Cable ties rule. Also, a good socket set is priceless. What do you guys use to cut bosch extrusion. We use a non-ferrous metal cutting mitre saw blade.

We've been using a chop saw with a good ol' carbide tipped wood blade. Never got around to buying a metal blade. We've got one for this year though.

On the topic of tools, I think a sawzall and a full set of quality hex ball drivers are a must. http://www.bondhus.com Sometimes OSH sells these.

Ooooo tools.....

Thanks, I was always afraid of using carbide wood blades. What kind of life do you get out of them? In the begginning of last year we tried using one of those steel cutting cutoff blades. I'll put it this way, there was lots of melted aluminum and carcinogenic smoke.

The wood blade is very very loud cutting aluminum. The teeth looked a little deformed by the end of the 6 weeks but it still cuts wood and metal just as good as it ever has. It seems to work okay if hack is your style :D but I would recommend a fine tooth metal cutting blade.

And never use the black woven cutoff blades for aluminum.

Well the basics are pretty well covered already, but here's some items you might overlook:
Bolts/screws/shoulder bolts. Decide on standardized heads and threadcounts ( I suggest hex heads). Get lots of extra tools and taps for these. Get a parts bin and carry lots of extras. A good assortment of washers and lock washers will come in handy. Don't use permanent loc-tite.

Scrap plywood, aluminum, caster wheels, etc. for prototyping. Being able to throw togethor a prototype for something before you start building it/CAD'ing it will be a life saver. Our robots normally start out as pecies of plywood clamped to a furniture dolly.

A real drill press. At the very least get a decent corded drill. Cordless drills are nice for last minute details, but do not expect to make anything square with them.

Finally, don't forget safety goggles and shop rags.

http://www2.usfirst.org/2003comp/Adm...l_Handling.pdf

Page 10 of the Administrative, Shipping & Drayage Information pdf from the FIRST site contains a large list of almost everything listed above and then some.

If you don't believe 'and then some' ...
I rest my case.

tools
 

Don't forget paper & pencils (cheaper to scrap then parts)
Invest in a GOOD tool box (lasts for years, buy larger then needed)
parting tip, when using carbide "wood" blades on alum.
try a little WD40 for cutting oil, (I have used skill saw on
1 1/2 6160 alum plate with on prob.)

Yeah, those work as good as cleaning aluminum on a grinding wheel!! <--Another bad move I made my first year on the team!

We did that last year because our leader wouldn't listen to me when I told him we needed a carbon tipped blade. He figured that a black woven blade cost 10 bux and cut steel, a hard metal so aluminum would be a cakewalk. We were too poor to even buy a 80 dollar(CDN) blade (we only had 2 robot batteries for peets sake!). Even after I gave him an long explanation about carcinogenic gas and using the grind wheel example we still used it. We had the world's smelliest and messiest cuts. The area that was cut turned to slag hahaha. We eventually bummed a carbon blade from a members father. The workshop was very smelly and hazy after the woven steel blade cuts.

Re: Tools for Rookie Team?
 

ok, this is not exactly to topic, but this was the closes thread that i found that was still open. what would be the best aloy for drill bits for our aplications (Al aloys and steel). i'm not too clear on the differences in all thouse carbide tungdsten molly... alloys and how it translates to drill between sharpening and drill bit strength, as well as likelyhood of breaking. Could someone wiith machine shop experience please tell me. i was thinkinh of maybe m42 steel drill bits set. 115 bits 1/16"-1/2" by 1/64"th fractions, and then by 1/32" to 1". basicly something that we could buy this year and not replace anything other then maybe the wire gage bits for several years, with minimal or no sharpening. also does bit coating really matter if you end up sharpening them, might as well get something that would not really require sharpening. as far as i get it, coatings are used to reduce friction more then anything else. thanks i really apreciated. the backgrouond is that all of or bits from previous years are worn/dull/broken/bent we also wanted to get a drill press, which i hope we do, and in that case i think we would not have to worry about snaping bits. thank you all in advance.

Re: Tools for Rookie Team?
 

A tube cutter is also useful, cuts some (especially thin-ish) metal tubes better than hack saw, good for making spacers (altough some are provided this year).

Re: Tools for Rookie Team?
 

lol nice

Re: Tools for Rookie Team?
 

For drill bits I would recomend titinium bits. They are more expensive, but you don't need to sharpen them much and they look pretty and shinny, which is oviously very important.

I would also recomend a flash light. For some reason when working under our robot last year, I couldn't see a thing.

Re: Tools for Rookie Team?
 

Emery cloth- I thnk that is what it is called. Sandpaper for metal.:)
Tap Set- Useful for creating threads in holes
I have also heard my advisor mention something about a step drill bit. I forget what it is used for.

Re: Tools for Rookie Team?
 

Step drills are actually pretty useful. You see them used all the time on "American Chopper"