PERSONALROBOTICS
UNDERSTANDING, DESIGNING & CONSTRUCTING ROBOTS & ROBOTIC SYSTEMS
■ BY VERN GRANER
HABITAT FOR HOBBIES — PART 2
IN THE PERSONAL ROBOTICS COLUMN “Habitat for Hobbies — Part 1” (June
‘08 Nuts & Volts), I featured the workbenches of some of the Nuts & Volts
readers. Not only did we get pictures of their environments, but many folks
shared their stories and philosophies about how to create a productive and
functional workspace. In this month’s column, I’ll complete the series by
showing my own workspace (it’s only fair, after all), sharing a bit of my design
approach, and announcing the winners of the Workbench Design Challenge!
A PLACE FOR
EVERYTHING AND
EVERYTHING OUT
OF PLACE?
As a kid growing up, my dad had
a well-equipped workbench in the
garage. He used it for maintaining
■ FIGURE 1. The 1957 HOWMagazine
cover featuring Wally Graner’s
home-built flathead V8. Also on the
cover were (top) Don Johnson,
(right) Al D’minco, (left) Marilyn
Dobbins, and (bottom) Wally Graner.
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September 2008
our vehicles, fixing toys (i.e.,
reassembling things someone took
apart), and reviving the occasional
kitchen appliance. He had a typical
mechanic’s toolbox with wrenches,
screwdrivers, socket sets, and the
like. Many of his tools were decades
old and proudly bore the grease
stains of their use. When my dad was
in high school, he decided he wanted
a car so with the help of his friends
he built one (from the ground up!) in
his garage with those tools. The car
ended up winning quite a few drag
races and even ended up on the
cover of HOW Magazine in 1957
(Figure 1). Maybe that’s where I
get the fearless approach I have to
tackling big projects.
My understanding of tools and
workbench design was inspired by
my dad and how he kept his bench.
However, I must admit that my dad’s
approach to workbench layout was
much more organized than mine has
turned out to be. I don’t know if I’m
just inherently less organized than
“dear ‘ol dad” or if it’s more a matter
of “form follows
function.” For example,
the function of his
workbench seemed to
be focused on taking
existing things and
restoring them to
functional states (or
performing maintenance
to keep them functional).
There was usually a
clear task to perform
and specific tools
required to do it.
Whereas my workbench
■ FIGURE 2. Vern
Graner’s workbench —
a converted closet
approximately 6’ x 10’
showing how it looks
during the course of a
typical project.
