Query about tools required

[alsaf]

I'm interested in getting into electronics as a hobby and as a possible future career change. I bought a basic educational electronic kit aimed at teenagers for study. It contains a breadboard, matrix block, LED's, resistors etc. At the moment this should be enough for me as a starter.

Looking through the instruction manual, it looks like I'll need a wire-stripper. Is a specialised wire-striper required or can I use a standard one from a local hardware shop? Also, I would like to ask, what other tools should I get or will need that goes beyond the starter stuff?

 

[davenn]

Hi alsaf,
welcome to the forums

a wire stripper isnt essential, in fact in 40 years of electronics I have never owned a wire stripper. I tried one once but dismissed it. Spend the time and learn to use a pair of side cutters properly Side cutters = some places call them diagonal cutters look at this link for an example....
side cutters
initially get a small pair 4" to 5" great for working on components and small to medium gauge wire. later on get a larger pair for working on thicker cables.

Tho you dont need a soldering iron for doing breadboard assembly, you will eventually need one for joining wires to plugs and sockets etc.
Get a decent one for a start, spend some reasonable money and it will last you for years. You have 2 choices depending on your budget.... a fixed wattage one say 25W isa good start ( mite cost you US$10 to 30) or if you have $150++ to spend get a variable temperature one.

Get a good range of screwdrivers blade and philips head. one of those sets of small jewellers screwdrivers are great for the really fine work.

there ya go a few suggestions

cheers
Dave

 

[jackorocko]

davenn, you got a video of how you use side-cutters to strip 22 gauge wire? I am being serious too, I have never had very good luck. I cheat and use my lighter'


edit: http://www.google.com/products/cata...i=LDqKTtMx6NzRAbHIsPkN&sqi=2&ved=0CKcBEPMCMAM If you buy strippers, by the kind like these. They have different sizes, some will strip small wire and then some larger, up to 10 gauge. Beyond that a razor blade or side cutters is definitely easier

 

[davelectronic]

Electronic tools

Yep side cutters, the most used tool in my box, i can strip radio or very light gauge microphone wire with any side cutter, practice, get a feel for the pressure, turn the wire wile biting on the insulation then pull, practice and like Dave said you don't need wire strippers.

The solder iron already mentioned, and the comprehensive selection of drivers, and some security bits, another good tool to have a set of, for the odd fastener you will come across them at some point.

Multi meter or two, so you can measure volts and amps at the same time, other pliers, especially long nose, snipe nose, i use these a lot, utility knife, solder pump, for component removal, solder braid to fix an occasional excess solder over flow, loads of other stuff you pick up along the way, start small, your soon relies what you need and why, it comes together over time.
Dave.

 

[daddles]

I've stripped a lot of wire with dykes and knives, but I still prefer to use a stripper. I've used a lot of strippers (no wise cracks) and the simplest and still the best IMHO is the Ideal type (see attached photo). The ones I have were supplied courtesy of the company I used to work for, which encouraged engineers to take tools home from lab stock back in the good old days. The shearing cutters also work better than dykes, but be sure only to use them on copper or aluminum. A nice touch is that you can also sharpen them. Theoretically, you can even sharpen the stripping notches if you have the correctly-sized hone, but few people (including me) will have these.

I also like short-nose needle nose pliers. By far the best were the Snap-On 60C, but you can't buy those anymore. I still have my pair from the late 60's and those pliers only get used on special occasions. Everyone in the family knows that it's instant death if anyone but me touches those pliers. They were so well made you can pick up a hair with them -- but I can also easily crimp solderless terminals with them. My wife knows how much I like them and has bought 5 or 6 pairs from ebay over the years, but the used ones are never as good as my original pliers, which have been well taken care of.

Here's a good $8 small screwdriver set from Harbor Freight. I don't need it because I have other tools, but I saw it over at my brother-in-law's house and thought it was a good deal.

I also use a solder sucker quite a bit, so I'd recommend one of those if you're going to be fixing or reclaiming things (solder braid is also handy).

I also use a fair number of connectors and cables, both 4 mm banana jacks/plugs and BNC coax. If anyone's interested, one of these days I'll write up a paper on what I've found useful over the years.

Another tool many folks aren't aware of are screw starters. K-D and General still make them. I use both the slotted and Phillips kind. If you've ever had to start a screw in a place that you can't reach with your fingers, you'll appreciate these.

 

[alsaf]

Many thanks to everybody who replied. Much appreciated.

The reason why I asked this question is because I can only get to the shop that sells the specialised electrical equipment at the weekend so wanted to get a wee shopping list drawn up when I go there this weekend.

I managed to strip the insulation from cable by using a stanley blade. I had cut softly into the cable while rolling it my finger and then frequently pulling insulation until it came off. I think for safety sakes, I'll try the side cutters which I'm sure I’ve got lying about somewhere.

 

[davenn]

davenn, you got a video of how you use side-cutters to strip 22 gauge wire? I am being serious too, I have never had very good luck. I cheat and use my lighter'

ha ha, I would have to make one, honestly with a little practice its very easy...
the biggest mistake most people make is using the cutters around the wrong way
whereby the bruise the insulation rather than sliding the insulation off.

I will do a couple of photo's

I used to work for telecom one of my many activities was cable jointing .... cables anything from a few pair to 5000 pairs of wires. Those paired wires in the larger cables were paper insulated!!!
there is no room for the bulkiness and fumbling of a large wire stripper, small 3.5 and 4 " sidecutters were always the tools used. There was a lot of competition between the jointers as to
who could joint the most pair / hr. most good jointers could do 130 - 150 pair / hr. Even at that you could see it takes a fair bit of time to do a 5000 pair cable joint !

So in a job where cable work was 80% of the activity, wire strippers were NEVER used

Yeah in desparation out in the middle of nowhere I have used a knife or whatever I could find but generally I always have sidecutters handy.

An old saying I was taught when early on the job many many yrs ago....
EVERY good technician ALWAYS has a pair of cutters and a screwdriver with them

I have pretty much lived by creed that for 30+ years

cheers
Dave

 

[davenn]

OK a couple of photos.....

first one .... the correct way ... strips wire cleanly

second one just partly strips and or just bruises insulation

you can see the difference between the 2 pix

pic 1 the flat side of the blade is facing the direction of stripping motion

pic 2 the concave side of the blade is facing the direction of stripping.

The only time I have trouble stripping wire with cutters is if its teflon insulated wire,
it tends to bruise the insulation regardless of the orientation of the cutters and often needs a second stripping motion. ( in fact some times it can be a royal pain in the butt!!)

fortunately maybe only a couple of % of cable I use is teflon insulated

cheers
Dave

 

[davelectronic]

Electronic tools

Yes nice clear concise images showing wire stripping with the trusty old side cutters.
Nice job Dave.

If you get some scrap wire, different gauges to practice on your learn just the right amount of pressure and pull needed to strip the wire, its kind of like a brick layers trowel, you learn to use it the correct way and it sticks with you forever.

I tried wire strippers in the early days, i found them awkward and annoying, my first attempts with side cutters did indeed chop through a few times, but as Dave said the more you use them they become an extension of your hand.

They vary a lot in price from continuous production pro models to cheap and cheerful hobby or occasional use tools.

Some good quality ones should not be to expensive, i use light small size cutters and a larger cutter, one covers through lead component cutting light wire stripping, and the larger ones for bigger cable, mains etc, some times i forget and continue with my larger cutters, rather than swap over, don't matter, cable still gets stripped. Dave.

A link to some side cutters i use. including a pair for live voltage work i use.

http://www.esr.co.uk/electronics/products/frame_tools.htm

 

[daddles]

One point you should make, davenn, is that your dykes should be the flush cut kind to have a reasonably sharp edge on them. Otherwise, the typical dykes with bevels on both sides of the will tend to crush things as you indicated. For those of you buying a pair of dykes, you will probably have to ask for flush cut pliers, as the average salesperson won't know the difference and will probably give you the non-flush cut kind. Make sure you only use those pliers on copper -- trying to cut steel wire (even worse: piano wire) will ruin them in a flash.

Also, few hobbyists are going to gain the expertise of someone like the techs who did lots of wire stripping every day. So it makes sense for them to use the tool which works best for them.

 

[davelectronic]

One point you should make, davenn, is that your dykes should be the flush cut kind to have a reasonably sharp edge on them. Otherwise, the typical dykes with bevels on both sides of the will tend to crush things as you indicated. For those of you buying a pair of dykes, you will probably have to ask for flush cut pliers, as the average salesperson won't know the difference and will probably give you the non-flush cut kind. Make sure you only use those pliers on copper -- trying to cut steel wire (even worse: piano wire) will ruin them in a flash.

Also, few hobbyists are going to gain the expertise of someone like the techs who did lots of wire stripping every day. So it makes sense for them to use the tool which works best for them.

Makes no difference flush cut or beveled, strip wire the same, i use both types, bevel is my preference, its a personal choice, i use flush cut on close pcb cutting, once you master the tool its easy to use.

I once watched a pro at work with a pair of side cutters, my uncle, lightning accurate cutting and stripping. Dave. PS, he was an electrical engineer with over 40 years experience, always there if i needed a helping hand, sadly passed away last year.
Good memory's of him live on.

 

[davenn]

One point you should make, davenn,..... .

Please call me dave the nn is actually the first and last letters of my surname

I have used davenn as a login on the net for the best part of 20 years

..... is that your dykes should be the flush cut kind to have a reasonably sharp edge on them.

dykes ?? never heard cutters/edges referred to as that before ... in many parts of the world, dyke has a very different meaning and I'm not referring to something that holds water back lol

cheers
Dave

 

[(*steve*)]

dyke has a very different meaning

They still come in pairs don't they?

 

[daddles]

Well, that just shows you how overloaded English is (not surprising). Yeah, dykes means a pair of lesbians too. Dikes are what hold water back. But diagonal cutting pliers were commonly called dykes back in the 60's and 70's, both where I went to school and at places I worked. Lots of words have changed meanings over the years... Just wait around, it happens...

 

[TBennettcc]

I found this in my quest to see just exactly the elusive Snap-On 60C looked like:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82114

Don't know if it's the same tool or not, but I figured I would pass it along anyways.

And thanks for mentioning screw starters, daddles. I've never heard of those before. I'm sure they come in handy.

 

[daddles]

I found this in my quest to see just exactly the elusive Snap-On 60C looked like:

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82114

Don't know if it's the same tool or not, but I figured I would pass it along anyways.

And thanks for mentioning screw starters, daddles. I've never heard of those before. I'm sure they come in handy.

I can't see the pictures without registering, so I passed. But I have a pair of both the 60C needlenose and the 60R duckbills. Both are incredibly useful. Around 20-25 years ago I tried to buy another pair of the 60C's from Snap-On only to find that they don't make them anymore -- because too many Neanderthal mechanics broke the tips off. Snap-On sold a replacement plier that looks quite similar and is beefier in the tip. I bought a pair and use that almost exclusively in my shop for working around the house. I'm too lazy to get up and go find the model number though. The 60C's are saved for delicate stuff.

I've seen three types of screw starters over the years. The cheap ones are the sliding thingy with two fingers that slides over the screw head and were typically only on slotted screwdrivers. The other cheap design is a split slotted head that is wedged apart to clamp in a screw slot. I don't care for either. The ones I like are the ones that are spring loaded; you cock them by twisting the head, then push them into the slotted or Phillips head. They "fire" and hold the screw firmly enough to let you screw it into an inaccessible hole. Here's a slotted one from Amazon. They are handy around cars, especially distributors.