I am in a new house and as I was debugging my circuit on this small, cramped table, I looked around me. Oodles of space. Why not build set up a decent workstation? This is how and what I ended up with.
Everyone has their own way of setting up their work table. This depends on what they do there along with space and cost constraints. This is how I set up mine. It may not work for everyone, may be not even for me! But there may be a few ideas worth borrowing.
It all starts with a decent table. Based on the space I had, the max I could fit was a 1800x750mm table. I stumbled on the Elite Furniture website when I started off with the idea of a height adjustable table. I soon abandoned the height adjustment bit. There will be so much stuff around it attached to the walls, any height adjustment would be unnecessary and even dangerous. The range is quite big and I spent many happy hours going through it and debating between various models. I liked the simple yet classy lines of the Anvil Straight Desk. I would have liked a backboard but the ones on offer were not the right size and I had serious doubts about its rigidity. One interesting feature was it had the so called modesty panel. That could have other uses. The completely white colour one (white legs/white table top) would look good in the space and kinda blend into the background.
Next would come some kind of shelving. Here I turned to the Flexi Storage Home Solutions range of shelving at Bunnings. For a few holes drilled in the wall, you can have some adjustable shelving. A few bits and pieces like a pegboard and tiny plastic bins would round it out well. The Double Slot System seemed to fit my needs. I planned on having 1200 mm wide shelves. With an 1800mm wide table, this will give me about 600mm for a monitor or two. The shelves and brackets don't come with screws. Getting screws of the right length can be a bit of a struggle. Each shelf is just 16mm. If the screw is too short, it gets pulled out, if too long, it protrudes from the top of the shelf.
I would need a horizontal strip on the wall and hang three vertical double slot strips off it. Two shelves 1200mm wide, one 300mm below and one 250mm above are fitted on it using shelf brackets. I will also use two pegboard panels and two plastic bucket panels under the shelves. The 300mm shelf will be 400mm above the table and the 250mm shelf another 280mm above. The 400mm should be sufficient to install the pegboard and bucket board. A couple of plastic covers go on the horizontal strip to hide it. I started off with six of those tiny buckets.
Next would come the parts drawers. Over the years, I have bought many such drawers. By the time I return to get a new lot a few years later, they have mysteriously disappeared and replaced by new brands. I am sure this will be no different but I took the plunge any way. I went in for the Horusdy range of drawers available on Amazon AU. Each unit is 470mm high, 380mm wide and 160mm deep. Ignore the product pictures - each unit has 8 keyholes at the back to hang them, not the two you see in the pictures. It comes in more than one configuration and I opted for two of the 60 drawer and two of the 39 drawer units. They are mounted on the modesty board (I said I have a use for it, didn't I?). Four of them fit side by side. They are out of the way, still accessible and do not get in the way of my legs. Each drawer has a removable divider - so a 60 drawer unit has 120 compartments. I am hoping there are enough of them to retire all my other parts drawers of assorted sizes and get out some of the stuff in boxes as well.
Next comes the monitor. Or monitors. I would like to have two - one attached to a laptop and the other to the HDMI microscope. The space does not allow me to put them side by side but I can put them one above the other. This is the first time when my plans and reality clashed. I bought a Heymix dual monitor arm. But contrary to the main product image, you cannot stack the monitors one above the other. As I had to open and assemble to install, it probably means I can't return it. Hundred bucks down the drain! So I turned around and got a Vision Mounts dual monitor vertical desk mount for half the price from AusPCMarket.
On the monitor stand are mounted two 27" monitors. They are Samsung T45F 27 inch monitors and I got them from Amazon AU. I did not use the stands but used the VESA mount. The modesty board has more than one position on the table. I used the one recessed to allow space for the monitor stand to be clamped to the back edge of the table. Clamping it slightly off-centre allows me to reduce the space taken by the brackets.
I repurposed an old laptop for use on the electronics workbench. Some of the keys don't work and I have no need for the laptop screen. So it is closed and tucked out of sight. I used the Logitech MK650 Combo from Amazon AU. It is compact and has bluetooth support. This allows me to use it with the laptop without using up a precious USB port for the dongle.
I installed two sets of lighting. I used two 5 metre long lengths of LED from ebay. They come with a controller and a remote.
The strips can be cut up and wired together. Which is what I did. I flipped the table over to install it and used the box underneath to prevent scratches on the table or on the floorboards. The ones under the table are one 5 metre strip cut into 3 strips. I don't need to vary the intensity so I did not use the controller or the remote. I plan to switch them on only when I am getting out components. They do a very good job of lighting up the parts drawers.
The LED lighting strip to light up the table top was a bit more labour intensive. I cut the 5 metre strip into 9 strips and distributed it, 5 on the left and 4 on the right and wired them all together. For this one, I used the controller as I may need to reduce the intensity. But I doubt it.
You can never have too many mains sockets. But I like have switch control on each socket. So I went in for two Click 6 switched outlet power boards from Bunnings. The mounting holes are at an odd distance, so I had to drill and screw two holes for each strip on the pegboard. Once all the equipment was plugged in, the wall warts of the lighting system blocked the neighbouring sockets. This left me with zero free sockets. Like I said, you can never have too many main sockets. I may have to go and get two more and mount those as well.
The entire BOM for the setup with costs and sources are below. And it may be a good time to mention that I do not get anything from any of the suppliers below - they, like everyone else, probably don't even know this site exists. I have also not put any links to the products. As Adam Bandt rightly says, Google it, mate!
| # | Item | Brand | Supplier | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Straight Desk with Modesty (White/white 1800x750mm) | Anvil | Elite Furniture | 600 | 1 | 600 |
| 2 | 558mm White Double Slot Hang Track Cover | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| 3 | 1219mm White Double Slot Hang Track | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 1 | 13 | 13 |
| 4 | 1200 x 16 x 300mm White Matte Shelf | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 1 | 17 | 17 |
| 5 | 1200 x 16 x 250mm White Matte Shelf | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 1 | 16 | 16 |
| 6 | 572 x 200mm Pegboard Backing Plate | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 2 | 17 | 34 |
| 7 | 572 x 200mm White Tote Board Backing Plate | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 2 | 12 | 24 |
| 8 | 270mm White Double Slot Bracket | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 3 | 7 | 21 |
| 9 | 220mm White Double Slot Bracket | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 3 | 6 | 18 |
| 10 | 1206mm White Double Slot Wall Strip | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 3 | 10 | 30 |
| 11 | 135 x 72 x 94mm Clear Tote Board Plastic Tub | Flexi Storage | Bunnings | 6 | 5 | 30 |
| 12 | 60 drawer parts cabinet | Horusdy | Amazon AU | 2 | 42 | 84 |
| 13 | 39 drawer parts cabinet | Horusdy | Amazon AU | 2 | 42 | 84 |
| 14 | Adjustable Dual Monitor Vertical Desk Mount | Vision Mounts | AusPCMarket | 1 | 63 | 63 |
| 15 | T45F 27" LED Monitor | Samsung | Amazon AU | 2 | 290 | 580 |
| 16 | MK650 Keyboard/Mouse Combo | Logitech | Amazon AU | 1 | 152 | 152 |
| 17 | 5 metre LED Strip Lights with controller and remote | ?? | Ebay | 2 | 22 | 44 |
| 18 | White 6 Outlet Switched Power Board | Click | Bunnings | 2 | 23 | 46 |
| TOTAL | 1866 | |||||
It all looks so neat and clean before the equipment is piled on!
Once the table was ready, it was time to set up everything else.
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