Firstly, if some of you are still on the M and have already seen this, go fuck yourself, I don't care ;-)
Because I live in New England, year round outdoor projects are a no-go, and since I have no garage, I can't work on car projects all year long either. I needed to keep myself busy during the winter.
Aside from cleaning out the workshop/basement this winter, I went and put together an electronics workbench
I've been into electronics since I was born basically. My dad owned a TV and Radio repair shop for 20+ years, after working at it since he was 14. He sold the business in the mid 90s, as the business was getting slow because a. the city the shop was in was declining rapidly and b. a lot of stuff was going from complex repair to replace whole boards or throw the TV out. Also, he got a fuck load more money than the building was worth because the city wanted to tear it down and build a school. So he brought the business home, doing side work here and there and went to go work for a larger TV and Appliance dealer in their repair section (Later moving over to sales).
Needless to say, I've always been into electronics. I'm partial to the vintage stuff, because that's what I grew up with - my dad has always had some kickass radios around the house. Aside from that, I'm just positive I was born in the wrong decade. So heres the workbench. The top and legs came from Ikea. The top is green because a. its awesome, and b. it was the cheapest top they had - 5 foot top for like $26.
The magnifying lamp on the left was at my dad's workbench for the last..oh I dunno, 20+ years? It was made in wonderful Worcester, MA. The lamp on the right I bought at Ikea for like $9. I'm very impressed with it. Bought a 18w directional daylight fluorescent. Bright motherfucker.
this is my soldering iron, an old Weller. another hand-me-down. Might need a new pencil, this one's getting finicky.
Above the bench, this rack was an Ikea special. I keep my solder, my DMM and other small shit in em. Above that is a chart of all of the Ohm's law equations. Quick reference guide - another item stolen from my father. He always had it above his bench.
And above all that is my BK variac isolation transformer:
Basically, it protects me and my house from what I'm working on, while also allowing me to choose how much power goes to the device, from 0-130ish volts. And if you happen to know about any of this kinda stuff, BK makes some good shit.
This is my toolbox, an older wooden machinist box. It needs some work. Some kid enjoyed taking things apart too much when he was 8. (Yeah, that would be me.) The tupperware on top is another Ikea special. like 4 bucks, and they are perfect for putting pieces of a project in to keep everything together.
Under my desk are my speakers, Pioneer CS-88's, a box of assorted wire, cords, and wall transformers, a box of projects and parts, and a very special box.
The box of tubes. This old Zenith box is actually highly collectible by Zenith fanatics. My dad used to take this along to jobs when he would go work on console radios and television on house calls. I have a couple big ones down in the basement. I'll likely clean them up and sell em. Maybe toss a bunch of tubes in em to drive the price up. I loaded this box up with all the tubes I have. My dad still has a box or two of tubes laying around i need to go through.
Since I have to work tomorrow morning, and will have to get up and shovel, I'll get into some projects tomorrow.
Because I live in New England, year round outdoor projects are a no-go, and since I have no garage, I can't work on car projects all year long either. I needed to keep myself busy during the winter.
Aside from cleaning out the workshop/basement this winter, I went and put together an electronics workbench
I've been into electronics since I was born basically. My dad owned a TV and Radio repair shop for 20+ years, after working at it since he was 14. He sold the business in the mid 90s, as the business was getting slow because a. the city the shop was in was declining rapidly and b. a lot of stuff was going from complex repair to replace whole boards or throw the TV out. Also, he got a fuck load more money than the building was worth because the city wanted to tear it down and build a school. So he brought the business home, doing side work here and there and went to go work for a larger TV and Appliance dealer in their repair section (Later moving over to sales).
Needless to say, I've always been into electronics. I'm partial to the vintage stuff, because that's what I grew up with - my dad has always had some kickass radios around the house. Aside from that, I'm just positive I was born in the wrong decade. So heres the workbench. The top and legs came from Ikea. The top is green because a. its awesome, and b. it was the cheapest top they had - 5 foot top for like $26.
The magnifying lamp on the left was at my dad's workbench for the last..oh I dunno, 20+ years? It was made in wonderful Worcester, MA. The lamp on the right I bought at Ikea for like $9. I'm very impressed with it. Bought a 18w directional daylight fluorescent. Bright motherfucker.
this is my soldering iron, an old Weller. another hand-me-down. Might need a new pencil, this one's getting finicky.
Above the bench, this rack was an Ikea special. I keep my solder, my DMM and other small shit in em. Above that is a chart of all of the Ohm's law equations. Quick reference guide - another item stolen from my father. He always had it above his bench.
And above all that is my BK variac isolation transformer:
Basically, it protects me and my house from what I'm working on, while also allowing me to choose how much power goes to the device, from 0-130ish volts. And if you happen to know about any of this kinda stuff, BK makes some good shit.
This is my toolbox, an older wooden machinist box. It needs some work. Some kid enjoyed taking things apart too much when he was 8. (Yeah, that would be me.) The tupperware on top is another Ikea special. like 4 bucks, and they are perfect for putting pieces of a project in to keep everything together.
Under my desk are my speakers, Pioneer CS-88's, a box of assorted wire, cords, and wall transformers, a box of projects and parts, and a very special box.
The box of tubes. This old Zenith box is actually highly collectible by Zenith fanatics. My dad used to take this along to jobs when he would go work on console radios and television on house calls. I have a couple big ones down in the basement. I'll likely clean them up and sell em. Maybe toss a bunch of tubes in em to drive the price up. I loaded this box up with all the tubes I have. My dad still has a box or two of tubes laying around i need to go through.
Since I have to work tomorrow morning, and will have to get up and shovel, I'll get into some projects tomorrow.