If you were starting over?

[Duhg]

What tools would you start out with? I've been searching through the Avery, Cleaveland, Isham etc. Are there certain brands you would definately stick with? Ones you'd stay away from? I know how worthless my $30 pneumatic impact wrench from Northern Tool is and would rather not waste money on tools that aren't going to make it through the job. Are the "RV Tool Kits" reliable packages or would you swap out certain items?

 

[Vern]

Tools

If you are seriously considering building a plane and flying it for the rest of your life, and you are halfway mechanically inclined, get a complete Avery or Cleaveland RV kit.

You will also need a good Sears Craftsman/Lowes/ Home Depot mechanical tool kit including sockets, wrenches,screwdrivers,etc. Then you will need a good quality cordless drill/screwdriver, a small bench grinder for a scotchbrite wheel, a small drill press, and a OILED air compressor + hoses. Later on, add in jacks, Add all this up and it is a big investment. Of course, you can always borrow many of these items if you have a friendly hangarmate.

You can use these for home and auto mx also, so every time you buy a tool, you can use it to reduce payouts to others for mx.

Some have said: You can never have too many tools! I agree!

 

[jlk]

Vern gave you a good list. I just started building, with that said, I bought the Isham kit and am satisfied. I would also add the DRDT-2 (came with the Isham kit) and I bought the 8 foot butcher block table that Sears sells for $200. I built two benches also but I find that table is what I do most of my building on. I covered it with a piece of mdf board and carpet.

I also bought stools at the restaurant supply house. They sell a commercial bar stool, all vinyl barrel back swivel stool for about $75. I have found these in Chicago and also here in Tucson so I think they are widely distributed.

 

[flion]

All my basic tools are Craftsman (you can't beat a lifetime warranty). The aircraft tools are mostly from an Avery kit and I went with them for my pneumatic squeezer. Some other tools came from Cleveland and ATS (used to live within driving distance of ATS, which is where I got my flaring tool). All the electrical tools (soldering station, crimpers, etc.) came from Fry's Electronics. And there were a few specialty tools from miscellaneous sources, like the conduit punches which, as I recall, were Greenlee and I found them online.

I built the -6A with mostly hand tools (hacksaw instead of bandsaw kind of thing) but I gradually acquired all the comfort tools. Now that I'm building the -10, I'm finding I don't need them as much but I'm glad to have them when I do run into a place I can use them. In my opinion, the comfort tools are: bandsaw, chop saw, pneumatic squeezer, die grinder, stretcher/shrinker, bench shear/brake, and so on. I still don't have a lathe but I have access to a guy who has along with a CNC milling machine. Don't think I'm being disparaging when I call them 'comfort tools'; comfort is important when embarking on a long project like an RV. I remember cutting the VS rear spar fork doubler from the 1/8" sheet blank by hand with a hacksaw and the using a vixen file to bring the cuts down to the marked line and then a fine file and scotchbrite wheel to finish the part. Took over an hour and I was really sweating doing some of the sawing. Would have taken a few minutes with a bandsaw but I simply could not afford one at first so I had to do without and buy the tools I really needed.

 

[mark schoening]

Most "quality" tool kits from already mentioned companies are excellent---I would add to the list as must have: a good 14 inch bandsaw with a wood blade for cutting alum parts, and a rivit squeezer "main squeeze" from cleveland (best manual squeezer I have used!

 

[Duhg]

Thank you. I have most of the general tools, large compressor, chop saw, drill press, grinders, etc from a car project that will be sold to help fund the RV. It sounds like the companies listed provide quality equipment which is my main concern. Added bandsaw to the watch list

 

[N941WR]

That is some good advice!

As you build, you will find you need a special tool for some specific task. See if someone in your EAA chapter has one you can borrow. If you borrow a tool, make sure you return it quickly and in the same or better condition it was in when you borrowed it.

If you can locate one locally, STOP right there and buy it. If you ever find yourself saying, "I can make so and so work," you are about to bugger up the part. When this happens you will find yourself buying a replacement part AND a new tool. This is costly in both time and money so save yourself and just order the tool first.