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Offline cody6268  
#1 Posted : 24 July 2022 21:11:14(UTC)
cody6268

United States   
Joined: 20/04/2020(UTC)
Posts: 2
Location: Southwest Virginia, USA
I am wondering--what kind of tools and equipment should I keep on hand for most maintenance and repair tasks of my locomotives and rolling stock? I have quite a few odds and ends that I've purchased over the years, but I'm wondering what I should keep in a kit assembled just for working with train stuff?
Offline bgemski  
#2 Posted : 24 July 2022 21:59:03(UTC)
bgemski

United States   
Joined: 15/05/2003(UTC)
Posts: 167
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ
Small, but good quality screwdrivers and nut drivers. Wire cutter, third hand helper, for soldering along with a good soldering iron. A multimeter for testing continuity and circuits. I use all these oh I also grabbed a self standing magnifying glass and one of those self healing cutting mats to work on. These I picked up over time. Check Amazon sometimes deals can be had. Micro-Mark is a pretty good on line dealer for tools. Oh small jewelers plies ie needle nose and tweezers. Locking forceps are a help as well.
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Jay
Offline bgemski  
#3 Posted : 24 July 2022 22:00:43(UTC)
bgemski

United States   
Joined: 15/05/2003(UTC)
Posts: 167
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ
A hobby light works great as well!
Offline kimballthurlow  
#4 Posted : 25 July 2022 00:33:52(UTC)
kimballthurlow

Australia   
Joined: 18/03/2007(UTC)
Posts: 6,653
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Hello Cody,
If you are into Märklin model trains, the first thing you should purchase is the 70900 tool kit.
Because it is sold by Märklin as a maintenance kit, it contains the most suitable tools for beginning.
You can then add other items as you see the need, which others have suggested.

The 70900 is in a compact box and includes 5 screwdrivers, 3 nut runners, and 2 tweezers.
Specifically:
1 each PH 00, PH 0 and PH 1 Philips screwdrivers.
1 each 2.0 mm and 3.0 mm flat blade screwdrivers.
1 each 2.5 mm, 3.0 mm and 3.5 mm nut drivers.
1 regular tweezers and 1 compression tweezers.

Kimball
HO Scale - Märklin (ep II-III and VI, C Track, digital) - 2 rail HO (Queensland Australia, UK, USA) - 3 rail OO (English Hornby Dublo) - old clockwork O gauge - Live Steam 90mm (3.1/2 inch) gauge.
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Offline Toosmall  
#5 Posted : 25 July 2022 12:26:48(UTC)
Toosmall

Australia   
Joined: 26/07/2021(UTC)
Posts: 608
Location: Sydney
Really good diffuse lighting, you don't want shadows. I have five 20 watt LED strip lights, even thought of getting more, 60cm long. A bit of bush carpentry holding it together with clothes pegs, but I did drill and tap the stand and used 316 stainless bolts, so half built properly.

The desk is more set up for making models for the layout rather than actual trains. Desktop colour should be darker. If lighter it is harder to see small parts due to glare. There is a 600mm ruler in front of the first light as a shade, temporary measure.

DSC_0428_071912.jpg
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Offline Toosmall  
#6 Posted : 26 July 2022 23:26:01(UTC)
Toosmall

Australia   
Joined: 26/07/2021(UTC)
Posts: 608
Location: Sydney
Sorry for the war zone, but it is simple to knock up a light stand. Base plate (10mm aluminium plate offcut, timber will do), I have counter balanced with 2 aluminium dice 65mm square which I made decades ago, a couple of bolt so they don't slide of the base.

Then a vertical support (10mm aluminium round rod offcut, again a bit of timber will do). Tapped M6 counter sunk bolt into the end.

An off cut of 3 x 20mm 316 stainless steel, then offcuts if 3 x 10mm aluminium to support the LED lights. M4 bolts. I went a bit overboard with Nyloc nuts, but that is what I had.

The material is what I had at hand. I do have a few desk lamps but this one has the best light. You could do this out of a few different sizes of timber dowel & a simple force fit. Drill a hole into an old brick for a base support will do.

DSC_0927_070935.jpg
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Offline kiwiAlan  
#7 Posted : 27 July 2022 00:31:56(UTC)
kiwiAlan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 23/07/2014(UTC)
Posts: 8,082
Location: ENGLAND, Didcot
Originally Posted by: bgemski Go to Quoted Post
I also grabbed a self standing magnifying glass ...


Depending on the magnification, I find a magnifying glass can get very tiring on the eyes. I have a head mount Optivisor. I have the full range of lenses, but again find that the high magnification gets tiring, I think the parallax of the lens to where the eye thinks it should be looking is not the best (same problem with large magnifying lens units).

I intend to mound some white LEDs on mine so the light is going where I am looking instead of putting what I am looking at into shadow, but that is a low priority project.

Offline Toosmall  
#8 Posted : 27 July 2022 00:41:47(UTC)
Toosmall

Australia   
Joined: 26/07/2021(UTC)
Posts: 608
Location: Sydney
I have used a magnifying stand, never really liked it. I just stack a few pairs of old glasses depending on the amount of magnification you need. You can even stack 2 pairs to get trifocal if you partially overlap.
Offline Mr. Ron  
#9 Posted : 29 July 2022 00:19:08(UTC)
Mr. Ron

United States   
Joined: 05/07/2020(UTC)
Posts: 311
Location: Mississippi, Vancleave
Originally Posted by: Toosmall Go to Quoted Post
Sorry for the war zone, but it is simple to knock up a light stand. Base plate (10mm aluminium plate offcut, timber will do), I have counter balanced with 2 aluminium dice 65mm square which I made decades ago, a couple of bolt so they don't slide of the base.

Then a vertical support (10mm aluminium round rod offcut, again a bit of timber will do). Tapped M6 counter sunk bolt into the end.

An off cut of 3 x 20mm 316 stainless steel, then offcuts if 3 x 10mm aluminium to support the LED lights. M4 bolts. I went a bit overboard with Nyloc nuts, but that is what I had.

The material is what I had at hand. I do have a few desk lamps but this one has the best light. You could do this out of a few different sizes of timber dowel & a simple force fit. Drill a hole into an old brick for a base support will do.

DSC_0927_070935.jpg


Great desk lamp: I will make one for my small hobby bench. Right now, I have annoying shadows on my bench.

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Offline Mr. Ron  
#10 Posted : 29 July 2022 00:41:18(UTC)
Mr. Ron

United States   
Joined: 05/07/2020(UTC)
Posts: 311
Location: Mississippi, Vancleave
Originally Posted by: Toosmall Go to Quoted Post
I have used a magnifying stand, never really liked it. I just stack a few pairs of old glasses depending on the amount of magnification you need. You can even stack 2 pairs to get trifocal if you partially overlap.

These tweezers are excellent for holding small parts for soldering or gluing: https://m.media-amazon.c...C_UY327_FMwebp_QL65_.jpg
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Offline kiwiAlan  
#11 Posted : 29 July 2022 00:48:57(UTC)
kiwiAlan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 23/07/2014(UTC)
Posts: 8,082
Location: ENGLAND, Didcot
Originally Posted by: Mr. Ron Go to Quoted Post
Originally Posted by: Toosmall Go to Quoted Post
I have used a magnifying stand, never really liked it. I just stack a few pairs of old glasses depending on the amount of magnification you need. You can even stack 2 pairs to get trifocal if you partially overlap.

These tweezers are excellent for holding small parts for soldering or gluing: https://m.media-amazon.c...C_UY327_FMwebp_QL65_.jpg


+1
Offline Toosmall  
#12 Posted : 29 July 2022 06:57:54(UTC)
Toosmall

Australia   
Joined: 26/07/2021(UTC)
Posts: 608
Location: Sydney
Also the humble clothes peg is really useful, a bit of masking tape, bamboo skewers, a brick (heavy items), small blocks and spacers, clamps.

DSC_0984_024825.jpg
Offline marklinist5999  
#13 Posted : 29 July 2022 14:02:38(UTC)
marklinist5999

United States   
Joined: 10/02/2021(UTC)
Posts: 3,070
Location: Michigan, Troy
I was reading the manual for the 39187 Loco., and a Torx #4 is the screws for the front/rear plow-coupler exhcange
Offline kiwiAlan  
#14 Posted : 29 July 2022 15:31:32(UTC)
kiwiAlan

United Kingdom   
Joined: 23/07/2014(UTC)
Posts: 8,082
Location: ENGLAND, Didcot
Originally Posted by: marklinist5999 Go to Quoted Post
I was reading the manual for the 39187 Loco., and a Torx #4 is the screws for the front/rear plow-coupler exhcange


Yes, Marklin are using tiny Torx screws in some weird places where they could just as well use a Pozidrive or similar screw. I was surprised to find a Torx screw when trying to get the decoder out of my Railbus to update the firmware.
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Offline Tom Jessop  
#15 Posted : 31 July 2022 05:59:30(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia
Buy or ask the missus for a kitchen apron so you can attach it to the underside of your workbench or table at the bottom of the apron , use the kneck loop around your kneck when working . This will catch anything you may drop and save the job of crawling around the floor looking for lost parts .

Cheers Tom in Oz .

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Offline Tom Jessop  
#16 Posted : 31 July 2022 06:01:30(UTC)
Tom Jessop

Australia   
Joined: 14/12/2002(UTC)
Posts: 800
Location: Newcastle NSW Australia
Originally Posted by: Tom Jessop Go to Quoted Post
Buy or ask the missus for a kitchen apron so you can attach it to the underside of your workbench or table at the bottom of the apron , use the neck loop around your neck when working . This will catch anything you may drop and save the job of crawling around the floor looking for lost parts .

Cheers Tom in Oz .



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Offline bph  
#17 Posted : 10 October 2022 19:48:29(UTC)
bph

Norway   
Joined: 04/08/2018(UTC)
Posts: 985
Acquired one of these for my workbench: ThumpUp A combined desk/floor magnifying lamp with 95+ CRI (7W, 600 Lumen, 6,000K)
https://daylightcompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Magnificent-Pro-Grey-BG-03-scaled.jpg
https://daylightcompany.com/product/magnificent-pro/
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