Ideal Amp Building Room ?

[stevesuk]

I am planning a new room primarily for amp building.
It measures 15 feet by 10 feet and is 8 feet high. It will be built in what is now the garage. It will have a door from the house and it's own front door with a large front window.

What I want is peoples thoughts and suggestions on what an ideal amp building room should contain. I don't intend playing excessively in there other than for testing, I have another room for that.

I am thinking, if I promise the wife a new Kitchen, I could then have some of the old units for storage and work tops for building on. Leaving enough leg room to sit comfortably at the bench.
Then, in no particular order. Jayqs fridge idea (strictly for when not working with live gear)
Plenty of sockets, component drawer racks, cable dispenser (broom pole on brackets), soldering iron stand (on the wall), low shelves for heads, floor space for combos. Speaker fixed to the wall, two for guitar CDs and one for testing amps, Small bench pillar drill, Amp building stand (two blocks of wood) or a home made swivel job, small vice on the bench. Wall space in line of sight for drawings. Computer and printer.

Any more suggestions. As I may dream about this tonight


Steve UK

[Psalm150]

How about a trained monkey that would at your signal:
-Turn on lights
-warm up the soldering iron
-discharge the filters, if any
-take off back panels, etc.

Sounds like your build room is gonna be pretty cool.

[jhguitarlab]

I took over a garage too. One thing that helped was for the wall behind the soldering bench I shot strapping into the wall and hung white 4x8 sheets of pegboard to cover the whole wall. Lot's of items hang at easy reach including clips to hold drawings and schematics.
Also a Flouresent magnifying ring lamp at each bench (critical for over 40's;-]
JH

[jhguitarlab]

Oh, and a rubber mat to stand on at each bench.

[stevesuk]

JH,

Thanks, the pegboard with wire hangers is a brilliant idea. I agree with the rubber matting, for catching solder and wire offcutsas well as insulation. I do have an illuminated magnifier, but I don't need to use it , yet !!

Steve UK

[jersey_aaron]

No shop is complete without a coffee pot.

[Plexi]

I'd say msot of which you have,or could add as you go. but tools,tools tools. Try to get good ones. the neddle nose,i like smaller versions/curved nose. Some test equipment helps. A good Multi meter,and maybe a few of them for testing things at one time. But since you've built a few amps you know what you need most..part storage,good soldering iron,heat shrink,cable ties,screws ,ground lugs,terminal strips,sockets,tubes caps,resistors..all those things.
And you already said a good test speaker A cap meter is good to have.
Decade box[substitution box] Lots of jumper leads. Scopes are good to have,but you can do alot without having one. Wire,and more wire..
Deoxit,and all those things. You can make alot of little things yourself.

Richie

[bnwitt]

I have found that lots of shelving is really important, rolling parts bins are very handy and because it gets hot and cold in the garage, Air conditioning of some type(either compressor type or in my area a swamp cooler). I would also recommend a really good chair. Here is a shot of my garage workshop:

http://www.coronaampworks.com/Shop2.JPG

heres a link to a portable a/c:

http://www.store.yahoo.com/air-n-water/ ... 0btu6.html

[EBE]

If you are going to drill chassis forget the bench top drill press and go for a bigger stand-up press. In the states you can get one at a pretty good value at harbour freight.

Norm

[bnwitt]

The only thing you have to watch out for with Harbor Freight is their handling charges. If you look at the studio pic in my last post, you'll see a floor style drill press peaking out from behind the ergo chair. It's a great unit I got from one of the Ebay tool vendors for $99. The shipping was reasonable and all charges were listed in the auction description. Harbor doesn't mention the total charges until check out. I use the press more for turrett flaring than for chassis drilling as I free hand my chassis with unibits.

[englishjim]

Lighting is definitely top of my list, but I sometimes use a head torch when I think no one is looking!

Avoid dark work benches. Mine is black and I can completely lose stuff on it if I am not careful.

[MichaelJ1965]

Don't give up on the magnifying... I would keep a decent set of 2x glasses handy. It is a world of difference. Also, I just discovered that tweazers are really handy to have around.

Get lots of flourescent lights, they are relatively cheap, and you can't have enough light.

Put in windows to...

[capnkid]

A shop Vac.
Led Zepplin and Benny Hill Posters
Disco Ball
fire extinguisher
It is all about ergonomics. I have an old kitchen table that I am going to cut the legs down on until it is a good hight for tolexing amps without bnding over. and staple cardboard to it so the wood slides around real easy.

[jude]

I don't know how much stock you want to put into this suggestion, but I have read that it is advantageous to have a wooden platform to stand on to break any connection you would have to ground. This is in case you touch a high-voltage wire by accident. If you were on bare concrete, you'd make a handy path to ground. It makes sense to me. By the way, I work in the upstairs of an all-wood construction garage with a wooden bench and the only path to ground is via the power outlets, so I think I'm fine.

I see that others have suggested rubber mats, but that's an alternative.

[stevesuk]

Bnwitt,
Your workshop is very much what I have in mind, it looks great, thanks for the photo.
Richie,
I have oscilloscopes, signal generators, decade resistance and capacitor substitution boxes. I just don't have space to use them at the moment.
JA,
We don't drink much coffee, but there will be a tea pot. LOL (How's the 36 watt drawing coming along ?)

I have a floor standing pillar drill, grinder, bench saw, sheet metal bender etc.etc. I use hole punches at the moment, but I am thinking of investing in a small lever type bench punch, after I have tried one out.
I just need to get into silk screen printing for the fascias and I can then make everything except the transformers, in house. (almost literally).

Thanks for your input folks.
Steve UK

[Aaron]

might help to have a little fan clipped on somewhere somehow to keep solder fumes out of your face. it'd only have to be little so that it wouldnt be in the way. if it was on a positionable arm it would be handy cuz then you could put it in just the right spot.

Aaron

[bubba2]

everything else has been covered so Phone line, pc, whiteboard

[Plexi]

Flouresant lights are good,lots of good lighting,but they can cause some noise problems when you have an amp chassis up on the bench.
Also don't set a PC too close to the work bench,its good to have, you can store alot of schematics on it,and info.. And as was posted, a vacuum is good to have. Mostly on old amps,that have the bugs,cob webs,rat turds, bird nest,and wasp nests. It also helps so you can vac up drillings,wire clippings etc. and things like that. One thing i do is keep a small can on the bench,and try to put all the clippings and things in that can. Thrash can is for other things. Yes shelf space is good to have,and places to keep amps you have in progress. Its good to have your tools close,so you don't have to search for them. Sounds like your set with most things..
Make a nice big sturdy bench. Some like them low and use a chair to sit in.
Some like them higher,so you are looking closer into what your working on.
Richie

[Robal]

Some sort of amp cradle is handy, especially when you are flipping over the chassis to work on the top or the bottom with the tubes in place. I bought the DST cradle and am very happy with it.

[mervgriffen]

Hmmm......i don't know what I would do if i had all that space. I attached my current workbench setup......a little corner in the bedroom of my 2-bedroom apartment. As you can see, I don't have to much space to do much. My room should be condemned its so messy. Oh, If only i could only afford a house!