BluTac and PCs - or is it just me?

[Sol]

It was not so long ago that I descided that I needed to set myself up with a comprehensive PC repair kit. I started out with the obvious things, screwdriver, pliers, then I moved on to less common stuff like a tube of Arctic Silver and a solering iron. Added about 3 different types of glue and some thermal tape, a multimeter. When I had this all ready I started to build my new cooling system. In the course of doing so I added a jigsaw, some sealant and a large file.
It wasn't until I got to actually mounting my water resevoir- some 5 minutes after I was due at a LAN party where I was the only one with a network hub - that I realised I had forgotten one of the most important peices of computer repair equipment. The good old BluTac. For years this stuff has been holding 31/2 inch drives in 51/4 inch bays - insulating poorly joined molex adapters and generally holding PCs together. Now a couple of large wads are stopping my computer from leaking all over itself and I thought to wonder, is it just me?

[James]

Yes. Yes it is.

[Tea]

A properly equipped toolkit has the following items:



Screwdriver, extra long, magnetic tip

Needle nose pliers

Nut driver

Flat blade screwdriver

Stumpy screwdriver

Double-sided tape

Multimeter

Soldering iron (mine is the old-fashioned sort - has a "d" in it)

Weirdo screwdriver that you only need for Compaqs.

Tin snips

Hammer

Hammer, extra large

Scotch

Asprin

[Sol]

Tea said:

Screwdriver, extra long, magnetic tip


I have noticed this magnetic tip thing too, funny isn't it that almost any book you read on computer repair says that magnetic tips are a big no no and yet you really can't do without it. Sounds like computer repair people protecting thier jobs to me. ;)
I mean seriously has anyone ever done anything worse than wipe thier Bios settings with a magnetic srewdriver tip?

[Tea]

Oh, I have quite often been tempted to inset one into a position it was probably not designed for, but I've always been restrained by my confusion as to whether it should go in tip first, handle first, or sideways. :wink:

For years I distrusted magnetic screwdrivers: I used to use a dob of Blue-Tak with a magnetic one instead.

(Tea, what the hell are you doing?)

(Huh?)

(Are you trying to drag the thread back on-topic?)

(Err ... sorry ... it was just an accident. I didn't mean to.)

But I started using magnetic ones anyway, back in 386DX-40 days. Got lazy, I guess. Can't say I've ever noticed them do any harm. I don't ever actually do anything to polarise them, just leave them lying round with the rest of the chaos in the workshop for a week or two and they seem to pick up that very slight polarisation that is all you need.

[Mercutio]

Must've missed that one. Here's my list:

Sears Craftsman 3.6V cordless screwdriver
- Long philips bit
- Short philips bit
- Stripped screw removing bit
- small flathead bit
- drill bit for making new holes in things and for boredom relief
I've never damaged anything with my cordless. I don't know why more techs don't use them.

Cable Stripper

Box cutter

Cable Crimper & lots of RJ45 headers

60-year-old pair of Needlenose pliers

Hemostats
- Do surprisingly well as an "extra pair of hands" for moving cables out of the way.

$7 Toolkit from local hardware store
- Has a crappy pair of pliers and an incredibly handy little interchangable screwdriver, with a number of bits that are absolutely perfect for working on laptops (plus some small precision screwdrivers), including the elusive #10 and #8 Torx bits - the whole reason I bought the kit - which are utterly essential for taking apart compaq laptops.

Electrical tape
- Used to further insulate the area around screw-holes on motherboards.

Sundry cable ties and chicken straps
- Millions of household uses

Scalpel & accordian tubing
- Make your own flat ribbon cables. Plus using a scalpel on a computer is kind of a funny sight.

3.5" long, Flat bits of thick cardboard
- %$@^&-ing drive rails

Brother P-Touch Home n' Hobby
- Handheld electric label maker. I usually label IDE0 and the LED/Power jumper block on motherboards so I can see them. Also useful when working on rackmount equipment and during cabling installs.

Lighted Magnifying glass
- For machines I didn't label, hunting for dropped screws etc

Dental mirror (i.e. "mirror on a stick")
- Bought mine at an auto-parts store. Comes in handy quite often.

2GB 2.5" IDE hard disk + 3.5" adaptor
- Contains copies of lots of useful software. Ghost, DOS6, LanMan client, Novell client for DOS, Win95A&B, 98, 98SE, 2000 Pro.... every once in awhile I run into a machine that doesn't have a CD-ROM or won't read my CD-Rs.

Extra ram
- Presently a number of high-density SO-DIMMs, a pair of 32MB FPM SIMMs, 64MB PC66, 2x 128MB PC100, a 128MB RIMM, and a 256MB DDR module. For working on intolerably crappy machines, swapping out suspected bad modules etc.

Parallel 4x CD-ROM
For annoying machines where my prepared hard disk won't work (mostly laptops or annoying all-in-ones).

Bunches of screws & jumpers
- I keep mine in those little plastic pill-reminder things. Plus there's some unorganized ones floating around...

Heat-sink compound

Dremel tool
- Mostly I use this to cut through drywall when I'm mounting jacks or something.

Spare parts
- Hayes 14.4 ISA modem (it works, dammit!), USR 8586 (hardware PCI modem), Linksys 10/100 nic, Megahertz PCMCIA modem, 3Com 10/100 PCMCIA nic, Matrox Millenium video card, audio cables, a few different HSF combos, Y-power adaptors, ATX power switch, CMOS battery, various cable converters (DB25 to DB9, PS2 to DB9 etc)...

Canned air

Binder full of CDs and floppies
- Five CD set of drivers, every OS install disk I've ever seen, several versions of every office suite, various AV packages, a number of different boot floppies, Windows updates and service packs... basically everything I have ever said "I wish I had that one disk" about.

Kleenex, bandages, surgical tape, Spray-n'wash, Spray-n'wash wipes, nitrile gloves (allergic to latex), dust mask (allergic to dust, too), clean rag, clean t-shirt, hotel-size bar soap, painters gloves (very thin gloves that keep sharp edges from biting you), deodorant, zip-lock bags.

There's also a 14" VGA monitor and an antique hand-cranked rope measure-er out in my car which are sometimes handy, and I have an oscilliscope in my apartment shoud I ever need one of those.

I carry everything around (except my binder) in a big soft-sided tackle box. Unlike Tannin, my work has to move around with me, so I'm well aware of what it can take to work on PCs from time to time.

Usually it's just a screwdriver, though. ;)

[Sol]

Ah yes the good old Dremel tool. Ever tried to cut through a steel case with one? You get about a one inch cut per blade. Hence the jigsaw.

[Mercutio]

Not into case modding, myself, so no.

Tools other than screwdrivers and I don't get along very well. I try to avoid contact with them.

[Fushigi]

I used to use erasers an aweful lot. It was the quickest & easiest way to clean contacts (slot edge connectors) on the old ISA boards. Should work fine on PCI, etc.

The cordless screwdriver is nice, though. I've got a Black & Decker with the angled handle. Only about $20 and it's been perfect for opening up AS/400s. IBM's notorious for the sheer quantity of 9mm bolts used to hold those chassis' together.

- Fushigi

[NRG = mc²]

You forgot the cable ties for inside the PC, and the velcro straps to bundle all the wires together outside the PC :mrgrn:

[NRG = mc²]

You forgot the cable ties for inside the PC, and the velcro straps to bundle all the wires together outside the PC :mrgrn: