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Comment by KaiserPro | Hacker News Reader

This is a very nice guide. Lots of good choices.

One thing I would add is that having a solid bench with a replaceable surface to do dirty/cutting things on is really useful.

I have a really solid desk I made out of scaffolding planks and recycled roof timbers. The surface is then made using either Ikea bamboo chopping boards (they were on offer) or some other replaceable work top.

Another thing that might be useful for Beginners +1 is a second hand bench top multimeter. This is only useful if you are not going to be mobile. They have the advantage that they are always there, and aren't moved much. If you have a more fancy o-scope, this isn't probably needed as you can do most things on that (once you've learnt how to.)

This is personal preference, so do take this as a personal opinion.

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A DMM is a precision tool. Especially a good 6.5 digit desktop one.

An oscilloscope is fantastically useful, but it is not a precision tool. Calibration is just OK, and most use 8-bit converters.

Analog scopes are still a thing, especially when compared with cheap digital ones that often distort things or flatly don't show them. If one has only 150 bucks to allocate for a scope, unless the digital scope added functions (math, storage, etc) are needed, the best choice is often an used analog one. Digital scopes start to become interesting when they go up in features and price, 12/14 bit ADCs, much higher s/r, high res screens, etc.

I second this advice, and would add another reason: Buy an analog scope while you can still find them for cheap! They don't make good ones anymore. The analog scope is a lifetime purchase.

But the calibration point still applies. On my Tek 454, there are calibration knobs built right into the UI. The user is expected to tweak and calibrate as they go, and depending on the measurement. (Often the shape of the waveform is all you are trying to see.)

I un-second it, if that's 'a thing', I think that was solid advice 10+ years ago, but not any more. The decent ones are less often seen, and they're collectors' items so they go for more than they're worth (to the audience the advice is directed at).

Unless doing something very particular straight off the bat (like audio or power or something) a beginner is better advised to get a cheap MSO / multichannel DSO, IMO, even computer based.

For 99% of the use cases a 4.5 digit one would be plenty. That gives you mV accuracy up to 10V.

I see "self-healing" cutting mats all the time in tech videos, with the measurement grid and angles printed on top. I'd like to get one at some point.

I recommend them, they're great. When I got mine, it seemed like a bit of a luxury, but now it seems like essential equipment. Also, I recommend getting a rotary cutter (link to illustrate the tool type -- not a recommendation for that particular instance) to go along with it.

https://www.amazon.com/Olfa-Deluxe-Handle-Rotary-Cutter/dp/B...

I'm sure they're the kind of thing that can bw ludicrously expensive, in part because they sound complicated/high-tech. Note that they can be really cheap, as in sub-£10 for A4 maybe even A3.

I just mean don't do much (or any) cutting thinking 'I should get one of those at some point' before getting one, as excuses for new tools/toys go that's a good & also cheap one!

The thing about cutting mats in an electronics lab is that you're never going to be cutting anything big. You're going to be cutting a lot of small things. So the small, dirt cheap, easy to move around ones are perfect. A rare example of cheaper being better!

Yep, exactly. I can see the value in large ESD-rated full desk-covering rolls though, if you've got the cash to splash on it. (But certainly not in a hey beginner here's how I think you should set up your desk/lab type article or anything.)

As someone who runs an University electronics lab I'd recommend to instead get on or more silicone mats (they come with slots for small parts and such). They withstand heat better (curtting mats can deform permanently when heated wrongly), prooved to be more durable and are very easy to clean.

If you need a cutting mat for actual precision cutting of paper, get one and treat it carefully.

I got some 7" x 7" silicone kitchen saucepan mats from a bargain store. 89p each.

Agree 100%: all of my cutting mats are now warped, covered in dried whatever, and rough-surfaced. Silicone is awesome.

I have both the silicone antistatic mat and a cutting mat. Different tools for different purposes. I would never solder anything on the cutting mat, nor cut anything on the silicone mat.

If I could only have one of those two, it would be the silicone mat. The cutting mat is great, but really, you can use any expendable surface in its place.

Bench meters generally have higher precision that handheld units. For voltage and current that doesn't always add much value but this is particularly useful on the Ohmmeter where you can track down shorts by small changes in resistance that can't be detected with a low precision device.

they also typically have some sort of serial output, which opens up a whole world of data logging.

I like having a completely different additional bench for "mechanical".

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