Most underrated/undervalued tools

[ghesla]

Originally Posted by Knufire

Dark Soul Chain Tool, or a pneumatic riveter.

pneumatic riveter ftw

Originally Posted by Lireal

Left handed *metric* crescent wrench

You people that uses imperial units definitely should have one of this!

[jwfoss]

I have one of these in my pocket every competition: Pneumatic Tubing Cutter

[Cothron Theiss]

Arbor Press. My team had to use a mallet (known as the "Persuasionator") to insert all of our press fit bearings, bushings and other delicate parts because we had no type of press.

You could probably guess what tool I'm trying to convince our head mentor to buy.

[Toatekua]

Work gloves and bandages.

[SeeleySWS]

We made a lexan bender using plywood, a hinge, toaster wire and an Anderson connector...

So useful! Made a lot of our low stress, low weight parts with it. Our upper level electronics board was made of bent lexan.

[IronicDeadBird]

Cellphones.
Download the flashlight app, for a small lightsource. Take pictures and rely information to people on the team, play music, calculator. I know I'm not the only one that downloads the most up to date manual on my cellphone...

[Davis Racing]

Pencil and Paper

[Jared]

spiral point or spiral flute taps.

[smitikshah]

Noise Cancelling Headphones or Pneumatic Riveter

[Team34Guy]

PPE first and foremost of course...
Transfer Punches.....makes hole alignment much easier.

[Everett33]

Flush cutting side cutters. Nothing worse than dragging your arm or hand over a sharp zip-tie.

[ATannahill]

Originally Posted by Everett33

Flush cutting side cutters. Nothing worse than dragging your arm or hand over a sharp zip-tie.

Yes there is, the fleshy part of your leg behind the knee (first hand experience).

[OccamzRazor]

Chain breaker tool
T-Handle Allen/Hex Key sets
The holy 7/16 box wrench with compact ratchet
Snap ring pliers set

And finally, the most annoying tool to need and not have rather than have and not need is:

The SpeedOut screw removal kit!

[Spark]

An arbor press

It's indispensable for pressing bearings in and out, straightening metal, and any other quick job you need good leverage on. Its also faster than using a hydraulic jack.

[Spark]

Originally Posted by 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.

I agree, but if you use them correctly they become highly valuable. I made a aluminum hub to fit onto a window motor's gear that would have taken 10X longer if I'd done it manually.