Building a new lab, how high above the table should by shelves be? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 11:12:53 am
content: My old lab that i built when i was a kid (oh no i sound old) got too small and cluttered so i tore it all down and restarted from new.The time has come to put the shelves up and i want to have a shelve above the table for equipment and stuff.What height above the table should i put them?Table is 80cm from ground, 60cm deep and shelves are 30cm deep.Before i tore my old workbench down i sat down with a measuring tape, at the time it seemed like ~43cm above the table was pretty good.Any suggestions?

author: i_am_fubar
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 01:01:33 pm
content: are the shelves for lab equipment? 300mm going to be enough depth?Do you want lights under shelves? (If so, make sure you have a shield to stop them glaring in your eyes)400 is good for a scope and often viewed items.putting a monitor under it?

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 01:05:18 pm
content: I have my first shelf set so my benchtop multimeter, scope, etc is roughly at eye height when I am seated at the bench.It gives a decent amount of space to work and my gear is right there and easy to use.I also added 3 strips of high CRI LED strips to the underside of the shelf too, and the illumination is pretty good.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 02:57:16 pm
content: Quote from: i_am_fubar on January 27, 2020, 01:01:33 pmIt's a small room so i don't want to make it any smaller, 30cm seems plenty.There will be LED lights under the shelves, if they shine in my eyes too much i'll put a reflector.And yes, there will be a monitor, i want a PC because previously i had to either lookup schematics on my phone or bring my laptop from upstairs and it would get quite awkward rather quickly.Looks like 43cm should be ok, 40cm would be a little too low. I want to be able to look at the underside of the shelve with minimal effort because i'll have hooks for cables under them.In uni we had benches and one thing that stuck out was the awkwardness of having the cables drape over from the equipment on the top shelf.Hence why i want hooks under the shelves to make routing cables easier.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 03:06:27 pm
content: I have two shelves, one at eye level mainly for the scope and above that another for stuff I don't need to look at as frequently.

author: TheUnnamedNewbie
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 03:11:11 pm
content: On what do you base your claim that 30 cm depth should be plenty? Did you measure your current equipment (and take into account some aditional space for cables etc?)

author: i_am_fubar
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 03:35:51 pm
content: *Runs home to put hooks under his bench*I like this idea.I would also like to add a ELV distribution points around the bench so I don't have to have 4mm banana plug leads draped all over.Also consider USB ports for programmers, FTDI modules.... etc Nice to have under the shelf.

author: TERRA Operative
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 03:47:42 pm
content: My shelf is 30cm, but another 10 cm would be perfect. Most stuff fits, but there are a few things that stick out a bit, plus there isn't much room at the back to run power cables.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 04:06:29 pm
content: Quote from: TheUnnamedNewbie on January 27, 2020, 03:11:11 pmAs of yet i don't have much equipment so i couldn't base it off anything other than looking at a 30cm ruler and thinking "yep that's plenty".Also i won't have any equipment too big to fit on the shelf, kinda hard to explain my thinking but i'll try.Basically there's no good equipment in my country, other than old soviet crap (crap as in impractical (single ch analog scopes etc.)) so i'd have to ship equipment from elsewhere and any equipment too big to fit on the shelf would also be too expensive to ship, hence i wouldn't buy it.That and i can't currently think of a single piece of common equipment that wouldn't fit on a 30cm shelf, scopes are compact, so are PSU's and pretty much everything else these days

author: TheUnnamedNewbie
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 04:31:53 pm
content: Quote from: Refrigerator on January 27, 2020, 04:06:29 pmWell, as I said, it depends on what you doI think nothing on my current bench could fit on a 30cm shelf (EG: some SMU's, RF signal generators, high-speed scope, etc). But even just my powersupplies or bench multimeters won't fit, they are all deeper than that.But indeed, if you are sticking to lower-frequency stuff and lower-cost equipment, it will probably be fine.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 05:39:15 pm
content: My lowest shelf is about 8" deep. From there up all are 11", but spaced away from the wall a bit to allow for power cables. I just measured and the front edges of the 11" shelves are about 12.5" from the wall (32 cm). Everything fits fine except the frequency counter, had to fold its handle under to tilt it. Since you don't plan to buy any old "boat anchors", 30 cm should be okay. Here is an old picture of my setup (click for bigger).

author: macboy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 07:17:33 pm
content: You will likely find 60 cm (24") is too shallow for the desk top. Previously, I had a 30" deep table, and replaced it with a custom built 36" (~90 cm) deep workbench. I like it better. If you have literally no equipment on the desk top (like rdl has in his photo) then a shallow desk works OK. But, if you have your soldering station, parts drawers, or anything else along the back wall, then consider making the desk deeper than 60 cm. The depth of the equipment you use also plays into the work surface depth. I have many old instruments which can be as deep as 60 cm themselves. Obviously, a 60 cm desk depth with 60 cm deep shelves wouldn't work. On the other hand, if the equipment is shallow, then the shelves can be shallow (again referring to rdl's post as an example of that).I have my first shelf top surface at 18" (~45 cm) above the work surface. This puts the equipment on that shelf directly in my line of sight when looking forward (I am tall). I have a second shelf above that, which is at a nice height to operate equipment while standing. The lower shelf is also at a reasonable height for standing operation. It is less practical to use the upper shelf while seated. Each shelf is tall enough for a 6U-tall stack of equipment (2 to 3 typical instruments or one large one). A third shelf above everything is for storage and has no equipment. Someday I'll clean up and take photos.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 07:53:33 pm
content: Quote from: macboy on January 27, 2020, 07:17:33 pmMy previous workbench was 60cm deep and it found it to be good enough. Adding equipment on it made it feel a little shallow but that's why i want to put my shelves at a comfortable height so that i could put my equipment on them to free up space.Also the new bench will be long, spanning across two walls ( 3.2x1.8m "L" shape) along with two rows of shelves above it, one for equipment and other for storage.I want to keep stuff off the floor, the room is in the basement and gets quite damp and down on the floor it's most humid.Also critters like damp dark places and i don't want any bugs crawling around, especially if i'm writing code (ba-dum tssss).Which is why i'll have a ventilation system set up, it will also be for fume extraction because soldering in a closed space gets quite stuffy.

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2020, 08:23:56 pm
content: Quote from: Refrigerator on January 27, 2020, 04:06:29 pmBasically every full sized rack instrument isn't going to fit in that. If you stick with buying modern, that's likely only particularly high end/RF stuff, but if you're looking back into even the early 2000s, there can be quite a bit of equipment that is deeper than 300mm - think 500mm or so for full length rack gear. But, if you're not looking for that kind of equipment, it's a non-issue. Most modern stuff is a bit smaller or is actually designed with bench space as a concern.

author: MarkF
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2020, 12:55:36 pm
content: +1 on a deeper bench top.My workbench is a DIY table 84" wide x 36" deep (90x200cm) in a small bedroom.I have a low shelf for the monitor and high enough to slide the keyboard underneath.The anti-static mat is 24" x 48".A lot of equipment (power supplies and electronic loads for example) are 12" (30cm) deep plus you need a little more for the power cords.I think 40cm deep would be better.

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2020, 03:13:49 pm
content: This is Corgitronics bench setup, I've posted this a few times before because if you look carefully the bench is about 50cm or so deep but has no overhanging shelves. This is great to work on any size equipment or projects.For my own use in order to have the largest equipment on the shelves I've calculated that 60cm deep is enough for the largest boat anchors I'll come across. But it's really up to your shelf design and what it needs to support to determine how deep you go.Since my shelving is industrial longspan and 60cm deep it can take huge weights. The minimum would be about 30cm for a modern oscilloscope otherwise it would be teetering over the edge, and that is another thing to consider in your design you don't want things toppling forward, bowing in the middle of the shelf etc.

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2020, 03:19:10 pm
content: Quote from: Shock on January 28, 2020, 03:13:49 pmThat looks nice but i doubt i could keep it as tidy as that

author: Refrigerator
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 29, 2020, 07:55:21 pm
content: The holes are drilled and half of the upper shelf is now in place.Lower shelf is 43cm above the table and upper shelf is 30cm above the lower shelf.Oh yeah and the upper shelf is already full of parts bins and boxes of other stuff to offload them from the part of the shop where i'll be working next.Ps: since the wall is very rough, everything is mounted on steel posts so all shelves and tables will be spaced about 50mm from the wall. There will be 20~30mm of styro foam for insulation (and to keep the moisture away to some degree) and that will leave me with a gap to run cables and stuff.