Tools and Equipment
Tools and Equipment
This domain tests tool identification, safe use, and maintenance. You must match the tool to the material, gauge, and cut geometry.
Hand tools
- Aviation snips: left-cutting, right-cutting, and straight patterns; handle colors vary by brand, so confirm by the cut direction. Keep the waste side where it can curl away.
- Hammers and stakes: ball peen for rivets, setting hammer for seams, mallet for bending; blowhorn and creasing stakes for forming.
- Layout tools: dividers, trammel points, scratch awl, prick punch, combination square, and protractor.
- Seaming tools: hand seamer, crimper, notcher, and hand punch.
Power tools
Electric shears, nibblers, jigsaws, reciprocating saws, hole saws, knockout punches, drills, grinders, bench shear, box-and-pan brake, slip roll, rotary machine, Pittsburgh lockformer, and spot welder. Match the blade to the metal: fine-tooth or carbide for sheet, not a wood blade.
Worked example
You need a clean 3-in. hole in 24-gauge galvanized duct. A hole saw can tear thin metal and leave burrs; a knockout punch draws a clean, round hole with minimal distortion. Select the punch sized for the finished hole, drill the pilot, assemble the punch, and tighten until the slug separates. Deburr both sides. The reasoning is control of distortion and edge quality, not just speed.
Traps
Prying with snips; cutting stainless with snips rated for mild steel; using a wood bit on metal; wearing gloves near a rotating chuck; and operating a grinder without the guard or face shield.