Building tools: Should I buy a kit or piecemeal?

[Deleted member 54254]

Hope the kit is OK, should be enough to get you started anyways

 

[BostonGeorge]

Yeah, most of the tools I already have but I wanted another set strickly for building. I'm not going to use my oil and dirt covered pliers to build.

I bought these scissors months ago and they're very sharp for cotton: Amazon product ASIN B00006IFNA

 

[Jd_]

I can only speak of my experience, I bought all of my tools individually. I have the Coil Master 521 Tab and have no trouble at all with it and I have used it for the last 4+ years. It isn't just an Ohm reader, it is a very stable platform for building, installing, and testing your coils. You don't need a pair of wire cutters, a pair of toenail clippers will do nicely. I also picked up a pair of scissors at a discount tool store and have also used them for years. I have wrapped my coils around a 2.5mm machine screw and have gotten great simple spaced .5Ω coils. If my Coil Master broke today, I would not hesitate to replace it. I know I can test the coils on my mod, however, using the Tab as a platform to me is very important.

I use a toe nail clippers too, its 28 guage wire tho. To the OP, if u r using thicker wires, u might need a cutter.

If u buy the tools seperately they will be better quality only if u buy the better quality tools.

Lowes has those kobalt tool sets that come in those zipper hard sided pouch, can be used for all the other stuff in your kit. Also office depot/office max will have that kind of zipper tool pouches too

Edit: kind of overkill, but klein and grainger are the two brands that most professionals use. they are readily available at home depots in the electonics isle, not necessarily the tool isle

 

[rew]

Yeah, most of the tools I already have but I wanted another set strickly for building. I'm not going to use my oil and dirt covered pliers to build.

I bought these scissors months ago and they're very sharp for cotton: Amazon product ASIN B00006IFNA

Have got some of those. They are excellent.

 

[zouzounaki]

does the building kit come with toothpicks? i would highly recommend getting some, if doesn’t. they are the most versatile building tool.

 

[Lung Redemption]

So I know that I could buy a full kit like a Coil Master or equivalent. Would that be sufficient or would I get better quality tools buying them individually and, maybe save a few bucks, if I buy them all from one vendor? One thing I need is those wire coilers, before I learn to coil on a screwdriver, but I could buy a few sperately.

If not a kit or a smaller one, is there a US vendor like Amazon, that you can suggest? With Covid in our area, it's harder to spend time looking at my hardware store and I doubt they carry curved ceramic tweezers.

At work but will reply later. Thanks

About the only specific tools you need are a screwdriver (you might have something appropriate already), a good coiling jig (sure you can do it using a drill bit or whatever but a jig is worth imho) and something to snip wires, some cheap wire clippers are fine, but an alternative easy to source item if you're using thinner (not chunky clapton wire) is using some £1/$1 nail clippers (i've used them on 28 - 24ga wires without issue)... oh and some scissors (£1/$1 scissors will work fine if you use them only for snipping your cotton - they stay sharp for ages if you avoid using them on other things). You really don't need anything beyond those items, tweezers aren't necessary at all (i have two sets and barely ever get them out), the end of a small screwdriver does the job fine, and for raking the coil either said screwdriver or the coiling jig pole works great to, which also means you can run it (jig or screwdriver) through the center to rake the inner parts of the coil to.

An ohm reader is nice to have (handy to build on, somewhat a novelty though), but you can just build on your mod, you'll also have to factor in buying a battery for the reader (they usually take an 18650 to).

If you have precision screwdrivers, some scissors and nail clippers the only thing i'd say worthy of an investment is a jig, the coil master jigs are worth it (for me anyway). I have a cheap one to (wanted to grab one to compare), but it just sits in a box (it's basically just a long pole with stepped degrees of thickness) along with the tweezers (which might get a use if i end trying to get into soldering).

 

[used_gear]

Don't listen to anyone! All you need is a screwdriver (most attys comes with), scissors (normal household should have) and a pair of pointy tweezers (or two: one with stone ends and one metal). I will agree on buying tweezers as my wife's didn't do a good job...

 

[BostonGeorge]

I did buy these on the 3rd and received them on the 14th. It looks like they did ship them from China to Kentucky, USA. So be aware of that, if you decide to buy through this vendor.

That aside, it's a decent price for a complete kit but I'll agree with most that you may not need some of the tools. I seem to have a steep learning curve, until I get the hang of something new, so the coiler helped to start. I do like the ceramic tweezers too, for when the spacing gets uneven, after installing a coil, and use the curved one for setting the tails. I have two builds going simultaneously and so far so good.

 

[rew]

I did buy these on the 3rd and received them on the 14th. It looks like they did ship them from China to Kentucky, USA. So be aware of that, if you decide to buy through this vendor.

That aside, it's a decent price for a complete kit but I'll agree with most that you may not need some of the tools. I seem to have a steep learning curve, until I get the hang of something new, so the coiler helped to start. I do like the ceramic tweezers too, for when the spacing gets uneven, after installing a coil, and use the curved one for setting the tails. I have two builds going simultaneously and so far so good.

Glad you've had some success.