Tools

What kinds of tools are required to build a robot?#

Well, the answer depends on the robot. If your robot comes as a kit, you might not need any additional tools at all, or only those supplied with the kit (such as an Allen wrench or a Phillips head screwdriver). If you're building your own bespoke robot you may need to construct your own chassis or hardware components, or ask someone with tools and experience to help you.

Some Tool Advice#

It's important to learn how to use both hand and power tools properly — they can be quite dangerous if you don't know what you're doing or if you don't use sensible practices such as clamping your materials properly before drilling or cutting (I have a few scars to prove it). Here's some safety tips:

As an illustration of that last point, a few years' back I was hand-sanding some metal part and a tiny piece flew into my eye (I was wearing eyeglasses but not protective eyewear), and after about an hour of desperately trying to flush it out with water in the bathroom sink (I was starting to really panic as it seemed pretty stuck) ended up having a doctor at the local hospital's emergency ward fish it out in a couple of seconds. Really nice young guy. I don't want to see him again.

I'm lucky it wasn't a bigger piece and that there was no lasting damage.

Hand Tools#

If you're making your own chassis, platform, and/or other hardware components you may need tools such as:

Power Tools#

This is not to say that if you already have a whole shop full of power tools you shouldn't use them. It's just that building a small robot doesn't require that. David Anderson, who built the SR04 robot, has an entire home machine shop at his disposal. I can't pretend not to be a bit envious...

Soldering Iron#

For making wiring connections you may use solderless connectors, but you may find that even for that task tinning the wires (i.e., flowing some solder into the strands to make them solid) is necessary, especially if the wire is stranded rather than solid. In that case you'll need

Electronic Multi-Meter#

A multi-meter measures voltage (Volts), current (Amps), resistance (Ohms), with more advance models measuring capacitance (Farads), and frequency (Hertz). Places like Jaycar sell multi-meters; I have a BK Tool 2704B, which is good and reliable. But any model that provides volts, amps and ohms is probably fine. Digital is easier to read than the old-school ones with a needle, but needles are pretty cool too. You just have to learn how to read them.

Oscilloscope#

You probably won't need an oscilloscope until you do.

These come in analog or digital flavours. Older oscilloscopes were all analog and a little TV screen in them; most modern oscilloscopes are digital. You can even make a Raspberry Pi into an oscilloscope. See 1, 2 or 3 (there are many web pages if you search for "raspberry pi oscilloscope").

If you really need an oscilloscope for a project and you're local, contact Murray as he may be willing to loan you his Iwatsu (a big old Japanese analog oscilloscope) or bring it to an NZPRG meeting to use.


Tags:  Hardware, Tools