Lab Tour & Mystery Parcel
TOC:
Lab Tour & Mystery Parcel#
Da Lab#
Naturally, as promised and with a lot of excitement involved, I present to you! The two main areas where the majority of my work happens, including their peripherals too:
(In hindsight, I didn’t have a second monitor before this journey. To cement the idea of change, I installed it with the help of my mother, so I have a much easier time reading datasheets and documentation.)
With a bit of spoiler included (as you can already see the prepared embed setup), this is where I spend a few hours of my day (98.74% of my professional and free time).
On the right, you can see the fruits of my labor during the last 1 year of my life (in 2024), which is essentially the closest storage system I created to store components with a clear structure. The majority of most useful and common components are accessible to me within arm’s reach, such as resistors (1.2Ω ~ 10MΩ), pins, diodes (1N4001…1N4004), transistors, copper for coils, solder, LEDs, etc.
On the left there is my favorite expense, which got me into 3D printing the most. It’s a Bambulab A1 Mini that surprisingly allows me to 3D print (unlike most of its competitors, which would rather want you to spend time tinkering on the printer itself, rather than model and create stuff).
In-between there’s my beloved compooter, which does the beep and the boop.
Now, onto my favorite place, the workbench!
The thing about electronics is that while you see some crazy setups over the internet with some crazy price tags on instruments, you do not really need a lot to do well or get by in the hobby. Sadly, you do need a starting budget to have an easier time, but you can absolutely also get by with just a multimeter and a soldering iron if you are new!
To give you an idea of what instruments I consider essential and useful to have, I will now list them to see what parameters I work with, if you’d like to replicate:
Fokgyem - D.C. Transistor Power Supply, Type TR-9253
This 20-kilo beast was part of one of my trade deals that I got secondhand from an electronics expert. It most definitely will outlive me! Since it’s an analog power supply, I have to be very careful with using it, otherwise it can cause all kinds of ruckus.
Parameters: Single channel, 30V, 2.5A output
Racal-Dana 9904M - Universal Counter Timer
Bought from a radio amateur, I was convinced there wouldn’t be an issue with this instrument as the seller was trustworthy to me.
Parameters: 2 channels, 10Hz-50Mhz frequency range
HAMEG(Rohde&Scwarz) HM400 Analog Oscilloscope
While there are definitely better scopes out on the market, especially considering how cheap a 2-4 channel, 100 MHz scope is, this one does the job for me perfectly. If I need to see further, I can always upgrade to the next instrument, but to tell you the truth, I love this analog scope with all my heart.
Parameters: 2 channels, 40 MHz
While there are better brands like UNI-T, it was gifted to me by my dad, which is why it is the most precious digital multimeter to me.\
Sadly, I couldn’t find information on the original, but I linked a newer model that is similar to the one I have. Parameters wise it’s similar, but by looks it has digital controls. You really do not need the highest quality, hyper-super newest model Weller iron to get work done. I believe this tool was bought for around 60 euros tops.
And… that’s it! There is not much more to see on my workbench; otherwise, some cool parts here and there! I will occasionally show you some vintage things I have around here, because I plan on fiddling around with some of them.\
After the lab was clean and ready to be used, I put out the order for my embedded setup, then I awaited its arrival.
Da Parcel#
It took exactly a day for the parcel to show up, and I wanted to share this weird anomaly on my way to picking up the parcel.\
It’s the “Two Towers”, the “All Seeing Eye” and its servant! Just kidding, these stork babies were adorable, and they are frequent neighbors to us in the summer. :)
Oh yes, but to more important matters! The parcel, of course!…
In all its, brown cardboard, shiny tape reinforced glory! The not-so-secret-and-really-obvious contents inside! Ahhh… the childhood excitement, such as the one you have on Christmas. Shiny! Let’s unpack it asap.
It contains a list of modules and the development tools I picked with the help of ChatGPT. While I like to talk against using it, there are some tasks I prefer using LLM’s for, and that is to help with tasks such as:
- Compare two dev. tools and tell me its capabilities
- Tell me what protocols both dev. tools support, so I can make sure I cover all protocols and I have access to multiple project ideas throughout my journey
- Recommend me modules which can be used and built on to practice the protocols with
- Also suggest project ideas to me according to my list of devtools, the protocol list, and also what modules I picked afterward
With that out of the way, however, and the contents being unpacked, I organized everything into a tiny little box, which is resting on my main desk, ready to be used for the next months!
