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Bench Probe Storage

This small jig helps keeping your bench tidy while your test probes are still within arms reach. One of the things I have come to appreciate more over time is a well organised workbench. The tools on a fixed location and within easy reach. I once read a quote from someone who claimed that if you cannot find a certain part within a minute it is effectively lost for it stops you from being effective.

This is a small jig that helps in keeping the bench tidy while working at your project. It is a probe holder suited for your oscilloscope probes and DMM test leads. It consists of 2-5 pieces 19mm ( 3/4″) tube glued to a support in 10° down angle. The jig is mounted next to or between your test instruments. If your are not actually using your probes at the moment you can stick them in the jig. In this way you keep your bench free to work at. It works very much like the holder for your soldering iron.

I have build two different variants. The first has 5 probe holder tubes and is intended to be mounted at the side of the cabinet. It is build from 2 pieces 6″ wooden tongue spatulas. The 5 tubes are sawed from 3/4″ (19mm) electrical conduit pipe. These are attached to the spatulas and to each other using CA superglue. At the back of the pipe a small wad of paper towel was inserted. This was solidified and kept in place using some superglue, again. The whole jig is mounted to the side of the cabinet using some double-sided tape. Alternatively, superglue could be used but I very not tried this.

A possible variation is to mount/glue the jig to a metal chair corner. In this way the probe jig can be pushed under and held in place by your measuring instrument.

The images below will show you how it works:

The workbench is tidy and the  probes are within arms reach
The workbench is tidy and the probes are within arms reach
The 19mm tubes mounted to the two spatulas. Length is circa 120mm (5")
The 19mm tubes mounted to the two spatulas. Length is circa 120mm (5″)
Backsides are closed with some paper wads
Backsides are closed with some paper wads

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