you are not using it, move it to storage. I have a small drawer to store leads for the meter, scope, signal gen, etc. I don't keep the leads attached and cluttering up the bench when not in use (except PSU and bench DMM and their leads are tucked under them when not in use). I just added a bench meter to use instead of a handheld to cut down on benchtop workspace clutter (I had a spot for it available). I can always pull another meter out when more needed. Next to my chair is the toolbox for things not needing to clutter the bench, but handy. On top of the toolbox are a couple of short stacks of books and notebooks that are in use. Small tool carousel on the bench for most-used tools. A pencil cup almost full of stuff I need often. Not as often used parts boxes, batteries, breadboards, Arduinos, cables, label maker, etc. in drawers under the bench. Regular clean-ups and sorting. I like neat and organized and it likes me. Bench also shared with computer (+soundsystem), landline, cable modem, router, WiFi, Ham Rigs (wattmeter and antenna switch w/ tuner/preamp). Printer stand and more books next to bench and on table behind parts cabinets is the wife's computer area. My tight, but cozy spot...

 

Inexpensive bench/desk. I used one of these thru high school, college and my adult daughter still uses it. 2 two drawer file cabinets or nice end tables with drawers. Must be the same height. A hollow core door slab. These are 80" long and come in various widths. Birch veneer more expensive, masonite cheaper (you get what you pay for). Bookcases/shelves can be added to go vertical and I recommend a good desk lamp.

 

Just a quick question after of what I have seen and I am sure you are much more experienced than me.

I haven't seen on your workbenches any ESD protection, mats etc. I am not talking of NASA prerequisites, i.e. antistatic workbenches. Just an antistatic mat.

Isn't needed? I think it is

 

@dl324

My back problems are more hereditary than anything else. The herniated disc is giving the most trouble. It was the pinched nerve. then there are other issues.

When I was about 10 YO, i built a workbench. 8' x 3'. I think the surface is 2'10" off the ground. OK for sitting on a stool and standing.
4 duplex outlets were placed on the front edge of the 2x4 frame. Each duplex outlet is controlled by a switch. There wasn;t the having stuff on all of the time problem back then. I was allowed to use a jigsaw. Dad cut the 4x8 sheets.

There is a very low shelf about 6" tall and short that has a variac mounted there and a large shelf above it from end to end. A few feet of the right space, I was going to make for drawers. Never happened. The back is kinda wasted space (about 1'x2'), but does have the switches. It did have a breaker.

I know there is an outlet strip on the bottom at bench height. There may be one on the first shelf.

On the far left, there is a craftsman toolbox with drawars, The working area has a matt. the entire bench has a sheet of replaceable masonite.
the bench is like 50 years old.

The lighting, believe it or not is aluminum foil in the rafters as a reflector and 2 x 4' florescent tubes - naked wired with a starter.

I did have room on the right for a VCR, an Amiga computer and a monitor that I could switch signals. So, I could watch TV or use the computer.
That VCR could transmit throughout the house. on channel 4. That's unuseable now. Amiga - dead. Monitor dead.

I had a car radio fro music. That was stolen.

Primary things services were audio amplifiers, car radios and TV's.

The front outlets have issues where, your feet can pull stuff off the bench. Top outlets did have soldering burn issues with cords across the bench.

I'd thought about "cord drops" from the ceiling and a GFCI for the bench. It also had a thermostat controlled space heater. Real thermostst and regular space heater.

 

Just a quick question after of what I have seen and I am sure you are much more experienced than me.

I haven't seen on your workbenches any ESD protection, mats etc. I am not talking of NASA prerequisites, i.e. antistatic workbenches. Just an antistatic mat.

Isn't needed? I think it is

Most people just wear a WIRED antistatic ESD wrist strap while working on sensitive parts.
https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/app-notes/index.mvp/id/4991

 

My silicone mat is supposed to be ESD, but I measure ∞Ω across it. Living on the coast my relative humidity in the house (even with AC dehumidifying) is 50-75% so static is not a noticeable problem. Unlike winters up north. When I did IT in the 70's we used straps or just grabbed a gound to equalize. Never had a problem.

 

for a restricted workspace, I suggest as many "wall shelves" as possible,with no contact to the ground.
or every other thing mountable to wall, like monitors,measurement devices,etc would save lots of space .
+ this link as a warning, based on my own experience:

 

Connected a bench power strip to a spare breaker on the panel and 'boom' we have power for some old stuff on the new bench.

Very solid with #10 3inch screw attachments under the original bench and to studs for the shelf support.

That scope is a DSS5020A by KIKUSUI. 20MHz analog and 280 kHz digital storage bandwidth with 1024 words per channel. Worth about $100 on ebay for some crazy reason.
https://www.kikusui.co.jp/kiku_manuals/D/DSS5020A_E.pdf

1.3GHz Tek CMC251 counter with my old Fluke 12 meter.

 

Just a quick question after of what I have seen and I am sure you are much more experienced than me.

I haven't seen on your workbenches any ESD protection, mats etc. I am not talking of NASA prerequisites, i.e. antistatic workbenches. Just an antistatic mat.

Isn't needed? I think it is

In the photo I posted at the start, you can see a blue antistatic wrist strap. I also have a mat in the drawer which connects to the grounded banana jack block the strap plugs into when I need something more.

 

OK Yaakov, this is a minimum ESD protection.

 

OK Yaakov, this is a minimum ESD protection.

For practical reasons, I use a silicone mat when soldering or disassembling small things. I can discharge myself through the strap (a habit I have), and when dealing with very sensitive devices, I can use the mat, though it is not suitable for fine work or soldering.