[GreyingJay]

When we started last year we were challenged with both starting with no inventory and, being a community team, not having a shop to draw from. We were able to get by with borrowing a lot of equipment from mentors, such as:

- rolling tool cabinet
- drill press
- miter saw
- portable table saw
- compressor
- shop vac
- wire cutters/crimpers
- pliers
- cordless drill/impact driver
- wrenches
- general carpentry tools: hammers, measuring tapes, squares, etc.

Ask around your team mentors and parents and their circles, I'm sure you know some handypersons who could lend some tools.

We've been slowly replacing the mentor-borrowed tools with team-owned tools as funds allow. We've just purchased a drill press, miter saw, and cordless drill/impact set, for example.

Among the first tools the team purchased or had donated, were:
- safety glasses
- socket sets (two smaller sets instead of one megaset, so more people can work at the same time)
- allen keys
- PWM cable crimpers
- pneumatic riveter
- set of drill bits (fractional, numbered and lettered)
- parts organizers for all the little bits and pieces (Harbor Freight has good ones that often go on sale)

We were worried about tools when we first started, but we were reassured that a team can get by with nothing more than hand tools and a drill press. We can now say - it's true!