Five Tips for Your Home/Bedroom Workshop

Here are some ideas that should help make your electronics workshop, by making use of the resistor color code and appropriately coloured heatshrink sleeving

What you will need:

1. Hot air gun
2. Superglue
3. Scissors
4. Heat shrink sleeving – sizes 3.2mm (1/8”), 4.8mm (3/16”), 6.4mm (1/4”), 9.5mm (3/8”)
5. Some spare jars
6. Pack of 10 neodymium magnets
7. Double-sided tape

I found that heatshrink sleeving is readily available from the usual suppliers such as Farnell/Element 14, but not in brown, orange, or violet. However I was able to find packs of these in assorted sizes on aliexpress.com. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/80pcs-2-1-Insulat...

Step 1: Colour Code Different Screwdriver Types

So much time is wasted looking for the right tool, especially when the original markings have worn off. In particular, finding the right screwdriver in a toolbox can be a pain. I noticed that some of my screwdrivers already had some colour coding on them, but it was not very visible.

Steps:

1. For each screwdriver select a heatshrink sleeving about one and a half times the diameter of the shaft. Cut to a length of 25mm(1”).
2. Put a spot of superglue on the shaft, then slide the heatshrink sleeving over it.
3. Carefully heat the heatshrink, taking care not to melt the plastic screwdriver handle.
4. Allow to cool then rearrange in toolbox or on tool rack.

Step 2: Colour Code Different Sizes

Taking this to the next level, I decided to colour code my hex drivers using resistor colour code.

Using this code my hex drivers were fitted with heatshrink
sleeving in the same manner as above, cutting it shorter where necessary, and positioning as close to the handle as possible.

Step 3: Storing Heatshrink Sleeving

When I buy heatshrink sleeving, it is usually in loose coils with a total length of 5m. This tends to be bulky and messy to store in the workshop, unless tamed!

I prefer not to buy it in larger reels as it takes on a permanent set. I have found the best way is to cut the sleeving into 20cm (8”) lengths and keep it in appropriately sized jars. Label all the jars!

Step 4: Storing Small Parts.

When taking parts to the local hackspace to work on various projects, I have found it is very easy to lose some of the small parts such as serrated washers and grub screws in transit. The best solution is to sort them into a medical pill container.

Step 5: Finding Lost Screws

Losing small screws on a dark carpet is a pain, so I decided to pimp my vacuum cleaner.

Depending on what your machine is like your mileage may vary.

Steps:

1. Place vacuum cleaner on a flat surface and see if there is a way to apply the double sided tape to the underside, about 6mm (1/4”) above the surface.
2. Stick the magnets to the tape at regular intervals as shown above. This would be better with an electromagnet, as any steel parts would detatch when it is switched off.

Note: NOT suitable for hard floors as it may cause scratches!