Equipping a Small Hackerspace?

andy writes "After gentle prodding for about a year, my company actually agreed to include an electronics/robotics lab in the current build-out of our new office space. As I never really expected this to happen, I was at a bit of a loss when they asked me what sort of workbenches, equipment, etc. I wanted for the lab. The lab will only be approximately 9'x15' but there is a decent amount of vertical space to work with. I was thinking of having 2 workbenches side-by-side, one for 'hardware' and the other for 'software' with a floor-standing cabinet for storage. Semi-mobile workbenches might be a plus. Those of you that work in these sorts of environments, what do you recommend in the way of workbenches, storage, organization, and electronics?"

Vertical Space

[BJ_Covert_Action]

If you have a lot of vertical space, you could utilize some good pegboard and hangar brackets to store most of your tools. Also, I always find myself in want of a drill press and, to a lesser extent, a lathe and a mill. Welding equipment is also a plus. But all of those (minus a drill press, those can be pretty small) take up space. Fans and heaters are a nice convenience, if there isn't already some sort of environmental control. Finally, if other people than yourself are going to be working there regularly (I think that's kind of the definition of a hackerspace) then you might want to get a really nice label-maker/gun so that things stay relatively organized.

Lots of stuff

[larwe]

Make the most of the vertical space if it's against a wall. You will want to have several pieces of reasonably heavy equipment semipermanently present above the workbench - so build a couple of deep, sturdy shelves that can hold your benchtop PSUs, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, etc. The probes and wires dangle down from the front. The lowest shelf should be as low as possible while still clearing the top of the tallest PC monitor you intend to put on that bench. Support those shelves with at least 1.5x the manufacturer-recommended number of pegs. The back of the shelf should have enough room to the wall, or cutouts, to fit - comfortably - an AC plug so that you don't have to move heaven and earth in order to add or remove an AC-powered piece of equipment from amongst the stuff on either side of it. As well as outlets at floor level, you need an outlet strip running down the back of the bench, or on the wall behind the bench at chest level to a seated person, with a minimum of 8-10 outlets per workbench. The outlets should be spaced far enough apart that they can hold a plugpack. DO NOT think that 6-way adapters are "good enough". It is a royal pain in the ass to deal with them, and they add to cable clutter. You will probably want a local Ethernet network for testing net-booting appliances, as well as wiring into your regular Internet connection. So make room for a small Ethernet switch. Use some more of the wall space for component drawers of the type people use to store nails, screws, etc. You cannot have too many of these. Since you will probably be using many SMD components (I know I do!) make a rack for the reels. A regular piece of wooden dowel with a sturdy chain attached to each end, suspended from the center of the chain, works OK. Having loose reels around the place is another pain in the ass - if you have them on a dowel then you can put R/C/L values in neat order, separate diodes from transistors, etc. These are a few of my suggestions based on my own workspace (I do this sort of thing on a contract basis)... I personally have also ditched all my desktop PCs and use netbooks and notebooks exclusively - much of the hardware you'll be using has to be tethered to the dev system by a short USB cable, and having a desktop PC up close enough really wastes desktop real estate.

power points, shelves and lighting

[Richard_J_N]

- Cover the wall in network and power-points - you might well make use of 12 ethernet ports and 50 mains sockets.
- Have deep, load-bearing shelves above the workbench, (again, with power), and under-shelf lighting.
- Consider the ergonomics: workbench height for standing (and some tall stools), a/c, bright light, silent computers. LCD monitor on a swing-arm?
- If money is limited, you're probably better off with a larger variety of stock and tools than with fewer expensive ones.
- Do you need the ability to make it dark? Plumbing? Dust/Fume extraction?
- Ensure the floor is easy to clean, not static-prone, and easy to see where you dropped things.

Re:Vertical Space

[couchslug]

"Can you legitimately weld in a 9x15 foot room?"

Sure, though I'd prefer a TIG machine since it's a very neat process.

Good welding forums ample info and reasonable participants:

http://www.millerwelds.com/resources/communities/mboard/ [millerwelds.com]

http://www.hobartwelders.com/weldtalk/ [hobartwelders.com]

http://weldingweb.com/ [weldingweb.com]

Re:What kind of slashdotter

[Billy the Mountain]

Yeah, plus there is a really good chance there's one near you so you no longer have any excuses (they are currently popping up like mushrooms):

Hacker Space Finder [hackerspaces.org]