The Beginner’s Guide to Electronics: Tools—What to Buy First, Part 3The Beginner’s Guide to Electronics: Tools—What to Buy First, Part 3

Just to bring us all up to speed, in previous columns I’ve made mention of the fact that I often receive emails from people starting out in electronics asking what tools they should buy. I introduced some of the basics in Part 1 of this mini-series, dividing things into two categories: “Suggested” and “Mandatory.” Those tools were as follows:

Although I offer links to potential offerings on sites like Amazon, I should note that I don’t have any affiliation with any of these companies and I don’t make any money off these links, which are provided only to give us something to think about. Later, in Part 2, we added a “Recommended” category along with the following tool suggestions:

To be honest, I cannot imagine being without any of the tools presented above. On that basis, you could say they are all mandatory. On the other hand, if you are just starting out and you’re short of cash, it’s amazing what you can do without.

Related:The Beginner’s Guide to Electronics: Tools—What to Buy First, Part 1

For example, instead of open wrenches and/or nut drivers (which I’ve referenced as “Recommended”), you can usually get by with pliers (which I’ve marked as “Mandatory”). Similarly, if you don’t have any wire strippers, then you can make do with cutters (or just a pair of scissors or even a utility knife in a pinch). Having said all this, it’s always best if you can splash the cash to get the right tool for the job.

In this column, we are going to look at a few more “Recommended” tools. Also, we will introduce a “Wish List” category for when a rich relative foolishly inquires what you’d like for your birthday.

Pocket tape measure (recommended)

Although this may seem a bit off-topic for a column that purports to be focused on electronics, I cannot remember a time when I didn’t carry a small tape measure like the one shown below.

Pocket tape measure. CLIVE “MAX” MAXFIELD

Rarely does a day go by without me using this at least once. Having it in my pocket saves me loads of time. I just found one for $2.99 on Amazon, and I’m sure you can get cheaper versions if you look around.

Electronic digital calipers (recommended)

To be honest, the need for some tools depends on the sort of projects you are going to work on. If all you plan on doing is building small electronic projects on breadboards, then the pocket tape measure mentioned above will probably satisfy most of your measuring needs.

Related:The Beginner’s Guide to Electronics: Tools—What to Buy First, Part 2

On the other hand, if you plan on building things like enclosures and front panels for your projects, you’ll end up wanting to measure more things with higher accuracy and precision. In my case, I cannot envisage a world in which my electronic digital calipers were not close to hand.

Electronic digital calipers. CLIVE “MAX” MAXFIELD

I purchased mine many moons ago from iFixit, but you can get a very reasonable device with 4.6 out of 5 stars and 4,739 ratings for only $7.99 on Amazon.

Heat gun and heat shrink tubing (recommended)

If you are anything like me, you’ll end up soldering a lot of wires together—also soldering wires onto connectors and switches and … all sorts of things.

You can, of course, wrap these joints with insulating tape, but most of the time I prefer to use heat shrink tubing in conjunction with a heat gun as shown below.

My trusty heat gun. CLIVE “MAX” MAXFIELD

A box of heat shrink tubing. CLIVE “MAX” MAXFIELD

As its name suggests, heat shrink tubing shrinks when it’s heated. In addition to providing electrical insulation, this tubing also protects things against abrasion, and it provides strain relief; that is, it reduces stress on connections (like wires connected to a switch) caused by pulling, bending, or twisting.

Most of this tubing will shrink a little bit lengthwise (typically between 5% and 10%), but the largest shrink is seen in its diameter. When you are purchasing tubing, look at its “shrink ratio” value. A shrink ratio of 2:1 means the tubing will shrink to half its original diameter (this is suitable for most electronic projects); a 3:1 shrink ratio means the tubing will shrink to a third of its original diameter; and a 4:1 shrink ratio means the tubing will shrink to a quarter of its original diameter.

Depending on how much of this you think you will be doing, you can opt for a more-expensive heat gun capable of performing multiple tasks, all the way up to stripping paint—I just found this one for $28.99 on Amazon. Alternatively, you can go for something more modest, like a kit comprising a mini heat gun along with a bunch of heat shrink tubing—I just found such a kit for only $13.99 on Amazon.

Crimping tool (recommended)

Since I do a lot of Arduino-based projects, I use a lot of flying leads formed from multicore insulated wire with mail connectors on both ends. I buy bunches of these pre-built, but I often need wires of custom lengths. One of the best things I ever bought for this was a crimping tool from a company called Pololu Robotics and Electronics.

Crimping tool. CLIVE “MAX” MAXFIELD

This isn’t cheap at $39.95, but I must have had mine for more than 10 years now. I’ve used it constantly and it’s still going strong, so that’s not a lot of money when spread over the years, In addition to the crimping tool itself, Pololu also supplies crimp connector housings (0.1-in. pitch), male crimp pins for 0.1-in. housings, and female crimp pins for 0.1 in. housings.

Male crimp pins (left), housings (center), and female crimp pins (Right). CLIVE “MAX” MAXFIELD

There are lots of useful hints and tips on how to perform crimping on the Pololu website. There’s even a handy-dandy video about all this on YouTube.

Next time

I’m afraid that’s all for this column. This means I must chastise myself soundly and hang my head in shame because I said we were going to introduce a “Wish List” category for when a rich relative foolishly inquires what you’d like for your birthday. I’m thinking about more expensive items like an oscilloscope, a laser cutter, and a 3D printer.

But turn that frown upside down into a smile, because we will consider these “Wish List” items (and more) in a future column. Until then, as always, I look forward to casting my orbs over your captivating comments, insightful questions, and sagacious suggestions (you can email me at [email protected]).