Hey guys,
I'm just now starting to buy all the tools needed to build my first quad, which will be a racer based on the Armattan Chameleon frame. I have many of the tools already so I didn't have to buy too much.
I want to show you guys my checklist and see if you can point out any necessary items I may have left out. Keep in mind I haven't even thought of buying any of the quad parts themselves yet, this is purely a list for tools.

Here's what I've got:

* = Owned ; # = Order Placed

-Soldering Gun*
-Hex Drivers#
-Soldering Wire*
-1/4 inch Socket Wrench*
-Bunch of Small Sockets*
-X-Acto Knife#
-Needle-nose Pliers*
-Wire Strippers*
-Hot Glue Gun#
-Wire Cutters*
-Multimeter#
-Lighter (for heatshrink)
-Various Small Philips/Flatheads/Other Drivers*

I realize there are many more items that would be beneficial to me but for now I'm after the essentials. What do you guys think? Will I be good to start ordering my frame and some other parts once this shipment of tools gets here?

Sorry by the way, I should have read the Drone Workbench Necessities thread before posting this one.

If by "soldering gun", you mean one of these

   

Then while that might be useful for soldering thick wires and a hefty power distribution board, it will be no use for the really fine soldering needed on your flight controller.

(16-Apr-2017, 09:25 AM)unseen Wrote: If by "soldering gun", you mean one of these



Then while that might be useful for soldering thick wires and a hefty power distribution board, it will be no use for the really fine soldering needed on your flight controller.

Actually the one I have is very small, and I should have no issues with accessing small areas with it. In fact, I've already used it to replace the motors and LED strips in my Syma X5C-1.

As long as it produces a sensible temperature at the tip and you can deal with stuff that's just 0.1" apart, then you're good to go.

Once you start soldering flight controllers and things that need really fine soldering, you might still find the 'gun' format a little unwieldy.

The one I have looks like this:


Do I need one with an even finer point? I feel like this should fit the bill.

I also have one of the bigger "gun" type soldering irons but I can see how that would be unconventional for something so small.

Ah, a soldering iron!

I'm sure that'll be absolutely fine.

Yeah, looking back I'm not sure why I called it a soldering gun in my list haha. Thanks though.

Did you happen to notice anything else I'll need before I start to order quad parts?

Hmmm....

Silicone insulated wire to go from the battery plug to the PDB. XT60 socket to plug the battery into, plus spare XT60 sockets and plugs to make a smoke stopper, plus a light bulb for the smoke stopper's load.

Double sided sticky pads for fixing ESCs to arms. Tie wraps. Heat shrink tubing.

There's bound to be more!

k so its not just tools..sounds like you can get away with what u have...its gonna be..rubber garments that are soft, poly nuts, bolts and spacers, small gauge silicon wire,( youll want to change or make your own harness)...shrink wrap, things that your town or city might not have..i know where i live..and i cant get shit for 2-3 hour round tip. antenna tube...
thats what i found i screwed up on my first build..was, i had all the tools, but the other little things that added up in shipping...and i had to wait and wait again....
did you say you had a dremiel tool, and a small heat gun. youll need a heat gun prolly..tiny one..

(17-Apr-2017, 12:37 AM)nitro20% Wrote: k so its not just tools..sounds like you can get away with what u have...its gonna be..rubber garments that are soft, poly nuts, bolts and spacers, small gauge silicon wire,( youll want to change or make your own harness)...shrink wrap, things that your town or city might not have..i know where i live..and i cant get shit for 2-3 hour round tip. antenna tube...
thats what i found i screwed up on my first build..was, i had all the tools, but the other little things that added up in shipping...and i had to wait and wait again....
did you say you had a dremiel tool, and a small heat gun. youll need a heat gun prolly..tiny one..

Luckily I work at a shop that makes ride-on sprayers/spreaders for landscaping companies so I should be able to find a lot of those mundane items like zipties, heatshrink, tape, electrical wires, clips, glue, etc on the assembly line. Makes my life a lot easier.

Are you sure a heat gun is entirely necessary? I figured I'd just juse a grill lighter at a distance. I've seen it done on many videos and it seems to do the trick.

A heat gun leaves things nice and clean. A lighter works just fine imho but it will leave some carbon behind and can also cause hot spots or holes in more sensitive heat shrinks (clear in my experience)

Heat gun for sure. A lighter disappears into workbench very quickly. Funny enough, the tool I use the most isn't a tool at all, but a pair of cheap 2X magnification reading glasses. Might be that my eyesight isn't what it used to be, but I find that wearing them makes soldering FCs, PDBs, etc. a million times easier.

(17-Apr-2017, 04:08 AM)RENOV8R Wrote: Heat gun for sure.  A lighter disappears into workbench very quickly.  Funny enough, the tool I use the most isn't a tool at all, but a pair of cheap 2X magnification reading glasses.  Might be that my eyesight isn't what it used to be, but I find that wearing them makes soldering FCs, PDBs, etc. a million times easier.

Welcome to middle age! The only direction from here is downhill.

My 'soldering glasses' need to be +4 these days.

Yeah, next thing is to see if my optometrist can make me some custom contact lenses so I can see the OSD display on my goggles hahaha