how many tools does your job require????

[sberry]

Probably most trades guys should have their own basic hand tools. Some situations are special and some trades need only a few, it may depend on union contracts. In a nuke didn't have anything of my own, not even a tape measure. As a sign installer a handful of tools not already found on the trucks for the most part, number 9's a tape measure, couple of nut drivers, diagonals, Channelocks. Sharpie marker.

 

[exophyusical]

I think k it varies from company to company. I would say if you already have a decent tool set as a mechanic, you would have pretty much everything you would need to be say a millwright.

I think that depends, most automotive guys that I know don't have the bigger stuff. Big wrenches can really clean you out, the bright side is that if your going to cheap out here is the place to do it. In Canada you can get a 10 pc jumbo set from Peavey Mart for under $100. They are pretty crude wrenches but I've never seen one break. I pieced together a set of jumbo Proto's by watching ebay and scooping anything that I could get for under $50 a wrench including shipping, this probably cost me about $300.

 

[General Geoff]

ain't that the truth! i just totally rebuilt a dell PE R810 a few days ago and the only tools i needed were my two hands. it's mostly only big servers that are built to this level of modularity, though.

Yeah, most modern stuff requires at most a #1 phillips, or a #0 phillips for laptops. I hate working on most laptops because they're really not designed to be taken apart (Hidden plastic clips everywhere, some of them ALWAYS break. A lot of the HPs, Compaqs and Toshibas use metal thread pieces molded into a monolithic plastic chassis, so that if one of those metal threads breaks off the plastic molding, the laptop is basically a write-off).

 

[ShaneMSnyder]

Technically I don't need any being a (garbage) truck driver but having a basic hand tool set hidden in your cab can save you hours of downtime.

 

[jmm]

Is it typical for a plant or mill to provide most of the tools? Like I mentioned, I never worked in one so have no clue as to who supplies what.

In the textiles mills around here (once upon a time the nexus of textile manufacturing in this country), it's always been pretty common for the fixers and maintenance men to own their own tools. Everybody has a box with the basics inside. Depending on how difficult your job is, you'll own more or less. I own quite a few. Many aren't necessary, but the quicker get machines back on line (be it a bad fuse or a complete overhaul), and the better the efficiency of the looms while I'm on duty, the better my production bonus. So there's a big incentive to buy the tools that make the tasks I run across as fast as possible.

We do have a tool crib for the very seldom used and/or expensive items. In the crib you'll find the largest pullers, huge torque wrenches, air tools (most in pretty bad shape...I bought my own not long ago), and that sort of thing. Maintenance guys have the same sort of stuff, plus tools like big pipe threaders.

The situation probably varies by region/company. I'd imagine in the unionized parts of the country, the story's quite different. The unions never had any kind of a foothold in the South.

 

[basspro]

Im an industrial mechanic. Exophyusical and Bobcatdan both said it well. I keep a toolbox "just big enough" full of tools I use and I do push my box around our plant when the going gets real tough, but most of the time I can work out of my tool bag. I keep a Klein 11-1 screwdriver and a CMAN 10in adjustable wrench in my pocket, they come in handy often. I keep all my automotive specific tools at home of course as I may only touch a forklift every now and then, and its usually a hydraulic issue if I am working on one. I could probably live with alot less than I have, and I dont really plan on adding any more for work. There is no way I could have a triple bay monstrosity at work, just no mean of transporting it and no room, as I go to the machines to work on them. There is a list of tools in my Millwrights and Mechanics Guide book that we were required to have when I was in school, tried finding it online but no luck. I know we had to have quite a few precision tools and sockets and wrenches up to 1 1/4" for sure. I worked at a Hydraulic Shop prior to my current job and I really didnt have to add anything in the way of tools.

 

[basspro]

Sberry, you have too many tools in your picture, too many wrenches and screwdrivers lol.

 

[Dustin Echoes]

1. A 7/8 wrench. Anybody guess what I do for a living?

 

[mech-tech]

I know scaffolding mainly requires a 7/8 wrench.