Seeking advice on good layout for small electronics bench (7-10 instruments) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: RBBVNL9
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2021, 03:00:36 pm
content: Hi,Currently, all my instruments are standing (some stacked) on a relatively compact bench (110cm wide, 80cm deep). But I have recently purchased additional gear and now I need to find a new, practical layout to make it fit om my relatively compact bench…So what the bench needs to support is:Oscilloscope with ~10” screen, shallowSpectrum Analyzer with ~10” screen, shallowFive half rack units, stackable:PSU6.5 digit DMM4.5 digit DMMFunction GeneratorElectronic Load (~45cm deep)Then there is also smaller boxed stuff (GPSDO, frequency divider, USB oscilloscope, etc.), soldering iron, etc. And there should be room for a few more future purchases when needed.I did several sketches, and I am seriously considering having the smaller instruments standing on a bench above the oscilloscope and spectrum analyzer. In order not to have cables hanging all the time in front of the lower instruments, I moreover consider having fixed cables going from the upper instruments to a breakout connector box down below. These cables are for the for the most used connections (PSU, function generator, DMM) and the back panel connectors that will be hard to reach, but not for others I use more occasionally (such as the electronic load terminals). Some of my instruments have switchable front/back connectors and I can use sufficiently thick cables where required.A rough sketch is shown below.So my questions to the forum are:Who has experience with such a layout? What are the pros and cons?Who is using a connector breakout box as suggested above? Experiences?Thanks!

author: bob91343
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2021, 05:28:55 pm
content: My main concerns are to have larger instruments beneath smaller ones, and so arranged that input and output connections are closest to where they will be used. Any with captive leads should be able to be held out of the way and yet long enough to reach where they are going.Soldering gear and tool box should not have to be too far from the operator. Why do you have two high precision voltmeters?Any bridges probably don't have to be on the bench at all, but within reach, say on a nearby shelf or on a cart. An analog VOM should be available but easily put aside.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2021, 05:34:48 pm
content: Quote from: RBBVNL9 on March 28, 2021, 03:00:36 pmHow about only setting up the instruments you need for a project? There are 3 pieces of test equipment I keep on the bench permanently: a PSU, multimeter and oscilloscope. The rest is optional.

author: DaJMasta
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2021, 06:26:40 pm
content: If the bench is compact but there's space in the room, you could setup a shelving unit behind the bench and just put all the rack stuff on it. Otherwise, maybe try to arrange based on usage, and maybe consider the shallow units to be sort of floating in front of the others. Also consider lead length - if you've got special leads for something that aren't long, or that will be attached to a different instrument, make sure it's positioned so that you can use it normally.If it were my usage, I would probably prioritize the PSU, one DMM, and the sig gen as the easiest to access bench units, with the scope the easiest to access shallow unit, whereas the load would probably get the least use (at least with what I'm normally doing). I'd look into something like a hutch or shelf if you can't have shelving behind the bench, so you can have some space on a lower area and then stack above it on the shelf, regardless of whether the height below is even. Then maybe you could arrange three half racks, put one or both of the shallow units on top, then a shelf above to hold the other stuff.Irons and things stay to the required side of the work area, and probably flux/solder/consumables on the other side in a jar or something. Also worth thinking about the size of what you're normally working on - if you work in full depth rack equipment and your bench is 80cm deep, maybe you want to arrange the equipment on one or either side of the work area, but avoid having any longer stuff in the center area to maximize working space.