Awesome, Dave! I really enjoy your blog. Thanks for the tips about the lab bench height, instrument shelves, tub storage, and component organization. My humble lab has struggled with those things. Appreciate you sharing!
Vivid video. And your _basic_ workshop is so.... enormous for me. It's a half of my living room. I just have to fit everything related to electronics in a bookcase.
Ahhh, the storage cabinets with parts from eons ago. I have those, too. The times when everything with 3 legs was a transistor and the inner workings of most parts a mystery. I envy the lab equipment and the lab itself. I have to do stuff on my all-purpose desk. Fortunately I'm on the way to a real workshop. We are switching from oil to gas heating, so there's a tank room to be put to good use! Can't wait for it!
Awesome lab. I love to see collection of parts and test gear. I've been collecting since about 10 years old. I still have a lot of parts from tvs and radios from the 50s.
I love the backstage tour of how simple the lab really is! Not much of the microprocessor type stuff though. And I know he does it with the blogs about Microchip gear....
My business partner goes in to a government lab to repair quarter million dollar electronic equipment. He carries a pocket full of small screwdrivers and a $10 multimeter. The people at the lab who don't know him ask him where all of his tools are. He just points at his head. He has a Masters degree in EE and a Doctorate in Physics. He has been working with electronics every day since he was a small child, and he's 77 years old now. He has a few pieces of decent equipment in his lab, but I have a lot more equipment than he does because I don't know nearly as much. So I like to go over to his place, sip a beer, and watch him turn on a 50 GHz network analyzer, punch a few buttons, and say, "The YIG is bad." Then he explains the resonance on the surface of the tiny YIG ball and how it varies in the magnetic field. Fun stuff. But I'm no longer in awe of guys with a lot of fancy gear. I just assume they don't know enough to get by without it.
Watching this stuff again due to your new 60cm bench build in your current office. Very nice video, you're very inspirational! Also thank you for the advice for the bench hight, I'm planning on building a bench in my garage and wasn't sure about the best hight and depth :)
Dave. Fantastic blog. I just discovered you on youtube as I was looking for a tutorial on Soft Latch switching and I spent the last 3 hours several of your video, including this latest one about your lab. Funny how your setup is very similar to mine but watching your video gave me a few more ideas. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for the tour. Id really recommend the Greenlee voltage detector rather than the fluke because the fluke is not sensitive enough so if you are not extremely close to the wire it wont go off sometimes, can be dangerous!
Great video, thanks for letting us have a look! I hope to one day have a lab just like yours, and have the knowledge and experience you have. I'm an electrical engineering student, I love electronics, but compared to you, it seems im waaaay behind!
I would love to have that setup. In my previous career I had access to a full-blown lab. Now that I'm in my second career, I miss it. I'd like very much to build a workspace for myself in the basement. I just need a little time and disposable income. This layout is quite inspirational and I'm sure I'll copy many aspects of it.
Hi Dave, thank you very much for a look behind the scenes! I get my first solder iron with the age of six from my parents and my todays workplace looks very similar to yours :o) Best wishes from a "natural born solder" from germany, Martin
Great stuff Dave. You mention you started studying seriously when you were 15. More info on your education would be great for a future blog. Or if you have already covered it maybe you could point me to the video? I just discovered you with Kindle teardown :) Cheers
another great video. lol, I wish I had a space that nice, I've only got a cheap radioshack multimeter, an ok soldering iron, and a small parts bin(which was full the day after I got it, now I've got parts all over the floor in my room, in small bags). Though I'm only 16, so I've got some time to expand it.(I'm hoping to get an oscilloscope soon.)
Yet another excellent video. Keep 'em coming. I just got a Digital Soldering Station for Christmas. A XYTRONIC station. Ever heard of it? I love it so far.
My lab is about the same size, but I must say mine's better organised. And I don't keep so much stuff in stock, I buy it when I need it. Let the shops take care of stock management, I don't need to do that. In another hobby of mine, photography, this hoarding behaviour is called GAS: Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Haven't really seen that term used in EE though. But you need to get rid of it, you'll actually get more work done with less money. I also like the different paths we took. You bought your first MM when you were 8, I was programming a C64 when I was 7. So I came from the software side and gradually expanded it to hardware through microcontrollers. You seem to have started on the hardware side and gradually expanded it to software through microcontrollers. Nowadays I like the hardware stuff more than the software stuff. EE still has many secrets for me to uncover, which makes it more exciting. After 35 years of progamming the challenge is gone.
How cheap is "cheap"? Analog or digital? The Rigol DS1052E is the best value digital scope on the market for just under $400. Good used analog scopes (Tek, HP, or Philips for example) can be had for very cheap prices on ebay, but it's buyer-beware. Forget PC based scopes as someone else mentioned, get yourself a real bench scope.
I have always been leerly about posting any pics of mine or what I am doing here in the US, especially on FB. There are enough trolls on FB looking for people on vacation and even so bold not to care to make their move. It 's hard to post anonymously. Last thing you want to do is advertise to the world all the expensive equipment you have. It's like wearing a Rolex downtown in a foreign country you never been in. I do love seeing other peoples labs though.
Man, that's a good lab, even if it's tiny. I wish I had all the stuff you have. With all those spare multimeters you should make a contest or something like that and give me out for free, hehe nice video :D
If you ever had an earthquake, all your instruments would be in pieces and your bins would spill all over the place. You might strap things down if you don't need to move them often.
Hi Dave, Thanks for the great video and a look at your lab. I have a 30 * 12 foot building that I insulated, heated and provided AC plus LOTS of light. You can see one of my benches at my web site w w w dot dsmlabs dot com I have 3 bench's set up and the one on my web page is for vintage analog receivers. I have another for solid state and digital. and one for RF design and analysis. It's great to have equipment and tools to play with. Best regards from the US, Glenn
Dave back in the day 😅 I remember watching this when it was new. Good on ya Dave.
Awesome, Dave! I really enjoy your blog. Thanks for the tips about the lab bench height, instrument shelves, tub storage, and component organization. My humble lab has struggled with those things. Appreciate you sharing!
Vivid video. And your _basic_ workshop is so.... enormous for me. It's a half of my living room. I just have to fit everything related to electronics in a bookcase.
Oh man!! How far you have come Dave!! I dig this setup though. I like how everything is almost in arms reach! Cozy looking lab :)
Wow, that lab is like the Tardis. It seems huge on the blog for sure. Great work as always.
I like your resistor filing system, makes sense and saves space.
Truly Impressed Sir, seeing the evolution of lab. I too wish to setup a great electronics lab by age 30.
@philip2go This is my hobby lab. I'm not a repairman, I'm a design engineer.
Ahhh, the storage cabinets with parts from eons ago. I have those, too. The times when everything with 3 legs was a transistor and the inner workings of most parts a mystery.
I envy the lab equipment and the lab itself. I have to do stuff on my all-purpose desk. Fortunately I'm on the way to a real workshop. We are switching from oil to gas heating, so there's a tank room to be put to good use! Can't wait for it!
Very cool! I can't wait to get into my core classes and start doing this kind of thing on my own!
Thanks for showing us around!
Dave, Excellent video, I was wondering what the lab looked like. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome lab. I love to see collection of parts and test gear. I've been collecting since about 10 years old. I still have a lot of parts from tvs and radios from the 50s.
I love the backstage tour of how simple the lab really is!
Not much of the microprocessor type stuff though.
And I know he does it with the blogs about Microchip gear....
My business partner goes in to a government lab to repair quarter million dollar electronic equipment. He carries a pocket full of small screwdrivers and a $10 multimeter. The people at the lab who don't know him ask him where all of his tools are. He just points at his head. He has a Masters degree in EE and a Doctorate in Physics. He has been working with electronics every day since he was a small child, and he's 77 years old now. He has a few pieces of decent equipment in his lab, but I have a lot more equipment than he does because I don't know nearly as much. So I like to go over to his place, sip a beer, and watch him turn on a 50 GHz network analyzer, punch a few buttons, and say, "The YIG is bad." Then he explains the resonance on the surface of the tiny YIG ball and how it varies in the magnetic field. Fun stuff. But I'm no longer in awe of guys with a lot of fancy gear. I just assume they don't know enough to get by without it.
What
So long comment
Watching this stuff again due to your new 60cm bench build in your current office.
Very nice video, you're very inspirational!
Also thank you for the advice for the bench hight, I'm planning on building a bench in my garage and wasn't sure about the best hight and depth :)
Very nice and inspiring too!
Dave. Fantastic blog. I just discovered you on youtube as I was looking for a tutorial on Soft Latch switching and I spent the last 3 hours several of your video, including this latest one about your lab. Funny how your setup is very similar to mine but watching your video gave me a few more ideas. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for the tour. Id really recommend the Greenlee voltage detector rather than the fluke because the fluke is not sensitive enough so if you are not extremely close to the wire it wont go off sometimes, can be dangerous!
Do you harvest/savage components? I can see why you wouldn't but I love it!
You built the resistance box when you were ten? Impressive, I was still blowing up electrolytic caps with a blowtorch when I was ten, hehe.
Great video, thanks for letting us have a look! I hope to one day have a lab just like yours, and have the knowledge and experience you have. I'm an electrical engineering student, I love electronics, but compared to you, it seems im waaaay behind!
Really enjoyed the tour. Thanks !
That is really good to watch Dave !
@BrentBXR Thanks. I'm not really the hacker type like some others when it comes to electronics. I prefer to design things from scratch.
I would love to have that setup. In my previous career I had access to a full-blown lab. Now that I'm in my second career, I miss it. I'd like very much to build a workspace for myself in the basement. I just need a little time and disposable income. This layout is quite inspirational and I'm sure I'll copy many aspects of it.
Hi Dave,
thank you very much for a look behind the scenes! I get my first solder iron with the age of six from my parents and my todays workplace looks very similar to yours :o)
Best wishes from a "natural born solder" from germany,
Martin
I like those smd kits that have the prototyping parts!
Where can I find those online? What's typically included, and how much do they usually run?
Great stuff Dave.
You mention you started studying seriously when you were 15. More info on your education would be great for a future blog. Or if you have already covered it maybe you could point me to the video? I just discovered you with Kindle teardown :)
Cheers
another great video.
lol, I wish I had a space that nice, I've only got a cheap radioshack multimeter, an ok soldering iron, and a small parts bin(which was full the day after I got it, now I've got parts all over the floor in my room, in small bags). Though I'm only 16, so I've got some time to expand it.(I'm hoping to get an oscilloscope soon.)
plastic storage bins.....always gotta have 'em!
Great lab, damn I need to get more multimeters!
Такой молодой!
So young!
Yet another excellent video. Keep 'em coming.
I just got a Digital Soldering Station for Christmas. A XYTRONIC station. Ever heard of it? I love it so far.
Nice! I got some good tips and ideas from this. Thanks
Hey Dave, can you recommend a cheap, but efficient and reliable oscilloscope? I'm studying EE right now and I'm in need of such an instrument.
I dream about rooms like this
If you were to sell your lab, complete with everything, how much would it cost?
Dave, what kind of containers for storing electronics do you use, are they water proof or anything?
Fantastic Dave.
My lab is about the same size, but I must say mine's better organised. And I don't keep so much stuff in stock, I buy it when I need it. Let the shops take care of stock management, I don't need to do that. In another hobby of mine, photography, this hoarding behaviour is called GAS: Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Haven't really seen that term used in EE though. But you need to get rid of it, you'll actually get more work done with less money.
I also like the different paths we took. You bought your first MM when you were 8, I was programming a C64 when I was 7. So I came from the software side and gradually expanded it to hardware through microcontrollers. You seem to have started on the hardware side and gradually expanded it to software through microcontrollers. Nowadays I like the hardware stuff more than the software stuff. EE still has many secrets for me to uncover, which makes it more exciting. After 35 years of progamming the challenge is gone.
Yep, I think it cost me about $20 at the time, all the money I'd ever saved!
Go to digikey, click GO to search, and scroll down to "Kits". They can be cheaper than buying individual parts.
Ebay has lots too.
nice video. i dont quite meet those specs i need an oscilloscope and a decent bench etc
I wish i saw this sooner. ANd this guy is awesome.
Great setup! Did you build that 40A PSU yourself, too? It looks really good!
You bought a multimeter when you were 8? Wow. Great tour.
How many years have you been into electronics Dave?
My goodness- where are you finding free soldering stations haha
@nostromo387 All lab's tend to gravitate toward a certain look!
How cheap is "cheap"?
Analog or digital?
The Rigol DS1052E is the best value digital scope on the market for just under $400.
Good used analog scopes (Tek, HP, or Philips for example) can be had for very cheap prices on ebay, but it's buyer-beware.
Forget PC based scopes as someone else mentioned, get yourself a real bench scope.
I have always been leerly about posting any pics of mine or what I am doing here in the US, especially on FB. There are enough trolls on FB looking for people on vacation and even so bold not to care to make their move. It 's hard to post anonymously. Last thing you want to do is advertise to the world all the expensive equipment you have. It's like wearing a Rolex downtown in a foreign country you never been in. I do love seeing other peoples labs though.
got a fire extinguisher in there?
I don't know how you fit all that stuf in there, my room is massive and I still don't have enough room!
Around 30 years or so.
Dave do you have any little EEVbloggers running around? (aka kids)
thanks Dave
You built that resistor at age 11?
@wa4aos Awesome.Send your pics to The AmpHour Workbench of the Week!
Does anyone know how to do a factory reset on a fluke 789
Half the things you say i dont even understand. but i love watching your videos :)
I like your shirt collection.
Man, that's a good lab, even if it's tiny. I wish I had all the stuff you have.
With all those spare multimeters you should make a contest or something like that and give me out for free, hehe
nice video :D
hey Dave... your room is neater than mine.. no joke :)
Awesome!
If you ever had an earthquake, all your instruments would be in pieces and your bins would spill all over the place. You might strap things down if you don't need to move them often.
im just starting with electronics an im 12 years old I LOVE IT
waw man cool setup
no valves dave
can I have some of your op-amp ??
4:41 dont you dare insult the scope i learned how to use oscilloscopes on...ok ill admit its Not straightforward at all.
@Minifig666 I don't, it's a mess as a result. What you see here is after a wife dictated tidy-up :->
love it
you are my idol mate
is that a real old arial on that roof i see! these kangaroo's are really still in the middle ages :-S
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the great video and a look at your lab. I have a 30 * 12 foot building that I insulated, heated and provided AC plus LOTS of light. You can see one of my benches at my web site
w w w dot dsmlabs dot com
I have 3 bench's set up and the one on my web page is for vintage analog receivers. I have another for solid state and digital. and one for RF design and analysis. It's great to have equipment and tools to play with.
Best regards from the US,
Glenn
Y didnt you thank your wife for holding the camera? :D
I think you need a PC for your lab for sure...........
@blackstar2008 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000$
Cuz every enthusiast cherish FIRST equipments they got.
better than your new lab ;)
1 dislike = someone who wants a Gossen meter
very interesting . thank u . i have 0.000001 of wat u have lol
Very cheezy
Legal you lokal the Working, you are preparate equipament the ultimament generation, ok muito bom, muiyo bom mesmo ...
Your wife does projects? Damn you lucky man..I want a wife like that.
Area 51.
candyland :)
Garcia Maria Johnson Kenneth Hall John