My Workspace 2014

Hey guys! Welcome to my workspace. It's been a while since I last posted an update of it. Here's what it looks like right now (6/12/14). A lot has changed since 2012. I guess this is more of a show and tell than a tutorial. Anyway, I'll share with you how I sort and organize my stuff.

What's New?

- Added A Long But Narrow Table

- Functional DIY CNC Prototype

- New Tools & Arrangements

Future Plans/ Wishlist:

- Smaller DIY Nearfield Studio Monitors

- Softbox (For Better Lighting)

- Drill Press & Bench Grinder

- Table Size DIY 3D Printer

- Taller Cabinet/ Shelves

The first thing that you'll you'll notice when you enter the room is my Homebrew CNC. It's still a prototype, don't worry I'll be posting a detailed guide of project soon. It works, I use it to cut acrylic for my robots, the z-axis is fixed though. Without having a local CNC service or 3D printing service, building the z-axis by hand would be a difficult task.

All the drilling, grinding, melting, gluing and soldering is scary, specially when you have gadgets lying around. I started using this table when I spilled gorilla glue on my cellphone, without me knowing it hardened on my screen. The table saves my gadgets from getting damaged when I'm working on something.

I have another table perpendicular to my project desk. It's where I rest my laptop. As much as possible, I keep the laptop near my project desk, it makes reading schematics and editing PCBs a lot easier. I also have my pair of DIY Bookshelf Speakers at both sides of the, I play it loud all the time :)

Underneath my computer desk, you'll find a plastic box containing cables and adapters. Since most cables are computer related, I keep it underneath my computer desk.

Left & Center Of The Table:

- This part of the table is where I get messy.

- I do most of the cutting, grinding, gluing and soldering here.

- Soldering Iron, Rotary Tool, Glue Gun & Adjustable PSU.

- Plastic containers of tools for quick access. I hate toolboxes! >:|

- Plastic Container of Jumpers & Hook-up Wires.

Right Side Of The Table:

- This is the side of the table where I stock some parts.

- I have a small parts organizer (deck) for storing small discrete components.

- Quick access tray for storing parts. Sometimes I tend to get lazy in sorting the components so I just throw all the excess here then sort them out when I have time.

- Markers and cutting tools goes to the rectangular pen holder.

A parts organizer is quite handy in storing discrete components!

What's Inside:

- ICs (Logic Gates, Amplifiers, MCUs)

- PNP & NPN Transistors

- MOSFETS

- Capacitors

- Resistors

- Inductors

- Toroidal Cores

- Connectors

- Wires

- Ziptie

- MISC

Who doesn't get tired of flicking switches? The solution to the back-aching problem is a DIY Smart Home Automation Box. The box is located under my workspace table. It can be controlled by phone via app and can also activate when someone enters the room.

The Home Automation Box: The box is composed an array of AC sockets, an Arduino Uno, a DIY Relay Shield, a Bluetooth Module and a low wattage Switching PSU. Each socket has a designated relay, it can be controlled one by one. As for the motion detection, I hacked a cheap PIR door-chime alarm by adding a low power RF module ($4). The TX (door-chime) sends signals to the RX (home automation box) when it detects motion.

The Phone App: A friend of mine designed the app from scratch. It has four main features, the typical tap the button control, the scheduled activation, the timer feature and the voice recognition feature. Yes, that's right! The app has a voice activation feature that lets you command the Home Automation box. Unlike my previous voice activated project, our new app doesn't need a tap to activate the voice recognition. Just say "hey google" then the phone will wake and will start listening to your command! For now, the app has bugs. I'll post an instructable of the project as soon as we resolve the problem.

The key to having a clean desk is having an efficient way of disposing trash and that's by having a trashbin with a huge mouth. More like a trashcube to me :)

You just got to have one of these mesh shelves! Compared to traditional shelves, the mesh shelves receives a lot of light and ventilation. You get too see what's inside. You'll never forget where you had stored your stuff.

I stock some of my indoor friendly chemicals here, like: enchants, lubricants, adheisives, paint and etc...

A project is nothing without a case to house it. It's good to have plastic enclosures lying around!

I have both of these shelves for storing random stuff, ones like unfinished projects, salvaged plastic and salvaged wires.

This is where I store my safety glasses, gas mask, extra screws, Dremel bits and silicone sealants.

Nothing different, just your typical cabinet. Like what I said a while ago. Let's take a peek of what's inside :)

Anything that's boxed goes in here, mostly boxed supplies.

What's Inside?

- Speaker ports/ tubes/ coils/ capacitors/ high wattage resistors.

- RadioShack learning lab kits (taught me a lot in electronics!).

- The brown box filled with assorted screws, nuts and bolts.

- Little bits from the supercharged contest.

- A year supply of tape and adhesives.

I love speakers! Speakers are one of the first projects that got me into electronics. I have more lying around but these are the only ones that could fit in my cabinet.

I separate the salvaged wires from the new ones. I store the new ones here. The one inside the yellow cup is long roll of stranded wire.

I store more random stuff here...

I used to live with my grandparents. We pretty much shared one desktop computer. We take turns, I couldn't have the computer to myself the whole day so I printed most of the projects that I find then use them as reference. You will find hundreds of instructable PDF printouts here, ranging from year 2007-2010. For some reason, I still couldn't let go of these documents.

Anything that is mechanical goes in this cabinet. Sensor modules, motor drivers and MCU boards also goes here.

We all have prototypes, when we've finish building the final version the prototype becomes trash. I store some of those prototypes here for recycling parts.

Acrylic is very useful for building robots and project enclosures. I get my supply from a local junkshop. It's much cheaper than buying new ones. Try it, it's better than cardboard and wood! :)

A messy workspace is every hobbyist's nightmare! Sometimes you don't know where to start. Usually, I start sorting the larger stuff first (ex. tools, wood, plastics). I work my way until I clear the table from the smaller things. When there's nothing left except the wire splices, I scrap them with a ruler. Finally, I clean the table with a piece of cloth.