My Cheap Ikea Workbench

I was talking with a friend, and it turned out we both had workbenches made from Ikea tables!  Here's my setup, which is both small and pretty cheap.

ADILS legs (4) - $14 ($3.50 each).  It's hard to see from the website, but it includes screws and a mounting plate.  The plate screws onto the table top, and the leg screws into the mounting plate.

It comes in a couple of different colors and is 27.5 inches long, just right for a sit-down workspace.







LINNMON table top -  $6.  It's nice because the table top is the cheapest part.  When it gets too beat up, just run down and buy another!  It's pre-drilled to accept the ADILS mounting plate.

Everything goes together in just a couple of minutes.



blogodex = {"idx" : ["workshop", "workbench", "Ikea"]};

Workshop and Airplane Hangar

 They were talking about airplane storage on the Crashcast.  I've had great luck with this "Hanger" (get it? Hanger, Hangar?).  I had some old wire that I bent into holders for each of the planes.

I needed to take my headset when I was a guest on the show.  The charming Mrs. EastBay RC takes care of everything!











blogodex = {"toc":"The Workshop","index":"crashcast"};

Handy Glue Tip

 Here's something I did for my opened glue containers that have made them last longer and make less of a mess.

I have a box for all glues and adhesives... I put a piece of old foam in the bottom, and made a few holes and slots to hold opened containers with the opening down.

Here's a shot of the holes.  I think I made the round ones with a drill bit, and just hand-cut the slots to be more or less the right size.

My SparkFun Signature Edition Solder Fan

 So after looking around for some fans for a solder fume extractor, I came across some old PCs being recycled. I took out one of the PC cooling fans and tried that... it worked so well that it would scoot across the table under its own power!  So, I opened up one of the power supplies and removed the fan... it seems like the perfect size for a benchtop solder fan.  I hotglued it onto a piece of cardboard I cut out of an old SparkFun box I had sitting around.  Instant class and DIY cred at no extra charge!

For power, I attached a JST-RCY connector so I could power i from one of the small LiPo batteries I keep on my bench.  The fan uses .5A, so the battery in the picture will keep the fan going for two hours without problem. I measured this with my watt meter.  If you are doing anything with RC or motors you should have one.

If I would have had a spare 3-pin or 4-pin JST-XH I would have used that, so that it could have been powered off of any battery's balance port.

Here it is in action, shot with genuine shakycam: