Tag Archives: Workspaces

RL78 Challenge Winner’s Workspace in Lewisville, TX

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Lewisville, TX-based electrical engineer Michael Hamilton has been a busy man. During the past 10 years, he created two companies: A&D Technologies, which supplies wireless temperature and humidity controllers, and Point & Track, which provides data-gathering apps and other business intelligence tools. And in his spare time, he designed a cloud electrofusion machine for welding 0.5″ to 2″ polyethylene fittings. It  won Second Prize in the 2012 Renesas RL78 Green Energy Challenge.

In an interview slated for publication in Circuit Cellar 273 (April 2013), Hamilton describes some of his projects, shares details about his first microcontroller design, and more.

Michael Hamilton in his workspace. Check out the CNC machine and 3-D printer.

During the interview process, he also provided a details about his workspace, in which he has a variety of interesting tools ranging from a CNC machine to a MakerBot 3-D printer. Hamilton said:

I have a three-axis CNC machine and MakerBot 3-D printer. I use the CNC machine to cut out enclosures and the 3-D printer to create bezels for LCDs and also to create 3-D prototypes. These machines are extremely useful if you need to make any precise cuts or if you want to create 3-D models of future products.

Hamilton also noted:

I recently purchased a Rigol Technologies DSA-815-TG spectrum analyzer. This device is a must-have, right behind the oscilloscope. It enables you to see all the noise/interference present in a PCB design and also test it for EMI issues.

Michael Hamilton’s test bench and DSA815

He has a completely separate area for PCB work.

A separate space for PCB projects

Overall, this is an excellent setup. Hamilton clearly has a nice collection must-have EE tools and test equipment, as well as a handy CNC machine and decent desktop storage system. The separate PCB bench is a great feature that helps keep the space orderly and clean.

As for the 3-D printer, well, it’s awesome.

A 3′ × 5′ Electronics Workspace with Vertical Storage Space to Spare

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There’s a great deal of innovative electronics engineering taking place in Europe. I review dozens of inventive projects and insightful articles from European engineers each year. And based on the quality of that content, I’m convinced that Europe’s electrical engineers, programmers, and embedded designers are among the most industrious, inspired, and creative tech specialists in the world. For this reason, I’m looking forward to the upcoming ElektorLive! 2012 event in Dortmund, Germany. The October 20 event will enable visitors from around Europe and beyond to attend electronics-related seminars and discuss innovative new technologies. It should be a rewarding opportunity to meet with and discuss projects with many of the world’s most notable designers.

Hubert Wihr’s 3′ × 5′ workspace

Burghausen, Germany-based Hubert Wihr is one of the many Europeans actively designing interesting electronic systems in his free time. At about 3′ × 5′ (approximately 90 cm × 150 cm), his workspace (shown below) doesn’t leave much room for expansion or the addition of too many new design tools. But as long as at Wihr enjoys the space and finds it suitable, he gets the thumbs up from our staff.

Take a close look ah Wihr’s space. Can you spot Florian Schäffer’s Elektor book AVR – hardware en C-programmering in de praktijk (AVR Hardware and C Programming in Practice)? I missed it the first few times reviewed the space.

Florian Schäffer’s Elektor book, AVR Hardware and C Programming in Practice

In addition to Wihr’s choice in books, we applaud his intelligent use of vertical space. Like an architect trying to add office space to a cramped city block, Wihr simply built upward. He effectively installed a few feet of vertical shelving and storage space to accommodate his PC, soldering station, test equipment, parts, and a perfectly placed cork board for tacking handwritten notes.

As for Wihr’s neatly labeled parts containers, well, you know how we feel about those. Such a storage system is an essential part of every proper workspace. If you look closely at his labels, you can see he’s storing Schraube (screws), Haken (hooks), and more.

Lastly, Wihr has a simple yet effective solution for keeping his tools in order and readily available. He smartly mounted his peripheral cables within arm’s reach to the right of his monitor. And just left of his cork board he hangs pliers, wire cutters, and a few other frequently used tools. Nice idea.

A Dutch Designer’s “Comfort Zone”

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Check out this amusing workspace submission from Henk Stegeman who lives and works in The Netherlands (which is widely referred to as the land of Elektor). We especially like his Dutch-orange power strips, which stand out in relation to the muted grey, white, and black colors of his IT equipment and furniture. 

Some might call the space busy. Others might say it’s cramped. Stegeman referred to it his “comfort zone.” He must move and shift a lot of objects before he starts to design. But, hey, whatever works, right?

Hi,

Attached you picture of my workspace.
Where ? (you might ask.)
I just move the keyboard aside.
To where ?
Euuh… (good question)

Regards

Henk
The Netherlands

Visit Circuit Cellar‘s Workspace page for more write-ups and photos of engineering workbenches and tools from around the world!

Want to share your space? Email our editorial team pics and info about your spaces!

Show Your Circuit Cellar, Hackspace, Design Space!

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Where do you design, hack, create, program, debug, and innovate? Do you work in a 20′ × 20′ space in your cellar? Do you share a small workspace in a lab at a university? Do you design in your dorm room? Do you work at your office after hours when the 9-to-5 employees are long gone? Have you built a “design cave” in your garage? Do you construct your projects at your local hackspace facility? We want to see where you design and program! Show us your personal circuit cellar or whatever you call your design space!

Email your pics, as well as a short description of the space, to editor at circuitcellar dot com.

We might feature your space on our website!

Check out these spaces:

Inside the Elektor lab in Limbricht, The Netherlands (November 2011)

 

 

Circuit Cellar columnist Robert Lacoste’s workspace in Chaville, France.

 

The Elektor Lab November 2011

A CTO’s Bright & Clean Workspace

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Our enthusiasm for bright and clean workspaces won’t wane. A tidy, well-lit space is a must-have for a designer working with microcontrollers, PCBs, and small components such as transistors and capacitors. Fergus Dixon’s Sydney, Australia-based workspace is an excellent example.

Keeping a space clean and bright is key. (Source: F. Dixon)

Dixon submitted the following information about his workspace:

The tools I use include an oscilloscope, function generator, variable DC power supply and desoldering tool. The Oscilloscope is a new Agilent DSP-X 3014A which replaces the old Tektronix TDS210 which lasted for 12 years. I looked into the Chinese Rigol scopes, but while they are value for money, opted to go for a high-end scope. The function generator is a cheap one with an annoying mains hum, and the DC supply is a GPS-3030D which has been going well for over ten years, and another would be useful. The desoldering tool is a Hakko 701 which needs to be replaced with a hot-air gun soon for small SMD work. The workspace has a workbench for assembly of prototypes and a desk. The major issue is being able to store all the parts in a logical way – the new yellow boxes work well with pullout trays for small SMD parts. There are a few new projects this month including an energy meter which is better than the rest and electric fence energizers for farms. Reverse engineering projects are the hardest and most rewarding since you pick up experience from other engineers and see different methods of building circuits.

A narrow workspace can be useful when moving to and from equipment and tools (Source: F. Dixon)

Nice cabinet space and storage for electronics components (Source: F. Dixon)

Dixon is the Chief Technical Officer at Electronic System Design (ESD), which he started to provide hardware and software engineering services to clients. After completing one of ESD’s recent projects for a client, Dixon published an article titled “Smart Switch Management: Construct and MCU-Based, Net-Enabled Controller” in Circuit Cellar 263 (June 2012).

The following excerpt is the introduction to his article about the switch controller.

“Mate, we have a new project for you you’ll like this one,” said my pal from the contract assembly company. New projects are often referred to contract assembly companies and printed circuit board (PCB) designers, so it pays to be on good terms with them. This project was to design a controller for up to 50 smart switches. Smart switches are energy-saving devices installed in office blocks to automatically turn off the lights at the end of the day to conserve energy. The controller needed an accurate real-time clock (RTC) that would pulse a 24-V AC line once or twice to turn off the smart switches at the end of the working day, and repeat at two- to three-hour intervals in case the lights were turned on. After the first prototype was finished, the Ethernet interface was added.

The first prototype featured a Microchip Technology ENC28J60 Ethernet chip on a Vero board.

The design features Microchip Technology ENC28J60 Ethernet chip

You can read the entire article in the June 2012 issue.

Share your space! Circuit Cellar is interested in finding as many workspaces as possible and sharing them with the world. Email editor at circuitcellar.com to submit photos and information about your workspace. Write “workspace” in the subject line of the email, and include info such as where you’re located (city, country), the projects you build in your space, your tech interests, your occupation, and more. If you have an interesting space, we might feature it on CircuitCellar.com!