My set of screwdrivers?

gdjacobs wrote:

My set of screwdrivers?

+1

Wait are we talking about "tools" or actual tools? I'm confused.

You can never have enough thermal paste, screws, standoffs, pliers, etc. Also isopropyl alcohol + magic eraser for cleaning. A decent screwdriver set, scissors, zip ties, wirecutters etc.

Since usually I'm working on a system I already put together and have just added a single part or needed to refresh the OS I'm going with my ghost images and carefully collected drivers. After a couple years of not having messed with a particular machine you forget all the nuances and particular versions you used to get things running just right. Being able to ghost or just pull up a directory with all the drivers you used previously makes the process of getting set up again as painless as possible.

As for tools, I have a 2.5/3.5 USB slot loading HD device that comes in handy for checking whats on all the drives I have or preparing a replacement. Also my Rom burner is invaluable when needed as there is no alternative available to burn roms.

And lets not forget VOGONS itself for when I run into issues that I can't figure out for myself, you guys are great.

My computer toolkit still contains the 2B pencil I used to unlock the multiplier on my Athlon Thunderbird CPU back in 2002. I haven't used it since, but it makes me smile every time I see it.

Well, if the Verge has taught me anything.. zipties (aka tweezers), a swiss army knife that HOPEFULLY has a screwdriver inside, an antic static livestrong bracelet, and a butter knife so you can apply a gob of thermal paste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vmQOO4WLI4

DaveJustDave wrote:

Well, if the Verge has taught me anything.. zipties (aka tweezers), a swiss army knife that HOPEFULLY has a screwdriver inside, an antic static livestrong bracelet, and a butter knife so you can apply a gob of thermal paste.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vmQOO4WLI4

You won the internet! (Y)

A few of my items I keep in my computer repair/building area.. sorry for the long list, but maybe this will help people out.

Grounding:
Ground monitoring system (alarm enabled)
Antistatic Mat w/ slow drain resistance
Antistatic Wrist Strap w/ slow drain resistance
Ground pin only plug hub for wall outlet

Cleaning:
Isopropyl Alcohol (90%+)
DuPont Freon-TF (spray can)
Ultrasonic cleaner
Metrovac ESD Safe Vacuum
Horsehair detailing brush set w/ wooden handles (ESD safe)
USB rechargeable handheld vacuum (size of a handheld flashlight for small area cleaning)
Q-Tips
Cotton rounds
Microfiber towels
Cotton towels
Acetone
Vinegar
Baking Soda
Magic Eraser
Simple Green

Soldering:
75w temperature adjustable soldering iron w/ sleep function
100w temperature adjustable hot air pencil
Brass sponges
Solder wick
100% lead solder
60/40 and 80/20 leaded solder
RoHS solder (ewww)
High temperature silver solder
Liquid flux
Flux paste
Solder paste
Syringe w/ needle point for fine flux application or under BGA's for reflow

Testing:
True RMS multimeter
Oscilloscope
ISA/PCI/PCIe fault testing card (read boot codes)
EEPROM programmer
Ethernet cable tester
Fiber cable tester
Kill-a-watt meter
Bench power supply w/ various outputs

Computer Hardware Related:
Various known-good computer hardware and peripherals for testing
External USB floppy
External USB CD/DVD/HDDVD/BD drive
External card reader
External hard drive dock
External hard drives
USB flash drives
Hot swap hard drive chassis (IDE, SAS/SATA, SCSI)
Box of data cables for 99% of what I'll ever come across
Gender changers for I/O cables & ports
PS/2 to USB adapters
AT to PS/2 adapters
Audio cable adapters (digital, analog)
Video cable adapters (VGA, DVI, DisplayPort, HDMI)
A supply of analog and digital chips (board repair)
A supply of resistors, capacitors, inductors (board repair)
Surface mount components, through hole components (interface connectors, sockets, pin headers, etc)

Tools:
Screwdriver set with 50+ bits (torx, security bits, philips, flathead, tri-point, allen head, etc)
Wire strippers
Pin crimpers
Side cutters
Wood spudger
Tweezers
Pliers
Dremel
Nibblers
Ruler
Square
Rotary cutting tool and mat
Hole punch
Rivet gun + various size rivets
Drill w/ bits and hole saws
Hack saw + various blades
Multi-arm part holder
USB Microscope
Fine point needles for fixing LGA pins
Chip extractor tools

Misc:
Kapton tape
3M double-sided sticky tape
Thermal paste (conductive, non-conductive, liquid metal)
Thermal pads (various sizes / thicknesses)
Thermal epoxy
Two part epoxy for plastic/metal
Lexan/acrylic scratch removal compound (3 stage kit)
Various grades of sandpaper
Buffing pads
Rubbing compound
Polish
Wax
Primer spray
Various spray paints (for plastic and metal)
Clear coat
Spray adhesive
Zip ties
Zip tie mounts (square)
Latching wire holders (clip, ribbon cable width, latching)
Cable wrap ties (velcro)
Various gauge and color wiring (solid core, stranded, 32ga thru 0ga)
Everything for custom cable sleeving (mesh, paracord, heatshrink - everything in various colors)
Random connectors for making custom length power supply cables, fan cables, etc. (pins, housings)
....and of course 40 volume developer (liquid and gel) for Retr0brite

John McAfee.

Well, he's a bit of a tool...

My reading glasses! 😎 Don't laugh, those tiny 3 pin connections and the like in a case give me fits!

gdjacobs wrote:

Well, he's a bit of a tool...

I was going to go with Steve Jobs but it might have looked like a direct attack on the OP's iPad choice.

BushLin wrote:

gdjacobs wrote:

Well, he's a bit of a tool...

I was going to go with Steve Jobs but it might have looked like a direct attack on the OP's iPad choice.

How? Jobs was a narcissistic egocentric asshole.... Woz was and will be way better, as he actually was the muscle power behind. Without him, Jobs would have ended up as a drug addicted hippie in downtown LA. Yeah... He did not give a shit about his daughter, when she needed him the most. What a piece of shit Jobs was. The iPad is a good tool for what it is good for, and unless you see Jobs in an religeous light, then dissing jobs is not the same as saying that an iPad is a shitty thing.

Intel486dx33 wrote:

I have to say that the best tool I have in building and repairing old computers is my iPad. Why? So I can look up manuals, docs, […]
Show full quote

I have to say that the best tool I have in building and repairing old computers is my iPad.
Why?
So I can look up manuals, docs, diagrams, jumper settings, and specs while building old computers.
I can pull up a webpages and save it as a pdf file.
Make notes on the note pad app.
I can take photos with the iPad too and up load them.
It can also take videos that I can up load to youtube for sharing.
The iPad has good battery life and is small and mobile.

What is your favorite tool ?

I have all sort of tools at my desk and on my shelf's. Yet no iPad or any other tablet. I just search on the internet for information if I need a few information's, and for big stuff like motherboards and so on. Then I find the manual and print it on paper. I like having the manual in a physical form.

Else, my favorite tool of all are a screwdriver. Without, I can not do anything. And then all the other useful tools, like IPA, thermal paste, antistatic wristband, tweezers and so on. And they are all, nearly as favorite as my screwdrivers.

@wiretap: Great list of useful stuff!

I'd add:

Aluminium duct tape (for shielding holes etc)
Plastics electric insulation foil (to add when HV areas are too near ground)
Conductive black foam mats
heat gun, variable heat and airflow regulation, with various nozzles
Thermally conductive dual sided adhesive
Metal tubs and 5liter bottles of IPA 99% (reused, two kinds: dirty - preclean, still-clean - main cleaning)
Pressure water spray bottle (for cleaning manually unreachable spots and rinsing out closed areas like slots from tensides)
Makeshift PSU tester
Set of rubber adhesive feet

I have a computer workbench similar to this one in my garage that I can't use because my garage is a mess full of boxes.
I purchased it back in 1995 and have never been able to use it.
I never got around to cleaning up my garage enough to use it.
Maybe some day soon.