Where to Put Electronics Tools?

[Chips O'Toole]

I am still getting my shop ordered.

For the last few years, I've had two shops. In my outbuilding, I had machine tools, yard tools, woodworking tools, welding equipment, and so on. In my dining room, I had a neat Seville Classics bench with a bunch of electronics stuff, and I also used the dining room for reloading. I also had a number of redundant tools to prevent me from having to walk to the big workshop every time I needed to drill a hole or turn a bolt. Is it obvious I was single?

My wife will be coming to live here, so I feel I should allow her to have a real dining room. I am moving stuff out.

I have been trying to figure out what to do. I have a huge upstairs room I can put my electronics stuff in, but if you work on electronics, you know it is sometimes inconvenient to be away from your big tools. You may want to use wood tools to make a cabinet, or you might want to use a mill to make an amp chassis. Sometimes a piece of electronics is part of something you work on with big tools. Stuff comes up. If you have to walk up and down stairs and back and forth to a detached shop, it can get old. I could put a bench in my garage. Then I would have to do without air conditioning. I am planning to air condition the workshop next year, so if I found a way to put my electronics things out there, I would have climate control.

What are other people doing to manage the same problem?

The cold weather here is not cold enough to care about, but the heat and humidity are pretty bad from May through the end of October.

 

[GeneT45]

My electronics bench is in my shop. I have very little in the way of woodworking equipment, but my shop is also organized from the 'dirty' (grinding, sawing, buffing, etc) end to the 'clean' end - electronics and reloading. This system works well for me. It's hotter than blazes here in the summer (Phoenix, AZ area) and I don't have air conditioning yet...

GsT

 

[RJSakowski]

My old electronics workbench is located in my basement shop along with all my metal working tools. Some years ago, I finished out a 300 sq. ft. attic space which is the home of my new electronics work area. It has its own dedicated HVAC and I mounted a plasma TV on the wall adjacent to my new work bench in the event that I need some distraction.

The new work space is three floors up from the basement shop but they say that stair climbing is a good cardiovascular activity. So far, it hasn't been an inconvenience. If a project requires a lot of back and forth between spaces, I can temporarily move it to the old bench. My woodwotking shop is in an outbuilding 100 ft. from the house and that is more of an issue in cold weather. The forge is some 60 ft. further but I use it infrequently so it isn't too bad. Worse comes to worse, I still have my old stick welder and a MIG welder in the basement. I also have a small anvil there and can use the wood furnace for heating metal, at least in the cold weather when I don't want to venture outside.

 

[Chips O'Toole]

It's hotter than blazes here in the summer (Phoenix, AZ area) and I don't have air conditioning yet...

GsT

Yeah, but a sauna is more pleasant than a rice steamer!

 

[Winegrower]

For shop, I have a detached 3 car garage that is either 1) a two bay metal fab plus a car, or 2) take the car out and it’s a wood shop with access to precision tools. For an electronics lab, there is a small building sharing a wall and man door with the garage that I remodeled into a nice high ceiling room, French doors, room for an 8’ lab bench with top shelf, a desk, three networked computers, a stainless experiment/test stand table and a metro rack stuffed with equipment standing by until needed. For software and personal/business record keeping I have an upstairs office in the house, with 4 more LAN connected computers. Xfinity claims I have a 500Mb connection, but…

We’re in the foothills of the Sierras, 2650’ elevation…generally no need for A/C in summer, and it rarely freezes in winter…but it can be 55F and I’m thinking it’s the North Pole.

Almost everything in the shop and lab is on wheels, and I generally take a few minutes to configure for whatever the workflow needs to be.

This is really a little slice of heaven…I hooe to have a bit bigger shop there.

 

[Cadillac STS]

Consider getting a nice looking buffet table that belongs in the dining room. Can use the top for serving with groups. All your stuff is in the drawers.

That type of furniture is in antique shops for not much money. Shop for it with the wife.

I did something like that to keep some electronic stuff and small tools handy. A handsome looking cabinet with drawers. Looks like it belongs. I also needed to have my battery charger for various things near by and easy to get. That is in a decorative box on a shelf.

 

[Boswell]

I have my electronics bench in my upstairs office along with my primary computer that I use for CAD/CAM. I also have my 3D printer there. My Metal shop with some wood working capabilities is in a large out-building. Many hand tools are duplicated and at time the walk between the two shops gets tiresome but I have gotten pretty good and doing my design work (upstairs office/electronics) such that when I am working in the metal shop I don't have to go back and forth (too often). The worst is when I am working on a new program for the CNC mill. My CAD/CAM is upstairs and my CNC Mill in in the out-building shop. I am not so good yet with CNC CAM that I don't have to go back and forth a few times. I am told that living in a two story house will make you live longer. I have though many time about moving my electronics bench to the metal shop but I cringe when I think of the dust/dirt/swarf that is in the metal shop and what it would do to my somewhat expensive electronics tools like my oscilloscope, bench supplies etc. So for now, they will stay separate and I will climb stairs and maybe I will live forever .

 

[silence dogood]

I would suggest adding more space to your shop for two reasons First, a time will come when you two will have a little spat. Your shop will be your doghouse. Second, she will want her kitchen, dining, and living room. Now I will give you a true story why. Once, there was a fellow who had a very accommodating wife. He always did his tinkering on the kitchen table. You name it, he'd worked on carburetors, lawnmowers, whatever. One day he was working on a chainsaw while she was doing the dishes. Well, he finally got it together and decided to give it a test start. As he pulled the cord with his right hand, the saw in his left hand swung away with the motor roaring right away. One of his most successful moments except the momentum of the saw cut through one of the tables legs. All the tools, parts, oil cans, and the table came crashing to the floor. He noticed that she flinched a little bit, but she kept right on washing the dishes. As the motor was idling, he looked over the situation. He then cut off the three remaining legs. Turned over the table and announced, "See dear, here's that coffee table that you always wanted". Next thing, he found himself outside on the back porch with his chainsaw, tools, parts, oil cans, and the table with four cut off legs. And he was wondering, what has got into that woman.

 

[Weldingrod1]

My shop is in a container. One end is electronics and bench work. The balance is machine tools. The bandsaw and welding live in the garage.

Smaller tools, smaller area, blivet packed

Sent from my SM-G715A using Tapatalk

 

[cathead]

I have an electronics shop in the basement where it is in a warm dry environment. There are a lot of times however
where repairs are needed elsewhere. I will use the machine shop area on occasion if needed. One thing I do
is to carefully set my VOM or other electronic tool on the floor out of harm's way while not using it as work
progresses. Also I have several Simpson 260 meters and if the work is crappy outside on some machine
I will use my old 260 that had taken a fall and cracked the bakelite before I came to own it. Sometimes the
kitchen table is a good place to work. It's great for laying down a flat screen TV on face down while disassembling it.
Also, I like to keep a few tools and a test meter in the vehicle in case I have troubles away from home. So, all in
all I have a designated spot for electronic repair but a lot of times it is better to improvise depending upon the
situation and use whatever spot that fits the occasion.

By the way, electronic stuff doesn't survive well in a shop environment. My VFD for the mill is mounted in a separate
box on a pedestal and ceiling mounted for that reason.