New member here, but I am not new to tools or wrenching on things. I belong to a few vehicle forums online, and post in one of them somewhat frequently. This forum seems to be a solid place to go for tool recommendations, as well as tips and other stuff that would be useful professionally and for the hobbyist.
I have been working my current job for about 2 months now. I work in the aviation field, specifically in the sheet metal shop building helicopter fuselages. Anything from riveting to fabricating and cutting and all other kinds of sheet metal related tasks are what I do daily. This is my first experience in the production field, but I am not new to aviation. I was a structural mechanic in the navy, but have had about 4 years between getting out and starting this current job. I was a shop carpenter the last 4 years almost.
I am basically looking for "that" tool or tools that are going to make a huge difference, whether it be the expensive items, or the cheap ones. The shop I work in provides all the tools you need. In fact, only the team leads have tool boxes with their own tools. A lot of people bring their own tools in, and nobody really seems to care. I already went out and bought a cheap harbor freight bag, and a plastic bin organizer for my drill bits, and bought some cheap wood files that will work alright on aluminium in tight spots. I also bought a Cleco 2 x and a Cleco 4x rivet gun. The 4x has already come in handy a lot of times, for shooting those steel rivets that are in hard spots that you don't want to buck forever. Only one other guy in the shop has one, and when he isn't there, we don't have it. I got it for cheap and figured why not.
Today I found myself needing a good center punch for punching out rivet stems after breaking the heads off. Every single one in our box *****, and either doesn't work, or is very weak. So I just bought one that some guy recommended and I used his today and it worked great. I don't use them to make a notch for the center of a head before i drill it out, but with this new punch I bought, I might try it out.
Just wondering if there are any tools out there others in similar fields have experienced that are sort of a holy grail item or a can't live without for too long item. Granted, I am still hoping to use most of the tools in the boxes provided, as it isn't required for me to spend my own money on them. But, it is frustrating when you don't have the right tools to do something, and it takes longer to do something, or you create a non conformance by using it.
I have been working my current job for about 2 months now. I work in the aviation field, specifically in the sheet metal shop building helicopter fuselages. Anything from riveting to fabricating and cutting and all other kinds of sheet metal related tasks are what I do daily. This is my first experience in the production field, but I am not new to aviation. I was a structural mechanic in the navy, but have had about 4 years between getting out and starting this current job. I was a shop carpenter the last 4 years almost.
I am basically looking for "that" tool or tools that are going to make a huge difference, whether it be the expensive items, or the cheap ones. The shop I work in provides all the tools you need. In fact, only the team leads have tool boxes with their own tools. A lot of people bring their own tools in, and nobody really seems to care. I already went out and bought a cheap harbor freight bag, and a plastic bin organizer for my drill bits, and bought some cheap wood files that will work alright on aluminium in tight spots. I also bought a Cleco 2 x and a Cleco 4x rivet gun. The 4x has already come in handy a lot of times, for shooting those steel rivets that are in hard spots that you don't want to buck forever. Only one other guy in the shop has one, and when he isn't there, we don't have it. I got it for cheap and figured why not.
Today I found myself needing a good center punch for punching out rivet stems after breaking the heads off. Every single one in our box *****, and either doesn't work, or is very weak. So I just bought one that some guy recommended and I used his today and it worked great. I don't use them to make a notch for the center of a head before i drill it out, but with this new punch I bought, I might try it out.
Just wondering if there are any tools out there others in similar fields have experienced that are sort of a holy grail item or a can't live without for too long item. Granted, I am still hoping to use most of the tools in the boxes provided, as it isn't required for me to spend my own money on them. But, it is frustrating when you don't have the right tools to do something, and it takes longer to do something, or you create a non conformance by using it.