Show Us Your Home Lab and Win More Gear to Clutter It With [contest closed]
Summer Contest 2019 - Post a picture of your home lab and win an Elektor e-Shop voucher worth €100! Contest is closed.
This contest is closed
A big "Thank You Very Much!" to all the people who participated and uploaded one or more photos of their homelab. There is some great stuff in there. From gearslut labs to messy bedrooms, and from garages to really-well-organized workspaces. Must-have homelab tool "the cat" is present too (in at least two places, can you find them all?). The winner is: Cyrob. The €100 voucher for the Elektor Shop is for you!
Elektor Labs Summer Contest 2019
It is summer again (at least in parts of Europe), meaning that it is time to run our yearly Elektor Labs summer competition. The subject of this year’s summer competition is all but original, but at least it is easy to participate.Participate now and win €100!
All you have to do is post a photograph of your electronics home lab as a comment below this post and you are in. At the beginning of September 2019, the jury will select the photo it feels is best (the number of stars, views and comments may have an influence), and its poster will be rewarded with an Elektor e-Shop voucher worth €100!
Rules
- This sweepstake is about electronics home labs and the photograph must be relevant to the subject. Photos of pharmaceutical and other types of labs will be excluded.
- Only photos posted on this page compete for the Grand Prize. Post your photo as a comment to this post by clicking the "Add a comment" button (see illustration above).* DO NOT add your photo as a comment to the post of someone else.
- The photograph must represent your own electronics home lab, not a lab you have at work or university, or found at some other research institute or online.
- In case your home lab is also your professional workspace, you will have to convince us. (Elon Musk, make us believe you ;-)
- Lab staging and tidying it up before taking the picture is allowed.
- This sweepstake closes on August 31, 2019 at 23:59:59:999 CET. The timestamp of the post shown on this page will be decisive.
- The winner will be notified by email, so make sure to use a valid email address (and read your email regularly).*
- The jury decision is final and binding and cannot be appealed.
Discussion (41 comments)
Ion Trap 5 years ago
Rohan 5 years ago
Bruno Ferreira 5 years ago
Cyrob 5 years ago
I am very surprised and happy to win this contest !
Thank you Elektor :)
Rainer Schuster 5 years ago
It is equipped with a mixture of vintage instruments (mostly Heathkit and Radio RIM) and instruments designed and built by myself as well.
On top of my workbench you can see my next project as work in progress: A guitar amplifier
for my son, running the "Guitarix" app on a Raspberry Pi4.
Andre_Ouaga 5 years ago
Another factor is the fact that I live in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, since 1993, and here it's not easy to find afordable electronics tools if they can be found!
I am programming all sort of ATMEL 8 bits uP. I also made a Class A Hifi amplifier, and a Preamp, all digital with a graphical LCD displaying 2 VUmeter, yes, each position has been drawn separately and their "erasement" too, that is 128 different panels.
Enjoy,
André Aguila
A cheap one on a cheap tablet :), powered by powerbank. (1061kb)
From Elektor article and used with Visual Analyzer (638kb)
Again via a PC (597kb)
A UV exposure box, timer with ATMega 8535 (the last one I had on stock) (731kb)
For Atmel uP programming (752kb)
The regulation is working, need to make the oven itself. (386kb)
No comment. (503kb)
Cweber 5 years ago
img-20190828-084940.jpg (2407kb)
img-20190828-084952.jpg (1963kb)
Matthias Key 5 years ago
So many Things to learn an discover.
I`m actually building a Tube Amp with some PCL86.
Greetings form Germany an enjoy electronics :-)
loetecke.jpg (1335kb)
Cweber 5 years ago
Günti 5 years ago
AndersG 5 years ago
Donovan Adams 5 years ago
More tools, new components and salvaged odds and ends (518kb)
where everything eventually comes together (699kb)
Ion Trap 5 years ago
I am just starting to recap my Gould-Advance OS260 True dual beam scope which has been a faithful companion since new. It will make a perfect curve tracer as well continue to be a good low-frequency analogue ‘scope. The OS4000 DSO is probably going to have to be next but is still working nicely and in spec.
Only when I see a photo like this does it jolt me to see afresh the accumulation of gear that takes decades to assemble and the histories of them all. There is more tucked around the room but this is where it all happens.
Kaj Pesiö 5 years ago
Zolas 5 years ago
This is my home lab in Greece.
img-20180128-103006.jpg (1146kb)
Olivier Sannier 5 years ago
Mind you, my main PC monitor stopped working so what you are seeing in the middle is its power board where I'm about to replace four electrolytic capacitors that have inflated up until their death.
Turns out the manufacturer used 16V parts for the 15V rail, except for the only one that survived which, unsuprisingly is rated 25V...
Olivier Sannier 5 years ago
hens 5 years ago
Louis Borsu 5 years ago
Matthias Key 5 years ago
Andreas Litmanowitsch 5 years ago
Günti 5 years ago
Robin MARTIN 5 years ago
Here is my electronic lab space, "as is" :)
p8211524.JPG (2711kb)
Amir Ebrahimi 5 years ago
img-3165.JPG (1867kb)
AndersG 5 years ago
Peter Haunzwickl 5 years ago
mhendelja 5 years ago
Upgrading when I have good deal or when ever it's possible.
If it looks like a mess, it's not, trust me, it gets worse.
r-l-c-and-demo-boards.jpg (244kb)
Hesam_Moshiri 5 years ago
Wilko Lunenburg 5 years ago
I'm a "through-hole" kind of guy, I try to keep stock for as long as possible (1773kb)
ON7AUR 5 years ago
f17439 5 years ago
Dans ma vie de technicien en électronique, j'ai assemblé de nombreux "kit" Elektor, comme par exemple l'analyseur logique d'avril 1981, le capacimètre de février 1984, le générateur de fonctions de décembre 1984, l'inductancemètre de septembre 1988, ces appareils n'apparaissent pas sur la photo. Par contre on aperçoit le générateur d'impulsions d'avril 1984, le fréquencemètre 1.2GHz de janvier 1985 et le RF Power Meter 1MHz-10GHz. On remarque sur la table quatre kits Elektor à teriner.
Actuellement c'est des montages utilisant l'Arduino, comme l'émetteur AM PO d'Avril 2015 ou utilisant les µP AVR comme la Radio Logicielle SDR et le Signal Generator SDR de mars 2012, le RF Power Meter de mars 2018. Les montages avec les cartes ESPxx me passionne aussi.
Gottfried Karenovics 5 years ago
Ich machte aus der Not eine Tugend und baute so viele Regalbretter ein, wie es in diesem kleinen Raum (ungefähr 6 Quadratmeter und ca. 2,40 m hoch) irgend möglich war.
Der Platz auf der Arbeitsplatte ist demzufolge auch sehr klein, aber ich habe alles nach ergonomischen Gesichtspunkten eingerichtet. In den Schubladen habe ich die Werkzeuge und allerhand Arbeitsmaterial.
Jetzt kann ich mein angefangenes Theremin Nr. 2 fertigstellen. Es soll ein hochwertiges Konzert-Instrument werden, das auch den höchsten Ansprüchen prominenter Thereministen und Thereministinnen vollauf genügen wird.
Die Technik ist durchweg analog ausgeführt unter Verwendung von SMD-Bauteilen in der Volume-Stufe.
Auch etliche andere Projekte warten hier auf ihre Fertigstellung.
Meine kleine Kellerwerkstatt, auf kleinstem Raum maximale Effektivität und Ergonomie. (671kb)
Cyrob 5 years ago
This is only a part of my lab. I love electronics instruments and started to collect them for more than 40 years!
I have more than 200 TM500 plugins in my collection.
Many of them are operational but I have no time to maintain all calibrated.
I have too some modern items to help me in my projects.
behbeh 5 years ago
Gratulation....
lelion95 5 years ago
Bruno Ferreira 5 years ago
I have my lab organizer in five sections:
- Designing, coding and debugging
- Mearurement and testing
- Soldering
- Assembling
- Component storage
This is one of the rare occasions that I can see the color of top of the top of my workench, usually it is covered with all sort of stuff, specially projects that I start to work on and don't have the time to finish.
img-1056.jpg (242kb)
img-1057.jpg (239kb)
img-1058.jpg (304kb)
evb 5 years ago
Most of the devices that you see, are already veterans from my student days, more than 30 years ago, but they still work perfectly ;-)
The soldering iron and the analogue meter are the oldest. I must have been about 16 years old then, the very beginning...
A little side note : your contest did make sure that the lab was cleaned up, something that my wife never achieved :-)
dsc-1523.JPG (1428kb)
Solder table (1293kb)
Armin.G 5 years ago
It is in my house but is also in commecial use.
All of my experiments an developments are made here.
Mainly in the RF and Digital sector. Also ham radio.
There are still some more rooms : mainly as storage, for paintwork, server room and more .
And some Antenna Fields, cable storage, car-electronic workplace outside.
Regards
Armin
Elektronik (1586kb)
Mechanik & Platinen (1382kb)
Lager (1461kb)
Wolfgang Zechner 5 years ago
img-1691.JPG (2575kb)
mechlab.JPG (2988kb)
Zigor Gomez 5 years ago
photo2.jpg (88kb)
photo3.jpg (103kb)
photo4.jpg (79kb)
Mario Riesebeek 5 years ago
img-7404.JPG (560kb)
https://youtu.be/RMBjxTIKwxM
Ram 5 years ago
E1 shows an air filter for keeping my precious equipment dust-free. It's not a HEPA filter as the equipment does not need HEPA ;-).
E2 is (mainly) my assembly section. shows a functional HP141T spectrum analyzer on the granite worktable. (Granite = no static!) Shelf has plugins from various Tek instruments. Far right has a pile of restored stuff - 1968 HP334, 1968 Genrad 1650A, 1982 HP 3581. 8 types of soldering/desoldering tools. On the window sill is the bottom half of an Akai spool tape recorder now used as a valve amplifier in the winter months. Below the worktable are my handcrafted speakers. Also on the worktable is a HP 8640B RF signal generator fore which I sell brass replacement gears on eBay. Here it serves to increase my soldering working height so I don't have to stoop too much while soldering those pesky QFNs. On top of the equipment shelf is half of a biconical antenna used for EMI tests.
E3 is (mainly) my test section - power supply, Tek TM503, 100-400MHz scopes. Nixie clock made by me above a functional 1980s Akai spool recorder. Left on the table is a VFD motor sent by a client to test an IoT monitoring device I was designing for him.
E4 is my laptop's corner, conveniently close to the test area. Music system sitting on a vintage 18-drawer chest...each one is full of junk...God I need more space.
The roof of the Floobydust is a good place for hanging clamps and saws too!
e2.jpg (1543kb)
e3.JPG (546kb)
e4.jpg (1899kb)
f1.JPG (464kb)
f2.JPG (430kb)
f3-20190727092212.jpg (2074kb)
hognintyeight 5 years ago
Upstairs office with electronics workbench and main PC (669kb)
Donnie W. Agema 5 years ago
Messen, löten, entlöten, ... (1225kb)
Bei mir entsteht Chaos, wenn ich immer weitere Projekte anfange, während ich warte auf Teile aus China. :-( (1080kb)
Heute ist die EDV für ein Elektroniker nicht wegzudenken. (1281kb)
allerlei Rumpelkästen (1041kb)
Wer kennt das nicht? (1189kb)
WOW! Es sieht beinah ordentlich aus :-) (1043kb)
Der obligatorische gemoddete T-962 müsste aus Platzmangel in die Waschküche nebenan ausgelagert werden. (761kb)
Mein Kater findet sich auch im Labor wohl;-) (761kb)
bony7 5 years ago
Tattik 5 years ago
There are some interesting memorabilia, as chip wafer, bubble memory, a lot of old processors, nice and big pcb boards, battletech robot plans and a new Weller! :-)
Thanks for watching!
Michele Guerra
Markus Keller 5 years ago
the place where all the AVR programming happens! (3000kb)
Chris Bridge 5 years ago
Most of my equipment is Hewlett Packard. It was all sold to me as "working" with a couple exceptions as "parts or repair". Everything on my bench needed repair and calibration. Being a calibration technician, I was able to repair and calibrate most of what I bought
One thing you may not be able to see is the GPS receiver and disciplined 10 MHz oscillator. The distribution amplifier is visible on the top of the bench, an HP 5087A. So all the instruments that can accept an external 10 MHz frequency standard has been plugged in and now are locked together. This means that if a frequency is output from a generator, another frequency counter reads the exact same number. It also increases the accuracy of some instruments. I even have a stereo on the bench. All the boxes you see are projects. As parts come in, they go into their box. Information, parts everything. No more searching for parts specific to a project! Having the same boxes, they stack nicely.
-Chris
The basic configuration from the right side (436kb)
I had to sell things to get this meter after my HP 34401A died. It's a Keysight 34465A and has many improvements. I'm glad I didn't just replace the 34401A with like. (373kb)
My Tektronix 2465B failed a couple of years ago. I found somenoe who could repair it properly, so it has just come back. Yahoo! (395kb)
J CHRISTOPHER RYAN 5 years ago
Ewald Deitermann 5 years ago
Hardware workplace (2220kb)
winzurf 5 years ago
Currently working to a deadline to build and programn a remotely controllable radio station for community emergency support - could be an earthquake any day soon so no time to sort stuff out.
Pietopslag 5 years ago
met vriendelijke groet,
Piet
Knippen we er gewoon uit. (2368kb)
Toch nog wat meer erbij zoeken (2088kb)
en...voila! Het kunstwerk is af :-)) (1516kb)
Speedster2001 5 years ago
I love to be here, especially in winter times !
Mancave 1, left (2016kb)
Mancave 1, middle (2225kb)
Mancave 2, Lathe, PCB CNC, etc (1973kb)
behbeh 5 years ago
fred7944 5 years ago
Beni_Skate 5 years ago
behbeh 5 years ago
Bernd
behbeh 5 years ago
Sorry, I will change it .
Bernd
ElektorLabs 5 years ago
Also, you link to a university domain. Is this your home lab or your professional lab?
C. Nielsen 5 years ago
ElektorLabs 5 years ago
Mario Riesebeek 5 years ago
mario@riesebeek.nl
https://youtu.be/RMBjxTIKwxM