Hello

I'm looking for recommendation on what brands and specific tool kits
to buy. I had a cheap, about 10-piece kit, but it got lost in a
recent move. It had some regular screwdrivers, a few mini-style
screwdrivers, a chip extractor, tweezers, a screw/connector/jumper/
box, and came in a crummy zipper case. Got that one at a trade show a
few years back as a freebie.

Whatever I get, in addition to the above I'd like the kit to have a
wire stripper/cutter, a soldering iron, needle-nose pliers and a
ratchet driver with standard/phlips/torx/square bits. A small
flashlight would be nice.

Amazon has a Belkin 55-piece kit for $34.98:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...onics&n=507846

Buy.com has a Fellowes 55-peice kit for $33.88:
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...01&hdwt=0&sp=1

No soldering iron with the Fellowes, it does have a voltage tester.

Both have free shipping available, and both are priced about 40% off.
None of local stores have much available but the cheap 8-to-20 piece
kits, or very expensive kits with LAN and/or electrical tools.

Anyone have/used either of these? Are the tools of good quality?

Any other brands or specific kits I should consider? I don't need a
nice case or anything, as I plan to put all the tools I get into a
small tollbox that I have. I'd like to keep the price below $50.

maybe scott mueller in updating and repairing PCs have a
recommendation. Anyhow, best thing is to build your own kit.

There are 2 types of screw. 6-32(for HDD and case) and 4-40(for CD
drive)
so you want screwdriver heads to deal with them. My Antec case
requiers
long 6-32s to get through the HDD tray, through and past a round rubber
thingy. Whereas my chieftec case have very short 6-32 screws that are
useless for a HDD in my antec case.

A pack of jumpers is useful.

So, A pack of spare screws. The 6-32 screws , 4-40 screws. may find
you need didfferent lengths.

I have a multimeter though i've never used it 'cos i'm told that bad
PSUs cannot necessarily be weeded out with it. A PSU under load behaves
differently.- violtages would differ somewhat. So it's not a true test.
And if you load it and test a rails/wire it's not accurate 'cos that
connectors wires aren't loaded. - beides the fact that the one you're
testing isn't loaded.


You mightwant some arctic paste in there for CPUs. I think you gotta
put thist together.

AS far as scrwes are concerned, there are only realyl 2 types. 6-32 and
4-40..
6 different screw heads should cover any screw you'll find in a
computer!