When starting electronics, you will need a few basic tools. I tried not to go over the top and bought pretty basic ones, almost all from Adafruit Industries, all bundled in Ladyada’s Electronics Toolkit. The Weller products and storage box were bought from local electronics stores.
Multimeter
I haven’t got to use it yet, but it’s a pretty basic multimeter, able to measure voltage, current and resistance. I can’t really comment on the build quality, it kind of feel cheap, but it wasn’t really expensive so you get what you pay for! From what I read, if you’re willing to drop more money go for a Fluke. Check out the EEVBlog, Dave Jones talks about his Fluke in a few of his posts.
Limor Fried has a great article on how to use a multimeter.
Pliers
In this picture, you have, in yellow, a wire stripper with an adjustable screw to control opening to strip different wire sizes. On the left there’s a “semi-longnose” pair of pliers, the metalic part next to the handle keeps them constantly opened, so it’s easier to control when you’re trying to grip onto a small component. Then, on the right, there’s a diagonal cutter that allows cutting wires flat with a surface. I have yet to try the wire strippers, but so far I’m pleased with the two other.
Soldering Iron
This cheap iron came with the package. It has a potentiometer on it to control the heat of the tip, but other than the red led, there’s no indication of its temperature. I did my first solder joints using it, and kind of liked it for what it’s worth.
Here’s the cheap stand that came with it, it “works”, nothing else to say about it!
Soldering Station
When I started, I wanted to stay on the “cheap side of things”. Electronics being a hobby, I didn’t want to invest much in good tools because I’d only use them rarely.
After spending a day at work wondering if I unplugged the cheap iron after soldering, I decided that burning my appartment down was not worth it, so I bought a Weller WES51 from a local electronics store. At 99$, it wasn’t that bad, especially since Weller makes good products! There’s an easy to use on/off switch on the front of the station, a knob to control the temperature in Farenheigt and a nice led that lets you know if it’s still on.
Solder Sucker
This tool is supposed to be able to remove solder. It’s pretty easy, first you push down the spring loaded plunger, you heat the solder with your iron and when it’s melted, you apply the nose of the solder sucker on it and press the release button. That’s in theory… I tried it on one joint and was unable to use it correctly… I guess it takes practice!
Fume Sucker
After buying my soldering station, I left the manual on the table for a while… my girlfriend took a look at it and didn’t like the “toxic fumes” warnings, so I bought a Weller fume sucker. It’s a fan with a carbon filter that absorbs the fumes when you solder. Make Magazine has a video tutorial on how to make a mini fume extractor, you should check it out!
Third Hand
When soldering, you want your board to stay steady, so soldering on the top of your desk wouldn’t be so good, at least not with my desk! Using this neat tool, you simply have to squeeze your board between the jaws and solder away!
Storage
When ordering my kits and components online, I didn’t spend time thinking what I’d do with them when I’d get them. At first, I left them on the corner of my desk, but it was a real mess, so I decided to get this little box full of trays! It makes finding out what you’re looking for pretty easy if you separate components per type and store them in different trays.
However, I started committing code for the Brood War API (
