Show Your Workbench

tubelectron · May 05, 2011, 06:55:34 PM

Hi All,

I finally take the time to take some not-too-messy partial pics of my tube-based basement workbench :

A+!

NPrescott · May 05, 2011, 07:48:01 PM

That is an impressive collection Bruno. How long did that take you to amass?

And what is the large green rack piece in the first picture (top-left)?

mistahead · May 05, 2011, 08:09:15 PM

Gah - these pictures fill me with envy and conflict...

I have a perfectly good garage with workbench sitting in it, but it is downstairs with no internal access and we're now entering Melbourne winter - ok so its not Greenland but it gets cold!

Instead I'm driving the wife nuts with stacks of toolboxes and component boxes in the laundry (and filling an old dresser that I was meant to put in the garage also there) and just use the kitchen counters and temporary workstations... and my PC desk as a temporary workstations... and the coffee table... basically any flat surface I can run an extension cord to

tubelectron · May 06, 2011, 04:17:51 AM

Hi & thanks !

Amassing would be the correct term since I started as a teenager circa 1975. Many of these instrument were bought cheap in surplus or gracefully given to me "to get rid of the obsolete and save space"...

Let's do a quick inventory of the visible :

Picture 1 :
Top left : tube audio generator (green and big), tube signal-tracer (DIY)
Mid left : scope under audio generator, CD player under FM stereo generator.
Low left : tube scope, signal generator AM/FM, tube signal generator.
On table : Ampeg SVT under test with BiasTest amp analyser (DIY) and Fluke DMMs.
center mid : 2 tube-regulated HV PSU (DIY), Grundig AM/FM tube receiver.

Picture 2 and 3 :
Impedance bridges, audio generators, transistors and tube testers, Variac...

I have some useful advantages : there's an access to the outside for loading / unloading big and/or heavy gear (see below), and it is a dedicated local, just for me.

Nonetheless there is some drawbacks : I lack space for storage of amps awaiting service, the workbench table is too small, I live with the boiler so it means that in summer I am in a sauna.

A+!

deadastronaut · May 06, 2011, 05:45:29 AM

@bruno...and the prize for the most tidy diyer goes too......... drumroll...................'bruno'

Perrow · May 06, 2011, 07:55:24 AM

I've improved my workspace from this:

To this:

Considering the (low density fiberboard that sheds fibers as soon as you get near it) back of noticeboard I used to use as working surface, the new antistatic mat on top of hardwood floor boards surface is heaven.

The new storage unit helps too, just got to print some labels so I won't have to open five or six drawers each time I need something

deadastronaut · May 06, 2011, 08:04:02 AM

Quote from: deadastronaut on May 06, 2011, 05:45:29 AM
@bruno...and the prize for the most tidy diyer goes too......... drumroll...................'bruno'

erm...and perrow...(you'll have to share it..)

Perrow · May 06, 2011, 09:56:19 AM

Quote from: deadastronaut on May 06, 2011, 08:04:02 AM
Quote from: deadastronaut on May 06, 2011, 05:45:29 AM
@bruno...and the prize for the most tidy diyer goes too......... drumroll...................'bruno'

erm...and perrow...(you'll have to share it..)

That's a picture taken minutes after having rebuilt my workspace, it's most definitely not as tidy today. I still haven't solved where I'll keep my tools, so they reside on a low bench just below the lower right corner of that image where normally, hadn't my brother borrowed it, my amp lives.

tubelectron · May 06, 2011, 04:03:10 PM

Thanks Rob "deadastronaut" ! This is not so tidy everyday - especially when I'm working on pedals - but for tube amp, you need space and order, due to the size and high voltages.

Perrow - your workbench is well lighted and clear, that's appreciable for guys like me with a declining sight (it led me to think that I could do better on mine)... It is also perfect for pedal building, but you probably would lack space for tube amps chassis, if you were concerned, of course.

A+!

Skruffyhound · May 06, 2011, 06:07:58 PM

Beautiful gear Bruno, I bet most of it works too!

Perrow · May 06, 2011, 06:42:37 PM

Quote from: tubelectron on May 06, 2011, 04:03:10 PM
Perrow - your workbench is well lighted and clear, that's appreciable for guys like me with a declining sight (it led me to think that I could do better on mine)... It is also perfect for pedal building, but you probably would lack space for tube amps chassis, if you were concerned, of course.

A+!

Thanks, yeah it is well lit, even if the image exaggerates it a bit. Sadly the rest of the room is poorly lit, so every time something slips down onto the floor there's strong language and rearranging of lamps. The free floor space is also limited (clean up planned but not scheduled). Here's an image that kind of shows that:

It's in the middle of my rebuild, but the floorspace is as you can (almost) see limited.

As for tube amps, thats in progress. All parts are in the drawers or on the shelf above the workspace. Had to double check the image to see if some parts were visible. It'll be a Superfly, but that's both tubes, high voltage and most of all appropriate size enclosure needed

I guess all tube amps I'll build in that workshop will be of the smaller kind, but I think mostly I'll stick to stompboxes.

tubelectron · May 07, 2011, 04:09:19 AM

Quoteso every time something slips down onto the floor there's strong language and rearranging of lamps

Ha ! Yes, well said, Perrow : that's exactly the same for me ! And sometimes it takes me hours to retreive it - that's when I understand that clearing and clean-up of the local becomes compulsory...

I made a search about the Superfly Amp and found DougH and frequencycentral's threads, as I did not remember what it was. If I wanted to build it "like a big one" (that is to say with a speaker), I would use an Orange Micro-Crush cabinet, for example...

Just a bit bigger is my (again and again and again) VOX AC3 Top Boost as pictured below :

Quote from: Skruffyhound on May 06, 2011, 06:07:58 PM
Beautiful gear Bruno, I bet most of it works too!

Yes, Skruffyhound. All of these test instruments works, are calibrated and ready to operate. I personnally feel it mandatory when building, servicing and repairing (almost) tube amps..

A+!

terminalgs · May 19, 2011, 03:48:42 PM

olivero1 · May 19, 2011, 06:43:26 PM

Moved into my new (old) workbench. Yes I cleaned up before I took the picture

Just finished the makeshift monitor stand on the extreme left of the bench. It freed up space for my books!
Now I just need to get the light fixture Installed so I can stop using a worklight

By olivero1 at 2011-05-19

arawn · May 20, 2011, 02:05:06 AM

well here is most of mine. I'd give you more but i'm too lazy to take the pictures

terminalgs · May 20, 2011, 11:13:09 AM

Quote from: tubelectron on May 05, 2011, 06:55:34 PM
I finally take the time to take some not-too-messy partial pics of my tube-based basement workbench :

is that telefunken? or a normende?

tubelectron · May 20, 2011, 11:36:46 AM

Hi terminalgs,

If you speak about the AM/FM receiver, it's a 1957 BLAUPUNKT "Milano" model.

What are those 2 instruments I see over your workbench, in the rack, looking like "vintage blue nixies" DMM ?

A+!

terminalgs · May 20, 2011, 01:22:15 PM

Quote from: tubelectron on May 20, 2011, 11:36:46 AM
Hi terminalgs,

If you speak about the AM/FM receiver, it's a 1957 BLAUPUNKT "Milano" model.

What are those 2 instruments I see over your workbench, in the rack, looking like "vintage blue nixies" DMM ?

A+!

ah, cool. I love those 50's German radios,, the speakers sounds so nice. I've got a Nordmende "Fidelio 58" that is similar.

those two DMMs are Simpson 460's. The digital displays are VFD tubes. The Simpson's are sort of big and cumbersome
as portable units, but they are good bench DMMs. The are also rugged. I have a bad habit of forgetting that a DMM is on
ohm setting when I put the leads across high voltage to measure VDC. I've zonked a few DMMS doing that, but
these 460's seem to take it. They are also cheap.. I think they were the first DMMs simpson made.

use to have a nice Simpson 260, but I zonked it that way. Now i use those 460's and VC99 digital multimeter (fluke knock off
with capacitance, npn/pnp tester, and a 1000C temp probe). and that Tektronics 465, of course.

tubelectron · May 20, 2011, 04:08:17 PM

Ah, yes ! Those old testing instruments are true workhorses... And abuse-resistant !

I also see that you have a similar "tube project chassis" as mine, but horizontal, wider, and probably with more features (and maybe a little onboard LV/HV supply).
Here's mine - but I should improve it...

A+!

terminalgs · May 20, 2011, 04:28:35 PM

Quote from: tubelectron on May 20, 2011, 04:08:17 PM
Ah, yes ! Those old testing instruments are true workhorses... And abuse-resistant !

I also see that you have a similar "tube project chassis" as mine, but horizontal, wider, and probably with more features (and maybe a little onboard LV/HV supply).
Here's mine - but I should improve it...

Ah,, I see your project chassis has some good features,, things my lacks... I just do pre-amp stuff with it,, so my HT supply is a small 120V/240V transformer with filter caps mounted underneath, since the picture, I isolated the HT tranny so I can use a variac to drop it down from 200v or 150v or whatever.., thats the green indicator light on top,, the indicator light on bottom is for the 120v:6.3v filament transformer. one of my best additions to that is that momentary toggle in the upper left that dumps HT to ground after I turn it off.

i like olivero1's wall that he can write on...

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Show Your Workbench