[Video] LinusTechTips Review the Open Benchtable

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LinusTechTips are first to do a video review of the Open Benchtable. Indeed, the Open Benchtable project is still in its relative infancy as a product, but we are very happy to see that it has now enjoyed its very first product review. The guys at LinusTechTips managed to get hold of a sample with presenter Luke taking a close look at our creation. Interestingly, he does so from the perspective of an end-user that has not always been a fan of benchtables in general. Thankfully however, we find that Luke is ultimately won over, giving the OBT a hearty pat on the back for being the best benchtable around – a fact that he credits to the overclocking community.

Check out the video from Luke and the guys below:

As you can see in the video, Luke is genuinely impressed with the overall design that has been optimized for portability and ease of use. Sure, it also offers flexible usage implementations that creative minds will find inspiring, but what perhaps impressed Luke most is the way your rig looks once installed on the OBT. To quote Luke:

“So it’s portable, it assembles and disassembles elegantly, it looks freaking amazing and its sturdy all around. What’s not to like?”

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He was also impressed with the fact that the OBT arrives with both push-pin and traditional motherboard stand-offs. For his test build he opted for a mix of both so that a board could be quickly mounted but also screwed down when needed.

“I love this because ease of use is very important when it comes to a test bench and not needing to screw things in, in this case is paramount”

One thing that we have not really touched too much on in our product feature list is cable management. Luke actually makes a really good point in the video on this topic. He mentions how when you remove the stands and brackets from the main body, it creates holes. These holes actually turn out to ideal to use when approaching cable management. You can simply tie and secure the cables to the table using regular cable ties. It makes the whole rig look much more professionally assembled.

“Why are these holes a good thing? Well you can just grab some Velcro straps you can use them as cable management loops to keep everything absolutely tidy.”

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Essentially however, the Open Benchtable does a great job of making your open rig look as cool as possible. A fact that is not lost on this reviewer:

“So you end up with what it is in my opinion a very attractive mix of revealing the work you put into it while still looking beautiful.”

Admittedly in the shot below, the rig does indeed look ‘freaking amazing‘!

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If the link above isn’t working you can find the LinusTechTips review of the Open Benchtable here on their YouTube channel.

Don’t have a benchtable yet?

Order your Open Benchtable now! We are producing the table in a limited quantity and It can be ordered now for $149 USD (Community Edition – incl. Open Benchtable + traveler sleeve).

Order Now

Open Benchtable Community Projects and Source Pages Added

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The Open Benchtable project from the outset has been a collaboration of several people trying to create a unique benchtable design that exceeds what was available in the market. Indeed the name of the product is taken from the idea of being an open project where community members, owners and other creative people can contribute their ideas to help the product to evolve and improve. It is for these reasons that we have added a new section to the OBT website called ‘Community Projects’. The idea is to create a space where anyone with ideas for any OBT related accessory or tool can share their ideas or designs with other like minded individuals.

Each of these new Community Projects has four important things; the name of the author or project leader, a description of the project, the license involved, a link to support forum and the supporting files needed to get involved and make a contribution. So far we have two Community Projects added to the page, both involving simple 3D printing designs that anyone can use, tweak and possibly even improve upon. Let’s have a quick look at them:

3D Printable Replica Brackets

The first project that was added to the Community Projects section is very simplistic. By using a 3D printer capable of using LPA (bioplastic) it is in fact quite easy to print replica brackets that can used instead of the regular aluminum brackets that come with the Open Benchtable. These are identical in size and shape to the originals and surprisingly durable and resilient.

The files needed to print your own brackets as well as links to the community forum page can be found here: https://openbenchtable.com/community/3d-print-original-size-brackets-open-benchtable/

SFX to ATX Power Supply Adapter

The second Community Project actually came about when the notion of SFX power supply compatibility was mentioned on an OC-TV podcast. A HWBOT community member heard the podcast and proceeded to develop his own design for an ATX to SFX adapter. Since the design was created, Timothee (OBT Project leader) has attempted some trial runs with a 3D printer to see if the adapter actually works. So far the design does indeed work, although it needs a few modifications to be 100% compatible with the Open Benchtable. Doubtless the development will continue and a fully functioning version will emerge.

You can check out the ATX to SFX adapter here on the related Community Project page: https://openbenchtable.com/community/3d-print-sfx-atx-power-supply-adapter/

Open Source

We have also added section to the website where you can learn more about the open source nature of the OBT project and licenses and restrictions involved with using the source materials now available from the site. You can learn more on this topic here: https://openbenchtable.com/source/

Don’t Have a Benchtable Yet?

Order your Open Benchtable now! We are producing the table in a limited quantity and It can be ordered now for $149 USD (Community Edition – incl. Open Benchtable + traveler sleeve).

Order Now

[Video] Making Open Benchtable Brackets with a 3D Printer

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One of the key principles that drives the Open Benchtable Project is the concept of being open source. The hope is that creative people can take what we have achieved with the Benchtable design and build on it using whatever ideas they have. Today, just as an experiment (and also just for fun) Timothée, a key member of the OBT team, visited the local Hackerspace here in Taipei to try his hand at creating some compatible OBT brackets using a 3D printer. The results are pretty impressive.

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With the help of Kai and Mr Friday, leading members of the Taipei Hackerspace, Tim was able to get hands with a Makerbot 3D printer. Thanks to work from PureBlizz (HWBOT member) who helped create the required files needed for 3D printing, Tim was able to create some pretty good looking compatible spare brackets. The brackets were made using black LPA (bio-degradable) plastic. Of course one of the fun aspects of 3D printing is that he could have chosen any of a number of different colors.

After some experimentation Tim and the team found that using modified software to slow down the printer (underclocking?) actually resulted in fewer errors or blemishes on the final piece. Slowing down by around 40% extended the manufacturing process by ten minutes. In terms of eventual efficiency, it’s not easy to call as Tim was actually producing the brackets in single runs. A full plate of brackets is estimated to take a few hours. Another helpful hint discovered was that UHU glue help make sure small items such as the bracket stay in position.

Check out this video of the 3D printing process in action:

 

Harnessing the Creative Spirit

The OBT team is currently improving this website so that we enthusiasts can share their ideas and creations with others as well as offer access to our own designs and creations (such as the 3D printing files needed to make brackets). Indeed we’ve already seen a potentially great contribution from HWBOT member jaffers who has developed an SFX to ATX power supply bracket (it was in fact requested in the most recent OC-TV stream). This allows OBT users to mount less common SFX form factor power supplies. Check out the image below. It hasn’t been tested just yet, but I believe Tim is already planning a testing session this weekend, after of course he has managed to get it 3D printed. Some guys have all the fun.

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You can find the original post from Tim and jeffers on the HWBOT forum here.

Check out these images from the 3D printing session earlier today:

Open Benchtable, Open Source

Watch this space in the next few days as we will hopefully be launching a new part of the site dedicated to helping build a community around the Open Benchtable. We are currently building a new area which explains the purpose of the OBT project, also detailing the nature of  the actual open source licenses involved, the usage models that are allowed as well as a place where creatives can share and collaborate on ideas like the SFX adapter outlined above. We are hoping that OBT owners and enthusiasts will collaborate to come up with some really outstanding ideas. Exciting times lie head.

Don’t have a benchtable yet?

Order your Open Benchtable now! We are producing the table in a limited quantity and It can be ordered now for $149 USD (Community Edition – incl. Open Benchtable + traveler sleeve).

Order Now