Tools you can't live without...

[fdesalvo]

...for building. 

Man, I can't do without my forceps- they work great for wrapping the ends of bus wire around turrets and for crimping the hooks on the leads connecting to pot/jack lugs.  They also make kick ass heatsinks.

I have this other tool that I got in a pack from Radio Shack.  It is a metal rod with a pointed end and a slotted end, which is bad ass for making hooks and loops in leads.  You have to open up the slot a bit, though.

I have forgotten how fun building these things is.  Part of it are the solutions you have to come up with to overcome unforseen obstacles. 

[tubesornothing]

chopstick, heatgun, scope, signal generator, alligator clips

[bnwitt]

signal tracer, bias meter/sockets, multimeter, dummy loads, side cutters, component substitution boxes.

[tubesornothing]

Hmm, I have to try a signal tracer.  I largely use my scope and sig gen, but that might come in quite handy for quick diagnosis of a broken circuit - same thing as a signal injector?

[G._Hoffman]

Well, all of them of course!


But I'm extremely fond of my soldering station, my flush side cutters (now if I could only keep the other guys in the shop from using them for guitar strings!), and my round nose pliers.


Gabriel

[RicharD]

Arm mounted lighted magnifying glass.  I don't even tin wire w/o it.

[jhadhar65]

>Arm mounted lighted magnifying glass.

You got a pic of that?

[tubesornothing]

"magnifying work light"

http://www.forlights.com/Lighting/Magnifier-Lights

[jjasilli]

Tools you can't live without

Well if taken literally, I'm pretty much with gabriel:

1.  W/o this stuff I couldn't do anything:  assorted screwdrivers; pliers; needle nose pliers; razor blade; soldering station; volt/ohm meter; hammer; chisel; el drill & assorted bits; unibits; dremel tool & assorted bits; jewelers screwdrivers; chopsticks; sharpie pens in various colors; pencil; wrenches; scissors

2.  alligator clips & leads; decade boxes; ruler; caliper; signal generator; listening amp; dummy load; metal polish; rags; scotch brite pads; sockets & wrenches

3.  table saw; router, table & asorted bits; awl; center punch

[RicharD]

Much like the ones ToN posted, except CHEAP.  I think it was like $30.00  The clamp was a PoS so I drilled 4 holes in my bench to stick the arm in.  Here's a pic of my bench from roughly 1 year ago (based upon the chassis under construction, I gigged that amp last March).  Lamp is on the far left, and I jacked the sag outta my bench since then.   :-[


Many years ago, prr said, "clip leads are your friend."  This comment was not made to me nor even on this forum, but I had a huge ass epiphany due to this single sentence.  Everything changed for me after that (as far as electronics go).  I bought a 20 pack that night.

-Richard

[jhadhar65]

Oh, anglepoise.  I thought you meant it strapped to your arm!!   ;D ;D ;D

[tubesornothing]

Buttery, I WANT YOUR VARIAC.


Gotta love the ported cab under the bench...

[RicharD]

The variac on the left was a gift from ISOTone.  Sadly enough I seldom use it anymore because it has no current meter.  If you look closely at the protoboard, it has a built in variac with both ACV & ACA meters.  The poor Ted cabinet has a blown speaker.  I forget the company's name, but it was an early knock off of an Altec.  I'm a dumb ass for blowing it.  It was probably worth something to a collector.

-Richard

[Greasehorse]

I got a variac off of Ebay and it didn't have an amp meter either so I use a Killawatt meter on the plug of the amp as it will do volts, amps, watts. $20 or so at Harbor Freight or a hundred other places. It will cover the voltmeter on my variac but I think I could use a small extension cord for it and use it on the variac. I have even wondered about using it to plug the variac into. I am not sure how to work the amps though. I'll try it some day and see.

[RicharD]

I have an IEC cable with a split in it that I can put my amprobe on.  Still not the same as an analog meter.

[fdesalvo]

I forgot about my nibbler...I fabbed up a nice vertical recto board bracket out of some aluminum!  Looks kick ass.  You guys need to learn the goodness that is the nibbler.

[Dynaflow]

 One of the most important:

]

In moderation of course, kids don't go poking around in live amps after using to many of the above tools...  ;D

Regards,

Dyna