Favorite Tool by Team

[burde1jb]

Didn't see an old thread by this so here goes...

With the season approaching, I though it would be great if teams could share their handiest, favorite tool (please do not nominate a mentor )to use throughout the competition. So I'll start.

A few years ago, our lead mentor showed up to a practice with these. Handiest wire strippers on the planet! No need to know gauge as it automatically adjusts. Also cuts wire to length. No corn dog maker function yet.

Here is how it strips (similar model shown)

Just thought I would pass this along for any team who has had trouble with their electronics and I would love to know your team's best kept secret in tooling!

[bkahl]

https://www.phoenixcontact.com/onlin...il:pid=1212150

These Wire Strippers will never be beaten in my book...

[jwfoss]

A pneumatic tubing cutter will save you hours of chasing leaks and is a staple on FRC558.

[bkahl]

Originally Posted by jwfoss

A pneumatic tubing cutter will save you hours of chasing leaks and is a staple on FRC558.

So much that they even stole 195's last year!

[notmattlythgoe]

Nate Laverdure

[asid61]

The mill. I use it as a drill press wit low runout occasionally, and of couse for machining all the time.
But apart from that, probably the socket ratchet set. It's super handy for taking care of locknuts in tight spaces or though a hole.

[Munchskull]

CNC Plasma cutter

[Richard Wallace]

[z_beeblebrox]

http://www.troteclaser.com/en-US/Las...Speedy300.aspx

[Thad House]

Hydraulic Crimper. Never have to worry about bad battery crimps again.

http://www.harborfreight.com/hydraul...ool-66150.html

Zip Tie gun is probably more useful though.

[snoman]

Best tool ever

[rjhyde]

Sometimes it's the simple tools that matter the most. This is probably the most used tool in the shop and it's the best pair of pliers I've ever used.

Irwin Vise-Grip Groovelock Pliers, 8"

[AllenGregoryIV]

I'm going to keep this to hand tools.

1. All of our rivets are set by hand, and some members of the team don't have the strongest grips to use our normal rivet guns.

This one makes short work of even 1/4" rivets and can be used by almost everyone. It's smaller than the really large hand rivet guns that Harbor Freight or else wear sell so it fits into more spaces.

2. Another great tool I don't see enough teams using is a simple pair of aviation snips.

These combined with 1/16" polycarb can fix a lot of problems on a robot.

3. High Torque Ball End Hex Keys - These have been mentioned by other people on Chief before but they are fantastic. This year we have added colored heat shrink to all our hex keys to make identifying them easier. I also like the screw driver versions as well.

4. Cheap ratcheting wrenches - if you look on ebay you can regularly get ratcheting wrenches for under $3-5 each. We bought a ton of 3/8" since we normally use #10 hardware.

[Bob Steele]

This year we have added colored heat shrink to all our hex keys to make identifying them easier.


Absolutely brilliant Allen.... thank you

We used little pieces of tape or paint which always wore off...
This is genius

[tr6scott]

Seeing the strippers were covered previously.

I'll go with the Weidmuller PZ 6 Roto Wire Crimping Tool for making the ferrels connections all the new Cross the Road electronics use...

No more spider legs, no more lose terminations, no connection failures.

https://youtu.be/lL8AGNDVR2g

But we are fond of our Weidmuller Strippers too.

https://youtu.be/fvjyJvcqJsY