Most underrated/undervalued tools

[Metalcrafters]

An especially strong magnet, for that screw that fell into the chassis rail...

[pianotech70]

Hemostats for retrieving small parts and holding while soldering, etc.

[cxcad]

CNC Mills are overrated. There are very few teams out there that can take advantage of the complex parts that they can make. Most of FRC can be done with manual tools or at most with some sort of CNC 2D machines.

[Rockant]

Originally Posted by EricH

Brains.


And PPE of all types.



Brains allow you to use the tools (properly). PPE--properly used--helps if something goes wrong!

I think that I absolutely have to agree with this statement that the brain is undervalued, no one ever thinks about it (though we think with it). That, and PPE, which is great all around. A lot of people just don't think about their safety glasses, their gloves, their hearing protection, etc., but where would we be, as humans, without these innovations? It wouldn't be a very safe world, and I can safely say that with confidence.

[Gravity]

Originally Posted by Metalcrafters

An especially strong magnet, for that screw that fell into the chassis rail...

Take a look at the mechanical grabber tool.

[Chak]

flathead screwdriver

[asid61]

The humble black sharpie, everywhere, all the time.

[Gregor]

Spring loaded chuck key.

[mman1506]

Large format printer- bumpers, cad models, wiring layout, banners, buttons....

[M217]

Measuring tape.

[Pauline Tasci]

Hydraulic Crimper

[TheModMaster8]

Left handed crescent wrench

[Lireal]

Originally Posted by TheModMaster8

Left handed crescent wrench

Left handed *metric* crescent wrench

[Oblarg]

I've tried to make a point of looking for useful tools that other teams have found - it's surprising how many things that we struggle with for which there are existing, easy solutions just waiting for you to learn about.

Some big ones:

Center drills. My god, these are invaluable. Extremely hard to drill decent pilot holes without them. They're self-deburring, too, since they have built-in countersinks.

Deburring tools. The kind with the little spinny blades on them. Huge effort-saver.

Rivnuts. Much easier than tapping in many situations.

Scribes (pref. carbide-tipped). We used to do all our marking with sharpies. Then we upgraded to masking tape + mechanical pencils. Scribes are better than both. Being able to "feel out" the mark with the tip of a center-punch is invaluable.

Transfer punches. Duplicating hole patterns is a crucial thing for a team with limited machining resources. Match-drilling whenever possible is great, but sometimes it's not possible or very difficult, and for those times transfer punches are a life-saver.

[scaryone]

Dremel Tool