Two handy tools

[mklotz]

I seldom endorse commercially available tools and only if I have bought and used the tool. I hope Jon will forgive me if I mention two very useful tools I recently acquired.

If you disassemble small items held together with tiny Phillips screws, you'll appreciate the difficulty of getting those tiny buggers started again when you go to reassemble the item. There are numerous screw-holding drivers available but most of them are for slotted screws and very few of them will work with tiny screws. This model...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

has a #00 Phillips driver and is very well made - all metal construction. It's easy to use. When you press the top the jaws open and the spring-loaded driver tip pops out. Fit the screw to the driver and push it back so the screw head is inside the jaws; release pressure on the top and the jaws close to grasp the screw and hold it solidly while you get it started.

The same outfit makes a similar tool for slotted screws...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I bought one and it works as well as the Phillips model.

A possible improvement to both of them might be to use a tiny grinding wheel to cut a small nick on the inside of the jaws to better grab the screw but I haven't found it necessary.

The second tool is the solution to a problem that's annoyed me for years. I have a hardware-store-sized collection of those 1/4" hex driver bits. Most of them are arranged in those soft plastic holders, e.g.,

https://www.amazon.com/Enkay-3030-Sc...ABTJPGBKEWMEZM

The problem is that these holders space the bits together too closely, making extraction awkward, and the grippy plastic hangs onto them so they're hard to extract.

This tool solves all those problems...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The holes are spaced on 1/2" centers and are 5/16" diameter. One can pick a bit out of the hole as easily as picking one up from a table. A magnet holds the bits, which fit loosely in the holes. The hold is good enough that the whole unit, filled with bits, can be turned upside down and nothing will fall out. A further benefit is the fact that the magnet is strong enough to hold the whole assembly vertically on a steel surface such as a tool box or vehicle fender; one less thing to clutter the toolbox drawers.