ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area What's in your tool box?

?

Thanks for all the help everyone. My first day was great, well, as great as first days can get.

It started at 8am, and ended at 4pm, which isn't that bad except for the fact that i only got 5 hours of sleep. Oh well, it doesn't phase me. For the first job we had to upgrade the power stuff for a house, the meter box, the box, ect., all had to be changed. For the second job we had a bunch of stuff to do at another house. I got alot of the odd jobs ofcourse, but i was taught things along the way.

I'm looking forward to my new career.

"Vices are illegal on construction sites."

Please explain that statement,if you would be so kind.

Peter,
Myself and others here would sooner trust a piece of test equipment that has a decent manufacturer safety record, than entrust thier lives to a cheap 50c meter.
My motto is buy once, buy well!.
Personally I've never seen anyone use a Claw Hammer as a pick, I must be missing something here.
I think what Peter means is things like drinking alcohol and smoking and the like.

I have just started as a first year electrical apprentice also. The toolbox consists of:
screwdrivers (flatblade from 5mm to 10mm wide-various length, phillips & Pozidrive from number '0' to '3')
hammers (claw, ball-pein & 4lb sledge)
sidecutters
multimeter (cost me $80 in 1992)
bull-nose pliers
pens, pencils & textas (marking pens)
tape (masking & insulation)
one & two-screw connectors
small notebook
three pin extension cord socket (used to put on the plugs of equipment you might be working on so no-one gives you a 240 volt 'surprise'

In the ute, theres a 1/2" socket set, set of open ended spanners (metric & imperial), a 7' ladder, a total of 80 metres of extension cord, drills, drill bits, crowbar, wrecking bar, 20 litres of water, roll of toilet paper (crap wrap), rope, length of fencing wire for hooking snakes out of switchboards, first aid kit (for when the snake latches onto you), a tin of hardware, shovel, tow hitch, bits of wire, a brick (?) ...maybe thats why the Hilux only does 95kph flat out...



[This message has been edited by 32VAC (edited 10-07-2004).]

just curious?? how is your schedule for the apprenticeship like(how many days a week/hours). And how much do you get paid?

32VAC,
Gee you Aussies sure pack a lot of stuff into your vehicles.
I'd be careful where you poke that fencing wire, mate!.

I guess I better explain the true statement, "Vices are illegal at construction sites." This is based on several observations:
1] There are occasions when it would be very convenient to have a vice on a construction site, for instance holding small parts or sections of conduit while being hacksawed.
2] The American electrician is the smartest of all trades and will go to great intellectual extremes to jerry-rig something that works. Such inventiveness would soon naturally lead to the invention of a couple of large chunks of metal squeezed together by means of a helical device [to paraphrase the Code] for which to stabilize a piece of all-thread whilst hacking it apart with a SawZall.
3] However vises have never been seen on a job site* so I must assume they must be illegal. Otherwise we would have them available.
~Peter
* There is on exception that I know of. We were working in a school, the second most famous high school in the United Staes, and Stu was struggling to use a PortaBand saw to sever of piece of round EMT. This room happened to be a shop classroom and there were a dozen workbenches and each one had two luscious, big blue Wilton vises. I showed him how to clamp the conduit in a vise and then he could use both hands on the saw to make a good controlled cut.

As for the meter. It is fine for a jouneyman making megabucks to suggest to a first day apprentice that he get the most expensive brand of meter possible. But beginners usually are not loaded with cash. I suggested a non-contact voltage tester for safety and the cheapo meter will serve for the time being but will not be as impressive. To make you feel better, I suggest he paint it yellow.
OK. Now that is settled and we have an idea of what he is involved in, let's give him some more enlightened advice.

[This message has been edited by Peter (edited 10-08-2004).]

Peter your thoughts need to be relooked at, to consider the fact that it is new construction and nothing is live, is far from the truth (its gotta get powered up sometime for you to get paid or your boss!! secondly if you are willing to only front out $10.00 on a tester to chance your life you need to go get your head checked!! And as far as the vice thing i have seen many of plumber trucks with vices on the rear bumbers and i have used them my self. I have seen many comments on this web site , for the most part all are great, And there are always a few that make you just laugh and say what the Hel* is this person talking about. And no offence to you, but that was for sure one of the dumbest replies i have ever seen on this site. As for the new girl best of luck, buy things as they are needed, a good mech. will help you in picking what to buy! Welcome to the the sparky world.

Jesse, welcome to the forum. Calvo148's list is pretty close to our list for apprentices, except we have banned utility knives company wide after numerous stitches verses a good solid 3" folding or duck billed type knife.

For your fist tester you will only need a solenoid type (wiggy) with a continuity function.

You shouldn't need a true meter for a while, and you can do some research before this investment.

To add to the list, I keep a fork, spoon, knife, and can opener in my tool box for serving potted meat (electricians steak).

Roger