I was recently hired at a local home theater dealer for custom installation after a year and a half and more cover cover letters than I can count. I am extatic about the work which is more of a passion than a job for me. I am, however, less than excited about some of the tools that have been handed down for me to use. I have started a collection of tools that I know I need, but I know that I am still missing many that I don't know about. Can all of you tell me what tools are invaluable to you, and that one special tool that you have in your box that you can't go without (every one seems to have a different one). Also can you point the way to a place where I can purchase some of the not so common tools. Thanks all of you for your input and I hope I will be welcome in the forum... no community of people I have been trying to become a part of for so long.

VTS, I'm a licensed electrician, and do installation work of all kinds, from phone and cable wiring all the way to whole-house audio and video.

New installs and retro-fits require some overlapped tools, but there are many use-specific tools and devices, too.

The Labor Saving Devices line of tools (http://www.lsdinc.com/) has some nice helpful equipment. In particular, the wall periscope, the wet noodle, and the long drill bits have proven themselves.

Of course, there are also the usual staples: coax, phone, and CAT-5 strippers and crimpers, hole saws, drywall saws, drills, soldering iron or gun, etc.

Besides these, you just have to buy tools as you need them, and without exception, they are used again and again. I will say that you generally get what you pay for, and quality is a bargain in the long run.

I especially love my DeWalt 24-volt cordless drill and reciprocating saw. I can do a lot of stud and joist drilling on a single charge, but have two batteries for each. Recharge immediately after swapping batteries!

Want to be more valuable to your company? Become a licensed electrician. That will educate you and enable you to do a lot of work that would otherwise require calling in outside subs.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

Well like Larry said, it really takes a lot of tools to be a full A/V installer not knowing from job to job what you will run into.

But the one tool that I feel is my favorite and most used is my Leatherman Supertool.

I like it better than the Gerber tool.

VTS,
Panduit self laminating Wire lables and a sharpie. Properly labled wires will save time.

Jeff,
I love my Gerber(800 series).

John

I recommend a good tone generator and probe kit. Prpgressive electronics/Greenlee makes a good one. The model 200fp is a good probe. I don't know the model number on the generator but I think they sell them as a kit on their website. It runs around $150. That is my invluable tool. No measuring, no blueprints, no guesswork. Just tone out the wire behind a wall and find your studs. It's that easy. I recommend a Dewalt 14.4v XRP drill. It is more versatile than any of the others and has just as much power as the 18 volt models. It is by far the best drill in 99% of jobs. Labor saving devices is also a great place to find tools(fish rods/tapes, wet noodles, drill bits for any situation, lots of handy tools). An SPL meter is also a good idea. you can get one at radioshack for $50-$60. There are so many tools you may needdepending on the type of jobs your company does.

Hey John,

I thought that comment might stir things up a little. Most people at our shop prefer the Leatherman, but several swear by their Gerber tool.

Jeff

It's not always "that easy" :-)

A toner is pretty handy, though.

I have a progressive tone generator, and an SPL meter (although I spent a bit more than $60 for it). I am not sure what a Gerber is unless we are talking about baby food. Also what is a self laminating wire label? I am using electrical tape and a sharpie to label my wires but I'm not too excited about it. A cordless drill is deffinetly in my future, thanks for the Dewalt heads up. Thanks for your help, I wonder if any one else has that "I can't live without" tool?

Rather than wire labels, I would recommend the 3M style number dispenser... it is red and cylindrical shaped. The problem with installer written labels is that everybody has a differenct style of doing it and varying levels of handwriting. Also, it makes it just a little bit more difficult for some hack to come in and take your job away from you after investing all of that prewire/prep work.

This will force you to keep some centrally filed database / sheet with all wires #s, source, destination, and wire type. You will find it easier to run wires with a well prepared sheet, allow multiple teams to work on the same project without interferring w/ each other, and make it easier to tone / sign off on wires before the prewire phase of the job is complete.

For those unusal and hard to find tools, I go to Specialized Product. www.specialized.net
They have absolutely everything and even have some nice portable tool kits for when you need to do out of town work. They are a bit expensive, but hey, I don't have to waste any time when looking for something or putting together a kit for a new guy.

so what you are saying is that every # corosponds with a certain wire type and origin and destination? don't you think that could get a bit trickey? do you have cheat sheets for all of your installers? Sounds fantastic in theory but I wonder how it is in practice.

Self laminating wire lables are lables with a clear area so when it is wrapped around the wire it covers itself. The lable is now smudge-proof, painter-proof...
The lables don't have to be hand written they are avalible in an ink-jet/laser or dot-matrix versions.

A Gerber(brand name) is a plier multi-tool.

John

This is sort of getting off the subject of the original post, but yes, prewiring off of a real wiring schedule will generally give you less headaches than more. It also depends on what type of company you work for. If they tend to have more independent lead installer types, then maybe this method may not be as effective as for companies that rely more on project managers than the installers to run and coordinate their jobs. In general, it is just good practice to have the job complete on paper before actually doing it. Why wouldn't you take the extra step and generate a wiring report while you are laying out the prewire design? Just like rack layouts, don't ever even think about putting it together until you do the drawing. 1 space too short or 1" too deep is not just 1 little problem.

well I think the company I work for is way too unorganized to have everything on paper before hand, it is up to the installer to figure it out. Get to the sight, guess what wires are what (a bit of an exaderation) and go from there. I don't know if I will be able to talk our prewire guys into self-laminating wire lables or not, I'll feel my way into when I am there longer. I think I will have to be there alot longer to get every one to get all of our jobs down on paper before doing anything. Thanks for all of your help on this topic, I have gotten alot of tools and most of the ones you mentioned here.

If you want a good list of tools you should have, I found this list put together by HT god Russ Herschelmann. It's a little bit dated, but a great reference.

[Link: technocopia.com]

Now, if someone can tell me what the heck #8 is - none of my guys ever heard of twiddlers.

Brett, twidlers are non-metallic tools with different tips, like hex-heads and screw-drivers, for adjusting variable capacitors and inductors in RF circuitry. They are non-metallic so they don't affect the adjustments due to proximity (being near) to the device being adjusted.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com