petalmasher
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2014
- Messages
- 33
Hi Tools forum,
I posted a week or two ago about my employer who, rather than supplying a tool kit as my past employers have (I do field service on radiological equipment), just said to use my corporate card to buy whatever tools I need. My general plan is to buy most the same tools I was familiar with from the tool kit I had for 6 years with my last job (they took it back when I quit), which worked well and were fairly moderate in price, but to spend a little more on the tools I use most were higher quality would be noticed. I was also looking for lighter/more compact solutions so as to be able to carry more in one bag and reduce the number of trips out to my car for tools.
I’m not actually brand new at this job, I’ve been doing it for about a year (alternating between training classes and OJT) and using some tools I acquired when a company I worked for almost a decade ago went out of business and didn’t take back their tool kit. It was a fairly sparse collection of kind of low quality tools, but I was making do with them while I figure out what I really need and can buy the right tools for the job.
Now that I’m no longer “training”, I’m taking service calls alone and can’t just use my colleague’s tools when I don’t have what I need, I’m buying a bunch of stuff. A lot of the low quality tools from that defunct company were Chinese-made, and generally none have stood up to regular use, so I’m trying stick with tools mad in the first world (North America, Europe, Japan). I think that well-trained adults who are properly fed and rested do better work than malnourished 12-year-olds who only get to sleep 2 hours a night.
So, I I’ve been keeping close tabs on what tools we’ve actually used during my OJT, and I found a bag that should be able to carry both my laptop and all the tools I need for 95% of my service calls. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvVzdnM0kwc193U2RNY25JQnpLMkY0a0FzV3FF/edit?usp=sharing
Smaller stuff goes here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvZjliSFhSZlpNYkZhNVJRZlRlYWZscnVuVEZr/edit?usp=sharing
Most of the rest goes here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvWXJKZVY5ZnRCdGc0cXlucWV1VkVCNlF6ODhn/edit?usp=sharing There’s also a long side pocket that you can’t really see in the picture for some larger mechanical tools.
And a place for the laptop: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvLXA2VU5CbWFkQW4xRzgtQmhjQ01MWjZNNUhN/edit?usp=sharing
There more tools in the bag, but those are old ones waiting to be replaced. This is what I’ve actually bought for this job so far: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvUy1PMG1oUmZNZHJJSExwQTVibzlmb2xoYkNv/edit?usp=sharing
Klein level, Fluke HV probe hiding behind the Chapman kit, Chapman kit, Klein needle nose pliers and cutters, Xcelite precision needle nose and cutter, Gerber utility knife, Wiha folding metric ruller, Channellock Wide-Azz adjustable wrench (rebranded Irega), 4-inch Crescent Adjustable, Bondhus hex keys, Heyco ¼ inch socket set, Xcelite (rebranded Felo) ESD Phillips and slotted driver set, Xcelite precision Phillips and Slotted, and you can barely see the tip of a big Xcelite flat-head driver that is mostly there for prying.
Most of my favorite tools from my tool kit at my last job were Klein or Xcelite, so I obviously favor those brands. The only place where I really spent significantly more than if I were spending my own money was the Socket set. I’ve had a lot of frustration with sockets sticking the bolt after tightening, or getting stuck to the ratchet so tightly that I need to use pliers to remove to remove it. So far, haven’t had these problems with the Heyco set. I have some pliers that I use a lot, which will probably be replaced with Knipex or CK
I posted a week or two ago about my employer who, rather than supplying a tool kit as my past employers have (I do field service on radiological equipment), just said to use my corporate card to buy whatever tools I need. My general plan is to buy most the same tools I was familiar with from the tool kit I had for 6 years with my last job (they took it back when I quit), which worked well and were fairly moderate in price, but to spend a little more on the tools I use most were higher quality would be noticed. I was also looking for lighter/more compact solutions so as to be able to carry more in one bag and reduce the number of trips out to my car for tools.
I’m not actually brand new at this job, I’ve been doing it for about a year (alternating between training classes and OJT) and using some tools I acquired when a company I worked for almost a decade ago went out of business and didn’t take back their tool kit. It was a fairly sparse collection of kind of low quality tools, but I was making do with them while I figure out what I really need and can buy the right tools for the job.
Now that I’m no longer “training”, I’m taking service calls alone and can’t just use my colleague’s tools when I don’t have what I need, I’m buying a bunch of stuff. A lot of the low quality tools from that defunct company were Chinese-made, and generally none have stood up to regular use, so I’m trying stick with tools mad in the first world (North America, Europe, Japan). I think that well-trained adults who are properly fed and rested do better work than malnourished 12-year-olds who only get to sleep 2 hours a night.
So, I I’ve been keeping close tabs on what tools we’ve actually used during my OJT, and I found a bag that should be able to carry both my laptop and all the tools I need for 95% of my service calls. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvVzdnM0kwc193U2RNY25JQnpLMkY0a0FzV3FF/edit?usp=sharing
Smaller stuff goes here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvZjliSFhSZlpNYkZhNVJRZlRlYWZscnVuVEZr/edit?usp=sharing
Most of the rest goes here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvWXJKZVY5ZnRCdGc0cXlucWV1VkVCNlF6ODhn/edit?usp=sharing There’s also a long side pocket that you can’t really see in the picture for some larger mechanical tools.
And a place for the laptop: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvLXA2VU5CbWFkQW4xRzgtQmhjQ01MWjZNNUhN/edit?usp=sharing
There more tools in the bag, but those are old ones waiting to be replaced. This is what I’ve actually bought for this job so far: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwmTgXordmKvUy1PMG1oUmZNZHJJSExwQTVibzlmb2xoYkNv/edit?usp=sharing
Klein level, Fluke HV probe hiding behind the Chapman kit, Chapman kit, Klein needle nose pliers and cutters, Xcelite precision needle nose and cutter, Gerber utility knife, Wiha folding metric ruller, Channellock Wide-Azz adjustable wrench (rebranded Irega), 4-inch Crescent Adjustable, Bondhus hex keys, Heyco ¼ inch socket set, Xcelite (rebranded Felo) ESD Phillips and slotted driver set, Xcelite precision Phillips and Slotted, and you can barely see the tip of a big Xcelite flat-head driver that is mostly there for prying.
Most of my favorite tools from my tool kit at my last job were Klein or Xcelite, so I obviously favor those brands. The only place where I really spent significantly more than if I were spending my own money was the Socket set. I’ve had a lot of frustration with sockets sticking the bolt after tightening, or getting stuck to the ratchet so tightly that I need to use pliers to remove to remove it. So far, haven’t had these problems with the Heyco set. I have some pliers that I use a lot, which will probably be replaced with Knipex or CK