Keyboard Tinker Work Bench Gallery

[darkcruix]

In case there are other ones out there who are tinkering with old keyboards and have their own work bench, this is the topic to share yours.
I know, things can always change, but I would be interested what tools / work bench others are using. I have my little "man cave" in the basement with a few items I gathered over the years. Below are a few "unfiltered" photos ...

Spoiler:

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[Muirium]

I’ve just moved, so no pics till the house is fixed up enough to resume smaller, keyboard-sized, projects.

Your wall mounted tools are smart. I fumble around much too much in dark little drawers.

What’s the Cube doing, besides providing a keyboard and mouse a posh little penthouse? For a long while I had a similarly specced (and speakered) iMac G4 providing workspace listening, including many keyboard operations like my first awakened Kishsaver…

Spoiler:

[darkcruix]

I’ve just moved, so no pics till the house is fixed up enough to resume smaller, keyboard-sized, projects.

Your wall mounted tools are smart. I fumble around much too much in dark little drawers.

What’s the Cube doing, besides providing a keyboard and mouse a posh little penthouse? For a long while I had a similarly specced (and speakered) iMac G4 providing workspace listening, including many keyboard operations like my first awakened Kishsaver…

Spoiler:

The Cube has been emptied and I fitted it with a new power supply and parts of a M1 Mac mini. I even got the proximity sensor and LED working.
I think I could retro-fit a M2 Mac mini into a iMac G4 Lamp On the 20" model it shoud be a bit simpler because of the LCD they've been using in it. Downside is the cold cathode backlight of those displays - they just fade over time or worse, lose brightness on the edges because of moisture creeping between the foil sandwich.

Love the Saltire in the background

I should get one of those:
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/AZ-FLAG-Bava ... B01LWX0QQK

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[Muirium]

Going by this, Bayern definitely has the best flag of the Länder. In my view: every well designed flag can be drawn by a child in under a minute. Animals and hordes of pentagrams be damned!

I too have long thought of modding the G4 with a Mac Mini. Bit fiddly with that old cold cathode display. Never have gotten round to it. Besides, my iMac is the middle child at 17 inch. A pretty thing but an awkward one.

[darkcruix]

Let's just say, blue and white colored flags are just awesome

[JP!]

In case there are other ones out there who are tinkering with old keyboards and have their own work bench, this is the topic to share yours.
I know, things can always change, but I would be interested what tools / work bench others are using. I have my little "man cave" in the basement with a few items I gathered over the years.

A literal "man cave" would be an ultimate dream for me. Space to work on electronics, bicycles, cars, a machine shop, wood shop, etc.

My tool collection is still in it's infacy compared to this. I would love to hear about some of your essential, favorite or interesting tools if you have the time.

[Findecanor]

I've got an old battered kitchen table propped up in my bedroom, which is always full of various stuff: most often shoe boxes of tools and materials.
Some people would call me a hoarder, but I do get rid of stuff that I don't find useful. I just need something like a separate hobby room or garage for more space for my hobbies.

[darkcruix]

...
My tool collection is still in it's infacy compared to this. I would love to hear about some of your essential, favorite or interesting tools if you have the time.

I can talk about the tools I constantly use. Some of them are inexpensive but others have been a large investment over time.

Let me talk about my soldering area first. I can talk about the other things as well, if people find it interesting.
I do like my soldering station a lot, even if it is not super expensive, it can be fitted with different standard tips and the heat can be adjusted in the range I need it (200'C to 400'C). It is the Atten AT-980D.

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The second most important piece was the de-soldering iron. Originally I bought it, because had a crusty F122 in my posession and de-soldering with the wig was a nightmare. I killed a via back then and thought I ruined the keyboard. Later when I did more and more vintage keyboard restoration or switch replacements, it is just so great to have. I bought the Komerci ZD-915. The best thing is the broad availability of the replacement parts. I already replaced the pistol once and the container.

Spoiler:

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The hot air "gun" came much later in the game, when I did more and more SMD soldering. As soon as you want to play with your own PCBs or prepare controller for a project, this is the way to go. Also, it is nice for removing surface mount stuff from vintage boards (not so common). I bought the 858D FAOKZE Hot Air Soldering Station - definitely not the best one out there, but it has air pressure adjustment and heat adjustment for less than USD 50.

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My latest purchase is my stereo microscope (AMScope SM-4TZ). It was super expensive, but my previous one was too cheap to be any good. I should have invested in this one in the beginning. I think you can do a few things with a cheap microscope as well, but if you want to do more work on things, I'd say this is the one to consider:

Spoiler:

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Obviously there a tons of things around soldering, which I use when doing stuff. Here's my table and what I always have next to the soldering mat:
- Flux Paste
- Dental Tool - especially important for vintage stuff when you need to get crusty things off of things
- Two pairs of my more expensive tweezers (titanium)
- Scraping scalpels
- Clipper
- De-solder wig (not in picture)
- Good solder spools in various sizes (not in picture)

Spoiler:

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[jsheradin]

I love seeing how others set up their work areas! I'll throw my current electronics bench out there:

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I keep meaning to build a proper workbench but the shelving units work well enough that I can never muster the motivation.

[darkcruix]

I love seeing how others set up their work areas! I'll throw my current electronics bench out there:
...
I keep meaning to build a proper workbench but the shelving units work well enough that I can never muster the motivation.

Great area - I wish I had so much space, but my 1950s house has only a partial basement. I love that corner and the lighting from under the shelf.

I am still playing with my space and moving some of my vintage computers into the attic.

[Scarpia]

I love this!!! We bought our first house three years ago and I immediately set up a workshop in the cellar — I’ve never had the luxury of having a dedicated space where I could leave my tools and projects out, so this was a priority for me.

Tool-wise, the woodworking station has an old Swedish carpenter’s workbench, a decent DeWalt table saw, a lovely vintage Inca bandsaw, a beefy disc sander, and most of the common power tools (bought second hand; DeWalt, Makita and Hilti), a cheapo modern drill press, and a growing collection of hand planes, chisels, japanese pull saws, etc.

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(I know the lighting is terrible in this corner. It’s a work in progress.)

The electronics station (which sadly sits just across from the dusty woodworking area) has a couple of old analog scopes, a nice Proxxon multitool, the TS100 soldering iron (flashed with the community firmware), a cheap bench power supply, a solder fume filter fan, and an ultrasonic cleaner. Nothing fancy here, just enough for me.

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[JP!]

I can talk about the tools I constantly use. Some of them are inexpensive but others have been a large investment over time.

Love this. A nice desoldering tool has been on my list for a while.

[darkcruix]

I love this!!! We bought our first house three years ago and I immediately set up a workshop in the cellar — I’ve never had the luxury of having a dedicated space where I could leave my tools and projects out, so this was a priority for me.

Tool-wise, the woodworking station has an old Swedish carpenter’s workbench, a decent DeWalt table saw, a lovely vintage Inca bandsaw, a beefy disc sander, and most of the common power tools (bought second hand; DeWalt, Makita and Hilti), a cheapo modern drill press, and a growing collection of hand planes, chisels, japanese pull saws, etc.

7FD663C8-077D-462C-905C-9575792B6725.jpeg

951F1CAC-B385-428D-9EA1-5EC7DB51393C.jpeg

(I know the lighting is terrible in this corner. It’s a work in progress.)

The electronics station (which sadly sits just across from the dusty woodworking area) has a couple of old analog scopes, a nice Proxxon multitool, the TS100 soldering iron (flashed with the community firmware), a cheap bench power supply, a solder fume filter fan, and an ultrasonic cleaner. Nothing fancy here, just enough for me.

1449AD6F-FDE7-4FA6-AFD8-A872B607215F.jpeg

Love these pictures - thanks so much for sharing ....!!!!