Bottlehead Forum
General Category => Tech Tools => Topic started by: johnsonad on November 15, 2020, 07:39:18 AM
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It’s been covered before but after finishing a recent build, I thought it would be nice to talk about the minimal tools needed to build a kit.
1. Wire strippers. Buy a decent pair, they will last you forever. In the photo you see two pair which cover 10 – 30 awg.
2. Nippers. You will need these to cut leads and wire and especially useful when doing circuit board work.
3. Needle Drivers, for bending leads and getting that all important mechanical connection.
4. Helping hand device. I use it for circuit board work and to building interconnects.
5. High quality solder. This is 63/37 lead based Muiticore. Don’t comprise with cheap stuff. A roll with last many many years.
6. Solder sucker. You don’t always get it right the first time. These are cheap and work very well.
7. Muiti-tip screw driver. You can buy many, or one of these sets to cover all the bases.
8. A lighted magnifier. The older you get, the more important this becomes.
9. A cup of coffee, or two, or three…….
10. Not shown, a multimeter. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but something that multi-ranges is nice. I invested in a Fluke 87V for use in different projects but it doesn’t have to be expensive to work well and get the job done.
Hope this helps someone. Enjoy your builds!
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Re nippers - that term is more often used for a plier with cutting ends perpendicular to the handles.
The ones we use for wiring that have the cutting edges parallel to the handles are most often called side cutters or diagonal pliers.
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Do you think we should also include magnetic parts holder to the list? I find it helpful to keep all the small screws, lockwashers etc. in the initial assembly phase. I dont think it affects the amp performance in any way (as in the screws etc do not get magnetized).
Atul
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Atul, I use small containers and separate them in phases of the kit build. Hardware go in one container, capacitors in another and I sort the resistors by value before starting the boards and the rest of the build. This method has worked for me on the many kits I've finished. Everyone has a little different method on keeping the little parts for disappearing.
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I bought a cabinet with little parts drawers and just went line by line in the parts list and separated everything out. It comes in especially handy with resistors and screws since they can get confusing in the moment.
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I walk down to the warehouse and pull the part I need out of the inventory bin.
But maybe that's just me. ;D
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It’s just you………