Unique Favorite Tools of ours

[dmeek]

This is a set of 1/4" deep sockets I put together, inch and metric. Very handy.

https://music-electronics-forum.com/...1&d=1582509477

[Helmholtz]

Another kind of "tool":



Rohde & Schwarz analog real power wattmeter (max. 500W) and true RMS voltmeter (30Hz..10kHz). Principle: electrodynamic cross field dynamometer.

[Chuck H]

I was going to post two things, but Helmholtz already posted the dental mirror.

One I wasn't going to mention, but why not? I use a nut pick to straighten and smooth out component leads after soldering for eyelet and turret construction. Because it's pointy, curved and tapered it's the perfect tool for the job and makes my mediocre work look a little prettier. You can hook a component lead from almost any angle and run it up and back from the solder joint to the component body to make it smooth and evenly curved.

One of my favorite bench tools though, without a doubt, is rubber bands. I don't have a lead wire dispenser rack so I just keep a rubber band on each spool so the leads don't unwind and dangle all over. My favorite use for rubber bands is to wrap one around a plier handle for a little clamping pressure without having to hold it. I can often use that rig as a third hand when I need one. I have one of those weighted, three arm alligator clip jimmy doo's with the magnifying glass on it, but most of the time a pair of the right pliers with a rubber band on the handle is more convenient. It's also gentler than even the first click on a pair of hemostats and the pliers have more anchoring weight than hemostats which is often useful.

[Enzo]

A lot of tube testers had pin straightener sockets. A machined metal socket, you shoved a tube into and it bent the pins back straight and helped unkink them.

[Helmholtz]

Tube pins can be cleaned/scraped by these (actually strippers/scrapers for enamelled wire):

[Mick Bailey]

I once saw a tube pin aligner in an old magazine ad where you placed the pins something that looked like a ZIF socket. You squeezed the handles and every pin got straightened. The same company also made a pin cleaner that cleaned all the pins at once. I've been looking for these for a very long time - more out of curiosity than necessity.

[Helmholtz]

Tools to re-align preamp tube pins.

[Helmholtz]

Extractable telescope inspection mirror.

[big_teee]

I have a similar ratchet made for changing spark plugs.
My dad gave it to me over 50 years ago, and it is a Blackhawk brand ratchet.
It is still in my ratchet, and sockets drawer in the tool chest.
T

[Greg_L]

That curved handle looks... handy.

Any big names using your engines? I'm a bit of a petrol-head though it's mostly F1 these days.

Not anymore. I left that game around 2008. I was mostly doing drag racing engines and offshore powerboat stuff. And of course the usual wannabe street racer jobs.

[minim]

I can't even pick one, though I've tried. Being an auto mechanic-turned-race engine machinist, I have a lot of very specialized this-only-does-one-thing tools.

Probably if I was forced to pick one my favorite though is not that specialized at all - it's a 3/8" ratchet.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]57083[/ATTACH]



What's so great about it? The angled handle is very ergonomic and makes it very comfortable to apply torque. The swivel head speaks for itself. The combination of the two features makes for an extremely versatile, strong, high leverage ratchet that can do anything. This aint your dad's basic craftsman ratchet.

That curved handle looks... handy.

Any big names using your engines? I'm a bit of a petrol-head though it's mostly F1 these days.

[Greg_L]

I can't even pick one, though I've tried. Being an auto mechanic-turned-race engine machinist, I have a lot of very specialized this-only-does-one-thing tools.

Probably if I was forced to pick one my favorite though is not that specialized at all - it's a 3/8" ratchet.




What's so great about it? The angled handle is very ergonomic and makes it very comfortable to apply torque. The swivel head speaks for itself. The combination of the two features makes for an extremely versatile, strong, high leverage ratchet that can do anything. This aint your dad's basic craftsman ratchet.

[minim]

This one isn't so much unique as indispensable to me as I have not been able to find another:

The old Utilux "NO. 14". It does uninsulated terminals like a pro. There must be something out there like it...

[dmeek]

Got this a few years ago. When I need extra pressure.

https://music-electronics-forum.com/...1&d=1582324960

[Leo_Gnardo]

There was a tool I should have picked up just for its macabre purpose. It was in a jumble store in Metropolis Illinois just a hop & a skip from Paducah Kentucky. It had a scissor like mechanism, with a spoon on one side, and sort of a miniature hatchet that fit lengthwise into the spoon as you closed the scissor handles.

What the **** was it ????

A chicken killer, said the proprietor. Comes "harvest" day, get chicken's head on the spoon & squeeze the handle.

Not much use in the electronics workshop.