Whats your Work-Bench/lab look like? Post some pictures of your Lab.

[Edison]

After getting married and leaving my parent's house, I have put a desk in our bedroom. I could work using the bed as a chair.
My wife is incredible patiently.

Another bedroom worker     perhaps to establish a thread  "workshop in the bedrooms"   
my [141]

[ferdieCX]

After getting married and leaving my parent's house, I have put a desk in our bedroom. I could work using the bed as a chair.
My wife is incredible patiently.

Another bedroom worker     perhaps to establish a thread  "workshop in the bedrooms"   
my [141]

It could be a nice idea, lots of us started this way 
Your set up is a lot more professional that the one I had in my bedroom.
Luckily, my days of "workshop in the bedroom" finished in 1996. Maybe I still have a picture somewhere.

[BillB]

I got married young, so my bachelor's bedroom/workshop/gym/clothes hamper didn't last long.  Now, there's not enough room given the throw pillows, fringed curtains, various duvets, blankets, frilly women's clothing, knick-knacks, toiletries, etc   

[Edison]

I got married young, so my bachelor's bedroom/workshop/gym/clothes hamper didn't last long.  Now, there's not enough room given the throw pillows, fringed curtains, various duvets, blankets, frilly women's clothing, knick-knacks, toiletries, etc 

Yippee! I have a bedroom 

[ChrisLX200]

Yet another rearrangement (compaction) of my workspace.. Moved my belt sander off the electronics bench entirely so I could move the PC monitor back a bit and make room for a new aquisition - the Agilent 34401A - also the DIY PSU (which sits next to it). Just testing that PSU now with the Maynuo 7910 but as it only offers 150w max capacity it's not making much impression. PSU fan remains at default slowest setting and it never even gets warm after 15min. Not too surprising as it's built from 1/4" thick alloy and is basically one huge heatsink The Maynuo is barely accessible being as it resides on the top of the stack but the PC control software works well so it doesn't matter too much.

[bd139]

Cor that’s rather busy. Certainly made the most of the space there!

[kripton2035]

Chris, can you take a closer picture of your andonstar 302 and more on its stand ? it seems higher as normal.

[ChrisLX200]

Cor that’s rather busy. Certainly made the most of the space there!

Sometimes feels like I'm sat inside a big box of kit...

[ChrisLX200]

Chris, can you take a closer picture of your andonstar 302 and more on its stand ? it seems higher as normal.

I just moved the lens up in the holder, then attached a ring LED light to the bottom of it.

[kripton2035]

that's a really clever idea ! this way you can get lower magnification and it's perfect for soldering. thanks.

[Yansi]

Oh those people with that much money... 

[Mr. Scram]

Oh those people with that much money... 

What?

[bitseeker]

Sounds like Yansi might be referring to all the gear in Chris' compact setup and the total dollars/euros/buckazoids/etc. that might be represented there.

[McBryce]

Yet another rearrangement (compaction) of my workspace.. Moved my belt sander off the electronics bench entirely so I could move the PC monitor back a bit and make room for a new aquisition - the Agilent 34401A - also the DIY PSU (which sits next to it). Just testing that PSU now with the Maynuo 7910 but as it only offers 150w max capacity it's not making much impression. PSU fan remains at default slowest setting and it never even gets warm after 15min. Not too surprising as it's built from 1/4" thick alloy and is basically one huge heatsink The Maynuo is barely accessible being as it resides on the top of the stack but the PC control software works well so it doesn't matter too much.

I like the "backlit" meter and component section, I assume there is a now non-functional window behind that stack?

McBryce.

[Mr. Scram]

Sounds like Yansi might be referring to all the gear in Chris' compact setup and the total dollars/euros/buckazoids/etc. that might be represented there.

If he's anything like most others on this forum, it's a matter of making smart purchases and diligent saving and repairing. When you take that into account the total is still respectable, but much more manageable.

Tl;dr it's not just throwing stupid money at it.

[VK5RC]

I agree, a great set up like Chris', that would still be cheaper than a 'bad' car purchase. It is a lot about priorities and persistence, with a bit of cash flow!

[bd139]

Opportunist lurking on ebay works for me. Lots of bargains to be had. Slow methodical progress is good too. I think my bench worked out at around £56/month ($80) expenditure over 2 years and that includes the PC, all the test gear and an HF transceiver and the bench itself. I've bought, repaired and sold equipment to cover that entire cost and more.

[VEGETA]

Sounds like Yansi might be referring to all the gear in Chris' compact setup and the total dollars/euros/buckazoids/etc. that might be represented there.

If he's anything like most others on this forum, it's a matter of making smart purchases and diligent saving and repairing. When you take that into account the total is still respectable, but much more manageable.

Tl;dr it's not just throwing stupid money at it.

How much do you estimate it?

I am interested about where to put all these things? I mean should he dedicate one room for the lab or is that in his garage or so?

I agree, a great set up like Chris', that would still be cheaper than a 'bad' car purchase. It is a lot about priorities and persistence, with a bit of cash flow!

Again, you are talking about a subjective matter. For someone like me I can barely manage to pay 50-100$ per month for electronics in my current status (will get better after this year), but for some they are able to pay 5k for electronics parts and gadgets.

I buy stuff one by one and aim for very cheap Chinese stuff like 21$ oscilloscope and Aneng 8009 multimeter. I am buying jelly bean parts right now from Aliexpress to stock on them like lm358, lm324, and so on (what do you suggest here btw?).

My lab now consists only of one table (approx 120x? cm) and 2 wall-mounted shelves (150x30cm).

Opportunist lurking on ebay works for me. Lots of bargains to be had. Slow methodical progress is good too. I think my bench worked out at around £56/month ($80) expenditure over 2 years and that includes the PC, all the test gear and an HF transceiver and the bench itself. I've bought, repaired and sold equipment to cover that entire cost and more.

Can you give specific examples and how to do it.

[bd139]

Opportunist lurking on ebay works for me. Lots of bargains to be had. Slow methodical progress is good too. I think my bench worked out at around £56/month ($80) expenditure over 2 years and that includes the PC, all the test gear and an HF transceiver and the bench itself. I've bought, repaired and sold equipment to cover that entire cost and more.

Can you give specific examples and how to do it.

Might be more difficult from Jordan as there's likely less of a supply/demand problem in UK/US. I have a script which runs every 2-3 minutes and alerts me if there are any new things on ebay which are very low priced with certain keywords. This has taken a couple of years to get right, but writing stuff like that is my day job

Main thing if you don't want to go to this level of effort is use an ebay smartphone app and set up some saved searches ordered by newly listed which are in your budget. Then check back every couple of hours or so or when you see fit and be patient. Lots of ridiculous bargains come along all the time. So for example:

1. Oscilloscope (entire of ebay search)
2. Newly listed
3. Price < your budget
4. item location = wherever you are ok with sourcing from.

Look at sold prices on ebay for items that you are after to work out how much budget you need and what is a reasonable price.

I will buy a lot of dead stuff that people are afraid to fix as well. Tektronix scopes can be had for not a lot of money if they don't work and can be sold for a lot when you make them work. £30 spend = £150 return.

[ChrisLX200]

Sounds like Yansi might be referring to all the gear in Chris' compact setup and the total dollars/euros/buckazoids/etc. that might be represented there.

Probably not my stuff there are so many other posters in this thread with expensive kit. All mine were bought as used items - with the exception of the Siglent PSU.

[ChrisLX200]

I like the "backlit" meter and component section, I assume there is a now non-functional window behind that stack?

McBryce.

Yes indeed - and I often go around outside to look at the back of the instruments to check connections because it's easier than trying to pull them out . Bad news is that the sunshine (UV) is not really going to do the kit much good and I should put some sort of screen over the glass. The thought of taking that lot out to get at it though... 

[VEGETA]

level of effort

The level of this effort is........: IT IS OVER NINE THOUSANDS!!!!!

As you said, me being in Jordan has a limitation which is shipping. Your 50$ analog scope could cost me 150-200$ totals due to shipping. So I cannot buy equipment like you do which kills the whole purpose. No one has such equipment locally due to no interest except for universities which they themselves don't give away or sell their scopes. I only found one guy who had a scope willing to sell it (Hitachi v212 or so), he asked for around 110 JDs which is a lot really, then he disappeared 

If I am willing to get a scope, I would look for free giveaways and I only pay them the shipping price. This is the only way it will ever work.

Aside from that, how about components?

Can you kindly list your jelly bean\commonly stocked parts? I am still collecting.

[Mr. Scram]

The level of this effort is........: IT IS OVER NINE THOUSANDS!!!!!

As you said, me being in Jordan has a limitation which is shipping. Your 50$ analog scope could cost me 150-200$ totals due to shipping. So I cannot buy equipment like you do which kills the whole purpose. No one has such equipment locally due to no interest except for universities which they themselves don't give away or sell their scopes. I only found one guy who had a scope willing to sell it (Hitachi v212 or so), he asked for around 110 JDs which is a lot really, then he disappeared 

If I am willing to get a scope, I would look for free giveaways and I only pay them the shipping price. This is the only way it will ever work.

Aside from that, how about components?

Can you kindly list your jelly bean\commonly stocked parts? I am still collecting.

There's a good post over at Stack Exchange listing common jellybean parts, but if money is tight I'd look at specific projects and order a larger quantity of what's required from China. That way you don't pay for parts you may never use.

[ChrisLX200]

Sounds like Yansi might be referring to all the gear in Chris' compact setup and the total dollars/euros/buckazoids/etc. that might be represented there.

If he's anything like most others on this forum, it's a matter of making smart purchases and diligent saving and repairing. When you take that into account the total is still respectable, but much more manageable.

Tl;dr it's not just throwing stupid money at it.

Never totalled it up, but compared to my other hobbies (obsessions) electronics is cheap

Just don't even think about getting sucked into astrophotography... 

Two of my (many) scopes/cameras:




And control room to run it all remotely/automatically:

[VEGETA]

There's a good post over at Stack Exchange listing common jellybean parts

Can you link it? I searched and found different results.