Tools

TOOLS

• Electronic Balance for weighing epoxy accurately. Pour in resin and add hardener to make up the weight. Dont use two separate containers because a significant amount of hardener will be left in the container.

• Electronic Torque Wrench Adapter mine is from AC Delco

• Electrical tools: Wire stripper, wire cutter and crimping tools for Amp Dsub and Molex Connectors.

• Dremel - vital for all those cutting and grinding jobs

• Cordless Drill - need I say more. Get a good one or two with ability to change the torque so that you don't over tighten nuts etc. Buy ALL the sanding and grinding attachments you can find - you'll need them all. I used sanding disks a lot. Make sure you get a unibit or step drill.

• Random orbital sander - very handy for smoothing filler

• One of those gizmos for centering a hole in a metal tube

• Drill press - you need this for drilling the holes in the metal tubes straight

• Files - I found that metal files were more useful than the permagrit type

• Vacuum cleaner - the best one I found was a domestic electrolux one. The Craftsman shop vac I bought was noisy and difficult to empty and didnt suck.

• Wire brushes for Dremel and Drill (make sure you use your eye protection). Very useful for preparing surfaces for epoxy. With a straight brush you can get into the corners. Also use them to clean off the (really sharp) splinters after a lay up done without peel ply

Stuff I wish I had

• Sawsall/sabre saw or more accurately several different sawsalls of different sizes. Cutting with a Dremel produces lots of dust Apart from anything else, one does quite a lot of woodwork for example you need a cradle to ensure that the lower fuse is straight when you put the top in (dont trash the wood packing material the kit came in).

• a pipe-cutter don't know why I didnt buy one of these

• Cordless vacuum cleaner

Learn how to

• Sharpen drill bits

Your Shop

• A table wide enough for a normal roll of fiberglass cloth

• Lighting