DIY Workbench tools
 
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DIY Workbench tools

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(@tekn0mg3)
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Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 4
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When I was in high school I built an analog multimeter from a kit and I have seen the two dc bench power supplies and I am planning on building one or both, but there are other tools that could be home-brewed such as signal generators, frequency analyzers, to name a couple.  I would find it helpful to learn about these bench tools and how to build them.


   
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(@bullwinkleii)
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Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 11
 

I'm not sure if it qualifies as benchtop tools, but I've been making up a few often used components into breadboard friendly things. Just resistors, diodes, capacitors, LEDs etc, but I'm finding them really useful. 

I label them with a Dynatape printer thing (add a drop of superglue to the labels) and make them with multi strand wire so they are flexible.

I solder header pins to the ends and also add heatshrink. 

It's taught me how to solder, and I no longer have a bunch of short circuits waiting to happen with long, bare component wires on my breadboard. After a few experiments, component wires tend to turn to spaghetti (in my world at least). 

No doubt everyone else can cope with these problems, but working my way through the Arduino IDE examples has left me with a few components that look more like birds nests rather than a pristine component after a few dozen uses. 

I'm about to introduce this stuff to a kid I know, so that is the other motivation for making these bits of kit. 

breadboard components for dronebot

 

 

 

My skills include being able to move slowly forward in time, and if I really concentrate, I can sometimes tell what I'm thinking.


   
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(@tekn0mg3)
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Joined: 4 years ago
Posts: 4
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@bullwinkleii

Not quite what I was thinking, but I like the concept. You are right, it is a great way to improve your a person’s soldering skills and make useful parts for prototyping.  It also gave me another idea, for shorter connections try shrink tubing the leads leaving about a quarter of an inch for the bread board connection.


   
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