Howdy.
A perennial project, it seems, is putting together a travel toolkit for those times I don’t expect to be doing anything that requires tools. We have been traveling a fair amount to see children and grandchildren and so I am away from my tools fairly often lately.
We drive, and I don’t want this to be air travel safe, so to speak. If I need that I will make a subset that fits the bill. For now I want to be able to do a reasonable set of things, though “reasonable” is for me, it is probably unreasonable for many others.
For a very long time I carried tools and built up a very nice, compact kit. I was used to having that around. But when I retired and mostly stopped traveling to teach, or for conferences, &c., that kit seemed to disperse into the general tool collection and some parts are MIA.
I actually want this kit to be a little more extensive, at least I plan on including an oscilloscope to complement the DMM. I don’t know if I need to add anything else to what I usually carried. The goal is optimizing for bang-for-the-buck in terms of weight and volume. It should be easy to put in an overnight bag with other things but there’s no particular constraint otherwise.
So, here’s the state of things:
Oscilloscope
I have a very tiny scope which does let me see waveforms in the audio range and somwhat above. I’ve tested it out to about 500KHz and could still use it though of course the quality of the trace suffered. It doesn’t have trigger controls, only auto, and it is single channel.
It is certainly better than nothing, but it’s not that much better. I am looking for a nice, small, two-channel pocket scope that has the appropriate controls to use it well. It doesn’t have to work like a bench scope, but I would like it to work well for troubleshooting, including serial data (though I think decoding is too much to ask).
DMM
I am very confused about what to buy for a DMM. I have a very inexpensive and small one right now. I bought it to have something but I don’t particularly like it. I want one, ideally, with pluggable leads (not captive like this one), and with a decent autoranging capability. Like the scope, it’s not intended to replace a bench version, or even a good handheld, but to provide reasonable accuracy and precision in a small package. I like the c;a shell idea so it protects itself but that is not a requirement.
I have a $20 candidate on the way, but I don’t really want to have to buy 10 cheap meters until I find one that is acceptable, so if you have any ideas, please let me know.
Screwdrivers
I have a variety of screwdrivers that might be candidates but none have really made me happy. I lean towards Wiha and Wera, but I am not averse to other options. I have been using Wiha drivers for about 40 years. I originally bought them from the small importer who was the exclusive source in the US. He used to travel to hamfests and I still have the System 6 handle and blades in the roll pouch I brought so long ago.
Unfortunately the bits have been largely overtake by events and the assortment is marginal. They include some very useful ones: PH and slotted bits for a reasonable range, but also some currently rarely needed ones: metric hex. It also completely lacks important things like Torx and various omron security bits. So, I am looking to replace it with something more modern.
I have a nice set from Xiaomi who collaborated with Wiha. The handle (very nice) and aluminum case form Xioami and the bits from Wiha. THe trouble with that kit is the weight. The aluminum case and plastic tray make it very heavy. But, it does has some attributes I think I want: 4mm microbits and a good selection for modern disassembly.
For larger sizes, I have a Wera collapsible multibit that will probably work.
Pliers
Most pliers I have are too large for travel because the handles take up so much room. But, I used to have a nice set of “Merry” pliers from Muramoto in Japan. These pliers have compact, curved handles and they take up much less room. Where they went I can’t say, unfortunately. In looking for them I came across the same pliers but branded by GC electronics and much more expensive than I think is justified. They are price from about $50 to about $60. Still, in the absence of an alternative I might buy them anyway.
Soldering Iron
I used to use butane irons and they “worked” but the temperature control was very poor and the burning fuel was never my favrotie idea. But this one I have sorted. I recently bought a Pine64 Pinecil open source STM-32 controlled iron which has been great. Definitely worth looking into.
Case, bag, ???
This is a real problem so far. I cant seem to find anything I really like to hold all of this stuff. It may turn out to be the hardest part of this. I was thinking to use one case for test gear, one for soldering and supplies, and a last for hand tools. But I still don’t have any solid candidates. Do you have any ideas?
So there you have it. There are other things to add, of course, but these are the elements I am/was focusing on. Please, though, do not hesitate to suggest something that should be added. I really hope to hear from you.
A perennial project, it seems, is putting together a travel toolkit for those times I don’t expect to be doing anything that requires tools. We have been traveling a fair amount to see children and grandchildren and so I am away from my tools fairly often lately.
We drive, and I don’t want this to be air travel safe, so to speak. If I need that I will make a subset that fits the bill. For now I want to be able to do a reasonable set of things, though “reasonable” is for me, it is probably unreasonable for many others.
For a very long time I carried tools and built up a very nice, compact kit. I was used to having that around. But when I retired and mostly stopped traveling to teach, or for conferences, &c., that kit seemed to disperse into the general tool collection and some parts are MIA.
I actually want this kit to be a little more extensive, at least I plan on including an oscilloscope to complement the DMM. I don’t know if I need to add anything else to what I usually carried. The goal is optimizing for bang-for-the-buck in terms of weight and volume. It should be easy to put in an overnight bag with other things but there’s no particular constraint otherwise.
So, here’s the state of things:
Oscilloscope
I have a very tiny scope which does let me see waveforms in the audio range and somwhat above. I’ve tested it out to about 500KHz and could still use it though of course the quality of the trace suffered. It doesn’t have trigger controls, only auto, and it is single channel.
It is certainly better than nothing, but it’s not that much better. I am looking for a nice, small, two-channel pocket scope that has the appropriate controls to use it well. It doesn’t have to work like a bench scope, but I would like it to work well for troubleshooting, including serial data (though I think decoding is too much to ask).
DMM
I am very confused about what to buy for a DMM. I have a very inexpensive and small one right now. I bought it to have something but I don’t particularly like it. I want one, ideally, with pluggable leads (not captive like this one), and with a decent autoranging capability. Like the scope, it’s not intended to replace a bench version, or even a good handheld, but to provide reasonable accuracy and precision in a small package. I like the c;a shell idea so it protects itself but that is not a requirement.
I have a $20 candidate on the way, but I don’t really want to have to buy 10 cheap meters until I find one that is acceptable, so if you have any ideas, please let me know.
Screwdrivers
I have a variety of screwdrivers that might be candidates but none have really made me happy. I lean towards Wiha and Wera, but I am not averse to other options. I have been using Wiha drivers for about 40 years. I originally bought them from the small importer who was the exclusive source in the US. He used to travel to hamfests and I still have the System 6 handle and blades in the roll pouch I brought so long ago.
Unfortunately the bits have been largely overtake by events and the assortment is marginal. They include some very useful ones: PH and slotted bits for a reasonable range, but also some currently rarely needed ones: metric hex. It also completely lacks important things like Torx and various omron security bits. So, I am looking to replace it with something more modern.
I have a nice set from Xiaomi who collaborated with Wiha. The handle (very nice) and aluminum case form Xioami and the bits from Wiha. THe trouble with that kit is the weight. The aluminum case and plastic tray make it very heavy. But, it does has some attributes I think I want: 4mm microbits and a good selection for modern disassembly.
For larger sizes, I have a Wera collapsible multibit that will probably work.
Pliers
Most pliers I have are too large for travel because the handles take up so much room. But, I used to have a nice set of “Merry” pliers from Muramoto in Japan. These pliers have compact, curved handles and they take up much less room. Where they went I can’t say, unfortunately. In looking for them I came across the same pliers but branded by GC electronics and much more expensive than I think is justified. They are price from about $50 to about $60. Still, in the absence of an alternative I might buy them anyway.
Soldering Iron
I used to use butane irons and they “worked” but the temperature control was very poor and the burning fuel was never my favrotie idea. But this one I have sorted. I recently bought a Pine64 Pinecil open source STM-32 controlled iron which has been great. Definitely worth looking into.
Case, bag, ???
This is a real problem so far. I cant seem to find anything I really like to hold all of this stuff. It may turn out to be the hardest part of this. I was thinking to use one case for test gear, one for soldering and supplies, and a last for hand tools. But I still don’t have any solid candidates. Do you have any ideas?