3 ms·

FWIW, I bet the guy has an ESD mat and it was just too ugly to show. The only other thing I would add is boxes or large bins. Not for tools or components, but

FWIW, I bet the guy has an ESD mat and it was just too ugly to show. The only other thing I would add is boxes or large bins. Not for tools or components, but for project work, so you can put it away and work on something else when you need to. Otherwise it ends up spread all over your desk, Jim Williams style: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyohm/6926143499 https://www.flickr.com/photos/mightyohm/6926143499 (which is now at the computer history museum, apparently!)

artogahr 3y ago
He has an ESD mat! And it's on the table already, as mentioned in the article. It's the gray surface.
aksss 3y ago
Now THAT looks more familiar!
tempodox 3y ago
That's what I think of when I read “electronics lab bench”. The one in the article is so clean and well organized, I'm getting jealous.
- crispyambulance 3y ago
  FWIW, Jim Williams was an electronics designer at Linear Technologies (LT, now part of Analog Devices). He had incredible productivity and wrote famously epic application notes. He was also known for using bare, un-eteched copper PCB and just soldering components to the PCB and connecting their other leads with wire through the air. You can see this on his bench!
zackmorris 3y ago
Thank you, my nature is to have everything out like him because I think I might have object permanence issues and other ADHD symptoms like time blindness. I feel like I know exactly where everything is that I've ever handled, but once it's organized, I almost lose track of it like a goto. Discipline is such a struggle for me that I got rid of all of the furniture in my home office and put up a couple of Ikea Billy bookcases with long shelves that wrap around my desk in an upside-down U so that I can see everything on one wall. Kind of like these, but with a full-size desk and $20 shelves spanning the middle, in birch: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/453667362435927208/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/453667362435927208/ https://www.wayfair.com/Modway--Bixby-71-H-x-69.5-W-Standard-Bookcase-EEI6114OAK-L38-K~FOW16762.html https://www.wayfair.com/Modway--Bixby-71-H-x-69.5-W-Standard...
fuzzfactor 3y ago
My scopecart was off to the side like that most of the time except when it rolled over to a chemical instrument in the main lab which needed repair or calibration. Most people who saw my lab when I was in private practice would not have noticed any difference from this museum piece.

artogahr 3y ago

He has an ESD mat! And it's on the table already, as mentioned in the article. It's the gray surface.

aksss 3y ago

Now THAT looks more familiar!

tempodox 3y ago

That's what I think of when I read “electronics lab bench”. The one in the article is so clean and well organized, I'm getting jealous.

crispyambulance 3y ago
FWIW, Jim Williams was an electronics designer at Linear Technologies (LT, now part of Analog Devices). He had incredible productivity and wrote famously epic application notes. He was also known for using bare, un-eteched copper PCB and just soldering components to the PCB and connecting their other leads with wire through the air. You can see this on his bench!

zackmorris 3y ago

Thank you, my nature is to have everything out like him because I think I might have object permanence issues and other ADHD symptoms like time blindness. I feel like I know exactly where everything is that I've ever handled, but once it's organized, I almost lose track of it like a goto. Discipline is such a struggle for me that I got rid of all of the furniture in my home office and put up a couple of Ikea Billy bookcases with long shelves that wrap around my desk in an upside-down U so that I can see everything on one wall. Kind of like these, but with a full-size desk and $20 shelves spanning the middle, in birch: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/453667362435927208/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/453667362435927208/ https://www.wayfair.com/Modway--Bixby-71-H-x-69.5-W-Standard-Bookcase-EEI6114OAK-L38-K~FOW16762.html https://www.wayfair.com/Modway--Bixby-71-H-x-69.5-W-Standard...

fuzzfactor 3y ago

My scopecart was off to the side like that most of the time except when it rolled over to a chemical instrument in the main lab which needed repair or calibration. Most people who saw my lab when I was in private practice would not have noticed any difference from this museum piece.