I have seen many people at competition with tool belts and many different combos of tools and niknaks. I am trying to put together my own tool belts for the upcoming season and was wondering if anyone had any tool recommendations or cool things they have made that might be useful to carry around. or you should just show off your cool tool belts.
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Ya beat me to XD
I absolutely love the pit viper project, the ability for it to be manufactured by anyone with a 3D printer is truly awesome!
I am working on something similar for my team’s pit crew to use, hopefully, in the next season.
In the past, I wore pants with a bunch of pockets, but recently I’ve used a molle type pouch with a zipper that went on my belt and that has worked well.
However, having something purpose built, with a place for each tool is just so much better to avoid clutter and digging through the pouch or your pockets to find the thing you need.
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any multitool recommendations or any other must-haves?
as a student I once wore folding hex key sets, 2 pocket knives, a leatherman, a pair of calipers (in a custom leather holster), and about 20 zip ties on or around my belt. Don’t be like student me. Now I have a leatherman wave+, a folding scalpel pocket knife, and a folding hex key set, and leave everything else in the tool box.
If you’re trying to be practical organize your pit so you can easily get any tools you might want quickly. We use mostly 5/32 hex keys on our bot, so we have t-handles in a holder on the robot cart, and designated cutouts for multi hex keys, L keys, stubby L keys, straight handles and t-handles in the top drawer of the toolbox. This means I can have 5 different styles of 5/32 hex key in seconds with no searching, no tool belt can match a well planed toolbox.
If you really want to make a practical set of tools to keep on your body for emergencies or helping other teams in their pits, get a multi hex set (all metal), a good multi tool (cheap multitools are almost never worth it), and a knife with disposable blades to keep your self from abusing the multitool. Safety wire spools can be worn on a belt and, with wire twisting pliers (back pocket), safety wire can fix many things.
Here are my favorites:
LEATHERMAN, Wave Plus Multitool with Premium Replaceable Wire Cutters, Spring-Action Scissors and Nylon Sheath, Stainless Steel https://a.co/d/ahyRHPE
EKLIND 20912 Steel Handle Fold-up Hex Key allen wrench - 9pc set SAE Inch Sizes .050-3/16 https://a.co/d/avGSgKh
Samior S13 Small Slim Flipper Scalpel Folding Pocket Knife with 10pcs #24 and 10pcs 60 Replaceable Blade, G10 Handle with Liner Lock Pocket Clip, Utility EDC Keychain Knives, 1.2oz https://a.co/d/fodi0xl
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I had a Gerber Suspension for the longest time (got it from home depot on my trip to worlds in 2017) and it worked brilliantly for everything I needed to do. Only thing missing was hex bit support and storage.
This year I upgraded to the SOG PowerAccess Deluxe and it’s awesome. Has a spot for hex storage on the pouch and the geared pliers mean you get extra grip force which is great. The only thing missing from this is spring loaded pliers. But personally I prefer the extra grip force more than I miss the spring loaded pliers of the gerber.
As for must have tools, it depends on what hardware you use on your robot and how its designed, but IMO you’ll want:
- Allen key set (but ideally the ball allen variety with a handle and only the ones you need)
- Diagonal pliers
- Cable ties (a couple of different sizes in your back pocket never hurts)
- A double sided ring spanner (for your most common bolt sizes or multiple seperate single ring spanners)
- Multitool (not cheap crap and with scissors, always comes in handy)
- A ratchet is useful sometimes if you need it frquently, but if not then leave it out as it can weigh down your pockets or belt pouch a bit. But it’s a nice to have
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Quality zip ties, folding hex keys and relatively simple multi tool with needle nose pliers/side cutters at the base of the jaw.
From there just keep the robot cart toolbox and the pit super organized.
The increased mobility and comfort from only having about 3 -5 things in your pockets (including phone and wallet) is worth the 15 seconds to grab a crescent wrench or whatnot from your robot cart.
Patrick may be right about not abusing your multi tool. Give that some thought for what works best for you.
Less is more. You absolutely do NOT need a backpack with a first aid kit a crowbar and the entire state of Nebraska in it. That is more in the way and a bigger safety hazard than most that try that ridiculousness (to get a safety award or something) realize. LESS IS MORE.
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I really like the pitviper but I much prefer t-handle hex keys to the screwdrivers, and I have several more tools (boxcutters, ratchet wrenches, ratchet wrench heads, wire strippers, pliers, etc) and I don’t really want to carry multiple waist mounted holders lol unless I wanna end up looking like this (which wouldn’t be the worst thing)
I love the model of the tough-built waist pouch thing and I also think having a 3d printed non-malleable holster makes your tool range limited and if you want to add other stuff or get different models of tools it requires a lot of cading/3d printing. So I think I will personally stick to an empty pouch toolbelt like the one linked above. I am still not trying to become a ratpack and carry around all the things but definitely most of the essentials. I will probably be carrying around the original Gerber multi-pliers “Mr. pinchy” I also recently found a super unnecessary but super cool little box cutter with a reload function which has just so many blades I think this will be a good cutty-thing to no abuse the multitool. Side note v2 gladiator armour style waist pouches
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Essential tool: the 5-inch Knipex (kuh-nih-pex) Pliers Wrench.
Not cheap, but pocket-sized, exceptionally well-made, and extremely useful.
There are several other companies that make knockoffs in 7-, 10-, and 12-inch sizes, but none in this perfect-for-FRC size.
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thanks so much! I may not get this exact brand but having a small adjustable pipe wrench might be extremely useful. and not just for beating teammates over the head with
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I’m a media kid, but I have a tool belt of sorts. I have several pouches for storing things, and for the next season/ offseason events heres the rough outline of what ive got
- Peak Design Everyday Sling 6L (in hip pack mode)
- carries camera, Lenses, ETC - custom 3dp battery carriers
- Topo designs mini shoulder bag
-holds paper, pens, gerber dime, and a bottle of MIO - Condor outdoor compact utility pouch
-holds pins, stickers, and other pit giveaways.
-has cool morale patches - Condor outdoor mini dump pouch
-holds water bottles, shirts, etc
everything but the sling is on a cheap belt with a cobra style buckle
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The mio caffeinated is essential, I drink it straight from the bottle to not fall asleep after staying up till 3 am doing whatever last minute stuff I forgot
Remember kids, always pack your pocket knives in the team toolbox. I once was almost suspended when the vice principle found my pocket knife in my suitcase during luggage checks before our trip to worlds.
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Sheesh, I will never understand why some people get so riled up about knives. We give students many more dangerous tools than knifes. Of course you do have to careful with air travel, we did have one student forget to put his leatherman in the pit before it left Houston this year.
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There’s a really nice four sided ratchet wrench out there that has 5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2. Very nice for FRC, as it will turn 1/2" hex shafts, 1/4-20 nuts, and 10-32 nuts. 5/16" will turn a flanged hex head 10-32. If you are -really- nutty (like me) you can take an 11/32 socket, machine the outside to a hex, and loctite it into your least favorite socket… I made a couple of them 
I love the 6 in 1 screwdrivers; HD sells them in our team color (orange) super cheap. The Milwaukee 8million in 1 is even better, but too easy for the kiddos to loose the parts.
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Damn wow, we get like rule exemptions for using dangerous tools because it’s a school activity, though we can’t have anything on us during school or anything.
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Not a tool belt, and not at all FRC-specific, but I’ve been iterating this pocket organizer just for everyday carry.
It holds my wallet, car keys (with buttons I can press externally), a pen, chapstick, a flashlight, and a multitool. The flashlight and multitool are particularly useful at comps, and I usually swapped the pen for a mini sharpie then too.
It also left room in my pocket for a little flip out allen key set as well.
This was all enough for pretty much any basic maintenance work on the robot (bolt tightening, cutting zip ties, etc.) that I had to do at comps. And it’s surprisingly easy to carry, given the stuff it holds.
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Did not know they made them smaller than 7 inch (never bothered to look) . I love my 7 inch pair.
I don’t know how I’ve gone this long in life without knowing this existed, but I will now have one on my doorstep on Friday.
the 7in have always been pocketable enough for me, plus you get a little bonus torque