My Compact Lab briefcase. Ideas for Christmas gifts?

This is not my usual kind of post, but a friend told me it would be a good idea to share details of my compact lab briefcase, as may give ideas for gifts in these Christmas days.

First, I have to say that in the deep of my heart I feel I am a Maker Geek. I love Software, Electronics and Mechanics and over all that, I love making things covering these three disciplines, mainly in the field of automation and robotics.

During these last few years, I have been collecting items slowly to have a portable briefcase [Shop] that I could carry anywhere. The objective of this post is to give you details of all items and where to buy them if you like.

Picture 1

Here you will find all items sorted by groups, with reference to the locations in following pictures and links to manufacturers or online shops.

Electronics Instrumentation

Instrumentation is a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities.

• Multimeter (Picture 2, Item 1). [Shop] Commonly they are used to measure voltage, resistance and current, although defending on models you may measure transistors, diodes, capacitance, frequency and other. This is the most basic device in electronics. 
• LCR meter. If your multimeter do not have the functionality to measure inductance, capacitance and resistance with precision, you may need an LCR. In my briefcase I got a small measuring tool (Pic. 2, Item 2) for detecting inductances, capacitors, resistors, diodes, triodes, NPN and PNP transistors, N-channel and P-channel MOSFETs, IGBTs, JFETs, triacs and other components. [Shop]. 
• Digital Tweezers. (Pic. 2, Item 3). [Shop] This is usually is a sort of multimeter with the shape of a tweezzer, very specific to measure SMD components. In my case mine measures Inductance, capacitance, resistence, diodes, voltage, but also frequency and could generate functions (sine, pulse, noise and custom made). You could see my video about this device here (VIDEO)
• Oscilloscope. This is one of the most useful instrumentation devices in a laboratory. In my case I have two devices covering this function: a pocket size 2 channel 1Mhz, 10MSa/s Miniware DS212 unit that also has waveform generation capabilities (Pic. 2, Item 4). [Shop] (VIDEO) and a USB BitScope BS10U with active logic probes (Pic. 2, Item 4). [Shop] (VIDEO) that connected to a laptop and using an includes sw gives a bunch of good functionalities: 2 channel 100Mhz, 40 MS/s oscilloscope, waveform generator, 8 channel logic analyzer, protocol analyzer and an RF & Baseband Spectrum Analyzer.

Picture 2

• Frequency meter: is an instrument that displays the frequency of a periodic electrical signal. It is used fo testing radio equipment, measuring vibration, strain, transducers... In my case this functionality is included in the Items 3, 4 and 5 of Pic. 2 although there are many bench specific devices for this purpose.
• Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG): This tool produces waveforms that can be injected into a device under test and analyzed as they progress through it, confirming the proper operation of the device or pinpointing a fault in it. Also, user defined signals could be defined. In my case this functionality is included in the Items 3, 4 and 5 of Pic. 2 although out of this briefcase I have a portable JDS-2900 [Shop] 
• Logic Analyzer: Is an electronic instrument that captures and displays multiple signals from a digital system for an analysis based on states, timing and so on. In my case this functionality is included in the Item 5 of Pic. 2. There is anyway a pocket size logic analyzer I tested recently: The Miniware LA104 [Shop] (VIDEO)
• Protocol Analyzer: This device is used to analyze communication protocols between devices. I use protocol analyzer mainly for CAN, RS232, I2C, SPI. In my case this functionality is included in the Item 5 of Pic. 2
• Spectrum Analyzer: While an oscilloscope gives a visualization of signals in a time domain, a spectrum analyzer gives that visualization in a frequency domain. It means that the display of a spectrum analyzer has frequency on the horizontal axis and the amplitude displayed on the vertical axis. Very useful for frequency filters and RF based devices analysis. In my case this functionality is included in the Item 5 of Pic. 2
• Other: Depending on your specific needs you may use other devices like a datalogger, current clamp, EMC and EMF Measuring Instrument...

Power Supplies

A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load.

• Fixed Power Supply: These are the common power supplies we may find at home that supply a specific voltage with no control on current in specifications. In Picture 3 below we find a common 12v 3A Power supply with Barret connector (Item 6), 2A USB Power supply (Item 8) with several cables from USB-A to USB-B, MiniUSB-B, MicroUSB-B, USB-C, sometimes connected via a USB hub (Item 9) with 4 ports or more. 
• Adjustable Power Supply: There are from the simplest ones that only allow controlling the voltage, to programable power supplies that could be controlled form external devices. The most common electronics power supplies can control both voltage levels and current limits, very convenient when you want to limit the current while testing. In my briefcase I have an extremely portable Digital Power Supply. It is the Miniware MDP-XP (Item 7) [Shop] (VIDEO) that could control voltage and current (up to 30V/5A) from a wide input source (DC4.2V-30V). It also includes a display where actual current draw graphs could be visualized.
• Batteries: They allow powering devices when you do not have a power outlet available. In my case I found most useful to have an 8000mAh, 5V/2A Power Bank (Item 10) [Shop]. 

Picture 3

With the USB power supply or the 12v/3A fixed power supply, I could power any device from my briefcase if needed, although most of them already have batteries integrated. If I need to use any of them in a place where no power outlet is available, I may use the power bank + adjustable power supply or an adapter to the car lighter. 

Soldering tools

They help soldering of electronic components, cables and other stuff.

• Soldering Station: consists of one or more soldering tools connected to the main unit, which includes the controls (temperature adjustment). In my case, in order to save space, I got the Miniware TS100 60W soldering iron (Pic.4 Item 48) [Shop] with temperature control (100℃ - 400℃) with 12-24v input. 
• Heat Gun: is a device used to emit a stream of hot air, usually at temperatures between 100 °C and 550 °C. They are used in electronics to desolder and rework surface-mounted circuit board components, but also used for shrinking tube (Item 43), functional testing of overheat protection devices, in order to safely simulate an overheat condition. Usually they are bulky devices, being the smallest one I found the electric Tacklife [Shop] and the gas Ancor [Shop], but in order to have something ever smaller I decided to take a gas one (Item 49) with deflector [Shop]
• Blowtorch: This tool produce a flame from butane gas. For that purpose I use a small one (Item 49) with the proper adapter. With it's side could melt some low temperature metals properly and help curving plastic parts.
• Other Soldering and Desoldering tools: Many other tools are needed like Tin lead solder wire (Item 47), Tip tinner (Item 45), Lighter (Item 46), Several soldering tips (Items 40), Cooper mesh for desoldering (Item 42),  Desoldering suction pump (Item 44), SMD removal kit (Item 39) [Shop] and a small 10x eye magnifier (item 38) [Shop]

Picture 4

Electronic components and breakouts

It is quite convenient to have electronic parts, breakouts, cables, connectors, and any needed stuff to do your own projects wherever you go.

• Electronic components: Most common are fixed and variable resistors, capacitors, diodes, inductances, leds, voltage regulators, switches, push buttons, connectors, operational amplifiers and some other integrated circuits, but it really depends on the kind of projects you may be focused on. (Picture 5, Item 12) 
• Prototyping power breadboards and protoboards (Item 15. top)
• Breakouts: Again, it depends on what you do. I do mostly digital electronics, so common breakouts in my case are digital level conditioners, motor drives, relays boards, USB to TTL/RS422/CAN converters, displays... (Item 15)
• Simple-board computers (SBC) or Single-board microcontrollers: These programable boards (Like Raspberry-PI or Arduino) are really useful for processing and treating signals as you want. In my case I always go with an Arduino board because it gives me a quick and easy way to create programs on the go to test communications, generate signals, and so on. (Item 15)

Picture 5

• Cables and connectors: Picture 6 below shows not only cables that I may use on electronic devices (Item 51) but also for prototyping (item 50) with breadboards and testing (Item 52)

Picture 6

Hardware and other tools

This really depends on how much you have to do in this part, but for me the most basic elements for a maker (that could fit in a briefcase, remember!) are as follows:

• Screwdrivers of different types (Pic.5 Item16), (Pic.7 Item 19, 20 and 31)
• Minidrill (Item 29) [Shop] with several bits, cutting disks and sanding bits (Pic.5 Item 14)
• 3D Printing Pen (Item 28) very useful to repair ABS and PLA broken parts that you manufactured with your bench 3D printer or to create small parts on the go. The smallest I found is the RP900A [Shop]. Some PLA and ABS filament is needed (Pic.5 Item 17)
• Third hand with magnifier and light: This is so useful! I got the Toolour model that I stored in the first compartment (Pic.1) [Shop]
• Other common tools: Cutter (Item 22), Tweezers (Item 23), 3 colours pen (Item18), wire-stripper (24), protractor (25) several metallic rulers (Pic.7-Item 26 and Pic.1), Calliper (Item 27), Scissors (36), headlamp (Pic.5 Item 13), Nuts and bolts (Pic.5 Item 11)....

Picture 7

In Summary

With this briefcase I feel the liberty to continue doing makers stuff at any moment, wherever I go without carrying big boxes full of things.

I hope you get some ideas for this post to cover your needs or get nice gifts for people that matters to you!

Alejandro Alonso