As some may be aware, I have been carrying out a major tidy of my lab and sorting through all the electronic test equipment. It has been like Christmas every day, with me opening anonymous boxes and delving into my storage cupboards. All manner of electronics and test equipment has been discovered again. Some kit is even duplicated as I forgot I already had it !
Some readers have enjoyed hearing about what I have discovered lurking in cupboards and boxes during this little Odyssey so I thought I would take some pictures of kit that I found today. I was aware of the existence of much of it but forgot where I had stored it ! Much will be rehomed at some point as I have not needed it for the past few years. I am cutting my lab back to the essential kit and some limited spares and duplication's.
I include some of images of my newly tidied work benches. One is for SMT working and the other is for diagnostics and testing. I have deliberately removed much of the test equipment from the diagnostics bench as I will select what I need for a job from the storage shelves and cupboards rather than having it piled high on the bench all the time. The two hot air station on the RHS of the SMT bench are soon to be replaced with some better Xytronic LF852D units that I have, but they need to have new heaters and TRIACs fitted first. The ones pictured work well enough but the new units are much more powerful 600W types and heat up much faster. I have some really nice PACE hot air stations as well but they also need new heaters and they cost £400 each so I am working on fitting a cheaper heater to them. The DC3 Dakota models are two of many that I own. The DC3 is my favorite cargo aircraft
The Felix clock? ........ I like cats so liked this clock
Having watched Louis Rossman working on laptop PCB's whilst viewing the schematics on a computer monitor in front of him, I have decided to do the same using a Dell All-in-One PC that I recently rebuilt and pimped to provide decent performance. It will enable me to view schematics and data sheets etc whilst working on a board. This hopefully removes the need for large paper schematics. The PC is internet connected so I will be able to live search for data on parts. An added advantage of having the PC in front of me will be the easy connection and use of a really nice quality video microscope that I have for PCB inspection. I have been waiting to deploy that microscope in the lab for some time. I now have the room to do so.
The various USB based logic analyZers I have will also display their data via the PC screen. Its a nice solution for my PC and display needs.
I hope you enjoy the pictures. If you see something and you think "why the hell did he buy that piece of junk ?" ....I was likely thinking the same thing when I found it today ! An example is a really dodgy looking hot air gun that has everything built into the handle. I think I bought it to shrink heat shrink tubing as I sure would not use it for PCB rework ! I use a craft hot air gun for heat shrink these days. Works like a charm
Take my advice..... do not hoard kit as one day you have the nightmare job of sorting through it all
Fraser
Home
Help
Search
Login
Register
