Re: Tools you can't live without
 

If you don't already have one, and/or opt out of a miter saw, consider a horizontal bandsaw. I use ours almost every day to cut stock down to length.

I'd also reccomend several sets of Allen keys. Not the individuals, but the kind on a big block with all the sizes. These are incredibly useful in the pits. Along the same lines, T-bars. You don't always need them, but when you do there's no substitute. We purchased a lousy set for around eight bucks, and have yet to break them.

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

Milling machine, lathe, fixturing/tooling for these machines. Also, good calipers (I prefer non-digital dial ones), Dykem, and Dykem remover.

After these, an arbor press (at least 3 ton if you want to do hex broaching), broaches (2mm, 3/32", 1/8", 3/8" hex and 1/2" hex), and a TIG welder.

The horizontal band saw in our shop gets gets significantly more usage than our miter and radial arm saws.

High-torque allen keys (search for them on McMaster). Buy these, and never worry about stripped allen keys again.

Don't buy CAD software for a FRC team. You can get student versions of Inventor, SolidWorks, and/or Pro|E for free.

Also, be frugal and search far and wide for auctions, tag sales, industrial surplus stores, eBay or Craigslist, or other various sources of second-hand machinery. Through venues like this, we've been able to pick up tools and machines for literally pennies on the dollar.

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

Don has some great advice (as is the usual). There are several garage machine shops in my family and all the machines were purchased second hand. Used machines are great, but its a lot like buying a car... you don't want a lemon. A huge benefit of buying someone's old lathe is fairly often you can purchase their tooling at cut-rate prices, or they might just throw it in with the lot if they are getting done with the hobby or the shop has gone under. It is not hard to spend a lot money on tooling if you don't have a lot to work with.

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

Number 1 would be a lathe.

Number 2 a horizontal band saw, way safer than a miter saw. Since I drug a free horizontal band in saw the miter saw has pretty much sat idle. Plus it saves lots of money on blades. Last year we went through 2 expensive circular saw blades and this year one much cheaper band saw blade lasted the entire season and we used it for cutting lots of big bar stock for our custom bearing carriages for our lift as well as the pulleys that we wouldn't have attempted with the circular saw.

For hand tools spend the extra money for quality screw drivers sockets and wrenches, cheap ones destroy fasteners and create frustration. Buying cheap screw drivers particularly Phillips and Allen wrenches are a false economy.

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

I know our programmers love these two tools for sure:

Zip Tie Tensioner/Cutter
Screw Starter

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

Most of the good ones have already been mentioned. You already have two bandsaws, set up one for aluminum and the other for steel, post the feeds and speeds chart on the wall by the saws. If you only have benchtop saws, get a good-sized floor-standing model. I prefer an offset vertical saw, mine is a Parma Work-a-Matic, it gets used more than any other tool in the shop.

If you have been drilling lots and lots of holes in thin material and then hand-deburring them, its time to get a benchmount deep-throat punch. Get a good one like a Roper-Whitney.

Get ...
1.a McMaster-Carr catalog.
2.another heat gun, they seem to disappear
3.complete metric and imperial drill set, drills seem to disappear
4.a complete metric and imperial hex key set, ditto
5. locking cabinets
6.if you have a mill or lathe, get
a. collet tray/organizer which mounts to the machine or wall
b. machinist's vise for the mill
c. last word indicator and Indicol for truing the mill
7.a complete set of wire cutting and crimping tools appropriate to your wire and connector sizes, keep them separate from the general-use toolbox.

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

My must haves:

mechanical:

horizontal and vertical band saws... must, must, must.

dremel set

good socket, wrench, screwdriver, and hex key set (if you go craftsman and it is not made in usa, go to lowes and get kobalt... same quality, half the price)

shop-vac (a small one will do, but bigger ones are nice)

lathe if you can afford (get used, new ones including grizzly are mostly JUNK*)

bench grinder (put a stone on one side and a wire wheel on the other, and make sure it is a good brand, no-names are hollow)

if you can afford, mill and a good set of bits

cordless and corded drill and a good bit set

files and file handles

chain breaker

hacksaw and plenty of blades

pliers and vice grips


Eletrical

good crimper, either heavy wire cutter style (like huge set of pliers ans one crimping tooth w/o stripper) or ratcheting style

good stripper, either 2 blade "automatic" kind with cutter or the spring loded multi-size kind.

in addition, find the cheap "does all" kind; the screw cutter in the center is all they are good for but they do it well.

good soldering iron/station (grounded, at least 30w and with a "mini-chisel tip; I recommend the xytronic 258 and a stand w/ sponge)

combo rj45/12/11 crimper (if you try out CAN, you will love it- see link in my signature). on that note, other necessary CAN tools are in my document at the link.

a good multimeter with a continuity beep function

good cutting pliers both big and small

pistol-grip zip tie gun

electronic dymo label gun

wago tool (buy 2 spares- people tent to think they are pry bars and break them... and they like to walk off)

programming:

a nice, 50-100ft cat5 cable (tether)

one or 2 good laptops

Other:

a good color printer
mini-fridge for cool drinks for break (helps with stress)
radio/cd player for the shop OR speakers and an ipod with good music (to boost morale)



*- i know first hand how bad grizzly is... pure junk.

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

Keep in mind that new tools ussualy means first time users. You will break bits, and you will need someone that knows how to use the tools (CAD counts as a tool) very well to teach also. Just dont' forget to have some money for "learning exspenses".

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

If it beeps a half second after you touch them together, that's terrible - my multimeter at home does that and it's terrible.

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

What? No drill press or Pop riveter? We wouldn't last a day without these.

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

Just as an addendum to my other post, the basic tools I would want are:

Horizontal and vertical band saws
Drill press with plenty of 1/4" bits (Not expecting to break them, but they have a tendency to get misplaced/dull)
1/4"-20 taps at least, possibly dies. (I would probably expect to break a few when inexperienced people use them)
7/16" wrenches (These have a tendency to get misplaced all the time)
T-Handle set (Preferably with ball-nose ends)
Miter Saw with a metal blade
Pop Riveter
Hammers/mallets
Loctite

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

1. Zip tie
2. Zip tie
3. Zip tie
4. Zip tie
5. Zip tie
6. Zip tie
7. Zip tie
8. Zip tie
9. Zip tie
10. Zip tie
11. Zip tie
12. Zip tie
13. Zip tie
14. Zip tie
15. Zip tie
16. Zip tie
17. Zip tie
18. Zip tie
19. Zip tie
20. Zip tie

These are the 20 things that keep our robots functioning each year! :D

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

Since a lot of tools have been mentioned, I recommended getting a servo tester. It's great when prototyping without the use of electronics and programming.

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

So far, I have seen only one person mention a Dremel set, and while I can't say I'm particularly surprised as the focus is on a machine shop set-up, I can say that in terms of small power tools, the Dremel (and associated bits) is just about unmatched.

Also, get several tubes of Loctite as bolts coming loose is not a good thing, just ask our elevator we built for this year! (Explanation: we're using 1 in. 80/20 and associated linear slides.Those slides are held by bolts going into a tapped hole in the 80/20. During WI, it was noticed that those bolts were coming loose, and because of the nature of the way we built it, the bolt heads can't be easily gotten at. Oops, there's a bit of a design flaw we never thought about during build. :eek: Anyway, the solution was to take it apart and Loctite the bolts. Problem solved.)

Other than those two small things, I think that just about everything else has been touched upon (except for several power drills maybe?).

Re: Tools you can't live without
 

And buy additional batteries along with the load tester. We cycled through 6 batteries at our competitions this year, which seemed to be a good number. Having 6 new batteries is significantly less stressful than having 6 that are a few years old.