My robotics work area

I thought people might be interested in seeing what my robot work area looks like. 1  Part of this last weekend was devoted to organizing the contents of the above library card catalog, putting things in appropriate drawers and labeling them. 2

You can’t really tell from the photo, but each of the Three-Dee printing ‘bots is sitting on a separate filament spindle kit.  I’ve got clear MakerBot PLA loaded underneath the Thing-O-Matic (“Flexo”) and black MakerBot ABS loaded under the Cupcake CNC (“Bender”).3 On the surface of the card catalog you can see a pink bracket I printed for my daughter so we can hang a bathroom towel4 at her level.  I’ve got a power strip duct taped down to the back left of the card catalog.  This has made the entire thing the perfect stand-up computing and soldering station.5

The drawer labels are difficult to read from that image – in large part because of my tragically terrible handwriting. 6  In case you’re interested, the highlights are:

• Two different drawers labeled, “GLOWSTICKS”
• One drawer labeled, “GLASSES”
• One drawer labeled and filled with “NOTEBOOKS”7
• One for “SPEAKER BADGES” of various kinds.  Admittedly, most are just from attending different conferences.  About a third are from when I was speaking at such conferences.
• One drawer labeled and filled with various kinds of “TAPE”
• One for “ORIGAMI” with paper and half-completed projects
• One for “SANDPAPER” of differing grades
• One drawer for “CABLES” and one for “USB CABLES”

I’m probably using almost 30 drawers, which is only half the front side of this library card catalog.  It’s got 60 such drawers on the front and back. 8 910  This monster occupies what was originally called a “living room.”  Now we just call it our “robot room.”  I was lobbing to change the name to either “The Robotics Lab,” “The Lah-BOHR-Ah-tory,” or the “Laboratory” but the idea did not receive the required 67% of household votes.

The way that I look at it – I could quadruple my robotics hobby and still have enough drawers for it all…

1. It’s a bit messy, but worlds better than before I tidied it up. [↩]
2. I had posted a description a while back, but this probably explains it all much better. [↩]
3. FYI, Flexo has a small magnet installed behind the front panel.  That way I can affix a detachable magnetic soul patch. [↩]
4. What color do you want, honey?  “Pink, PINK!”  *sigh* Now, if ONLY we had a robot that could make a pink towel hook for you…  “Daddy, stop being silly.  Of course we do!” [↩]
5. I use a long wooden tray when I solder or assemble something with small fiddly bits.  That way if I drop something it falls into the tray. [↩]
6. If anything, the JPG compression probably helps the readability. [↩]
7. Including my DIY homebrew recycled paper and shopping bag analog notebook [↩]
8. The sad part is this thing is SO huge and SO heavy that if we move, we’ll never be able to take it with us. [↩]
9. It took an unreal amount of fuel, beer, and pizza to move it to where it is today. [↩]
10. If you live in the Bay Area and are interested in it – drop me a line. [↩]