13-07-2020, 02:36 PM
(13-07-2020, 07:14 AM)Bushbaby Wrote: Good morning all,
I wasn't my intention to cause any issues so please lets not push this one any further. I was only looking for something that would be smaller and could (should be!) used on a regular basis.
I've set up the T935a albeit it takes up the end of my workbench in the workshop. The workshop is only 12' x 6' 6'' and my workbench is my daughters old pine dressing table / desk which is quite narrow but usable. The challenge with older equipment is that it generally tends to be much bigger than modern day equipment so its striking a balance to what room is readily available for it to used.
Many thanks indeed for all your help and guidance. One thing I have decided on is to sell my old DM53 - its too big and too heavy!
Best Regards
Rob
Hi Rob,
If it helps, here's a couple of pictures of my first "proper" workshop, built in a lean-to brick outhouse in our council house in the 1980s. It's a similar size to what you have - in fact, it's smaller. It's probably less than 6' wide, but alas I don't have measurements - haven't stepped foot in there since the mid 1990s, and the house has been re-developed since - that lean-to has lost internal walls and become a spacious utility room... Sorry about the picture quality - bad scans of prints from a very cheap 35mm film camera.
As you can see, that 'scope - which is similar in size to yours - isn't really taking up too much of the bench. The bench is quite deep, which is always recommended. At least 2'6", but go for 3' if you can.
For me, the secret has always been building shelving around the gear. I was lucky with that workshop, as I didn't have the 'scope when my step-dad built it for me. For for all subsequent workshops, the dimensions of the gear were factored in. My next workshop was built in a converted garage in our first house - that 10' by 8' approximately, so a bit bigger than you have, but only slightly. That one worked really well, but I hadn't discovered eBay by that point, so didn't have a huge amount of gear to accommodate. You can read about that workshop on my website: https://www.markhennessy.co.uk/workshop/ - it was very comfortable, and I miss it a lot. The bench was 10' long and 2'6" deep, but note the 18" deep side benches. I recommend something similar if you can - they were really convenient for storing all the tools you need daily and providing storage under.
My current workshop is a cellar, and it's not exactly the best environment and there's no point spending money on tanking it because of the limited height (only 5'8"). It's fairly dry for a cellar, but as I decided not to mount too much on the walls, my bench is a stand-alone construction that is on heavy-duty castors. That's good because I can easily get around the back to reach the rear panels of some of the deep rack-mount gear. The bench is only 7' long, and that's a bit small - especially as the computer takes rather more space than it did in the past (stupidly, I have a 22" monitor there - I did try using a 17" monitor for a while to persuade me to do less on the computer and more on the electronics side, but that didn't really work!). It is 3' deep though, and helps a fair bit. Because of the limited headroom, the shelves are quite tight. It's a work in progress, but quite a nice bit of woodwork, and thinking about it, I've spent the largest number of years on that bench than the others. Time flies when you have kids! There are other surfaces down there (old desks) but because I've never quite sorted out storage, those are constantly covered in junk. It's actually quite embarrassing, but again, kids... As they get older, I am starting to see gains in my spare time, but not so much energy levels!
This picture shows the idea, though it's changed a bit since then.
It's mostly 2-by-4s, which are cheap to buy from builder's merchants, and spruce ply, which is not especially attractive, but holds up to the humidity better than MDF would and is cheaper than better plywood. The bench top is chipboard loft boards (because they fit down the stairs and I had some left over from boarding the loft), topped up with a decent oak floor - cheap enough for that area, but would need deep pockets if doing a whole room! It's extravagant, especially for the light duty it sees, but I really like nice wood! The facings (around the front edge of the bench and the fronts of the shelves) are ash, rescued from work before the old Wood Norton accommodation was knocked down and a retirement village was built on the site. It's nice to look at, and a lovely reminder of days gone by. I've since faced the edge of the inner shelves to match, which was satisfying, but would have been so much easier if I'd done that at the time.
The lower shelf is about 13" deep, and is split into 19" wide "bays". The black patch panel in the middle was from my old workshop - I'm building something better for this workshop (well, it's been nearly 10 years, and I still haven't finished it!). The upper shelves are much deeper - perhaps 20" from memory, and hold things like the HP signal generator, my fast 'scope, a couple of audio analysers, etc. There's 19" rack strips on all those, and a lot of the gear is rack mount or sitting on rack shelves. As you can see, those shelves are open to the rear, so access is easy. Lots of planning meant that the ergonomics are quite good - from a seated position I can reach most things without too much of a stretch. If I ever move that bench to anther room, I'd be able to put a lot more stuff on top. However, for that to happen, I'd have to take it all apart. Not impossible, but would take an age...
Anyway, I'm hoping all this gives you some reassurance that your space really isn't all that small, and with a bit of planning and some very basic DIY you could build a very effective workshop in there - big scope and all!
You're right to move the DM53 on. That's one for a collection, not a "daily driver". I've remembered that a friend had one at university (we both brought our gear to uni to work on our projects outside of hours). It worked well, but good job he wasn't paying the electricity bills!
Hope this helps,
Mark
