Chapter 1 • Workshop Considerations
Chapter 1 • Workshop Considerations I consider there to be four mandatory working conditions for the workshop. They can be summed using the anagram LOSS and if you don’t apply these, it could be your LOSS!: Lighting Organization Safety Setup How a technically inclined hobbyist sets up his workshop is arbitrary, but having said this, the use of an economic environment, both from a materials and energy source perspective can be easily reached and left to the ingenuity of the individual. Many websites offer considerable resource on ways of establishing your workspace.
1.1 • Lighting There are a host of ways to light your workspace. I personally employ a mains LED lighting globe system that uses 3-10 watts per globe and provides equivalent lighting to 40 to 100 watts of incandescent globes. Although initially more expensive, the lifespan and economy of LED globes far exceeds that of incandescent or other types.
1.1.1 • Lighting Tips •
To achieve more directional lighting from a lamp, it should be positioned on the left upper side of the workbench for a right handed technician and vice versa for a left handed operator. This is because the light will reflect off the work and will not cast a shadow from the working hand over the work.
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In this modern age, vastly more powerful and economical lighting is available with super LED lighting being a popular choice. This type of lighting can be operated from a low voltage source and combined with solar panels and rechargeable batteries.
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I find magnification aids with light assist me greatly. A very popular variant of this is the circular fluoro light with a magnifying glass located in the centre.
1.2 • Organisation Organisation improves work procedure efficiency and hence saves time. Organisation comes in many forms, not just having neatly sorted components in trays and tools arranged in their respective places. Organisation can be seen as how you will approach or forward plan a project, be it a repair or testing, ensuring you have readily available stock parts and tools to do the job. Over the years, I have discovered the value of organisation. For example, when initially beginning to work on repairing as a young person, in a few instances it took me longer to find the reassembly fasteners of the repaired item than the time it took to repair the item itself.
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