One Day Build Bonus: Electronics Station Upgrades

We made use of the electronics station in Adam’s workshop for this week’s One Day Build. Since then, Adam has made some improvements to the station, which he shares in this video for Tested Premium Members! (If you haven’t joined the Tested Premium Member community, you can do so right here.)

Comments (35)

35 thoughts on “One Day Build Bonus: Electronics Station Upgrades

  1. On the subject of wire strippers and having tried lots of different types (many bad, some good but not reliable or long lasting), does anyone have any ‘buy it for life’ suggestions?

  2. Adam, you need to get a corded soldering iron for fine work. Watching Norm use that massive soldering iron for such precision work was paintful. Hakko makes some great models for this purpose.

  3. My dad have a pair of Weidmuller Stripax from the early 90’s that still hold up very well and I know a lot of companies use them. You might also like to look for Phoenix brand wirestrippers, can’t talk personally for their reliability but they should be on par with Weidmuller.

  4. The price has gone up since he’s been promoting them. They used to be sub 200 USD, which for a cart of that quality is pretty decent.

  5. Maybe check craigslist for a galley cart?

    I see one on eBay right now for less than $200. You probably want the half-size carts (like Adam’s), BTW.

  6. I can’t believe Norm isn’t using these. I’ve had a pair for almost ten years – totally saved my finger on big jobs. Although I don’t think mine go to 22.

    Lol – so I had to spell out “ten” for it to post.

  7. Nice video.

    Off-topic, about the video stream…

    Just wondered why it streams so slow? I’m in Japan, most videos stream very quickly. This one I have to wait at least 30 seconds for 5 seconds of footage.

    I’m not too fussed about quality, I’m not watching this on a huge hidef TV. Lower quality quality would be fine. I know tested has experimented with different video players / services in the past. Even if there were different fidelity choices, this might help…

    Is it just me? I know, I know… sample size of one.

  8. Weidmüllers are great for bigger wiring job but in all purpose use the “Ideal 45-120 T5 T-Stripper Wire Stripper” are very hard to beat.

    Those things, pair of “Lindström 8150 wire cutters”, a small flat head screw driver and a proper Fluke multimeter are tools you can do probably 70% of electricians work at least working with automation(i work mainly in industrial maintenance) and things along that line. The Lindström wire cutters are probably all in all my favorite tool.

  9. Many thanks for the suggestions. I’ve tried similar styles of wirestrippers to those mentioned but liked my knock-off Weidmuller style the most. Looks like I’ll be giving that one a try.

  10. The price has gone up since he’s been promoting them. They used to be sub 200 USD, which for a cart of that quality is pretty decent.

    Yeah I got one back after seeing the first one in Adam’s shop, ended up being about $150 shipped off eBay with all the drawers, doubt I’ll ever find one that cheap again!

  11. I just joined as premium member, and was honestly hoping that the trend of short videos mostly showing results as opposed to process was due to the process only being available to paying members. I really miss more of the likes of the early videos, where we can see professionals going through the whole process of making something, how they think, how they work, no timelapse and fuzzy details. I thoroughly love those videos, and frankly am less interested in seing amateurs building kits, for example. Please think of this as positive feedback, but I still hope for more videos like the early Adam Savage one-day builds and less of the later short videos mostly describing finished products.

  12. I agree. Stop the time lapse! I would have loved to see more of the Iron Giant Bolt build (an others) but it kept on skipping the best parts. Stop being lazy in the editing and show us more of the builds. Also I want to see more than VR goggles and drones. I want to see what made me come to tested – great builds on interesting stuff. Stop starting great stuff, never to see the light of day again (for example the Millennium Falcon build). I am up to Issue 70 on the Millennium Falcon build, you guys were miles ahead when you started.

  13. True, but you can cut pieces of wood to act as shelves. I have found some of those organizer bins that fit rather neatly in the carts. With the shelves then you can slide in and out the bins. I should post a photo.

  14. Funny how Adam hates drawers so much. While i agree that “junk drawers” are where things go to die, a properly laid out tool drawer with tools laid out in place separated by lasercut foam makes work life so much more enjoyable!

    While i am sure adam at a moments notice could grab any tool he has with barely glancing for it, i find his workshop as chaotic and haphazard. It works for him, and thats all that matters. But for a guy like me, it is sensory overload and i would constantly feel surrounded by clutter.

    That being said… I have picked up a few organization tips and tricks by watching adam’s videos. Thank you!

  15. Oh and ditto on the longer videos. Its amazing how much one can pick up small time saving things by watching someone work.

    For example making automotive battery cables… I used to strip back the jacket,. Put a lug on it, then spend 10 minutes heating the lug while letting solder wick into the lug/wire joint. This would result in an ugly cable end with melted insulation i would have to use 6″ of shrink wrap to cover.

    Watching american hot rods, they had a throw away clip where, with a lug in a vice, they shoved a bunch of solder, stripped back the insulation on the cable, then blow torched the lug for 15 seconds melting the solder. They then took the cable and quickly pushed it into the melted solder. The excess solder would be pushed out of the lug before the insulation hit the lug, melting to the edge of the lug making a water tight seal.

    This 10 second throw away clip has not only made my cables stronger, and prettier, it has saved me HOURS over the past years. It is that type of thing i am constantly looking for with build videos. Time lapse brushes past all of them!

  16. As someone who keeps a very organized workspace, I think the main reason Adam structures his tools in this way is that his process is less linear. He’s used to having to problem-solve at a advertising/movie pace and budget, which means having everything out in the open where you can see it makes sense. Personally, I usually only use one or two tools for a long time, then move onto the next step in the process. At that point, staying organized and stowed away is better, allowing me to work in small spaces, or on the road.

  17. I just joined as premium member, and was honestly hoping that the trend of short videos mostly showing results as opposed to process was due to the process only being available to paying members. I really miss more of the likes of the early videos, where we can see professionals going through the whole process of making something, how they think, how they work, no timelapse and fuzzy details. I thoroughly love those videos, and frankly am less interested in seing amateurs building kits, for example. Please think of this as positive feedback, but I still hope for more videos like the early Adam Savage one-day builds and less of the later short videos mostly describing finished products.

    Totally agree. I don’t like the recent time lapses intersected with scripted conversations. I like the grunting, the head scratching and the length of the old videos. I’m happy to watch/listen to Adam sanding something repetitively then everything recounting his planned book on sanding. Please make the videos more monotonous again!

    Edit: case in point; Frank’s Spock ears full video. After watching that any one of us could replicate the project. There was a lot of silence and it wasn’t scripted, but it was real. I love tested, don’t change, more cosmonaut quality build videos please.

  18. Myself and my son loved mythbusters, but always cringed at the opening sequence of the last series where you take a giant lump of solder and melt it onto a PCB full of delicate surface mounted components. I know it’s just for the visuals, but it always rubbed us both up the wrong way, and made us realise we were watching a TV show where, occasionally, visual spectacle trumps demonstration of best practice.

    Will you be showing a video containing some demonstrations of correct electronic soldering technique one day? It’s such an art, and something of a dying art. Someone a few years ago asked me if I was any good at welding. I said no, sorry, don’t know how to do that. It turned out he meant soldering, and he just needed someone to solder a new battery clip onto a PCB.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNePGl3erSg

    This video is a little dated and doesn’t show PCB techniques. The last Tested soldering I remember was the electronics for the captain’s chair.

  19. I wish that premium members could get just a long raw footage of Adam building things… This one minute long vids are ok but the more I see Adam actually making things the more I’m proud of my Premium status… 🙂

  20. If you’re looking for a really good soldering series the Pace Basic Soldering series is great (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIT4ra6Mo0s&list=PL926EC0F1F93C1837)

    As to longer videos, even though I’ve been enjoying the much better B-roll and glam of the shorter videos (props on that), I too long for more depth. Maybe doing something like Punished Props. They have longer form twitch stream videos posted with some of them edited down to bite sized chunks. Just an idea.

    Keep making.

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