Soundwave Portable Electronics Workstation

As most who know me would know, I like to keep my shed neat & tidy, so the idea of building a self-contained electronics workstation is very appealing. Plus I'm often fixing other peoples stuff so the portability helps.

Note: See Steps 28 & 29 for STL 3D Printing files, Cutting List & Detail drawings.

Step 1: Cut Plywood Sheet

The whole box was built out of 1x sheet (2400x1200) 7mm ply plus a small sheet of 12mm ply for the front/work area. The thin 7mm ply made constructing the box difficult in terms of attaching hinges & using very short screws but it is worth it to keep the overall weight down in my opinion.

Step 2: Construct Main Box

Fix the main box together with PVA glue & pneumatic nail gun.

Step 3: Sliding Lamp & Fume Extraction Mounts

Braise some aluminum flat bar & 12mm tube together to make mounts for both the light & fume extraction adjustable arms (which are ex-desk lamp arms). Bolt the mounts to 300mm ball bearing drawer slides.

Note: the Fume Extraction Shroud & Duct 3D print files can be found here

Step 4: Slide to Arm Bush

3D Printed bush for the light & fume extraction adjustable arms.

Step 5: Doors & Hinges

Attach doors, using very small brass hinges & tiny 4 gauge countersunk self tappers. I had originally planed to use piano hinge but the thin 7mm ply made attaching it without a lot of modification very difficult.

Step 6: 240v Conduit Mounting

To keep the workstation organised I've included a 240v power compartment in each end of the main box. But as most conventional power boards tend to have their sockets 90 degrees to their length taking up too much space I decided to fabricate my power supply system. Using 50mm square PVC conduit. The picture above shows the a piece of ply fixed inside the conduit to act as a captured nut to mount the conduit & make it serviceable.

Step 7: 240v Sockets

In each 240v compartment there are 4x 240v 10A sockets & a overload reset switch & a 3m mains cable in the right hand compartment.

Step 8: 240v Wiring

240v socket wiring.

Step 9: Flush Mount Bracket

Add some aluminum brackets to make the front 240v sockets flush with the ply. There are 4x (2x each side) 240v sockets mounted in the front of the box for use with extra tools or to test things you are working on etc.