Ideas for a Multipurpose Garage Workshop? 55
WTFmonkey asks: "Having looked at several woodworking websites and magazines, I've got some good ideas for the woodworking part of my planned shop. Sadly, I can't find any shop ideas specific to electronics and computer repair. What is considered essential for a good workbench? Dinner-table height or counter-top height (I'm 6'2"), and what is an adequate depth? Lighting strategies, handy equipment, organization issues? To put it succinctly, what are the most comfortable and effective benches you've worked at, and why?"
Re:One tip.. (Score:3, Informative)
I like a good maple bench top is the best, think shop class pre-90's.
Think about what you're going to do... (Score:2, Informative)
> repair. What is considered essential for a good workbench?
Think about what you're going to do on this workbench, where you're going to
want to place things, and what you need as a result. For example, you will
very likely want to be able to slap a motherboard tray on there and have a
place to stick drives and a PSU where the cables can reach. Little shelves
for the drives maybe. Similarly, you're going to want a place to put a tower.
You'll want outlets of course and an ethernet jack or three. Very likely you
will want a KVM switch. Would it be handy to have a keyboard/mouse tray
that pulls out from underneath? Or are you the sort who wants those things
sitting on top of the bench? Where are you going to want your monitor? Plan
these things on paper before you start building.
Oh, and leave room for racks of screwdriver tips and things. Underneath is
probably where you'll put your boxes of cables and spare parts, but what about
screws. Hmmm... you'll want shallow spots to hold various types of case
screws, drive screws, and so on. These must either be central and easy to
reach or, better, movable.
Oh, and make it out of non-conductive materiels.
Re:Work Bench ... (Score:2, Informative)
Tall Height Help (Score:2, Informative)
I recently built a work bench in the garage for multi purpose things and I set it fairly high up. So that if I'm standing at it with my elbows bent it feels confortable. I'd say about 2" - 4" below your elbow. Trust me, you dont want your back bent if your going to be standing there working.
Also, I got a bar stool for it too. Since it's so higher up if I have the urge to sit down I can still get that "table-top hight" feel.
Re:One tip.. (Score:4, Informative)
Rubber is an insolator which means that static can't disopate, anti static bags have conductive stripes or surfaces to help conduct static away from sensitive parts, if you buy a real anti static mat you will find that it has a conector to gound the pad an remove any static. Using an insolator is a common mistake that should be avoided. Anti static mats are one option and the fact that they are soft allows one to press on boards for cutting and stops small parts from sliding or blowing away. Professional setups usually have some sort of masonite top and then an antistaic mat with grounding points for both.
Other that that, lots of electrical outlets is a must bolting down a few outlet strips works well escpecially if you can find the industrial sort where plugs are a few inches part, nothing sucks worse than having six outlets but only being able to use 3 because the plus and transformers are too wide and block outlets on either side.
Most people seem to prefer the raised workbench, but that requires a raised chair
I prefer a normal height table with as much depth a away from the wall, a few items like osilicopes, bench supplies and a PC take up a lot of space and while you don't touch them that often you still want them within reach, ossilicopes are ussually pretty long.
Some sort of tool holder is important, for screwdrivers, dental picks, pens, and all the little tools that you need to keep handy.
Lots of space is needed so you can leave out data sheets, manuals etc.. I have had good luck with two tables in a corner and a pivoting chair so that you can have as much stuff within arms reach as possible.
Experience from Laboratory Construction (Score:2, Informative)
1) Ceiling/Lighting: A light colored ceiling will help with indirect lighting. A couple of coats of paint will make a HUGE difference in how you see things - literally. Use long, narrow light fixtures - fluorescent, cool white. The fixture should be over the benchtop with the outside edge of the fixture lined up with the outside edge of the benchtop.
2) Shelving. Use unistrut/kindorf strut as shelving standards, mounted verticallt to the wall every +- 4 feet. Mount about 12" off the benchtop and run to within 1' of the ceiling. Mount these as securely as possible, as everything alse will hang off them. Now mount shelves or even cabinets using shelf brackets and spring-nuts. One neat trick is to have the depth of the shelves increase as they get closer to the ceiling. Top shelf for big, light, rarely used stuff, bottom shelf for every day small stuff.
3) Electrical/Communications: Across the bottom of the Unistrut standards, run surface mount electrical raceway aka Wiremold. Try getting the stuff that has 2 separate raceways - 1 for wire, one for communications.
4) Mechanical services: Compressed air is always good, both for blowing out cases and quickly cleaning your benchtop.
5) Benchtop: If it was a lab the only choices are epoxe or phenolic resin. For you, go with masonite, for all the reasons others have mentioned. I'd advise against rubber or metal. Rubber is irritating when trying to clean, and also hinders repositioning stuff on the benchtop - everything must be picked up, not slid. As for metal, it's too hard; if you drop something, you want to damage the benchtop, not the component.
6) Bench Components: Generally use standing height (36" +-) components. That way, you can alternate between standing and sitting on a high stool. If you use cabinets, leave a "kneehole" where you can sit and put your legs.
7) Floor: Smooth and cleanable is the key. We use a lot of vinyl tile in labs, wiht seamless sheet vinyl and engineered epoxy coatings where there are special requirements. Epoxy painted concrete is good. Stick with light colors with a light pattern: dropped components will show up well, but the patterning will hide the dirt.
8) FIRE EXTINGUISHER! Mount at waist level near the door you would use to exit in a hurry.
9) Misc: Task lighting, vise, etc.
Don't Forget Ventilation... (Score:2, Informative)
Recycled solid-core doors (Score:1, Informative)
This way you get the benefit of additional work space, while still being able to pack things away and make space for the car (you know, the thing that usually lives in the garage