Your favorite/most useful tool?
 

What was your favorite or most useful tool this year's bot construction

Mine had to be a Dremel rotary tool

My brilliant idea for a new Dremel marketing campaign

"They say that to a man with a hammer every problem is a nail; To a man with a Dremel, every problem is solved"

And please keep the "Duct Tape" and "Hammer" replies to a minimum

If this isn't in the right category sorry :confused:

As an electrician
 

maybe wire clippers..

I had 2 tools that were my best, A test light and my "Gator" grip.

gotta love the multimeter

The ratcheting wire stripper...no, the ratcheting screwdriver....no, the giant
 

belt sander..... no, the dental tools I bought on Ebay.....no, the horizontal band saw.....no, the ....aw geez, I can't pick just one!!

Sorry, I'm a programmer... laptop.

Mouse with 8 buttons and a scroll wheel

(yeah, im an animator and chiefdelphian [as in addict, not one that works for them])

10 pound sledge, for fixing bent shafts... and freshman.

The team freshman... er...

I like the robowrench, socket wrench, and all-in-one stripper/cutter/crimper. Robowrench is just nifty and generally fun to play with. Socket wrench is so beautiful when a bolt/nut needs to be tightened. The all-in-one is very very convenient-- we need several more next year.

*points to user name* :D

I also have a liking to the spring loaded center punch, the socket wrench, and the lime green tape measure.

My awesome wire stripper. Or maybe my baby screwdriver - without it, how else can you get those speed controller screws set? Or maybe my 18.8v Milwaukee Hammer Drill. :D That thing's got power! Eh, it's one of those three!!

- Katie

I'd have to say our CNC lathe....I've never used it, seen it being used, or know of a time when it WAS used...but it just looks cool.



( we've got the CNC lathe and CNC mill in the local university's machine shop, which we use, so it's not really ours...but whatevr, i can still pretend )....


Other than that, I like the lathe and the ever so convient de-burring tool.

RotoZip
 

My favorite has to be the Rotozip. If you need something Rotozipped you yell for me, and for some reason people on my team seem to think i have some sort of fascination with it.

Conversation at our shop tonight:

Andy Baker - "Hey, anyone want to Dremel this off?"
Clark (Me) - "Dremel...HA...a dremel is a woman's tool...be a man and use the RotoZip!"

:D

First, Dan, That's not a CNC, that's a mill with digital readout and a normal lathe. CNC's are Computer Numeric Control. i.e. program it, let it work. That lathe has no readout, that's what calipers are for. I used them both last year.
--

My favorite tool this year? ClenchWrench.. I was put in charge of pnuematics. Given a pair of these babies and I was set. So much faster that normal wrenches, and had a bit of a ratcheting to it.

Less actual work + Less time used = Efficiant = Yay.

New tool
 

While cleaning out an old lab at Delphi, some people wanted to send a hand-held ultrasonic welder to salvage... but noooo...

Mark Koors (TechnoKat engineer extraordinare), grabbed it and it became TechnoKat proprety... and we just used it for the first time tonight.

So, now my favorite tool is a handheld ultrasonic welder. No rivets, no glue, so screws... super cool.

Andy B.

My favorite has to be a CNC mill - I did the wings of team 1018.
But not everybody is so blessed to work for a machine tool manufacturer ...
Other than that - the calliper (spelling? I'm German, I'm allowed to screw that one up ;-), followed by the hammer (the big one)

My DMM

hmmmm... CNC mill or CNC lathe, not like i've used one, just watched. I like my mill tho, digital readout happiness. mmmm... i like my tapping :D (i'm kidding). oooh flame oxygen torch. :D

arc welder, you can melt metal, light fires, provide lighting, make huge plumes of smoke, and of course weld!

Hummm...I need to think ou of this one... I would think the welders and the mill....but those are machines.....but tools I would have to say the tap, I have this thing with tapping ....lol!!! wait!! wait!!! and Sharpie!!!! and of course duck tape and a hammer! :D

The lathe or the razor

Well for Powered tools I'm gonna have to go witht he team Sawz-all, It can cut through anything, as for my favorite tool, I'd have to go with a simple Straight Razor that folds out of a little key chain holder thingy.

Angle grinder.

Re: New tool
 

::continues staring in awe:: pretty...

lol, well, my other favorite tool is my leatherman...but thats mostly because I help SOAP at competition (those pesky computers always need a good inside lookin)

my favorite tool has become a 100 lb brass rod that we found in the back of the machine shop. great for relieving anger on the robot, bins, or freshmen. also great for when parts need the proper motivation to fit.

wait wait wait, we're not the only team with a 100 lb brass rod in teh machine shop (ours was in a drawer).

Quick OT question, but, does every team have a 100 lb brass rod in the machine shop?

CNC mill, definitally.

Greg

little big al and the 3/8 7/16 combo crescent wrench

My Leather man is definitely my favorite tool. However, I also have taken a liking to our 25 lb. steel straightening plate.

A good set of allen wrenches... They are invaluable to anyone on our team working on frame/drive.

I'd have to go with zip-ties, and the ziptie gun....Half of our robot was held together by them last year.

you have one of those?? Sweet!!!!! My team would be heaven if we had one of those!! yet at the same time, even rough its sweet as hell and dose everything for you, it kindda defeats the whole "hands on" thing. I dunno im the type of person that needs hands on stuff! yet a CNC would save alot of time

CNC Mill's can still be very hands on. If you don't have someone who knows how to program it on-hand, it can be used as a digital read-out Mill. If you have someone who CAN program it, it's hands on for them. Either way they save time, and are still hands on.

Bridgeport, got to have one if you want to build a quality robot, plain and simple.

One of our engineers has a CNC Mill in this garage. He had been doing some parts for us. All he did was set the program sit back and relax..the thing was huge .. Really cool!

my team has these thingers that are to pliers what bugattis are to cars: the Robo-Grip.

You can get so much force out of that thing . . . . we use it to crimp stuff and to persuade stuff etc.

Also up there: the have a wire stripper/cutter/crimper. Its amazing. You put a peice of wire in the top peice and it strips it . . . . all you need to do is squeeze the handle together like you would a plier. You can strip 6 gauge in a second with that.

Then farther down there is a cutter and some crimper things. Its like super wire tool thing.

I also like the drillpress.

But maybe the grinder is our best friend. Who knows?

T-Handle Alan Wrenches ( like normal alan wrenches but around 1' long with a nice rubber t-shaped handle). They are perfect for those hard to reach set screws.

Hmmm...I would have to go with:

- The Brown Handled Precision Adjuster (hammer)
- Micro Butane Torch....you can solder and light things on fire...The best of both worlds
- The dremel ranks up there
- Sledge Hammer for when that piece of code won't work, or that freshman won't stay on task
- My brain!

Bill B.

The Best 2 Tools
 

I dunno about anyone else, but i like
my two hands best. And sometimes the occasional foot to carefully adjust something.

do zipties count?

if not then my handy dandy orange handled crimpers.

Tool eh?
 

Well I'm a programmer, but I will not say laptop! I also spent some time in the shop, and I love that drill press oh yeah!

I love Quick-Grips! They're so great!

Well, in trying to key some shafts and get some sprockets to fit, all our mallets (and incidentally anything else hard enough to bash something with) have seen a lot of action lately.
It's not really a tool, but I swear that not a year goes by that I don't epoxy something critical together. This year it was the brushing for a drill motor. Last year it was the connector for a screw rod, and the year before that it was the cap on my buddies Mountain Dew. Good times...

You forgot that you get to watch them twist up when its too tight! heh heh :D

pocketknife/dipswitch switcher

NIPPLE GRIPPERS!
 

Ya gotta love the nipple grippers, I mean, the vise grips. . . .

I like the zip ties :) especially when they are in many different colors
Hermione

1)Bridgeport Series I & II Milling Machines. Who doesn't like being able to mill a 1/4 in of aluminum with one pass, or be able to do .0005 accuracy? (Sighs, gets dreamy look in eye)

MOST USEFUL 1)Bridgeport Series I & II Milling Machines. Who doesn't like being able to mill a 1/4 in of aluminum with one pass, or be able to do .0005 accuracy? (Sighs, gets dreamy look in eye)

2)Lathes-it says it all

"COOLEST" 3)Hardinge CNC milling machines
(1 millionth inch accuracy!!)

wow
 

u have how many CNC mills?
our team has 7 CNC mills witch were cranking out four parts a day and a leath (thanks to TRP)
we also have a mill and a leath that we could go to any time a fine tune aour smaller parts(thanks to mr.smith)

well my favoite tull wan prob the dremal, the rubber malet and the cofee machine:D

Rat-tail file.

My Favorite tool is our shop bot which is actually a cnc miller.

I haven't found a use for it on our robot but it is fun to make a name tag or a door sign with. I will find a use for it eventually.

Re: wow
 

Your favorite tool should be spell-check

We have a massive shelf at the end of our shop, with about thirty 100lbs+ rods of various material, yes, some of them are brass!

Re: Re: wow
 

Now that was just plain mean man..

tool
 

1. Hammer
2. Cordless Drill and Pneumatic Drill
3. Titanium Drill bits
4. Dremel
5. Impact Wrench (for when you just can't ratchet anymore)
6. Anything else that can function as a hammer.. textbook, edu-bot, etc.

3/8 wrench and socket have seen a lot of use too.

We have a CNC mill, but it was easier to draw a diagram with measurments and send it home with one of the guys on the team.. the next day we'd have the part, thanks to the huge bearing factory in our town.

My favourite tool has to be an 18 volt mastercraft drill... When our staff advisor leaves the room, and turns off the power (so that we can't kill ourselves while he's gone), Out comes the drill with a 1" socket on the end, and we can use it to run the mill, lathes, bandsaw, drilling machine, and pretty much anything else that runs off 120/220 Volts. Believe it or not, it works just as well as running the machines off AC, except it's a little slower, and burns through batteries like mad...

Probably Alan wrenches and our ratchet set..... I mean, we're using Bosch extruded aluminum, plus all of our bolting we're doing (no major machining capability this year :( ).

Gator Grip Socket Accept no substitutes...

The 2 most important tools on my team.

1. First Aid Kit

2. Raid Flying Insect Killer

Most useful part: Threaded rod

"These arms don't stay parallel."
"Secure it with the small threaded rod!"

"What should we use as the axle for our lifting arms?"
"Threaded rod works well. Ooh, wow, that's bending a lot. Eh, good enough."


My favorite tool: Drill press. Yes, it's a LOT slower than a heavy person with a hand drill, but it drills straight.


I suppose our team could get access to the school's CNC mill and/or lathe, but they've been used by too many stupid freshmen (including myself, in the days of yore) to be of much use for actual part production. And, like all of the Fat Man's instruments, the motors suck.

Air compressor (although the tank is very small) and titanium drill bits. Allen ball drivers and a sawzall are usefull too. The drill press is good. Oh, and the bolt cutters, and chop saw. And the GRINDER. We never buy bolts to length, we just have long ones that we grind down. Vise grips are very useful too. Oh there's just so many wonderful tools to pick only one.

As a machinist I would have to say...a hammer. Especially when your tring to program that CNC, but it doesn't wanna work.

Leatherman. About 1/2 of team 190 owns a leatherman. They are our unofficial team tool of choice :D

go horizontal bandsaw. we found one up in the , very useful machine

Bridgeport Mill with digital readout and motorized x-axis. Unholy accuracy (5/10000"), but no CNC so you still get to do the fun stuff yourself!:D

My favorite tool(s) at our shop has to be the lathes. After making 20+ of those Delrin pullies for our new drivetrain, who wouldn't get attached? :D

Ahh...the smell of formaldehyde in the evening! :ahh:

(Delrin is a plastic produced by the polymerization of formaldehyde, and when you cut it, all of the lovely smell gets wafted toward your nose, And oooh boy does it smell!)

Here are the pullies

My favorite is paquimeter I don't know why, maibe for its several utilities

My favorite tool has to be the cordless drill.

Anything sharp and fast-moving, aka drills, saws and the drill press. My coach says this makes me frightening....

Yes, the Leatherman Wave is definatly my tool of choice. I use it every day, even outside of the build season.

I really wish we had had a dremel tool though...

I would have to say the folding allen key set. I don't think our team could have built a robot without them.

("Alright, where is the f***ing 1/8" allen key, it was right here a moment ago... nono, thats the 7/64ths key!")

Personally, i think that cordless drills are terrible. They have no power, whatsoever...so for my many heavy-duty drilling needs, corded is the ONLY way to go!

id have to say ...hammer also..i mean i love instruments meant to bash things

I think someone needs to introduce you to a 18v DeWalt Cordless Hammer Drill....

Screw all day, and never complain about the lack of power.

For the seriously hardcore, there is also a 24v
version available, two hand operation only tho.
:ahh:

The brain is a tool, is it not?
I'd say it's much more versatile and powerful than the others mentioned.

The trouble with the brain, of course, is the difficulty involved in cutting stuff with it.

Believe me, I've tried.:p

favorite tool would have to be the cnc machine i used all season. and of course a 3/16 allen key.

My team seems to always be murdering eachother over the drill, rivet gun, and jig saw.
My personal fave would have to be the hacksaw, although I should make the tape measure a good friend too. . .

OOOOOOOPS!!!!

hmmm... not just leatherman, but *multi tool*
i have the buck-tool, which is my best friend even in the offseason. some of the other team members carry mini-lethermans on their keychains, while a select few of us have the much more useful full sized multi-tools :)

Our team dubbed the leatherman the Pocket Jesus and even the mormon kid uses that name!
Also we named the short screw drivers Stubby Phil and Stubby Stan for phillips and standard (but i don't know if we made that up or not).

But I seriously think that the 4-40 nuts (especially the ones with nylon inserts) are just plain CUTE! They're tho iddy biddy and thweet!! :D does anyone agree with me? :)
lauren

Unfortunately, my school district and its zero tolerance policy would have a heart attack and lock me away for all of eternity if I carried a *gasp* sharp object to school. But the leatherman is darn useful

dremmel... *drools*

... "who says a drill press can't be used as a mill?"

OH! OH! My leatherman Juice! "Kt is not included.."

Fav. Tools
 

ok my fav. tools must be (not in any order)
-dremel (i like my own more then my schools machine shops')
-manual mills
-manual lathes
-cnc mills
-cnc lathe

and last but not least at school we have an industrial dremel, i sware it must weigh 10 lbs and its not a dremel company tool but it does the same as a dremel does, but at an industrial rate.

Also i love our sheet metal shear and brake, how else do you get a piece of lexan bent to 90 degrees by hand in 2 mins.

Dez
www.team250.org
Team 250 Dynamos: a 12 year team.

Duct tape.

Our fearless leader found some really nifty wire strippers at a garage sale. 3 for $5. Super cool, and because I subscribe to the EarthBound style of naming, it's officially called the Deluxe Wire Strippers. They grab, cut, and strip small gauge wires with a single motion! Can even intimidate small freshmen!

i'd say that the most useful tools on our team this year are
1)7/16 wrench/wratcet of any kind
2)the 1/4 20 tap (man Gary could tap all day)
3)anything used to cut i mean anything (we have a pearing knife in the tool box) well not the band saw it don't cut straight so everything else
4)the dremel is cool (it sparks with everything)
5)we got this awesome angle drill geared way down man that thing got some power
6)i personally like the rubber mallet i can just smack thiungs with it all day and never get tired

I second that and suggest that a team gives them out at nats

The manuel CNC Bridgeport
 

Ours was definitly the Manuel CNC Bridgeport and the 15 axis Manuel NC Lathe!! Truthfully though, the Cray Super Computer became unusually usefull when trying to package the big block chevy we used to power the drivetrain. Of course you can't forget the 32 handed Freshman powerfile!! That really saved our cans! :D

1) AutoCad Inventor - to figure out what I'm building should look like
2) NASTRAN - to figure out if what I'm building will break
3) CNC Mill - esp when Rick V is running it. He plays a mill like Heifitz plays a violin. Besides it makes a pretty good drill press too! If necessary an manual will do most times.
4) lathe - i love to watch the chips fly
5) Datco - a dremmel on steroids
6) band saw - too much work to cut 1" stock by hand

I have a couple new favorites. Multi-purpose Super White Grease and Liquid Wrench.

Has to be my laptop: Fundraising, grant letters, thank you letters, website, team updates, team organization... etc...

right on.. Laptop all the way..

Inventor
Web Designing
Team Management
Emailing
Graphics like Tshirts and Panels design
every little thing you could think of..

i also like the 2.5 Allan key very helpful this year for all those 4mm screws for the bosch.

We bought a compressor four years ago when the robots didn't have on-board compressors. It has sat quietly in the corner since then. This year one of our mentors brought over some pneumatic die-grinders, and I have to say those are cool.

Re: The manuel CNC Bridgeport
 

15 Axis Machine!! Wow, as a fairly experienced machinist I gotta see that. ( I think you ment 15 tools )

Nope, I think he meant 15-axis lathe. We've got one too. It helps when you are building your robot in extra dimensions, which explains how they got the Chevy block (or was it the whole truck?) in under 130 pounds.

Eric.

15 Axis is a lot. Most machines handle 5-7. Do you put parts on this machine and rotate? Like a turn table?

Electronics Toys
 

Yeah, those 15 Axis- lathes are pretty cool, but i much prefer my temporal-shifting, phase regulated, matter reducing device. Think robot only weights 130 lbs b/c its only in this space-time continuum for a small portion of its existance.
:yikes:

most useful "tool" :
-Kt

Do Freshman count? They are quite useful for doing stuff veteran members don't have time to do.