Where to pick up snips, tweezers etc?

[John C]

Guys, although I know I can buy these online, I was just curious where I can pick up, in person at perhaps national chain stores like walmart, lowes, etc, the tools needed for building coils etc? Im about to start doing this and I totally forgot tools. I figure I'll need wire snips/cutter, tweezers (is ceramic necessary?) and maybe a precision screwdriver set? Thats pretty much it, isn't it?

I guess I'm asking if, say, everything you need is at X store. As in, everything you need is at walmart, or something. Otherwise ill order online and wait another 3-4 days for it to get here.

 

[RodThaVapenRat]

I have gotten snips and tweezers at hobby lobby for less then $15 for both....um you can get a screwdriver set at the dollar store for a dollar. I don't have ceramic tweezers and haven't had any problems using regular ones but its personnel choice. You can find a lot of it at harbor freight to.

"War,war never changes

Only The Means of Destruction"

 

[Discobob]

I got some really cool precision snips from a RC car hobby shop, hobby lobby in the bead section also, might be hard pressed to find the ceramic tweezers though unless its a shop or online. I have both stainless and ceramic tweezers ceramic are nice with smaller gauge wire just cause I have gorilla hands and every time I try to squeeze smaller builds with standard pliers I squish them I would say ceramic ones are a good buy for me and well worth it. As far as screwdrivers I bought a neat little set from ace hardware that work great, I had some from harbor freight but the driver that goes into the chrome handle spins when your using to tighten, good for wrapping coils on though. I have also found the coil master set is wonderful compared to wrapping with your fingers. Some are ok with it but as much as I was screwing around with new builds the wire was literally tearing my hands up.

 

[slayer420-x]

You can get alot of stuff you need at a doller store, when I started building, I went to dollerama & got a precision screwdriver set, snips, tweezers, plyers, nailcutters ( for cutting wire ). I've since upgraded to actual mastercraft wire cutters, but there precision screwdrivers work great.

 

[OBDave]

My snips, not the greatest admittedly, are Harbor Freight (about $2), my tweezers were pilfered from the wife's makeup box.

 

[Swerved]

Got my flush cutters at Walmart for 5 bucks. They're in the crafts section; I think they were labeled as Jewelers Flush Cutters or something like that. Ceramic tweezers I haven't seen locally.

 

[UncleRJ]

You really don't need the expensive name brand tools which are pretty much made to be used a lot more than you will be using them.

Ceramic tweezers are an option as I use my small needle point pliers for my final coil "Pinch" to eliminate hot spots.

Close cut wire cutters are a necessity to cut your wires flush with the deck.

And an ohm checker is a must!

 

[outwest]

I bought some cutters from fasttech; they were complete and utter crap. They don't even close properly. The best cutters I've come across are ones marketed for jewelry making.

 

[Neunerball]

Just my $0.02 regarding ceramic tweezers. The only advantage of utilizing those tweezers is, you can squeeze the coils while pushing the fire button.

 

[Lefty]

Well they do help insulate heat as well as electricity. That said unless I'm trying to fix a visible gap I rarely use tweezers at all. 9 times out of 10 pulsing at low power to gradually heat up the coil and perhaps raking it once or twice is all that's needed. And nail clips for close cutting.