What are you favorite tools of the trade?

Aastii said:
With the sunk holes, especially on laptops and netbooks, when you have yourself a screw that won't come out, even with a magnetized screwdriver, bit of blu tack on the end of the screwdriver gets it stuck and comes out.

Same concept with getting screws in, keeps them lined up with and stuck to the screwdriver
Click to expand...

Oh, nice. When I have a stuck screw I normally turn it upside down and tap on it a bit, then when that doesn't work I normally just leave the screw sitting loose in it's hole, forget about it, and then spend ten minutes on the ground looking for it when it flies out when I pull the thing apart. :cool:

I also have one of these guys for soldering (called a "third hand):
third_hand_parts_holder.jpg

Doesn't get a ton of use but is very handy (get it?) when it does .
 
I work on SMT boards quite a bit at work. bit of a pain, really. I have a binocular microscope, a few dental picks that are ground down to sharp chisels, a some very fine hand-ground soldering iron tips. I use a Pace variable temperature soldering station.

At home, I have a simpler (read: cheaper) variable-temp soldering iron, plenty of assorted wires, switches, what have you form parted-out computers, magnifier visor (one at home, several at work)...

Oh, and you can't forget:
dremel.gif
 
Very Important
hands.jpg


All Purposes + some other screw drivers.
se-6pc-mini-screw-driver-set-with-carrying-case.jpg


Cable Management
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For Cleaning
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I use a soldering iron for some minor modding.
And some rubber bands for mounting my FAN on my heatsingk.
 
peterjames53 said:
Now here's the one that a lot of people don't know about. Hemostats were invented for surgery to clamp of blood vessels, but are very useful in electrical work. Basically their needle nose pliers that lock down. Great for all kinds of stuff: removing standoffs and jackscrews, clamping stuff to dry, holding wires in place for soldering, fishing out dropped screws in hard to reach places, etc.
Click to expand...

Yeah, stats were mentioned already. I find the locks get in my way oftentimes, so I have two sets-- one set with the locks ground off.

I also have a half-dozen different wire cutters of various utility, and a pair of round-tipped pliers (called chain-nose) for forming wires into loops (I often have to replace switches and such with 24-ga wires and smaller and do some board repair).

I also have a few crimpers-- one set for doing wire splices, another for terminals, and a set specifically for Molex connector pins. I got that one for making power harnesses.

I haven't got any for those smaller connectors, yet... maybe I'll do that one of these days.
 
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