TOOL TIME
Ok, here are all the tools we use in our shop. I’m not saying that you have to have all of these, this is just what we’ve collected over the last three years of building the Nieuports. They are not listed here in any specific order of need, usefulness, cost, etc. Just random remembrances of what we have. Also, I’m sure this won’t be the end of it. We’ve got a lot more work to do. I’m SURE we’ll find more ways to spend our money! For convenience, the items that have their text in RED are MUST-HAVES. The items in GREEN text are Nice-To-Haves and are highly recommended. The items in BLUE text are not really needed, but we find them very cool. The items not colored are up to your discretion. In some cases the non-colored items have a recommended alternative like the air-powered rivet gun instead of the hand-squeeze rivet gun. Also, at the very bottom, you’ll find links to the sites we use to find some of these tools.
Air-powered Rivet Gun, Sets rivets up to 3/16''. Air relief valve prevents overloading for long life. Includes 4 nosepieces: 3/16'', 5/32'', 1/8'', 3/32''. I can’t say enough about how this is the best $50 you’ll ever spend. Harbor Freight.	Hand-squeeze rivet gun uses aluminum rivets in sizes up to 3/16'', Swivel head makes this unit easy to use at any angle. (Hah! That’s the blurb in the magazine. Unless you want forearms like Popeye, get the air rivet gun.)	Cleko Plier. You’ll want to have this surgically attached to your hand.
Clekos. You’ll need lots (say, a couple dozen or more) of the 1/8” copper colored, and a dozen of the silver colored 3/32” ones.	Snips for cutting aluminum. One is offset for cutting left, the other is offset the other way for cutting straight and to the right. Confession: I’ve got both of these and never used them.	10 inch Tin Snip. THIS is what I use the vast majority of the time when cutting out small pieces of aluminum sheet.
After you drill holes in your items, you have to debur them. A quick hit from one of these deburring bits will clean up the outside edges of a hole nicely.	Once you’ve cleaned up the outside edges of a drilled hole, you need to debur the inside, and this is the animal that does it. You stick the small blade-edged bit in the hole, give it a few rotations and you’re done.	Don’t ask. Just get some. You know as well as I do that you’ll need some sooner or later. If not for working on the Nieuport, then to temporarily patch that leaky hole in the hangar roof.
Get yourself a couple of decent levels. Get one of them in a 4 foot or so length, another in a shorter, say, 2 foot length. You will definitely need these!	This is an assortment of nylon cable ties in various lengths. Again, as in the duct tape, don’t ask, just get some. Home Depot has this 650 piece set for a few bucks. You’ll use them somewhere, sooner or later, trust me.	Safety glasses. If I have to explain why you need these, you shouldn’t be let loose around power tools. Especially ones that will be spraying off flying pieces of metal.
This inexpensive bench-top sander has been extremely useful for helping to shape and clean up the larger aluminum pieces. Tip: Keep a ready supply of various grits of disk sanding pads.	You’re holding that tube in your hand and you’re thinking, “Now, was this the right inner and outer diameter that I needed?” Don’t sweat it, just pick up a decent set of calipers. Home Depot has some pretty cheap ones. You don’t need the pricey ones.	This is an automatic center punch. It’s spring loaded so as you push down on it, the spring will pop inside and score a nice indentation. After you get tired of have the tip a drill bit wander all over a tube, you’ll want one of these!
. This 20 gallon parts washer is great for cleaning up that greasy VW or Sube engine you’ll be rebuilding.	This 5HP 20 gallon compressor will do almost anything you need in the way of air work.	If you’re the Tim Allen type, then you’ll want this 12CFM, 60 gallon monster. We needed it to run our blast cabinet with a decent air flow.
This is one of the most useful tools we have. A metal cutting bandsaw. We keep it mostly in the vertical position.	Ok, you don’t really NEED a drill press, and you certainly don’t need a monster like this, but any drill press will come in very hand for precision holes.	A good set of titanium drill bits will serve you well throughout the years that it will take you to build the beast.
A bench-top grinder is invaluable. Trade out the grinding wheels for things like a flap-disc buff/sanding wheel and a steel brush wheel	. A wire-wheel like this is a great accessory for your bench grinder. Invaluable for cleaning metal parts likes bolts, etc	. Get a flap-disk wheel for the other side of your bench grinder. Great for polishing up those notched tubes and fresh cut edges.
This is an air powered die grinder. Get some steel High Speed Rotary Files like on the right and it’s great for working tube notches.	Here are the afore-mentioned High Speed Rotary Files. Here’s a tip: When using these on aluminum, dip them in a little machine oil first so the aluminum won’t gum up the ridges.	Ok, I don’t know how to use this, I just leave the magic up to Ted. But he has fabricated lots of cool metal components on the lathe.
“Ok, what the heck do you use a paper cutter for? “, you might ask. Well, these things are GREAT for quickly cutting out gussets from the thin sheet aluminum. A quick trim from the snips and you’ve got very nice and straight-edge gussets. You can pick these up used for $20-$30.	If you want to make your aluminum and metal parts look extremely cool, then powder coat them (NO, not the engine block!!) This $150 gadget is from Eastwood and lets you apply numerous color choices to your parts and then you bake them in an oven. The results are extremely durable, fantastically good looking coatings.	If you want to bead blast those aluminum blocks for a factory fresh look, or prep metal parts for painting or powder coating, or just plain clean up something rusty, a blast cabinet is worth its price. Of course, you’ll have to upgrade your air compressor to the aforementioned monster like our 12CFM Ingersol Rand to supply it with enough air.
There must be a dozen ways to notch tubing. Some folks have opted for notching tool like the ‘Ol Joint Jigger. We tried it. Then went back to using the air-powered die grinder.	There is also probably a dozen ways to bend tubes. Here’s a nice and simple homebuilt bender.	Here’s what I used to bend a lot of tubes: An electrician’s conduit bender. About $15 at Home Depot.
Spring clamps. Get an assortment of these. Home Depot sells a good cheap set. Put that set in your shopping cart. Now reach back up there and get another set. Don’t ask why. Just do it.	It doesn’t seem to matter how many overhead lights you have. You always seem to need more light. We seem to keep collecting more of these halogen lights around the shop.	A good cordless drill. Get a spare battery and keep it charged. Get a drill with a KEYLESS CHUCK. Tremendous time saver.
If you’ve got an air compressor, you might opt for an air-powered drill. They’re light and you never run out of power.	If you don’t have a compressor and/or you need lots of variable speed torque when drilling (like for drilling out holes in metal to be tapped), you might want a good, corded drill.	Sharpie permanent marker pen. DON’T USE A PENCIL ON ALUMINUM !!
A swaging tool. You’ll need this to create all those rigging cables.	Nicopress swages.	Did you buy that air compressor yet. Well, by now you’ve probably figured out that you’ll need a few extra hoses. TIP: fit the ends with the “quick release” connectors.
If you’re like us, you have more than one air hose in use. We ran PVC pipe all over the shop with multiple outlets fitted with quick-release connectors. Alternately, you could get a multi-outlet manifold like this to run multiple hoses.	Ahhhh….the ever useful Dremel tool. Get a variety of wire brush, sanding, grinding, cutoff, etc, heads for it. Heck, just go crazy at Home Depot. The flexible extension neck is great too.	For about $40 from Northern or Harbor, you can get a 1000 pound engine stand. Even on small engines like Subes and VWs, it is very nice to be able to rotate the block around.
If you’re going to be shooting paint, working with fiberglass, or anything with vapors, fumes, dust, mist, etc..you get the idea, then get a dual-cartridge face mask/respirator. Cheaply obtained at Home Depot or the like.	Shop Vac. ‘Nuff said. By the way, you can connect these to your blast cabinet to extract the dust while spraying.	A small fridge is nice. A bigger fridge is better. I have it on good authority that this is Butch’s fridge.
If you get a powder-coating gun like the one mentioned earlier, you’ll want to hit the garage sales and classifieds a pick up a cheap, used 220V oven to cure the parts. You’ll already have 220V in your shop because you’ve wired it for the monster air compressor, right?	If your shop doesn’t have central heat, the forced-air propane heaters are safe for indoor use and run a long time on a single tank.	Likewise, if you don’t have A/C in your shop and it’s Texas, you’ll definitely want a large fan like this!
Useful Places to find Tools: Harbor Freight: www.harborfreight.com Air rivet guns and a ton of other stuff. Northern Tool: www.northerntool.com A lot like Harbor Freight. Go online and compare prices. Cleveland Aircraft Tools: www.cleavelandtool.com Clekos, cleko pliers, deburring tools and bits, etc. Avery Tools: www.averytools.com A lot like Cleveland Aircraft Tools. Eastwood: www.eastwoodco.com The maker of the Powder Coat system. Home Depot: www.homedepot.com You know what Home Depot is!! (except for you folks not in the Americas!) Aircraft Spruce: www.aircraftspruce.com Wood, aluminum, tools. You name it. But compare prices before you buy! Air Parts Inc. : www.airpartsinc.com Aluminum, tools, rivets, etc. Wicks Aircraft Supply: www.wicksaircraft.com A lot like Aircraft Spruce. Another place to shop and compare prices. eBay: www.ebay.com When shopping for the more expensive stuff, you should really check out eBay.