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Favorite Tools


Jan McL

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Cool. My grandfather started Allied Radio in Chicago (one of the first mail order catalog electronics companies) and my father used to take me to the showroom floor of Allied and I could walk up and down the isles and pick out some little item. Often this would be a really neat jeweler's screwdriver kit or on special occasions, maybe a Knight kit to build a crystal radio. That was the beginnings of my fascination with all this stuff.

I am so friggin jealous!  When I was in elementary school I used to drool over that catalog.  Dreamed of building a shortwave radio.  My favorite book is still 'The Boys First Book of Electronics' :-)  Very early 60's of me.  Never was a very good builder though.  I was also from the Wexler 'measure once cut twice' school of construction.

Billy

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I found a picture online while researching the history of Allied Radio. This is very similar to the first thing I ever built --- a crystal radio kit. I wish I could find a picture of the headphones that came with it --- little round black plastic ear cups with cloth cable.

-  Jeff Wexler

post-1-130815087113_thumb.jpg

post-1-130815087113_thumb.jpg

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I found a picture online while researching the history of Allied Radio. This is very similar to the first thing I ever built --- a crystal radio kit. I wish I could find a picture of the headphones that came with it --- little round black plastic ear cups with cloth cable.

-  Jeff Wexler

I built a crystal radio from a kit in 1959, and was stunned when it actually worked.  This gave me a sense of overconfidence that resulted in the building 2 or 3 non-working kits after that.  The initial surprise and stoked-ness stuck with me though, that this pile of weird looking components marginally assembled actually played radio stations through its earphone the first time I fired it up.

Philip Perkins

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Totally unrelated to Audio, but my various bottom bracket tools for the various types of bottom brackets used over the years on my bikes. As of recently I've learned that I'll have to get a new one most likely for the next bike I buy or build.  Nothing is quite as nice a smooth drive train on a road bike.

J. Hemmerlin

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  • 4 years later...

For my travel kit I'm looking for a super light weight and minimal tool kit with the following tools

  1. Scissors
  2. 1/4 inch hex bit holder (or 7/32 inch allen key & wide slot head screwdriver)
  3. Adjustable wrench

Here's what I've found so far as a "base" multi-tool that could perhaps be supplemented with a single extra piece of kit (most likely scissors?) 

http://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-Screwdriver-Spanner-Survival-Emergency/dp/B00Q6A4Q1W

http://www.gerbergear.com/Hunting/Tools/Myth-Archery-Multi-Tool_31-002138 <- doesn't have the 7/32 inch allen key though

http://www.crkt.com/guppie

Any ideas on how to do this by buying a minimal amount of individual pieces of kit?

 

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Look at cycling multitools.  There's a huge range and they're almost all designed to be as light as possible.

​Thanks for the tip. Though cycling tools tend to have metric allen keys only? If there was one with 7/32 inch allen key and a 10 mm wrench it would be awesome. I'll look around a bit.

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https://www.google.com/search?q=mini+ratchet+wrench&es_sm=91&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=46hoVYrqB4abyAS2ooAg&ved=0CEUQsAQ&biw=1418&bih=645&dpr=0.9

Scissors are from Slip-n-Snip. Always have at least two around somewhere.

The "mini ratchet wrench" may be supplemented with a host of the usual drill "attachments" available at any hardware store including allen, star, etc. It's about 4" long and fits sockets from my bigger socket set.

Dunno if the multiple tools meet your requirements but there it is.

 

IMG_5345.thumb.jpeg.3dde40e159af815d4611IMG_9361.thumb.jpeg.abaf64ad264c00077dd9 

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Yes, there are flashlights, but this particular model rocks my world. After the first one died (my fault), and the Home Despot didn't see the wisdom in stocking them anymore, I went online for another. It's really well made. It props up on it's super long gooseneck. It's very directional. It can be tucked into a shirt pocket. It can be gaffer's taped to things. It snakes very nicely into the back of racks in dark places, and illuminates tiny lettering of i/o ports like a champ. Finds stuff down inside of other stuff. Runs all day on AA's. I don't usually work from a cart, so it also tucks into my bag, and sticks out just where I need it.

It's also a beautiful anodized green (my favorite color). :P

IMG_2687.JPG

IMG_0774.JPG

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Another one that I can't live without. Amazing self adjusting articulation, so it never breaks a strand. Gentle on 24g or even smaller. Even handles multi-pair jacketing if the diameter isn't too large. Giant time saver. I hate losing even ONE strand in prepping connections.

IMG_2686.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

For my travel kit I'm looking for a super light weight and minimal tool kit with the following tools

  1. Scissors
  2. 1/4 inch hex bit holder (or 7/32 inch allen key & wide slot head screwdriver)
  3. Adjustable wrench

Tadah! Here's what I came up with. Thanks for the slip-n-snip scissors tip!

minitools.jpg

minitools2.jpg

Edited by api
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