[R-390] Wonder tool: Ignition wrenches

[DW Holtmnan]

Speaking of tools,

Harbor Freight sells a set of four picks for around $3.00, they have a 
bright green handle and are located at the front of the store by the 
check stand at the local store, by my house. They are great for many 
uses. There is one straight and three different curves. I use them for a 
soldering aid, a pick to poke around in wire bundles, parts etc,  and 
the large curved one is the best tool that I have ever used for putting 
springs on the racks of R-390's. It will reach down to the RF Deck, grab 
it and put it in the hole for the rack spring. For a spring tool alone 
is well worth the price, YMMV.

Best,
DW Holtman
WB7SSN


Tim Shoppa wrote:
> I went to the local Sears last night and bought a pouch each of metric
> and inch open-end ignition wrenches.
>
> Previously I had been using nutdrivers where possible to grip all the
> myriad nuts and spacers and control washers etc. around my radios and
> other electronic miscellany. But where not possible (which was more
> times than not) I ended up using needle-nose pliers, which was far from
> ideal.
>
> But the ignition wrenches are so so much better where a nutdriver is
> not possible. The Sears inch set covers all the nut sizes from 2-56 up
> to the nuts used to hold controls onto panels. Each wrench has two ends
> at different angles that covers most all the situations. They aren't
> super-duper thin but are a very useful compromise between thinness and
> small-diameter head.
>
> Best $16 I ever spent!
>
> I could imagine a super-duper micro-mini socket set being useful for
> electronics work, too, but still haven't located one. I have a generic
> 1/4" set that goes down to 3/16" which is small enough for the hex size,
> but it just isn't all that useful working inside a chassis filled with
> parts. With adjacent parts and terminal strips it's unusual for the
> socket head to actually be able to clear everything in the chassis and
> get over the nut. When I'm building from scratch, they do great because
> then I can tighten up everything before I put in the parts and wiring.
> What I might end up buying are deep recess sockets for doing control
> nuts and nuts on front panels etc.
>
> Maybe what would be useful inside the chassis is a really thin-wall
> socket set, don't know if such a thing exists, probably would not be a
> standard drive size like 1/4". Thinner wall nutdrivers would be
> moderately useful too (I say that with caution because the most frequent
> failure mode in my shop is for me to crack/rip/distort beyond usability
> the business end of a nutdriver.)
>
> Tim.
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