[sdiy] workbench and static?

[Dave Magnuson]

At 07:00 PM 4/16/04 -0500, Ryan Williams wrote:
>
>hi all,
>
>Currently I've been building all my synth modules on a small card table, 
>but that is way too small. It's starting to get difficult prototyping 
>circuits on it. I was looking around for a suitable table about 6' long 
>and so far all I've seen for reasonable prices are these polyethylene 
>top folding tables.
>
>My question is if this polyethylene will be a problem for static? google 
>searches have showed me that many anti-static things are made with 
>polyethylene, but I wonder if there might be something special about 
>those products or it polyethylene just a good material for anti-static?
>
>just a note, I'm limited to about $40 so please don't reccomend anything 
>that is much more than that.
>
>thanks,
>
>-Ryan


Do you have any good carpentry skills?  You can make a very rugged table
fairly cheap:

1.  Buy a set of saw horse brackets. ($10)
2.  Buy some 2"x4" studs to build the sawhorses ($5)
3.  Buy the cheapest laminated countertop you  can find ($30+)

Build the sawhorses, plop the countertop on it, and maybe fasten the top
down with a few screws. My local Home Depot has 8 foot pieces of kitchen
countertop (26" wide, approx) for about $60, and the shorter pieces are
considerably less.  It's easy to disassemble and move around, yet it's much
stronger than a folding table.

Or, instead of laminated counter top, you could use 2 layers of 5/8" or
3/4" plywood or MDF.  a 4'x8' sheet cut in half would make a nice 2' x 8'
table (I like narrow tables because you don't have an unreachable spot at
the back)  A sheet of MDF is about $20... plywood is a bit more.  Glue the
two halves together back-to-back and screw them at 10" or 12" centers...
you'll get a *VERY* solid top.  This is how I built my own countertops for
my bar room.... I just added a poplar edge and laminated the top to make it
look nice.  

Just a thought...

Dave (who likes to pretned he's a carpenter) Magnuson




Resonant Frequency:
resfreq at hoohahrecords.com
http://www.hoohahrecords.com/resfreq/index.html
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