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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?"
Unfortunately, the robotics lab is only there so they can 'train/build' their replacements.
You will already have the core things you need 90% of the time. Go install your desks in an ergo way, then give your core tools a nice spot to live. Don't worry, they will get lost, borrowed, and misplaced quickly. Soon you'll have three of each, and you'll always know where one is.
The rest will evolve organically. Let it flow in as each project evolves. The most clever configuration will be the one that is flexed from the inside out, as your frustrations permanently solve yet another configuration issue. In a few years, people will wonder how your tech feng shui is so strong.
Eventually people who visit your hackerspace will coo at the random junk bottles of parts, odd CAD lamp lighting, and floor stains, completely oblivious to the purpose, but envious to their shallow cores at the shininess. You will be envied in your organic nerd pile.
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Like Vidmar, Bott, or Lista. Lots of storage, small space. Can also be used to hold up a benchtop. Pricey, but you won't regret them.
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.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
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.
Monitor arms and wireless keyboards/mice, or a keyboard drawer. This frees up valuable desk space for working on stuff.
Also useful:
USB port replicator - used for laptops, gets legacy and USB ports up on the desk from the tower, so you can get at them.
Variable power supply - get good ones with a couple of voltage options. +/- 5V, +/- 12V rails along with a variable output is very handy
Plenty of outlets on the desks or, better yet, built into the desks
Grounding - if you can't get grounded desks, get antistatic pads or, at least, antistatic wrist straps, and ground everything you can
The three things you shouldn't scrimp on - power supply, soldering station with adjustable temperature, multimeter
Get a cheap desktop for the hardware station - interfacing with hardware doesn't take much horsepower.
Buy a monster for the software station so you can run multiple OSes in virtual machines - get the free VMWare player that lets you create virtual machines and you can run Solaris, Linux, FreeBSD, etc...
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
- 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.
I would advise against having hardware and software sharing the same space.
do people really want to code between a bandsaw and stick welder?
what kind of work are you thinking about doing in this hackerspace? its hard to say what you will need when we don't know what you will build.
this is what i find helpful for my purposes:
numerous soldering stations
those grippy tables with 2 arms and a magnifying glass.
lots of reverse tweezers. (most useful tool ever.)
proper wire cutters. the huge ones that hammer down and pull apart. save tons of time.
fish tank for holding etching acid
heat press for iron on transfers
rotary tools
small metal lathe
hand drill
drill press
band saw
a good vice
various clamps
optional: safety goggles
oh, and try to get a plasma cutter! I've never actually used one for anything useful, but it's fun as hell to play with.
-I only code in BASIC.-
Michael Scott Paper Company FTW! Oh, wait, wrong Office... Sorry.
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Supply a piice of decent electronic equip(a nice scope), and be sure all the tools are the cheapest you can find. There going to go missing anyways, so longevity isn't a major concern here.
Let the enthusiastic bring stuff in if they want more.
Oh, and a library of basic electronic books.
The most important things is a welcoming attitude. Even the most bone headed nooob should be comfortable coming in and participating..a 'don't say no' attitude towards people wanting to participate.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Sincerely,
Person with a Ph.D. in EE who has worked with hardware development for 15 years.
Aw, that's rough buddy! Hit me up and I'll teach you how to create a login. It's not that bad!
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Surely the budget is relevant. Otherwise, I'd go 9x15xvertical worth of gold ingots and a lousy security system you know how to beat.
"Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
Sincerely,
Person with a Ph.D. in EE who has worked with hardware development for 15 years.
All those years working with hardware has cut down on your reading comprehension. It's clear the questioner is asking about makes and models of desks/benches/shelves, not what work to do in his new lab.
"Like when the 20 dollar and hour consultant put me out of my 90 and hour gig.
There was probably a valid reason for that.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
1) Wheels on stuff is cool. Make sure at least 2 of 4 wheels lock, and get the biggest diameter wheels you can stand. Rolling a workbench with 600+lbs on it will shred those plastic casters.
2) If you're going vertical, get a Little Giant-like ladder that splits into two a-frames, other brands work very well. Handy to be able to a-frame it, stretch it out and store vertically in a corner, use with planks as a third workbench, and of course lend out under constant supervision when someone else needs one.
There is little else as much fun as establishing a new shopspace. I've done three big ones, and it's a riot. Just be glad you're not working on portable tape recorders, and have to explain the $400 P.O. for screws. Having a 1x1.2mm screw when you need one; priceless. Sony made great stuff back then, man.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
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
That was the turning point of my life--I went from negative zero to positive zero.
Never attribute to bad grammar that which can be explained by Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all.
Many amateurs or hobbyists have faced this dilemma in their own personal (and professional) work spaces for centuries nows. Two groups I know a little about are wood workers and machinists, who have written dozens of books and articles about this subject, in both the general and specific case.
0. Safety equipment: dust masks, goggles, safety glasses (with side protection), gloves (nitrile, latax, neoprene), hearing protection (ear muffs, ear plugs), and as needed!
1. Tools
2. Storage / management of those tools
3. Hard copy (dead-tree) documentation, it is being rapidly moved online thanks to cheap and compact computers and laptops, but much older reference material is still in old-school paper form (which can be handy) (example references to collect: ARRL Handbook, Art of Electronics, Machinery's Handbook, Woodworking Basics, Understanding Wood, Wiring Simplified)
4. Commonly used materials (lumber, hoses, holes clamps, fabric, sheet metal, dowels, nuts & bolts, wood and metal screws, etc.)
5. Parts (in anti-static containers for any static sensitive parts like CMOS ICs)
6. Labelling tools
7. Log / Lab notebooks . These should be paper-based, though can be complimented with online documents, a honest to goodness hard copy lab book is essential.
8. Chemicals
9. Large, easy to read clock
10. Test equipment: rulers, tape measures, calipers, digital multi-meter
11. Plenty of AC mains circuits and outlets. Preferably with a separate circuit for lighting versus wall outlets. - Avoid extended use of extension cables, and excessive use of power bars.
And time.
It depends greatly what you are building or fixing.
For basic electronics stuff, soldering irons, those boxes of little drawers (filled with components), good chairs, a magnifying lamp, lots and lots of storage for this-and-that, heat gun, lots of shrink tube, wire in a handful of gauges and insulation colors (all teflon, if your budget allows) in solid and stranded. A variac. An oscilloscope (I have found that there are exactly two good places for a 'scope: on a cart, or in a 19-inch rack). Hand tools, and save some budget for extra hand tools as they have a high vapor pressure. Good hand tools, at that. Basic metal / wood working tools (files, hand saws, drills). Drill bits: buy good ones and you'll thank me later, buy cheap ones and you'll end up buying good ones anyway. A small drill press (one of THE most valuable bits of kit around). One of those massively heavy vises that gets bolted to the work surface (and do, indeed, bolt it in place). I've found an end-sander is really useful too. Epoxy, lots of epoxy. A set of precision screwdrivers (keep them under lock and key). A cordless drill (minimum a DeWalt). Fluke hand-held meters. A very high quality 6 or 8-inch L-square, and a decent quality 12-24 inch one. Good lighting. Lots of electrical outlets. A handful of ethernet drops.
Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
Which is sadly under utilized these days (too much real work unfortunately)
Several voltmeters - I like the old Fluke bench units... LED displays you can see across the room, and the batteries are never dead because there are none.
Several scopes - tek is king here.
Drill press - bloody essential for anything mechanical at all.
Logic analyzer, i'm partial to the HP ones
Spectrum analyzer - pricy, but a godsend for RF work (if you'll be doing any) - HP, again.
Power supply - hp made good ones again. you can never have too many it seems. I have some homebrew ones too - ATX supplies and random ebay SMPS units can be handy and dirt cheap, but not adjustable (you can add an external reg easily though..)
Freq counter - hp, but fluke made decent ones. more for RF, but can be handy for digital, clocking and stuff...
Freq gen, whether you need a lower freq audio one or one that does RF depends on what you're planning on.
For soldering irons im partial to the hakko ones, '936' is the model, and there are plenty of knockoffs available on ebay. The genuine model isn't crazy expensive though.
Then a PC, a few programmers, depending on what you want. I'm partial to Atmel's AVR, but PIC is big, some folks are still stuck with moto 6800 derivatives for some unknown reason, likewise with 8051's... For the money ARM is really the way to go, but I havent played with them much yet. Some sort of JTAG unit will be handy for random programming also. I usually use a linux box with avr-gcc, but some tools are win32 only, so might want to have a windows box or virtualbox around - not to mention some schematic / board layout stuff is win only too.
For dev boards, I have a few from atmel, but some of them are pretty pricy. these guys make some nice dev boards, but I'm not crazy about their compiler. The IDE looks nice enough, but I'm used to gcc and my own editor. I have one of their AVR boards, and I use a GPL'd AVR based AVR programmer (chicken and egg if you dont already have one ;) ) with it, because their built in programmers (which work well, mind you) are windows only.
Sent from my PDP-11
It's a sad fact that most people who will want to borrow tools from your lab will not have any concept of returning them, much less of signing them out. I managed a robotics research lab for 12 years, so I know something about how this works.
It's extremely frustrating to someone in the middle of an elaborate assembly or repair project to reach for an essential tool and discover that it has walked away with some unknown person.
Therefore you pretty much have to keep tool cabinets locked, particularly the ones where the more popular hand tools are stored. Invest in cabinets with lots of separately-keyed doors and drawers. Always buy essential hand tools in pairs, and keep the backup set somewhere else.
It also doesn't hurt to keep an open bin in the lab for storing cheap multibit drivers and the like. Buy lots of these, and restock as necessary. That way, people who drop by the lab to borrow something and never return it will go away happy, without causing frustration for your legitimate lab users. It's good politics, as well as allowing you to run an effective lab for the people who really need it.
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Why do all the neat opportunities always go to the lads with the fewest clues?
by RobotRunAmok (595286)
See what happens when you don't plan your robotics lab out properly? They riot and start posting on /.
Best "String" Ever!
A desktop CNC can be equipped with a plastic extruder so it could function as a 3d printer, plus it can mill circuit boards, wood, aluminum panels, enclosures, etc, etc.
I've done a lot of reading on the subject lately and the easiest and cheapest way to get one without spending a ton of time doing your own work is:
http://mydiycnc.com/
For $400 (if they reach their goal) you will be able to get a complete CNC kit including spindle.
Alternately if that falls through the next cheapest option is a Zen Toolworks kit. They are available from Amazon but you need to get a spindle, stepper motor driver board, and power supply to go along with it.
Total cost works out towards the $600 range.
More expensive than that are the cupcake CNC, lumenlab CNC, etc. But those are the cheapest options above, aside from the Mantis CNC which costs around $300 completely outfitted. Unfortunately it also takes the most time as you have to cut all the parts by hand and the guy who designed doesn't seem too interested in helping random people build their own.
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If you're doing anything computer or network related, you're going to need a 19" rack, and you should get it upfront so you can allocate the space to access the front and back. You'll want some shelving in a fixed location, but rolling shelves or carts let you effectively use the space in back of your racks. You'll want lots of electricity, and usually Wiremold is the winning way to deploy it. The real trick, if you're in a US-like country, is deciding whether you only need 110v or also 220-240v.
Your Building-management people may have lots of opinions about whether you can have 220vAC, and whether your racks, shelves, and desks need to be earthquake-braced, and what kind of HVAC you can have, and whether they need to install fire sprinklers or other fire suppression systems if you're soldering things. Let the wookies win - You will not successfully work around them, and you'll occasionally want them to be your friends, even if some of them are corporate droids. When I built a lab in the mid-90s, in San Francisco, I could have had it up and running in a couple of weeks for a couple of thousand dollars, before we hit the "earthquake bracing" question; by the time I was done, 6-8 months later, we had $900/seat "workstations" (that's the desks, not the $300 computers sitting under them), and an extra A/C system in the ceiling that only occasionally iced up and leaked, but we also had all the electric supply we needed to run a couple of eventually-full 19" racks.
And you do want some kinds of cabinets or toolboxes to store miscellaneous stuff - the Sears Automotive tool drawers can be nice for random parts, and you'll want somewhere to keep random crap that isn't visibly cluttered, and some bookshelves for books.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
I just changed my terminal colors to green on black B-)
OK actually this sucks. I'm gonna have to use white on black when nobody's looking.
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Some side areas of the Innovation Center on the RIT campus are dedicated to that purpose.
Sometimes separate walled-off rooms, sometimes an open area on the edge of the big room.
While walking around, I've noticed:
The tables were trapezoidal and on wheels (easily reconfigurable arrangement)
* They seemed to be relatively normal tables; not sure fi what you're doing would require ones that could handle a lot of weight under them.
Probably could use more outlets and Ethernet ports than we already have.
Small personal lockers in addition to the storage racks for tools
[These particular hackerspaces seemed more suited to software AFAIK; not sure if hardware stuff would require more space.]
Do you want to play around with oldschool equipment, or focus on up-to-date stuff?
I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
IAAEE and I do design work; I'm in my lab daily and helped design the current lab. My lab has two separate spaces, one for mech work and the other for EE work. The mech lab has a bandsaw, drill press, grinder, lathe and milling machine. For the space you have I'd say get the mill. You can use it to drill, cut and face a small workpiece. Look at Grizzly tools (basically Harbor Freight) for decent deals and ok quality equipment.
The EE lab has a lot of kit. You need at least one dual power supply for each station where you'll do electrical work (look at BK, they have several value items), as well as a soldering iron. For irons the near-instant heat types are truly awesome and IMO well worth the cost. We like Weller but as long as they get hot they'll work fine. One piece of advice - however many soldering stations you intend to have, you should buy them all at one time. Weller loves to keep redesigning the tips so I have to stock five different families of tips in my lab. Don't waste money on benchtop multimeters, for the cost of one great Agilent we got four Fluke 77's - sufficient for most work and more easily portable. You need at least two multimeters per EE station. You should also invest in scopes if you do anything analog. You must have at least one good scope in the lab for every two EE's, and you should also have a bad scope. We have some cheap Teks as well as one awesome MSO4000 series which has a 16 channel mini-LA - expensive but worth every penny. If you do much digital look at the USBee for a cheap LA. Also at least one good function generator is very useful; look at Agilent and SRS for good ones. You may need a spectrum analyzer depending on what you're doing, too.
Back to the basics, though. You can fit two 6' benches on each 15' wall with space between. Global Industries sells these at reasonable cost but Costco might have some near you for ~$150. A good bench will have a hutch shelf with a row of outlets on it (outlets you can see are really important, but you can also get a 6' industrial power strip instead if you need). I'd get two, and a stand for the mill, as well as storage. A good rolling tool rack (with ball bearing slides! don't skimp on that!) and a cabinet will use most of the other wall. Look at a good shelving cabinet like Akro Mills make if you will stock small parts. Expensive but an excellent way to store and organize your SMT parts or hardware. And think about how/where you'll store your scrap mechanical stock - you might still have room for a good open vertical shelf.
You will want all the storage you can fit in there. Think about a layer of shelves at 6.5' off the ground all the way around the room for rarely-used equipment. And your lab needs power and data. You should have a dedicated power circuit (or two) for the lab and more ethernet ports than usual (preferably two per work station or more). Finally since you are short on space you should try to get a laptop dedicated to lab use, and preferably one with a real db-9 serial port on it (or a base station with one).
That would be my Christmas list for your lab. Hope it helps.
Just my $0.55 (US inflation, 1774-2008, for $0.02)
As nearly as I can tell from meeting several over the years, they tend to be cast offs from the industry they are consulting. First they doll up the ol' resume , then they sell themselves with the precision of a Chevy dealer to the first president he can find sweating under pressure of the board to flip a profit. Then come the endless touring and "chats" w/ employees over subjects like "what could be done to improve the workflow?" Then come the downsizing starting with any brass who opposed them ( the ones who knew how to sail the ship and saw the pirate flag) All dept. leads,(obviously the cause of the corp.-stupation , those manning the engine room, walk the plank) Finally the remaining employees are left to run the company as new lead chimps are selected and sent off to crash training. During the beaming of the "New Reich" , glorying in the"new direction" and other acts of self denial. The ship sinks and the rat left long ago, to pick 3 or 4 other ripe apples before changing the name of his company and assuming a new identity and continuing the same scam ad nauseum.
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