![\"\"](\"http:\/\/tangopardo.com.ar\/2cf7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/s7302761.jpg\" "\\"Plaquetas")
<\/a>Looks nice, eh? I made it with my bare hands.<\/p><\/div>\n
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Know yourself:<\/strong><\/p>\n We engineers are all heroes capable of amazing feats but be realistic and conservative when estimating delivery dates. \u00a0Doing things in a rush never is good and almost always will result in some sort of sloppy work.<\/p>\n Pulling an all nighter is okay from time to time, more even so if you are inclined to the software side but remember to have proper rest. This is an extreme case but I think it serves well as an example: Yale Student Killed in Lathe Accident [MAKE]<\/a>. My “zone<\/em>” is normally from 17-24 and I’ll happily extend it if \u00a0I could avoid waking up early; the point is: plan your schedule so you can work on your most productive time and also have adequate resting.<\/p>\n Invest in tools:<\/strong><\/p>\n If you are in a hurry or short of money buy whatever you can, but quality tools will make your life a lot nicer. \u00a0There are many variations of the same tool, and they can be a very good time saver so while you are shopping look a bit for alternatives instead of buying just what you need that moment. My new\u00a0favorites\u00a0are angled nose pliers; with them I can work\u00a0comfortably\u00a0in a board without having to put them aside when it’s time to switch to another board. That alone saves me about forty minutes in a normal production run.<\/p>\n While we are at this buy an ergonomic chair with lumbar support and good lighting as soon as you can. It doesn’t have to be an Aeron but trust me that you will not regret buying it in a couple of years.<\/p>\n Also using both hands is a good skill to acquire; we southpaws have this more or less in our lifestyle but it also helps to relieve\/avoid RSI injuries.<\/p>\n Work in batches:<\/strong><\/p>\n This will improve your usage of time. After a while every repetitive action becomes kind of natural. For the above board I had to bend pins on 240 resistors; if I bent one, then placed it on the board, picking another… and so on I’d still be on that. After the first board I could bend them without even looking. (As soon as I can I’ll build a machine to automagically bend the tapes).<\/p>\n In this particular case I mounted first every resistor, then diodes, then optocouplers, terminals and lastly the fets.<\/p>\n Be tidy and pay attention to every possible detail:<\/strong><\/p>\n This goes both for your bench and your work. I like to have four clear areas in my bench: tools for the current task, required components, boards to be processed and finished boards; it’s almost like a fordist line. Everything else is either on another table or stored in shelves. This is a not so very good shot of my in-house workbench:<\/p>\n It could be tidier.<\/p><\/div>\n You could be a genius but at the end you’ll be seen through your work, so make things neat and tidy as possible. Many oversee little details like orienting all the resistor the same, leveling components and attaining a good finish on the solder side (clean up the flux!). Don’t do a sloppy job, it could be the difference between establishing a solid relationship and never working again with that person.<\/p>\n<\/a>