SHTFElectronics Basic Tools
PART ONE: Small Hand Tools (continued)
Now that I’ve covered pliers,I’ll go on to ‘screwdrivery’ things. BTW, if you think I’ve missedany tools, or have a favorite in the categories I’m covering, please let meknow, and I’ll include it in an update to this.A good set of screwdrivers isessential for living our day-to-day lives. Just witness how many are stored inthe “junk drawer” in your kitchen! If you’re at all serious about working on carsor guns, you already have a good set of screwdrivers, both flat-blade andcross-point. While most electronics items can be taken apart and reassembledwith the smaller versions from your existing tool box, there are times whenyou’ll need what’s commonly called a Precision Screwdriver. These tend to be more slender in comparisonwith the smallest ones you’ll find in your tool box, and the better ones have ahandle with a rotating knob on top so that you can hold the top, while spinningthe body.
Wiha makes excellent smallscrewdrivers, and I’ve been using them for years. They’re not cheap, but if youdon’t lose or abuse them, you’ll have them for life.
Besides flat-blade andcross-point, you can also get them with hex, Torx, PoziDriv, and “ball driver”ends in standard and metric sizes.
Wiha has all their offeringshere: http://www.wihatools.com/
They make VERY nice tools.
A WORD ABOUT SCREW HEADS AND SCREW DRIVE TYPES
A while back I had an articleabout the different types of screw heads. Everybody is familiar with the typethat takes a flat-blade screwdriver to turn (“Slotted”), and everybody has usedcross-point (“Phillips head”) screws, along with hex (“ALLEN head”), and Torx(“star”).http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw_drive
And for all the differenttypes of Screw Head shapes, here’s the entry for that.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machine_screw#Screw_head_shapes
NUTDRIVERS
Nutdrivers are one of thosegreat inventions that you won’t realize how handy they are until you’ve usedthem a few times. Then, when you don’t have a set handy, and have to dig outyour ¼” drive socket set, and fumble around for some loose bits, you’ll wonderhow you got along without them. This is especially true if you do a lot ofradio work like I do.
I like the complete sets fromXcelite, as shown below.
I’ve been using a set likethis since high-school, and if you buy a new set today, they look, feel, andeven smell like the ones I’ve beenusing for 40+ years now. There’s something about the plastic handles that has avery “distinct” odor. When I bought a new set a few years ago and opened themup, I was right back in Mr. Shaw’s Electricity Shop class!Get both the standard size,and the metric size, and you’ll be set for years.
BALL DRIVERS
I’m convinced that balldrivers are one of the better inventions in the tool world. If you’ve never usedone, and then somebody loans you a set, you’ll be running out to buy them assoon as you return the loaned set.Basically, they’re a hexdriver with the end ground into a “ball” shape so that you don’t have to insertthe tool straight into the screw you’re trying to turn, as shown in the picturebelow.
They work amazingly well forgetting at socket head cap screws in odd positions where you don’t have a‘straight shot’ at the top of the screw.A few years ago I saw theregular L-shaped “Allen keys” with the ball end on both the long and short legsof the wrench, and it was one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” moments.
As usual, get both a standardset and metric set, and buy good ones. Cheap ball drivers will have the “ball”break off, leading to a stupefying amount of labor to get the busted ball outof the screw!
Bondhus makes nice sets, andyou can get their catalog here:
http://www.bondhus.com/index.html
Tuning/Alignment Tools a.k.a “Tweakers” or “DiddleSticks”
IF you do a lot of radiowork, you’re going to need a set of “tuning tools”. These are plastic shaftswith hex or screwdriver type ends. Some of them will have a small metal bladeso that the plastic doesn’t get chewed up when you run across a stuck slug in acoil or a stuck variable capacitor. The reason they’re made out of plastic, isthat if you sick a metal hex tool down into a coil slug, it will alter theinductance of the coil, making it impossible to tune.The same goes for trying toadjust small “trimmer” capacitors. A metal tool held by your hand will addenough capacitance-to-ground to throw off the circuit, making it verydifficult, or impossible, to tune properly.GC Electronics makes goodkits of these, and you can get them direct, through Amazon, and probably eBay.I’ve had mine for so long that I haven’t had to replace them, so I’m not up onwhere to buy them, other than my favorite little Hole-In-The-Wall electronicsstore. Radio Shack *used* to sell them, but I can’t find them on their website.
http://www.gcelectronics.com/
OTHER DRIVERS
Xcelite also makes a niftyset of hex drivers, and spline and Bristol drivers (VERY handy for Hallicrafters andCollins Radio work!) that look like these:
The spline and Bristol driver sets looksidentical, except the shaft of the bit is spline-shaped or Bristol-shaped,rather than hex.Yes, you can use the hexdrivers (“Allen Keys”) that look like the letter “L”, but these are far betterfor getting into tight spots, and have a much longer reach.Again, get both the standardand metric sizes. Bristolis a world of it’s own!
Other Miscellaneous Tools
One tool which I came acrossis a specialty tool used to remove the circular knurled nuts that hold thingslike switches or phone jacks to panels. You can get them in different sizes, so besure you know what size you’ll need, or you’ll wind up with multiples of thesame size, like I have.
Here’s what they look like, andthis one is from Stewart-MacDonald Company, a place that sells tools forstringed instrument repair.
Screw and Nut Starters
The most common screwstarters are the ones that have a “split blade” which wedges the blade into theslot on the screw, like below:
This one will do both slottedand cross-point screws. One tip I’ve used in the past has been to put a pieceof double-sided tape on the end of my finger, and stick the nut/screw to it.
Heathkit and Knight-Kit used to include a nice little plastic tube that would hold small hex nuts while you inserted the screw from the other side. I had a pair of these, but lost them quite some time ago. In a pinch, you can use a length of heat shrinkable tubing that fits the nut, although that starts to get expensive if you have a lot of small hex nuts to install.
That’s it for thisinstallment. Next time I’ll cover soldering and desoldering.
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