How do amp techs keep their bench area organized?

[Dolmetscher007]

I am pretty new to working on and building guitar amps and pedals. I do not yet have a dedicated "bench area." I just do my little projects at my kitchen table. I am the kind of person who really like to get and stay organized, but I don't know how "real amp techs" set up their shops. I'm sure it seems like a silly question, but I have to start somewhere, because right now, I just have several cardboard boxes from Digi-key, Mouser, Tube Depot, Amplified Parts etc. I keep most things in the box that they came in, soldering iron, oscilloscope, multi-meter. I'd love to see some videos or shop-tours of how people stay organized. Anyone have any ideas for where I might find such stuff?

[Rontone]

If you are planning on doing a lot of soldering you will need good ventilation, it takes a while but its surprising how much smoke and fumes settle on shelves and other surfaces

If you are working in the kitchen area consider your own health, if you are working with lead solder, and the various flux types that can be in them, near any exposed food etc, vintage equipment has all kinds of nasty chemicals that can leach out with fumes when heated, or just come off as dust and particles [asbestos etc] so if you are restoring /repairing or a lot of de-soldering which produces more fumes, you really want to isolate that from the kitchen

You can use old scrap PC case fans mounted to a small panel/stand to rig up a DC fan, run it from a 9 -12v pedal power supply etc very cheaply, helps if you use some venting pipe to suck it out of the window faster, I solder in my basement now and use an old bathroom vent fan with some piping running out of my basement to instantly suck it away and out of the house

Keep checking eBay and second hand sources for parts trays, they can be expensive new, but I find its worth buying electronic joblots just to get the containers, boxes and part trays, then relist the components you don't need you make some or sometimes all of the cash back, sometimes if you lucky the compartments are already labelled for you!

Keep looking at the techs on youtube, you'll get some ideas, but you'll notice some of the best techs live in absolute chaos 

[rafe]

I think there is a ratio for organized electronic workspaces ....The neater the space the more blocks of cheese eaten ......But ,I don't think the quality of work changes much either way...JMVHO    However working at the kitchen table is probably the best way to remain organized. Just don't get lead in the food

[bmccowan]

An old sturdy office desk makes a pretty good work station. I've bought two oak office desks for $25. each. You get a sturdy top, several drawers. A silicone work mat like the one sold by Rockler is nice as it will not burn and the little nubs keep small parts from rolling away. I use a fume extractor with a filter. Lots of $30 choices on the Really Big River store.
A clipboard stand is great for holding schematics.
Kitchen table - maybe if you are already divorced.