shop and tool tips & tricks

[joegagan]

this thread is for sharing your best shop tips or cool & special tools that make building and repairing easier & faster.

please share!

i grew tired of trying to thread the nuts into pcb mount jacks on wahs - they seem to just want to go in crooked.

converted a crafstman #2 phillips into a nut holder and automatic centering device. it speeds up the process so much! the phillips goes in straight, it is a perfect 1/4" like a plug.  i stuffed some foam into the socket to make the nut sit at the perfect depth for easy threading.
the socket is a 12mm, you may also like it with 1/2" or 11mm for other brands and types of nuts.



this tool would be great  for amp or pedal repair people and anyone doing work with PCB mount jacks.

[joegagan]

another shop tip i like - i keep around 4 or 5 dremels all within easy reach, each loaded with proper bits and saws. saves a lot of time changing bits and blades etc.

dremels are really inexpensive, easy to own many of them for less than $150. i like to find them in pawnshops in their cases, sometimes you end up with a batch of accessories that makes the dremel itself a free bonus.

keeping a couple cordless ones for the less strenuous work is good for keeping the cord clutter down.

BITS?
- a good fiber cutoff wheel - really handy for sharpening other tools and bits along with all of the regular cutting duties. the extra life of a fiber reinforced one makes it worth the extra cost. harbor freight sells a nice three pack ( 1- 1/4" i think).

-one inch cutoff diamond coated thin cut wheel - very good for cutting traces and other thin cut duties.

-several spiral shank cutter bits - you can't beat the 1/8" round head for general use.

- a homemade small bit that tapers up in size to make quick drilling in pcbs for mods and repairs. the tapered shaft lets you use it like a unibit, just go as deep as you need for the diameter. i started with a round head 1/16th ball head to make this - will post pics.

- the little drum sander thingie.

i keep the less commonly used bits with their own collet - saves time searching for the right collet when you do end up changing bits.

[R.G.]

The little drum sander thingie is a standard item for professional dog groomers and show personnel. Most dogs don't even know you're doing their nails unless you get them too hot or grind into the quick.

[joegagan]

thanks RG, i will keep that in mind ( no doggies )

one more note about the fiber cutoff wheels. you can make them stronger by using older ground down ( 3/4" diameter or so) wheel of same type or the thin non-fiber ones behind the new one when you screw it to the  shaft. this cuts down on flex and extends the life even better.

[alanp]

Tweezers (of the kind you'd use on eyebrows and the like). Great for wire-wrangling, especially in cramped enclosures.

The brass-wool thingie for cleaning soldering iron tips -- instead of wiping it on a wet sponge, you jab it into some brass wool stuff. Mine is a Goot ST40, if that helps.

Blu-tac.

Blu-tac. (Yes, it's that useful.)

[CodeMonk]

I may have posted these before, or not.
Anyway...
Good for when you need to bend a lot of resistors (can be had at Smallbear):
Mine has 1/4 watt on one side and 1/2 watt on the other. Don't recall where I got it from.
I have since drilled a hole in the top tab area so it can be easily hung on a nail or something.



Cap tester and IC inserter:
(Cap tester from Seeed)



Wire holder for tinning wires:
Just a spring a few pieces of wood.

[Jdansti]

An old koozy works great for a neck rest when you work on your guitar or change strings. Cut each side, fill it with dry beans for weight, and then hot glue the foam scraps inside.  Just place a bath towel or carpet scrap under the guitar body when you use it.

[alanp]

Good for when you need to bend a lot of resistors (can be had at Smallbear):
Mine has 1/4 watt on one side and 1/2 watt on the other. Don't recall where I got it from.
I have since drilled a hole in the top tab area so it can be easily hung on a nail or something.

The spring is a good idea, I just use blu-tack for that though.

If you're a cheap bugger like me... I just use the blunt side of an old steak knife as a resistor lead bender. (The sharp side of the knife really isn't.)

[tommycataus]

This is a great thread!

I use vero most of the time, and I started out cutting the traces with a stanley knife. Since then I've got hold of a really cheap flat head screwdriver and filed each side down flat, so there's a little thin point in the middle. The point sits in the hole and as the screwdriver is rotated it cuts a neat little circle through the copper trace.

Another thing I use more than anything else is a pair of very fine tipped needle nosed pliers. Great for manipulating components, holding things still, bending wires and a bunch of other stuff.

I also keep a swiss army knife handy, since the blade on the can opener is great for scoring and cutting vero.

One other thing I picked up was a magnetic project mat. It is basically a small magnetic sheet with a whiteboard grid on it. I can arrange all the components I am using and get them ready for placing on the breadboard/soldering with ease: http://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/Magnetic-Project-Mat/IF145-167

[Seljer]

For tinning multi-strand wire I recently came along this method: http://www.instructables.com/id/Strip-and-Tin-Wires-Like-a-Pro/step4/Multi-core-tricks/

The key trick presented is when stripping, to only leave the insulation on at the end and use the insulation itself to twist the wire and hold it together while you're tinning it

[R.G.]

Good for when you need to bend a lot of resistors (can be had at Smallbear):
Mine has 1/4 watt on one side and 1/2 watt on the other. Don't recall where I got it from.
I have since drilled a hole in the top tab area so it can be easily hung on a nail or something.

Yep. That's an old friend of mine. I've used them since the 70s, when the only useful notches were not the 1/4 W on the far end.

If you're a cheap bugger like me... I just use the blunt side of an old steak knife as a resistor lead bender. (The sharp side of the knife really isn't.)

Last time I did a build where I needed a couple of hundred bent resistors, I took the time to cut a piece of wood so that one side was the right distance apart to make resistor leads fit 0.4" centers (the correct distance is 0.4" minus one lead diameter) and then to cut and scrape a channel in the wood so the resistor bodies would fit into it. This let me put 20-30 resistor bodies in the channel and bend them all on one side, then the other simultaneously. It took me about 30 minutes to shape the wood, but then I still have it. It's saved me hours since then.

[garcho]

old can nailed above bench to hold squeezy tools:



table vice as a cable wrangler:

[thelonious]

For tinning multi-strand wire I recently came along this method: http://www.instructables.com/id/Strip-and-Tin-Wires-Like-a-Pro/step4/Multi-core-tricks/

The key trick presented is when stripping, to only leave the insulation on at the end and use the insulation itself to twist the wire and hold it together while you're tinning it

Ah, that's a good one.

[R.G.]

table vice as a cable wrangler:

Cool. If I did that, I could cut *all* of my cords through at once. 

[garcho]

^ correction, 'spare table vice' 

[Philippe]

a small pair of straight & curved hemostats...useful for serving as a heatsink when removing or installing germanium transistors. also handy as a roach clip.

[karbomusic]

Tweezers (of the kind you'd use on eyebrows and the like). Great for wire-wrangling, especially in cramped enclosures.

The brass-wool thingie for cleaning soldering iron tips -- instead of wiping it on a wet sponge, you jab it into some brass wool stuff. Mine is a Goot ST40, if that helps.

Blu-tac.

Blu-tac. (Yes, it's that useful.)

You beat me to it on blue-tac and tweezers; can't stress tweezers enough.    And a magnifying glass either one of the big ones with lights or even the drug store 2.99 version. I wonder how many people debug builds and blindly reflow solder joints for hours when they could have found it right off with a magnifier. I find at least 1 thing on every build by simply always verifying under magnification, has saved me hours and hours of potential grief all the way down to near microscopic pieces of solder or metal sitting on a vero shorting out traces etc.

[davent]

Seem to find endless uses for a dental pick, cleaning off hardened flux, fishing wire, bending wires around terminals...

I use nut drivers for tightening the the hardware for pots, jacks and switches. The ones i bought have a beveled inside edge that makes engaging with the thin nuts dicy so i ground the nut drivers down and eliminated the bevel and now get non-slip tightening.

To protect the enclosure from the nut drivers, used a circle cutter to put holes in strips of transparency to match the nut sizes and fit one around the nut for protection while tightening.



Solder dispenser, lazy Susan bearing, shelf liner and a spool of solder, will need to add some weight on top of the spool when it starts getting down.



The old Dremel drill press stand's carriage would shift sideways just before the bit would enter the pcb, a couple pieces of heatshrink on the depth stop yoke and the shift is eliminated.



Exposure shelf for photosensitive pcbs.



PCB drilling cheat.



Vero cutter,  wood bead epoxied to a drill bit, some greasy wood.

[Jdansti]

I use old phone books and thick catalogs as sacrificial surfaces when drilling or cutting with a utility knife. It saves wear and tear on my work bench and counter tops.

[Kipper4]

An elastic band around the handles of long nose pliers makes a great mini vice or heamostat,
Roll the elastic band to the top of the handles when not needed