Recommended Hand Tools For Home Fabrication Projects

You simply can’t do fabrication projects with out having the right tools for the job. Many of the hand tools listed below are already present in most homeowner garages – you need them for those little maintenance projects that come up for everyone who owns a home. However, I wanted to provide this list of the tools needed to build your own mining equipment to help you plan out what you need for your project – and this general list applies to all the projects on my pages from dredges to dry washers. If it happens that you don’t have one of these tools in your toolbox, you might give it some serious consideration.

The other thing about these tools is that with the advent of the internet, there are places where the homeowner can get some real bargains in purchasing these handy tools. There are a number of places out there that sell tools over the net, and with a little research, you be able to save enough money to make the effort worthwhile. I’m a big tool fan – I always enjoy having more tools on hand – I’ve never needed much of an excuse to buy another tool! Most confirmed DIY project guys are like that. If you plan to build your own gold mining equipment, you’ll need the right tools. Here is a discussion of the reasons and benefits of having each of these tools on hand:

Jigsaw

A jigsaw with a fine-toothed blade is a handy tool for cutting aluminum and thin steel. With a bit coarser toothed blade, a jigsaw is also a good tool for cutting plywood. This is the tool I used in most of the cutting I did for my mining equipment and other fabrication projects.

Pop Rivet Gun

A pop rivet gun is a handy tool for fabricating and attaching aluminum sheet metal. If you have the right type of welder, some of these can be spot welded, but many welders cannot weld aluminum. Having a full selection of different sized pop rivets is necessary to get the most out of this handy tool.

Drill

Attaching items together with screws, bolts or pop rivets requires holes. The way to put in those holes is with a drill.  Really, I figure that every home owner has a drill or two. I have three myself – a large, heavy drill with a ½ inch chuck, a smaller 3/8 inch chuck model and a battery operated cordless drill. It has gotten to be that most of the drill work I do around the house is done with the cordless – its just so handy.

Die Grinder

This is a very handy tool and is probably the one least likely tool on this list to already be in the homeowner toolbox. I use mine to cut or grind off metal for fitting pieces together, as well as grinding off welds as needed. It is an extremely handy tool to have, and I highly recommend it.

Misc. Smaller tools:

Hack Saw – This is a simple and inexpensive tool that works great for cutting metal.

Power screwdriver – Handy for installing screws; especially if you have a lot of them.

Tin snips – Really necessary for cutting sheet metal.

Wrenches – necessary for installing bolts.

Consider which of these tools you have on hand and which you may have on hand, be able to borrow or need to purchase. Costs to purchase additional had tools may figure significantly into the cost of a do it yourself project. As I noted a the top of this page, some good deals can be fond on the internet. Be sure to do your research on prices, and you'll get a good bargain. A small welder is also a highly recommended tool, so much so that I have done up a separate page on this highly important tool: Low Cost, Small Arc Welders For Home Use