These set-ups are all so nice and neat. The pictures all gave me some great ideas. I wanted to take a picture of my mess and show how the other half lives. But I keep forgetting. So I will just explain it to you guys. 

I have an old tool cart with a wheel that falls off when I hit a bump in my cracked shop floor, so my "solution" was to place the heavy MIG welder on the bottom of the cart to add weight so the wheel will not fall off. This saves me the trouble of having the entire cart flip over when the wheel falls off and dumps my laptop, scope, and all the leads I never put away onto the floor. When it did flip over I could only hope it wasn't into a puddle, but it usually was. My MIG welder repair seems to have fixed that. 

My backprobe tips are all bent up, then straightened, then bent again. So very few are straight. I often forget to shut my amp clamps off so I have given up on the battery back plates with their tiny screws. So now the nine volt battery just dangles by the wires, but I stuff it back in and it seems to hold on its on weight.

I had to replace the screen of my old dell d620 laptop myself, but because I am lazy I only put about half the little screws back in to hold the screen in. But it works great. 

And even with most of the stuff being out of the case and left in a total mess on top of my old beaten down crash cart I still can't get the pico case to shut. So I just slide it half open under my tool box when not in use.

I wouldn't have it any other way...

richmunch wrote on Oct 25^th, 2014 at 7:39pm:

A man of "temporary measures", I like that! I can do it at home on some things, at work and with tools it drives me nuts. For your amp clamps save elastic bands as you find them, you can use them to retain the batteries. One cable tie around the clamp would also do the trick.
If the mig welder works I would lay a strategic bead on the offending wheel so it can't fall out, then give the welder it's own cart, but that's just me!
It would be interesting to see a photo of your set up.
I gave the case my PICO came in to the boss to store her Snap On Modis in, I think it made it run a little faster....... She has since bought a Verus.

Hey that looks great Anthony.

With my setup, I placed the boom to the left of the diag trolley. I notice yours is to the right.
Reason for being on the left is whilst connected up under the bonnet of the vehicle, there is clear user access between the leads and the drivers door to operate the ignition as well as the scope etc.
I also made a hinged arm fitted to the end of the boom that formed a further extension to hang leads overhead to give improved clear user access between the scope & vehicle. The arm swung back over the length of the boom when not in use.
Check out my pics in the Buy & Sell area of Rod's site.

Having a well organised diag trolley setup is a must I reckon! Its great to share ideas & inspire others to get the best out of their equipment.

Hope yr new job out of the dealership world is going really well 

Nice job Anthony!

Eddie wrote on Nov 11^th, 2014 at 2:20pm:


I didn't think of that, slight oversight on my part there  .
I'll figure out a work around

The tool box swivel castors are left that was why I put the boom on the right, my other roll cabs have the swivel castors on the right.

rod_au wrote on Nov 11^th, 2014 at 5:07pm:


yeah I daisy chained them together.rod_au wrote on Nov 11^th, 2014 at 5:07pm:


So far noise hasn't been a issue. everything is shielded cable apart from inside the box.
If I do get that Issue I'll throw some switches in them, I'll keep an eye out in the next TaT mag.

Just trying to keep in mind magnets to avoid the headache Karl had with his setup.

With using it so far I think the banana sockets will only be used to hold the leads when not in use, most my gear is all BNC connectors.


rod_au wrote on Nov 11^th, 2014 at 5:07pm:


I did the same.

When connecting it all up I was about 2 m short of wire on the last channel.

rod_au wrote on Nov 11^th, 2014 at 5:07pm:


I remember the instructions up on here somewhere for your boom with the publisher documents for the stickers you used.

You should go into manufacturing the booms, I'd be willing to buy one  .

Eddie wrote on Nov 11^th, 2014 at 2:20pm:


It is going ok so far there hasn't been too many difficult problem vehicles came in, just rewired a whole bunch of aftermarket equipment on a land cruiser. That was a headache and I think I lost some hair on that one.

Spence wrote on Nov 11^th, 2014 at 6:54pm:


Thanks Spence

Anthony Lamb wrote on Nov 12^th, 2014 at 4:23am:



Yeah I get yr rationale there Anthony.
Regards castors, as another feature of my diag trolley (designed from the ground up lol), I replaced the pair of fixed castors with swivelling castor wheels to allow the cab to be moved & positioned with greater ease. With all 4 wheels swivelling, it made a huge difference with moving the entire diag trolley to just the right spot.
My pics on Rod's site didn't reveal that feature lol.

Should you  choose to do a work around for your boom orientation its not a biggee I think... as is though, it would suit LHD countries like USA 

Glad the new job is going ok so far 

Anthony Lamb wrote on Nov 13^th, 2014 at 3:58am:


This looks pretty close to what you used.

http://www.markertek.com/product/291/west-penn-wire-291-22-awg-2-conductor-cable...