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Which tools should I buy?
And you thought the choice of which engine and what do you
want on your instrument panel were going to be difficult? The news groups
are full of questions like 'Which tools should I buy for my project?'. In
George's class at GBI he said, 'You don't need a pneumatic squeezer.' Sorry
George I used one (in your class) and loved it. We live in the Dallas/Ft
Worth area so buying tools from
Avery's seemed like a natural choice. But which tools do I really need to buy?
We have projected doing the construction in $5K chunks so even though the
Empennage is only a little over $1,600 shipped with the electric trim we
still planned on the $5,000 chunk. Of course much of the decision process on
which tools I should buy, hinges on which tools do I own? In the old days,
back in the dawn of time, there was the TV show (in black and white - I read
about it in a book once) called 'The Andy Griffith Show'. Andy was the town
policeman and his sidekick/slapstick of a deputy was Barney Fife. Barney
carried a gun but was not allowed to keep the one bullet he carried in the
gun. He had to carry it in his buttoned up shirt pocket. Well I had a
circular saw but I didn't keep the blade in it...as a matter of fact I
didn't really have a blade for it at all. Plus all I really had to start
with was a beat up set of screwed drivers. It always seemed like I could
never find a phillips when I needed one and then when I needed a straight
screwed driver all I could find were the phillips! Besides the Avery Tools
tools, I didn't have much else either.
The order from Avery's Tools topped out at over $3,000 (so much
for the $5K chunk). However before you hyper-ventilate they do have
a starter kit for closer to $1600. We added in the pneumatic
squeezer which was on sale at $325 (body only), and obviously a
bunch of other tools which were not included in the tool kit. Most
of the tools we purchased were recommended by George at GBI. Due to his
experience with building so many RV's I listened (well ok - except for the
pneumatic squeezer). I'll provide a full list of the 'Avery' tools and then
try and keep track of what I use where. Perhaps it'll help someone else out
with the same questions I had. Just as a note I still have a few odds and
ends tools to get a Avery's, like the Plexiglas tools and tubing
bender.
Ok, I have gone from a circular saw with no blade to a 'shop' in one month.
I have a table saw, bench grinder, bench belt/disc sander, drill press, band
saw, two work benches, 2 compressors (one I'll take back to Sears), 2 8 ft
long high output fluorescents for the ceiling, pegboard for the
walls...am I leaving anything out? I hope not my Visa is starting to
creak and groan! I left the $5k barrier behind last week...
As I promised the Avery Tool list is below. [NOTE: The 'Used' column
will indicate which of the major assemblies the tool was used on - ie
empennage, wings, etc.] When things get slower I'll put this into a database
which will allow for ASP/ADO-'ing live queries, live sorting,
etc. for now this will have to do.
Comments : What do I like about the tools I have?
The Sioux drill and rivet gun are worth the extra cost. True, if you're
looking to save money the regular gun and drill will work and in all
probability, last the entire project. The Sioux equipment however has a
'better' feel. The triggers give more control on both the speed of the drill
and the frequency of the rivet blows. There is no comparison. You can easily
build a RV without getting the Sioux's but as one web site put it...'you're
going to be pounding thousands of rivets so why try and save $100 on
something that you are going to become very intimate with ?
The pneumatic squeezer is great ! You get consistent results with every
rivet and dimple. I haven't even tried the Avery's hand rivet squeezer. I
may never try the hand rivet squeezer. I have used the C-frame. If I have a
choice on which tool to use my first choice is the pneumatic squeezer.
Again, you don't have to have one to build an RV - it just makes the job
much more enjoyable.