A Comprehensive List of The Tools and Equipment I Use to Make My Projects

When I show my projects to people, I often get asked what kind of equipment I have in my lab, and how I use it for my projects. So here is a brief summary:

Electronics

CPS-3205 Lab Power Supply

It provides me with the power I need for my projects. It goes up to 5A and 32V, and also has a digital display where I can see how much current the project is drawing from the supply:

The CPS-3205 powering my first Android Things project

Bakon SBK8586 Soldering Station

Combines a Soldering Iron and Hot Air Gun in one product. For less than $100 USD, it answers all my soldering needs. I can use it to solder large through-hole components, as well as very fine-pitch components (like the nRF52832 chip I replaced in a broken Espruino board).

Soldering + Hot Air Station came in really handy when I built the ng-beacons

Sparkfun Straight Tweezers

I use them all around the place, not just for electronics. For instance, if I have to pick a small screw or nut, and sometimes even to remove pests from our plants:

I found this little guy on our Basil plant

Third-Hand tool

It holds stuff for me while I’m soldering or using the hot air gun. It also had a built-in LED light and a magnifying glass, though I don’t use them very often.

Third hand tool and tweezers help when assembling the heart PCB I designed for Ariella Eliassaf’s birthday

MN16A Multimeter

A small, portable auto-ranging multimeter. It can measure voltage, current, resistance, capacitance, frequency and temperature:

Measuring some stuff

Raspberry Pi 3

The Raspberry has been useful in many of my projects, such as the Angular-Simon game, the bank’s website man-in-the-middle attack proof of concept, and even when I reverse engineered a smart WiFi Light bulb.

Using the Raspberry Pi to extract content from a Serial Flash Memory chip

In addition, many electronic boards and components that I order come with some sample code, and it is usually either Raspberry Pi or Arduino code. For instance, the Waveshare E-Paper display module I used in the Real-Life version of the Chrome T-Rex Game came with some Raspberry Pi code, which I later ported to run on Espruino:

Arduino

Just like the Raspberry Pi, many components that I use have libraries for Arduino. It is very handy to have one or two around, so I can quickly get started with new components.

I also use the Arduino in my workshops

J-Link Programmer

I use it to program ARM-based CPUs such as the nRF52832, and also for reverse engineering tasks, like when I extracted the firmware from the Magic Blue Smart Light Bulb.

More Stuff

I have a bunch of LEDs, these are very useful just as “debug prints” in hardware. I also have a bunch of resistors, capacitors, etc, some breadboards, a bunch of hookup wire spools, a wire stripper tool, and many many jumper wires:

These are neatly organized thanks to my 3D printer

The 3D Printer

I have a Creality CR-20 printer, and I use it all the time to print 3d parts and enclosures for my projects, including the Purple Eye Dancing Robot, Trumpet Playing Robots and many others..

A linear motion mechanism I printed

I mainly use OpenSCAD for more complex designs, such as the fingers mechanism for the trumpet playing robot:

The printer is also very useful for organizing my stuff, for instance — my USB cables:

As some point, I even added plotting capabilities to my printer (it was as simple as printing a single part, and tinkering with the software):

My 3D printer can also draw and sketch!

Hardware

Bosch PSR-1440 Cordless Drill/Driver

It drills. It fastens screws. And screws are very useful for attaching things like the drum of my DiY Rotary Rock Tumbler:

The drum of my DiY Rotary Rock Tumbler. You can watch it in action

I have a set of drills ranging from 2mm up to 10mm, and a bunch of screws, mainly M3 and M4 screws with matching nuts and washers.

Having a drill is really useful when prototyping 3D parts, as I can drill holes in the draft parts instead of having to print them again with the holes.

Eye Protection

I can’t stress enough how important it is to wear it when dealing with things that can possibly get into your eyes and hurt them. Like onions:

I can cut onions with no tears! 💧⛔

Digital Caliper

I got mine from SparkFun. It is an essential tool when modeling 3D printed and laser-cut parts, and even came in handy when I designed the PCB for my Wireless Extra-Magic Smart Bulb.

Using the caliper I designed a PCB that could fit inside this bulb, turning it into a wireless bulb

So There You Have It!

As you have seen, my equipment is mainly geared towards working with electronics and 3D-printing, and these two have a large part in my projects. What about your setup? I’d love to learn what tools other use when making stuff. Please share!