A Man and his Tools

I have been designing electronics for 36 years, since I was 14. Even then I needed more than a soldering iron. Of course we didn't have computers then but I collected any kind of tool I could get my hands on. When I build prototypes now one of the most challenging tasks is to design and fabricate a suitable package. Even if you start with a standard box there may be numerous tasks that require or at least are made much easier with just the right tool whether it be a wood chisel or a pipe cutter. When I die, it will take someone weeks to sort out all the tools I have collected. I have found, almost without exception, that an investment in a tool always pays for itself in the long run.

You are a deprived man. You will at least need a good DMM!

Over the years I have grown my collection of tools to include a full machine shop in my basement with white tile floors. Now, along with my trusty soldering/desoldering work station, I can make just about anything I need or want; and I do!

Sometimes I even make stuff for the wife and the house. ;-)

OK, you got me on the DMM. I have a nice Fluke DMM for all sorts of troubleshooting. And a few meters of other sorts.
I tend to think of them as instruments, not tools. Don't know why.

The guy's got some nice antiques! I used to own a gas station with my brother and we had a nice collection of tools we needed as auto mechanics, but, of course, over the years they disappeared for one reason or another, mainly because we both have sons. Over the intervening years, I have gradually gotten my tool collection back to what any red-blooded American male needs -- not that I plan to work on automobiles again -- I grew to dislike it a lot!

Now I'm collecting weird tools which show up on a fairly regular basis at a local "Jocky Lot" (flea market), once purported to be the "largest in the southeast."

Oh, by the way, the part of the brain that makes men collect tools must be the same part of the brain that makes women collect shoes. One of my sisters has a shoe collection which may only be exceeded some day by my daughter, if it hasn't already. I'm sure neither one of them would take three days out of their lives to count them all.

My wife has over 40 pairs of shoes that she wears on a rotational basis. See says that as she does wear them it is not a collection, its a wardrobe.
She points out she wears each shoe more often than I look at the technical manuals I have laying around, so I can't complain.

"I guess that to an electronic engineer a computer and a soldering gun are all the tools I need."

AND

"OK, you got me on the DMM. I have a nice Fluke DMM for all sorts of troubleshooting. And a few meters of other sorts."

Hmmmmmm......

I don't know one good electronic engineer worth his salt who doesn't have at least one good pair of dikes and probably a pair or two of needlenose pliers. But I guess you don't think of them as tools either, for some reason!

Of course, a flat blade and phillips screwdrivers are usually a must for those nasty screws the mechanical engineers keep insisting be used to hold things together. Not to mention for adjusting trimmer capacitors and other components. Then there are ferrite inductor cores, which usually need a plastic "driver", so as not to damage the delicate material. Now, how many bread-boarders don't have a wire-wrap tool? And although you COULD use your dikes or needlenose pliers to strip insulation from wire ends, most EE's I know cringe at the thought of not using a precision wire stripper that cuts cleanly to an exact length without nicking the wire. Oh, not to forget about a hot air gun for heat-shrinkable tubing. Of course, you could carefully use a lighter or match, but wouldn't those be a kind of tool also? And you do soldering, but never un-soldering? I would think that a de-soldering bulb syringe or even woven copper matting to wick away the old solder could be considered a "tool".

Fess up, BRodda! How many of those do YOU use?

OK.. Lets take a quick inventory with one caveat, I'm an electronic engineer not an electrical one (I can fix your VCR, but I'll burn your house down if you want me to rewire it). Most of the stuff I have is for PCB type applications.
soldering gun and 4 types of solder
Fluke DMM
Voltmeter and Ohmmeters (pocket types)
PCB soldering stand with magnifying glass
De-soldering braid
Wire strippers
Wire cutters (I don't like the ones in my pliers)
3 sets needle nose pliers
A chip extractor
Mechanical screw retriever
Electrical tape
and probably my most used tool
My HP calculator with PSpice loaded on it.
Now if you want to consider my "bits box" then that's a whole other mater. Tons of chips and resistors and other bits and pieces.
Most of this stuff all lives a little toolbox. Of course this is for my personal use. If you want to get into the stuff that I've used professionally then that's another 5 page post.

Oh and a set of demagnetized screwdrivers.

I knew it!

ROFLMAO at BRodda who claimed that "...a computer and a soldering gun are all the tools I need."

Reminds me of Steve Martin in "The Jerk", after learning his wife is divorcing him, wandering through the house in his bathrobe, muttering, "I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray. And this paddle game, the ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need. And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need. And that's all I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one - I need this. The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure. And this. And that's all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair. ;-)

Busted I'll admit it. I tend to think of tools as the things my father and I used to put the tracks back on the bulldozer when they fell off. Big heavy metal things.
Still I haven't puttered around with gadgets much since I got married recently so I tend to forget about them.

back up a little...

No-one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise....

Our two weapons are fear and surprise... and ruthless efficiency....

Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency... and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope....

Our four... no... Amongst our weapons... Amongst our weaponry... are such elements as fear, surprise...

I'll come in again.

.

Sorry, I couldn't let that pass

'Scuse my ignorance, but what's a 'pair of dikes'?

A pair of dikes = cutting pliers

Various definitions for "dikes":

1. Earthen dams constructed to hold back seawater allowing drainage in order to create new land for agriculture. (primarily in the Netherlands)

2. Colloquial technojargon from phonetic acronym for "Diagonal Cutters"

3. Slang for females with alternative sexual preferences.

I believe number two above applies here!

Wow, that's Coop's blog! I've been into his artwork for quite some time. In fact, I just bought some of his stickers when I was in the states last month. What a surprise to find out about his tool collection, and all the other stuff he's up to. Right now I'm living in a fairly small apartment in Korea, and I really miss having tools around. Can't build much stuff without 'em. All's I have is one of those all-in-one jobbers (forgot which brand) But it works really well and I've done some cool stuff with it.... Peace....