So, what tools would you send?

[John Rumm]

Sprog 2 is off to uni in the autumn... so what basic tool kit would you send with a student today in the hope of allowing them to be vaguely useful in the face of some hands on maintenance being required?

[S Viemeister]

Just basic hand tools? Or a couple of battery operated ones, too?

[GB]

Just buy a 'tool set in a case' from Argos or Amazon for 20 to 30 quid?

Anything fancier, you need to specify both a budget and a maximum weight.

[Nick Odell]

Conga-rats to Sprog 2!

When I go away somewhere I always take a decent Swiss Army Knife and a generous portion of ingenuity. Sometimes I take a Leatherman-alike instead but the most important ingredient IMO is the ingenuity.

Nick

[John Rumm]

Just hand tools I think...

I was thinking basic set of screwdrivers, perhaps a set of Allen keys, pliers, adjustable spanner, wire cutters etc.

Basically enough to get into a PC and fix it, or fix the wobbly chair or desk etc.

[SH]

you can get Engineers toolcases which contain a wide variety of tools in a carry case:

e.g.

I have several sets of tool sets. one is electrical, one is computers, one is vehicles one is carpentry, one is general purpose.

So you need to decide what your sprog no 2 is most likely to be doing? tinkering with his or his mate's car or with his or mate's computer or fixing furniture etc in his bedsit/flat/house share etc or is he doing a technical degree like electrical engineering?

[Chris Bacon]

Ah so. What you want spend?

[newshound]

Hall of residence or shared house? Perhaps a bit more for the latter. Presumably not taking a motor vehicle? That gives room for more stuff.

Assuming they know how to use a mole wrench, how about a Leatherman Crunch? I love the way you can often fix things that need bending, twisting, or pinching with a locking wrench. (That's what I gave my lad when he went off to sea after university).

The only toolkit I carry in my Honda Jazz is a Leatherman Wave with the added allen key, torx bits. Not that I have ever needed it for the car.

Both of these have locking blades, so you have to be prepared to argue why you need them if you get searched by the police. Hold luggage if flying of course.

Perhaps my most useful mini kit is a Lidl box about 16 x 10 x 5 cm which contains a small pointed pliers, side cutter, six jewellers' screwdrivers (two of them crosspoint), then a hex drive screwdriver handle and the following bits: two flat blades, two phillips, 2 pozi, 3 torx. A hex to square adapter and a 1/4 inch female to male extension, and M7, M8, M9 and M10 1/4 inch sockets. A very neat bit of packaging.

For a couple of years now my "daily carry" (as the Americans say) has been a Gerber Dime. I have a split ring on the belt loops of all my pairs of jeans, and have a mini snap toggle on the Dime. That lets you fix quite a lot of things, the small pliers is more useful than you might think. And the knife or box cutter get used daily on Amazon deliveries. Never used the scissors though.

[Theo]

- bike maintenance kit (assuming they have or might have a bike)

- general screwdrivers / pliers / etc - maybe an N piece screwdriver bit set, although go easy on all the security Torx

- precision screwdriver set (fixing mates' laptops and other electronics)

- leatherman style knife to keep in the rucksack/bike pannier/etc

- the location of the nearest SF/TS/etc for further supplies (maybe a paper catalogue so they know what kind of things can be acquired at such emporia)

- an Amazon Prime subscription :)

Basically nowadays you can do a lot of tools on demand via SF/TS/Amazon, but the 'puncture repair kit' kind of tools are the ones they need there and then. And the 'I need a widget shaped a bit like this' for random jobs. I don't think you really need power tools, although a power screwdriver could be handy if self assembly furniture is likely to be involved.

Also depends if they're in halls (not allowed to mess with things) or private rented (slumlord hasn't messed with anything in 30 years so need to take things into their own hands).

Theo

[newshound]

Agree with all of that. Maybe a pentalobe screwdriver?

[Chris Bacon]

I would be inclines, you see, to send a reasonably compreg=hensive hand tool set, including things like a hammer, junior hacksaw, pliers, level, sockets, screwdrivers, allen keys, steel tape, level, etc.

A look here shows all sorts of stuff:

[Steve Walker]

Sounds about right, with the possible addition of a few items for bike repair.

[Andrew]

Delia Smiths "how to boil an egg" book ?

[Graeme]

In message [e-mail]>, John Rumm [e-mail] writes

Ours went a couple of years ago, so I just sorted a few bits from the shed. Smallish plastic tool box, pliers, side cutters, hammer, various sizes and types of screwdriver, Allen keys, tape measure, insulation tape. Can't remember anything else, and he has found it useful. Getting into PCs, changing a fuse, tightening handles, that sort of thing. He is in halls, with a maintenance guy, but often quicker to DIY small jobs.

[williamwright]

Gaffer tape, insulating tape, two-part epoxy, superglue, string, some stiff wire, small assortment of screws, washers, nuts, bolts, small mole wrench, small spanner set, pliers, posi 1, posi 2, slot heads various sizes, set of jeweller's screwdrivers, tape measure, junior hacksaw with spare blades taped to handle.

Bill

[Scribbles]

A Stanley knife and spare blades LED torch (sometimes easier to use in tight spaces than a mobile phone) Box of assorted Band-aids

[S Viemeister]

Also a hammer, and a battery (or mains, I suppose) operated drill, with a range of bits. Plus some sort of tool bag or case to store them all.

I'd also suggest marking them in some way, so if they are 'borrowed' they are more likely to find their way back to him.

When our daughter left for her first shared flat, we found a set of tools for her with pink handles, to discourage her (male) flatmates from appropriating them. Turns out, the pink wasn't necessary, as neither one of the boys had any tools, nor did they know what to do with them.

She did, though.

[John Rumm]

Hmmm, if it was the daughter, then I might go that far, but he is not

*that* practical...

However he can tackle basic jobs under instruction. The other day when he announced he wanted to recover files from a SD card from his Nintendo DS, I said "you need a card reader", and grabbed one from my parts cupboard and gave it to him to get on with.

To be fair he got the machine apart, and then worked out that the 3.5" bays were already full with a hard drive and a SSD. He worked out he could move those to the lower mounting frame, but then got stuck as he could not work out how to access the screws! (you need to remove the frame form the case first). Then we played the game of "it would be easier to connect the cabled before you put it back in the box, and to reach the USB header you will have to take the graphics card out. I think realisation dawned a bit when he said "what I am going to do what I am at university and you are not there to help?". I thought "what are you going to do when deprived of access to every tool known to man, and a stock of hardware and components as well?" :-)

[John Rumm]

Yup I like my leatherman, although don't tend to carry it everyday (I have a very small Swiss army that I do small blade, scissors, file/flat screwdriver, cross point driver / bottle opener, and a pen. That will get me into a computer, emergency fix an electrical accessory, and strip / cut wires etc, plus open difficult packages.

I always had a set of mole grips when at (bording) school - they were quite handy. Even proved useful for opening a wine bottle when all you have is them and a screwdriver (take screw out of door hinge, screw into cork, pull out with the grips and then replace door hinge!)

A set of laptop/phone scale tools might make sense (small drivers, spudgers etc) as well.

[Chris Bacon]

Oh well. Then perhaps some morale-boosting thing like: