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What's in an electronics hobbyist's toolbox? |
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| Nov3-09, 05:33 AM | #1 |
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What's in an electronics hobbyist's toolbox?
I've occasionally been asked by some of the students I've mentored or TA'd over the years, "What's in your toolbox? What do you recommend for someone who's just starting off to put in their toolbox?" I thought it might be fun / helpful to list some of your contents / essentials!
In my (electronics) toolbox (and piled on top/around it), I have:
Plus some assorted components / odds-and-ends I haven't file away into the appropriate storage case. |
| Nov3-09, 11:24 AM | #2 |
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Mentor
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In addition to my toolbox, I also carry a Leatherman Wave on my belt all the time. So many times it's saved me a trip back to my toolbox when working on something in the lab or elsewhere.
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| Nov3-09, 11:35 AM | #3 |
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Besides the excellent above list, I still (surprise!) have my 50-year-old Simpson (model 260) multimeter. I have an old 1 KVA Variac mounted in a box. I also have a good collection of npns, n-channel fets, Hall effect sensors, LM324's, 741's etc. No digital stuff though.
Bob S |
| Nov3-09, 04:40 PM | #4 |
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What's in an electronics hobbyist's toolbox?
A bundle of crocodile clips
A variable voltage power supply is a big plus. I still use one I built in high school which has four independent outputs controlled by LM317, LM337 (negative voltage). I can't count how many times I had to use all outputs at once. DC load. It seems useless when you don't have it. I pulled a bunch of dale 1% tolerance power resistors from a junk 3 phase motor driver. I didn't know what to do with these, so just put them in a box, with switches, and with a current monitor. It turned out to be very handy, and many times, I use it in parallel with a multimeter. |
| Nov3-09, 05:25 PM | #5 |
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Crimpers for spade lugs etc.
Crimpers for RJ connectors. Wire ties Shrink tubing 30ga wire wrap wire for repairing some circuit traces soldering iron with solder (low and high temp) solder sucker wire nuts misc. machine screws |
| Nov5-09, 12:40 AM | #6 |
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I have some LEDs , Diodes , Transistors , capacitors and resistors . But don't have solar panel.
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| Dec3-09, 01:56 PM | #7 |
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Pretty good stuff already listed. I would add
Calipers and metal edged ruler Tweezers with magnifier attached on hinge "Dental" picks to use for scraping off epoxy, lifting leads Flashlight Banana jack to BNC and BNC to clip lead adapters |
| Dec3-09, 02:43 PM | #8 |
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I have almost the same "kit" as MATLAB. I would add a couple of pairs of ratcheting heomostats. They are excellent heat-sinks to protect delicate components during soldering/de-soldering. I restore old tube amps from time to time, and sometimes the solder joints in tag-board eyelets require a lot of heat, so heat-sinking is important. Also an ancient cardboard chart of component value color codes. Also, a representative set of tested-good vacuum tubes, and plug-in SS rectifiers that I made by gutting burnt tubes and soldering diodes to the appropriate pins inside the bases. And jumpers! After discharging the caps in the amps power-supply (before sticking any fingers in there), clip a really brightly colored jumper (so you'll remember to remove it before an on-bench power-up) to an appropriate place and the other end to the chassis, to keep the caps from re-growing some charge. Can of paste flux - maybe not necessary when building new circuits, but a real help when working on old circuitry. A small piece of soft leather to protect the fingers from heat. Tubes get pretty hot, and I'm sometimes impatient. Shorting plug or alligator clip. Got no pedal with an old Fender amp? Short the Vibrato jack to see if the vibrato works. Speaker motor with no cone or frame. Want to probe the amp with an O-scope to see what it's doing? Need a nice quiet load that's not purely resistive. There's more, but that's the stuff I need.
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| Dec10-09, 11:35 PM | #9 |
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Magnifying glasses - sigh...
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| Dec27-09, 07:31 AM | #10 |
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To add, banana posts & plugs. Always handy. Soldering paste. Junk from the 70's that still apparently works. (I inherited my dad's Electronics box from his days at Algonquin) One of these (Just happens to be the same one!) |
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| Dec27-09, 04:10 PM | #11 |
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Mentor
Blog Entries: 10
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I'll add a few:
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| Dec29-09, 11:50 AM | #12 |
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http://www.e-sonic.com/aboutus/cat/I...inated%201.pdf Since you can find these in a magnetic form as well, I think you have to add in the word 'claw'. For instance, this mini claw pick-up tool (distinguishing it from the giant doggy-doo ones): http://www.chi-mark.com/detail/226049/226049.html |
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| Mar8-10, 03:37 PM | #13 |
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Blog Entries: 3
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Since there have been tons of questions on this, I'm adding in the hobbyist microcontroller:
Arduino |
| Mar9-10, 02:32 PM | #14 |
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I don't keep a microprocessor, but I do keep some communications tools. The SPI/I2C box known as the Ardvaark has been great. Also, a couple of generic programmers and JTAG interfaces.
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| Mar12-10, 09:24 PM | #15 |
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Mentor
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Looks like Lattice has an attractive special offer on a CPLD Evaluation Board through the end of March 2010 (probably still not too bad after that):
http://www.latticesemi.com/corporate...ceNews031210EN |
| Mar14-10, 01:29 AM | #16 |
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This is a super deal as the mach is a good starting point for a VHDL beginner, and it appears that Lattice is licensing the compiler + tools for 1 year for free!
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| Aug6-10, 02:42 PM | #17 |
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Aside from those already listed:
Electrical tape bread board Batteries Adjustable Wall-wart An Exacto (with extra blades) - this comes in handle for cutting and exposing traces A few small pieces of Vectorboard |
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