Basic Electronics Hand Tools

There are special tools and gadgets for electronics. If you are a beginner, you will need the following basic hand tools:

Screwdrivers

Screwdriver are basic tools for pressing screws into metal, wood, and other materials by rotating the driver-screw interface. There are two major types of screwdrivers, namely manual drivers and power drivers.

Manual drivers are turned by hand while power drivers are run by motors, generally by electric motors to rotate the driver head. The kind of the head of the driver will depend on the type of screw that will be used. Flat heads and Phillips heads are the most common types of heads, although there are other types in the market.

Since most of the electronic tasks are small, you will not need heavy-duty screwdrivers. You need to get a good collection of flat-head and Phillips-head with small and medium sizes of screwdrivers.

We recommend the following screwdriver sets:

 

Klein 5-Piece Electronic Screwdriver Set comes with rotating caps and cushion-grip handle for ease-of-use and precise finger-control for turning blades in tight areas. It is made from quality tempered steel, heat-treated for maximum strength, and precision ground to fit into screw openings.

 

 

TEKTON Everybit & Electronic Repair Screwdriver Bit Set contains 135 pieces of screwdrivers for everything you need, from household tasks to precision electronics project repairs to auto maintenance. It has a ratcheting driver handle, precision bit driver, a spudger for wrenching open electronics, and many more. It comes with 3 sets that contain 74-piece project bit and driver set, 27-piece precision bits, and driver set, and a 34-piece security bit set.

 

 

 

Pliers

There will be times when you will need to use standard flat-nosed pliers. With electronics projects, you will have to rely on needle-nose pliers for bending and twisting wires, pushing wires through some holes, and the like. Some needle-nose pliers have cutting edge for cutting wires. Buy a set of needle-nose pliers with thin jaws for working with small components or parts, and a bigger set for bigger tasks.

We highly recommend Wiha 8-Piece Slotted & Phillips Screwdriver Set. Blade comes from high alloy chrome-vanadium-molybdenum steel and hardened. It has a rotating cap for correct turning and control.  Slotted sizes vary from 1.5mm by 40mm; 2.0mm by 50mm; 2.5mm by 50mm; and 3.0mm by 60mm. Phillips sizes ranging from include 00 by 40mm, 0 by 50mm, 1 by 60mm.

 

 

 

Try Xcelite 6-Piece Electronics Plier Kit which is designed for pro-electronics technicians and hobbyists. The kit is a durable pocket-bag with solid snaps. This plier kit includes diagonal cutting pliers, long nose pliers with side cutter, cutter with transverse-end pliers, fine tip needle nose pliers, long nose and flat nose pliers.

 

 

Wire Cutters

Even if needle-nose pliers can be used to cut wires, you can have various kinds of wire cutters. For cutting thick wires, get some heavy duty wire cutter and get smaller for cutting small wires or accessory leads.

 

We recommend Hakko 5-Piece CHP Micro Cutter for outstanding and general use cutter.

 

 

Wire Strippers

When you want to remove insulation from 2 pieces of wire, you can use one wire with wire cutter and another wire with wire stripper. You will be able to observe the difference – you will see crumpling on wire stripped with wire cutter while there will be none with the use of wire stripper. The crump or crimp has just created a weak spot in the wire that can sooner or later break. Wire strippers are used to prevent from damaging wires when you have to strip them.

We recommend IRWIN 8-inch Multi-Tool Stripper, Cutter, & Crimper. It is made from durable nickel chromium steel and has Pro-Touch grips for comfort and ease-of-use. It can strip and cut wires ranging from 10-22 AWG. It has plier-style nose for easy pulling and looping in wires. It has the capability to cut bolts to size and gives excellent lead thread. These tools meet all ANSI requirements.

 

 

You can try Klein Tools Wire Stripper/cutter is light and handy to use. It comes with narrow nose that fits into tight areas. It was made from hardened steel with precision ground stripping holes to get rid of insulation easily. The handle is color-coded where red means stranded wires.