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

[bitseeker]

You only feel old when you age alone.

And when you see children, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, etc. grow up so fast.

[Robaroni]

Not only don't you feel older, single people don't live as long as couples.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/marriage-research_n_2450639.html

A healthy constructive relationship leaves you better balanced. My wife compliments my thinking and I hers, we change on a daily basis because you constantly have someone who sees the world differently than you do. It's a very important thing. Loving and being loved is the core of human existence, nothing is more important.

If you see a relationship as a confrontation, someone who is against your freedom you will never know the joy of companionships which is really a sad thing.
Rob

[German_EE]

The secret of course is to find a wife/girlfriend who expresses an interest in your hobby. My better half may not understand Maxwell's equations but she likes looking at the QSL cards from all over the world as they arrive and I appreciate her comments on front panel design as she has a more artistic eye than me.

Then there is the golden rule, you know when you've spent too much time in the workshop when there's a pretty woman sitting on your lap and you can't reach the bench.

[cvriv]

Not only don't you feel older, single people don't live as long as couples.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/marriage-research_n_2450639.html

A healthy constructive relationship leaves you better balanced. My wife compliments my thinking and I hers, we change on a daily basis because you constantly have someone who sees the world differently than you do. It's a very important thing. Loving and being loved is the core of human existence, nothing is more important.

If you see a relationship as a confrontation, someone who is against your freedom you will never know the joy of companionships which is really a sad thing.
Rob

Thats so true!

[McBryce]

Married men don't live longer, it just feels longer

McBryce.

[GK]

I can only speak for myself on this... I won't complain if the car gets old or starts looking old. I won't complain if the car stops working as good as the day I got it. The car, no matter what, will always be beautiful to me. I will always love the car as long as that car is still in the driveway each and every morning I wake up.

[McBryce]

Those guys need expensive help!

McBryce.

[MarvinTheMartian]

Married men don't live longer, it just feels longer

McBryce.

LOL 

[Cubdriver]

Married men may live longer, but they're much more willing to die...

-Pat

[GreyWoolfe]

Married men may live longer, but they're much more willing to die...

-Pat

Another old joke, why does the husband die first?  Because he wants to.

German, when I show SWMBO a new QSL card, she just smiles and nods.  Somehow, I don't think she is really paying attention.  My wife also stays out of my office, she says it's too scary.  Forget it when I am calling CQ, she closes the door even though I use a headset boom mic.

[Robaroni]

Married men may live longer, but they're much more willing to die...

-Pat

Another old joke, why does the husband die first?  Because he wants to.

German, when I show SWMBO a new QSL card, she just smiles and nods.  Somehow, I don't think she is really paying attention.  My wife also stays out of my office, she says it's too scary.  Forget it when I am calling CQ, she closes the door even though I use a headset boom mic.

Relationships are about sharing, do you take an active interest in her hobbies? My wife spins yarn and knits, we go to wool shows together and I share in her enjoyment of her hobbies.
Do you have things you both like to do? We both like to cook. She likes to make yogurt so I made her a precision temperature controller for a crock pot because the system she used didn't make a consistently good yogurt. She knows about printed circuit boards, windmills, PV arrays and mosfets. I like to watch the Flash and she likes to watch Call the Midwife. We laugh about it!
We're companions, I wonder at times what people think relationships are about? What does your relationship mean to you? That's the question you have to ask yourself. If you want to believe "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" then at the end of the day all you'll have is a joke about who dies first. My life is more important to me than that.

Rob

[McBryce]

Has this thread seriously morphed from a "What's your lab look like" to a marriage counseling session?

Can someone please start posting pictures of lab gear again?

McBryce.

[cvriv]

Married men may live longer, but they're much more willing to die...

-Pat

Another old joke, why does the husband die first?  Because he wants to.

German, when I show SWMBO a new QSL card, she just smiles and nods.  Somehow, I don't think she is really paying attention.  My wife also stays out of my office, she says it's too scary.  Forget it when I am calling CQ, she closes the door even though I use a headset boom mic.

Relationships are about sharing, do you take an active interest in her hobbies? My wife spins yarn and knits, we go to wool shows together and I share in her enjoyment of her hobbies.
Do you have things you both like to do? We both like to cook. She likes to make yogurt so I made her a precision temperature controller for a crock pot because the system she used didn't make a consistently good yogurt. She knows about printed circuit boards, windmills, PV arrays and mosfets. I like to watch the Flash and she likes to watch Call the Midwife. We laugh about it!
We're companions, I wonder at times what people think relationships are about? What does your relationship mean to you? That's the question you have to ask yourself. If you want to believe "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" then at the end of the day all you'll have is a joke about who dies first. My life is more important to me than that.

Rob

Awwww! That's awesome Rob! Enjoy her! Thats what she's there for! Most excellent.

[andtfoot]

Has this thread seriously morphed from a "What's your lab look like" to a marriage counseling session?

Can someone please start posting pictures of lab gear again?

McBryce.

I've already posted a photo of my home bench, so here's one of my work desk:

Better? 

[McBryce]

Headphones and Pizza?? Does much real work get done there?

McBryce.

[Cubdriver]

Has this thread seriously morphed from a "What's your lab look like" to a marriage counseling session?

Can someone please start posting pictures of lab gear again?

McBryce.

Ok.  My disaster work area at the moment:

(newly acquired HP 740B being looked over)

Rack-o-stuff (surprised this hasn't sunk into the floor yet:


One of the lab assistants contemplating his next test setup a while back:


The mess ebbs and flows (mostly flows) over the course of time.  Eventually, when renovations are finished, it will all wind up down in the basement in a proper space.

-Pat

[Robaroni]

Has this thread seriously morphed from a "What's your lab look like" to a marriage counseling session?

Can someone please start posting pictures of lab gear again?

McBryce.

Ok.  My disaster work area at the moment:

(newly acquired HP 740B being looked over)

Rack-o-stuff (surprised this hasn't sunk into the floor yet:


One of the lab assistants contemplating his next test setup a while back:


The mess ebbs and flows (mostly flows) over the course of time.  Eventually, when renovations are finished, it will all wind up down in the basement in a proper space.

-Pat

We had a cat just like that, long and slinky! He just passed a couple of weeks ago after 18 plus years, what a great cat he was. Boy you sure get attached..........

Rob

[GreyWoolfe]

Married men may live longer, but they're much more willing to die...

-Pat

Another old joke, why does the husband die first?  Because he wants to.

German, when I show SWMBO a new QSL card, she just smiles and nods.  Somehow, I don't think she is really paying attention.  My wife also stays out of my office, she says it's too scary.  Forget it when I am calling CQ, she closes the door even though I use a headset boom mic.

Relationships are about sharing, do you take an active interest in her hobbies? My wife spins yarn and knits, we go to wool shows together and I share in her enjoyment of her hobbies.
Do you have things you both like to do? We both like to cook. She likes to make yogurt so I made her a precision temperature controller for a crock pot because the system she used didn't make a consistently good yogurt. She knows about printed circuit boards, windmills, PV arrays and mosfets. I like to watch the Flash and she likes to watch Call the Midwife. We laugh about it!
We're companions, I wonder at times what people think relationships are about? What does your relationship mean to you? That's the question you have to ask yourself. If you want to believe "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus" then at the end of the day all you'll have is a joke about who dies first. My life is more important to me than that.

Rob

She doesn't really have hobbies outside of candy crush and words with friends.  We love to cook together when our schedules permit (I typically do the cooking).  There are programs on TV we like to watch together and we try to have date night a couple of times a month.  I also help her with her side business.

Rob, I certainly wasn't making that joke about my situation.  We have 5 marriages between us and we have finally found what we both wanted.  She is a blessing to me and I make sure to tell and show her I love her every day.  We both went down broken roads to get where we are today but the road forward is paved with gold!   She is my companion, my best friend, lover, soulmate life mate and whatever other sappy adjectives you want to add.  After celebrating 11 years together in April, I still don't know what she sees in me, but I am grateful that she still sees it.

Andtfoot, I have serious monitor envy    The first pic is my work computer the second is my fun space.  I've already posted my bench long ago.  For the hams, the left radio is a Yeasu FT-1000MP and the other is a Kenwood TS-940SAT.  The little slice you see on the right hand side is a stack made up of a Yeasu SP-8 speaker, Astron RS-12A and Kenwood TM-281 for the local repeaters.

[Howardlong]

Has this thread seriously morphed from a "What's your lab look like" to a marriage counseling session?

Can someone please start posting pictures of lab gear again?

McBryce.

I've already posted a photo of my home bench, so here's one of my work desk:

Better? 

Recently I reduced the number of tellies from 3 x 28" 4k to 1 x 32" 4k because I found that while they were nice to have, I only ran those 28 inchers at 3200x1800: the native resolution was just too small for my eyes, and Windows' attempt at scaling together with legacy apps doesn't work well. Two of the monitors were only used as background holding "pens" for background applications, the sheer scale of screen real estate was really just not justified when what I really needed most of the time was a good working position for the scope.

Most of the time, I found the two scopes to the far left, both mounted on quick release articulated gas spring mounts, were in front of two of the monitors anyway. Being quick release, as necessary I can readily replace them with monitors, for when I do schematics and board layouts. It's not often you need a scope at the same time as doing board layouts!

The big screen scope directly on the left of the monitor is on a DIY slide pullout turntable above the bench, so it takes up no bench space, is super convenient for knob twiddling, and is tucked away into the shelving when I have a second or third monitor going. Previously this space was behind monitors on a desk stand, so it wasn't easily accessible.

Moving those extra two monitors to occasional fixtures also provides more convenient space for other bits of test equipment.

One final thing, I don't often see under-bench slide out keyboards in lab pics. Although I accept they take a short while to get used to, I have found them incredibly convenient in the longer term, and I wouldn't have it any other way now. Another tip is to use a height-adjustable chair for your operating comfort especially if you use the same bench for soldering, coding, debugging etc.

[tautech]

One final thing, I don't often see under-bench slide out keyboards in lab pics. Although I accept they take a short while to get used to, I have found them incredibly convenient in the longer term, and I wouldn't have it any other way now.

I use a wireless keyboard for similar reasons, you can put it anywhere, mine "lives" under the bench but damn handy when you need to enter a part # from a DUT that's at the workbench not at the workstation.
Find myself using it a lot while it's on my lap. 

[lukier]

One final thing, I don't often see under-bench slide out keyboards in lab pics. Although I accept they take a short while to get used to, I have found them incredibly convenient in the longer term, and I wouldn't have it any other way now. Another tip is to use a height-adjustable chair for your operating comfort especially if you use the same bench for soldering, coding, debugging etc.

Very nice setup, you can see a lot of thought put into that. Under bench keyboards are fine as long as, as in your setup, you have some wrist pad or at least some extra space. Some under-bench keyboard shelves are tiny, barely accommodating the keyboard itself and leave your hands kind of hanging in the air.

In my setup I too have to stack instruments quite high, as that's the only dimension I have space left. The problem is operating instruments standing or using long leads reaching the bench. BTW what's the big thing above DC load/Rigol PSU?

What is your solution to parts storage?
Also, I suppose the working area, both on the main desk and the one on the right with the microscope (soldering?) is fine for PCB projects and small devices, but what if you have to repair one of your RF boat anchors?

[Howardlong]

In my setup I too have to stack instruments quite high, as that's the only dimension I have space left. The problem is operating instruments standing or using long leads reaching the bench.

Indeed, the least used items elevate to the top, although always with the logistical provision for reasonable lead length. Biggest problem stacking old boat anchors without shelves is that when it comes to repair, it's a PITA to unstack and restack. Shelves, though, make the stack even higher.

BTW what's the big thing above DC load/Rigol PSU?

It's an Agilent 8935 E6380A comms test set that I use for production testing boards up to 1GHz. It also has a spec an and tracking generator, although I have other bits of kit for those purposes. I have it hooked up to the monitor on the soldering bench, so you don't have to crick your neck.

Added bonus, you can listen to The Archers on it.

What is your solution to parts storage?

Organised chaos. I have a good stock of ordered parts purchased just to have them at hand. It is rare that I have to order a non-specialist part.

The chaos comes in the form of multiple projects, all stored away with their specific parts.

Also, I suppose the working area, both on the main desk and the one on the right with the microscope (soldering?) is fine for PCB projects and small devices, but what if you have to repair one of your RF boat anchors?

As mentioned before, it's a PITA. At that point, I take over the front room ;-)

Luckily 99% of what I do is small stuff.

[Robaroni]

In my setup I too have to stack instruments quite high, as that's the only dimension I have space left. The problem is operating instruments standing or using long leads reaching the bench.

Indeed, the least used items elevate to the top, although always with the logistical provision for reasonable lead length. Biggest problem stacking old boat anchors without shelves is that when it comes to repair, it's a PITA to unstack and restack. Shelves, though, make the stack even higher.

BTW what's the big thing above DC load/Rigol PSU?

It's an Agilent 8935 E6380A comms test set that I use for production testing boards up to 1GHz. It also has a spec an and tracking generator, although I have other bits of kit for those purposes. I have it hooked up to the monitor on the soldering bench, so you don't have to crick your neck.

Added bonus, you can listen to The Archers on it.

What is your solution to parts storage?

Organised chaos. I have a good stock of ordered parts purchased just to have them at hand. It is rare that I have to order a non-specialist part.

The chaos comes in the form of multiple projects, all stored away with their specific parts.

Also, I suppose the working area, both on the main desk and the one on the right with the microscope (soldering?) is fine for PCB projects and small devices, but what if you have to repair one of your RF boat anchors?

As mentioned before, it's a PITA. At that point, I take over the front room ;-)

Luckily 99% of what I do is small stuff.

Howard,
I do projects the same way. I have parts boxes labeled "in use", "in use 1", "in use 2", etc. for each project. I have a lot of parts but I never seem to have the right one!
Rob

[Cubdriver]

We had a cat just like that, long and slinky! He just passed a couple of weeks ago after 18 plus years, what a great cat he was. Boy you sure get attached..........

Rob

So true.  I'm sorry to hear of your loss - it's never easy when one crosses the bridge; after eighteen years even more so.  I had another orange tabby that passed in '07, just a bit shy of 18.  Very heartbreaking.

Gilmore is one of six that presently run amok here.  He and his two remaining sisters moved in here a year ago this Friday joining two I already had, then one more was added a few months later when I was caught off guard by a friend's wife and unable to come up with a good counter to "If you already have five, you'll barely even notice a sixth!" and wound up taking in a stray.   

He is the only boy kitty (well, was...) and is definitely the most adventurous of the lot, seeming to enjoy nothing so much as getting into things he's not supposed to.

He knows he's not supposed to get on the shelf with the test equipment:


'New' scope cart - he's the first to check it out:


Oh, and he does ladders, too.  Kept hearing that tell tale aluminum extension ladder rattling from upstairs (In the midst of a renovation; it's there for access to a small attic), but when I'd go to investigate would hear a thump and several felines would scatter.  Finally heard it the other morning at about 3 AM and very quietly crept up there in bare feet.  He was in the attic, and on his way back down as he knew he'd been caught.  He got down a few steps before I could get the damned flash on the phone turned on, but at least I know what's causing the noise now...


I found him coming down again yesterday during the day, too.  He's a little hooligan, that one!   

-Pat

[rx8pilot]

The bench with the Keysight MSOX-6004A 6Ghz Scope from the Scope Month win!
Not much time to play yet, but I am getting caught up on work so I hope to dive in soon.