Mobile Electronics Workbench (2017) | Hacker News Reader

Mobile Electronics Workbench (2017)

nisker.net

88 pointswalterbell33 comments

A lot has changed in the last 5 years or so especially with USB-C tools. Check out the TS-80P soldering iron (https://www.adafruit.com/product/4244) and a USB-C variable power supply (lots of simple DIY designs, https://hackaday.com/2021/07/18/its-super-easy-to-build-your... ). Those plus a USB logic probe or oscilloscope depending on your needs, and a nice USB programmer/debugger like the Black Magic or a clone of it is a pretty nice and compact setup ( assuming you have a laptop too). You can even power most tools from a good USB-C power bank.

Thanks for the links! That tiny USB-C power supply is wonderful. I think I'm going to have to build something like this now. Maybe with a case that can be mounted into a portable workstation.

Ricardo - the builder of the linked power supply - also linked this DC6006L [1] by FNIRSI if a non-DIY route is more appealing.

[1]: http://www.fnirsi.cn/productinfo/556155.html

See also the newer DP100 https://detail.tmall.com/item.htm?id=676139724711

There's also the Pinecil, a pretty reputable TS-100 clone with USB-C and barrel jack, and at an impressively low price.

https://pine64.com/product/pinecil-smart-mini-portable-solde...

Tends to be out of stock though - apparently even more so currently with the v2 release.

(oh wow, v2 is rated for 88 W?)

Great news! I have the v1 and it's a really good iron that doesn't look bad at all along my two Wellers. The power and tips thermal mass is more than enough for serious solder joints where some very popular low cost soldering stations, mostly crappy Hakko clones, fail miserably.

I second these recommendations. The TS-80P has replaced my soldering station, I sold it because I don’t use it anymore.

My favorite piece of equipment is Bus Pirate device. Has 5V and 3V3; interfaces with UART, SPI, I2C and several sub-standards (MIDI, HD44780 LCDs). Nice textual interface with integrated help. Great community tools like low frequency oscilloscope, logic analyzer, and python library. It's incredible how much they packed into a tiny board.

Bus Pirate and the later Tigard are both excellent, https://embeddedsecurity.io/hacker-tools

Glasgow is delayed until later this year, https://www.crowdsupply.com/1bitsquared/glasgow

Working archive links to similar projects, referenced in the article:

Audio test and development box (2010), https://web.archive.org/web/20160625064608/http://www.supers...

Mobile electronic workbench (2011), https://web.archive.org/web/20120326183702/http://www.robove...

Brian Z (2014), https://web.archive.org/web/20140313053155/http://brianzawes...

> My oldest kid got a very noisy police toy and rather than just removing the batteries I decided to lower the volume instead.

I know it’s not the point of the post but this kind of thing gets posted by engineers entirely too often. A normal person would unscrew the plastic body and put a piece of tape on the noisemaker to achieve the same effect in two minutes flat. Zero electronics tools or skills needed.

As for the bench, it’s quite nice. As other posters have pointed out you can do a surprising amount in a modern kit with a usb recharged soldering iron, decent multimeter, and a handheld oscilloscope. I personally use stackable clear plastic divider bins I got at target instead of a drawer setup.

> stackable clear plastic divider bins I got at target

Which ones? Got a link handy?

Akro-Mils clear stackable 5" x 4" x 3" bins, standalone or hanging, optional dividers, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AADDBTI/

Sterilite clear stackable 13-5/8" x 8-1/4" x 4-7/8", https://www.homedepot.com/p/Sterilite-6-Qt-Storage-Box-16426...

Made in USA, both companies founded around 1940s.

Thanks! I've used Akro-Mills drawers before and really like them. These look nice.

There isn't a single "normie" taking apart toys to reduce the volume.

Sticking a resistor in line with a too-loud speaker or too-bright LED is about the simplest thing you can do, and won’t mess with the sound quality. It’s not like they’re hacking the firmware or something.

That’s gorgeous. I’m getting into Fpv drones and it requires lots of soldering and associated tools as well as tons of little parts. Right now it’s all over the place. I like how self contained that is. I’m gonna have to think about similar organization.

Edit. Immediately side tracked. Hey, looks like he prototyped the chest in some sort of 3d app. I should probably do the same. The first step is to learn sketch up. Now I’m 3 steps removed from actually flying drones.

That's good for getting started, but you'll probably want to switch into more powerful software before getting too invested in TinkerCad or Sketch-up. Fusion360, for what I use it for(mostly 3d printing), is a good compromise between power and learnability.

That's a bit of a price shock to be honest. Do they have any pricing for hobbyist?

For hobbyists, it is free. see their site for details, I'd link but it may get stale

Today probably some of the gear could be swapped by a multi channel DAC+ADC+IO interface connected via USB/BLE to a small netbook/tablet, so that one could generate and measure/watch either fixed voltages or more complex signals. It would need some good input protection and possibly ground decoupling on most I/Os though, but should help to shrink the portable lab even further.

What's the state of the portable oscilloscopes nowadays? Is there any modern/portable equivalent of the DS1054Z?

Alientek DS-100 ($100 + built-in screen vs. screenless 'Digilent Analog Discovery 2' @ $400 or 'Pokit Pro' @ $270). For a bench, cheaper than Rigol is UNI-T UTD2102CEX ($200 vs $450).

English manual for DS100, https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Arle2bp5tVJ_vpXCAndOkrbYDFh...

Teardowns (via machine translation?): https://blog.krybot.com/a?ID=3770a1b7-3f1b-4329-899e-056c732... & https://ee-paper.com/disassembly-instructions-of-punctual-at...

> MCU: GD32F450VET6, Zhaoyi GD32F4 series chip ... Flash: Winbond 25Q128, capacity 128Mbit ... screen: 3.5-inch 480x320 ... ADC: Beijing Times Minxin Technology Co., Ltd. MXT2088 dual eight-bit 100M ADC, pin-compatible with AD9288. MXT2088 is a dual-channel 8-bit data converter. It has an on-chip sample and hold circuit and can work at a conversion rate of 100MSPS. Each channel can work independently.

Pokit Pro can do oscilloscope although only in 10 second bursts. That said I got mine during the kickstarter at $99. Its almost double that now and im not sure its worth that much.

A good device is the Digilent Analog Discovery 2: https://digilent.com/shop/analog-discovery-2-100ms-s-usb-osc...

Micsig TO1104 used to be the tablet DS1054Z, but their prices have increased.

Neat. The wooden box version reminds me of a Civil War field desk: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=civil+war+field+desk&iax=images&ia...

Very cool. I've seen somewhat similar set ups for fly tying.

Or camp boxes: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=camp+box&iar=images&iax=images&ia=...

I've heard them called "chuck boxes".

Wow, it's cool to see how things have changes. Back in 2017 a portable hacking station was not that easy to pull off.

Now, you just need a TS100/Pinecil/etc, probably any kind of USB-PD iron will do.

We have very nice 30 in 1 ultra small screwdriver sets.

And we have Owon's multimeter/scope/signal generators. You might even be able to fit it all in the carry case that comes with those Owons!

So many repairs can easily be done with just a backpack these days, even if you're also carrying things for more physical fixes.

I fantasize about having a small setup like this — small enough for a van that I can travel around in....

These days you can go a lot smaller, thanks to USB-PD irons, small scopemeters the size of multimeters(Check out Owons new stuff) and the like.

I don't think I'd wanna use lead solder in a van though. You always wind up with tiny dots of it around and even micrograms a day of the stuff is not healthy.

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