Featured
This Month:
24 BUILDER’S TIPS:
You Can't Take It With
You: What Tools To Bring
by Mike Jeffries
27 RoboGames Requiem:
A Facebook Epic
by the Robot Combat Community
as told by Kevin "Legendary
Robotics" Berry
29 EVENT REPORT:
Robots Battle at the
County Fair
by Andrea Suarez
32 PRODUCT REVIEW:
Snap Hubs
by Pete Smith
32 CARTOON
33 Tips from the Pits:
Getting Connected
by Pete Smith
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24 SERVO 08.2013
BUILDER’S TIPS
You Can't Take It With You:
What Tools To Bring
● by Mike Jeffries
Your robot is (hopefully) done, and it's time to pack your bags
and make your way to the event.
While it would be handy, there are
quite a few impracticalities to
bringing all of your tools and
equipment with you. This means
you'll need to bring a selection that
at least should be enough to get
you through the event without
spending too much time
scrambling for tools and borrowing
other team’s gear.
I won't be talking about tools
that are particularly specialized. If
your machine needs any specific
equipment for basic maintenance
and repairs, those take priority. The
following sections will cover tools
that are almost universally useful in
the pits during an event.
The Bare Essentials
This section covers the smaller
equipment that should be easily
crammed into a relatively small
toolbox.
Hex Keys
Most robots will have at least
a few fasteners in them that need
Metric and inch
sets of
hex keys.
a hex key. Keep a nice set together
so you don't spend half your repair
time searching for the right sized
key. When possible, I prefer to use
T handle style hex keys, however, a
good set of L shaped keys are
worth having because there will
likely be occasions where you'll
need the shorter profile and higher
torque of the L keys.
In addition to this, many of
the readily available power
switches use hex keys for
