Paul Eastham

Paul Eastham

Well Known Member
Surely you've got one, one that makes you feel good whenever you pick it up.

Mine is my Dewalt battery-powered drill/screwdriver. A very sturdy tool, versatile, well balanced, long battery life, and super-useful. I was a latecomer to the cordless tool club, but when my parents gave this to me as a gift I found myself using it almost every day. Even after I was done building the RV!
 
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favorite tool

my AIR RIVET SQUEEZER!

I wish ALL the rivets could be set with this tool.

I sleep with mine.............

Dave
 
Hard to argue with the pneumatic squeezer but I have a edge deburring tool given to me by my friend Bob Kaufmann that has two fixed and adjustable cutting wheels that knock off very smoothly, the edge on both sides of the metal on a single pass. A quick pass with a red scotchbrite pad after and it's ready...Then there's the dremel and the sioux drill and the and the and the and the...just one pick huh?
 
Yes, a hammer is indeed a multi-purpose tool. :D

After more serious consideration I would have to say my favorite tool is my MP3 player. 'Music soothes the savage beast', and sometimes it can get a little savage when working on a plane. My least favorite tool is my cell phone. I hate it when that darn thing rings when I'm trying to concentrate on a task. It always seems to ring when it's out of reach and my body is contorted into a pretzel somewhere in the airframe. If I turn the MP3 player up loud enough it's no factor...

I know, odd ball choices, but there you go.
 
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Die grinder! Straight, 90 degree, Scotch Bright Pad on a mini wheel, cut off wheels, sanding pads, carbide deburring bits.
 
Ruler

My 6". 12", or 18" scale. I can usually find one of them when needed. Always need to use the scale before using any other tool. Measure once, cut twice . . . . something like that.
 
Paul Eastham said:
Surely you've got one, one that makes you feel good whenever you pick it up.

Mine is my Dewalt battery-powered drill/screwdriver. A very sturdy tool, versatile, well balanced, long battery life, and super-useful. I was a latecomer to the cordless tool club, but when my parents gave this to me as a gift I found myself using it almost every day. Even after I was done building the RV!
Click to expand...


I have to agree. My trusty 14V DeWalt has been a god send. I've built decks and planes and goodness knows what else over many years. Much more convenient than air power. Might have to donate it to the DeWalt museum with its list of many achievements when it dies:)

PS - Don't mean to say that there aren't many more fun filled years left in Old Yellow - and I've just treated her to a new set of batteries. Mind you these new Lithium Ion jobs are beginning to look mighty slim and sexy!
 
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Beer Opener

My favorite tool is a Keychain beer opener. When I use it, I am opening the gas tanks and about to fly somewhere. It is on the Borrowed Horse with the ignition key.
 
sioux drills

Have a couple of Sioux drills, and I love them. Can't see how I would have ever built the airframe without my angle drill either...

Merry Christmas
Chris
 
Scotch-Bright Wheel

A six-inch Scotch-Brite wheel mounted on a bench grinder...

-or-

A Main Squeeze Rivet Squeezer...
 
30" Sheet Metal Shear

I borrowed a 12 hand driven shear for quite a while and then a friend gave me a 30" stomp shear. Goes through .063" aluminum like butter.
 
Tungsten Bucking Bar for me too.

I just bucked some rivets solo and tried several of the bars that come with the Cleveland complete kit. Went back to the Tungsten even though anything would fit.

So tight spaces or open, big rivet or small, there's only one little bucker for me!
 
Favorite tool

I also gotta say the pneumatic squeeze. That big 'ole tool can knock out a bunch of rivets and dimples in no time.
 
90 deg drill

at the moment.(bought used from brown aircraft tool) ...but usually the pnuematic squeezer. really helped with the baffles and 5 point harness install. and firewall holes. my reasoning is i can do without the squeezer, i can not do without the 90 deg drill.
 
Favorite tool

Since I am not building yet, I just take this from my current duties. My favorite is my 12" Snap-on #2 phillips screwdriver. It just has so many uses.

It opens 75% of all external panels of the aircraft I work on.
I use it to sweep under the vending machines when I drop a quarter and it rolls under.
I can pin the aircraft throttle quadrant with it and completely rig both engines.
Works good as a soft face mallet.
Doubles as an air guitar while jamming on my iPod. Or as a baton conducting the orchestrated sections...
Keeps the A**holes at more than arms reach when they vex me..
Use it as a pointer when training someone.

You get the idea..:D
 
My Sioux Palm Drill just feels right in my hand. It is now over 3 years old and is still humming along after thousands of holes.
It just fits.
 
tungsten bar

Oh yeah..The Tungsten bucking bar. Never ever used another bar after I got one. Got the one from Brown , oblong square block. Perfect. Don't drop it inside the airframe. Nasty dent. AMHIK!!

Regards...Chris
 
my tool

Mine is my digital camera. I can take a good close-up photo of any part of the plane or a particular page of the plans. I can blow it up to a huge size and at my liesure I can see details on my laptop that I could never see with the naked eye (like rivet shop heads or some fine print). This came in real handy to look at things that are hidden from view. :)
 
Band Saw

Maybe not the most useful but my free standing Delta Band Saw is my favorite. It works great for cutting parts and also cutting wood blocks for clamping jigs and fixtures, wedges for various uses like setting up the TE of the rudder for back riveting--just slide the wedge under the leading edge until the TE naturally rests flat on the plate. I use it a lot more than I thought I would. I don't have a pneumo rivet squeezer or tungsten bucking bar--yet but I see a least one of those in my near future.

I'm also pretty fond of my 6" stainless steel machinist's scale. I've had it since I worked in a machine shop while in high school almost 30 years ago. Little did I know then that I was training myself to build an airplane, or did I?
 
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