Repair Café checklist

I regularly volunteer to do electronics repairs during a local Repair Café. This is a checklist of stuff I take with me:

CC BY SA Ilvy Njiokiktjien
Repair Cafe (CC BY SA Ilvy Njiokiktjien)

Tools:

  • laptop, handy to look up datasheets, manuals and repair videos
  • screwdrivers: flat, philips, torx, special. Best to take torx screwdrivers, bits do not always fit
  • side-cutters, assortment of pliers
  • smartphone repair kit
  • multimeter, ESR meter
  • audio cables: mini-jack to mini-jack, mini-jack to cinch/phono, mini-jack to jack
  • USB cables
  • adjustable power supply with leads
  • leads with crocodile clips
  • helping hands
  • mains extension cord and power distribution
  • glue gun
  • soldering iron. I actually use a gas soldering iron, handy to use the exhaust for heat shrink
  • dremel
  • drills
  • some additional lightsource
  • solder wick

Consumables

  • canned air
  • contact spray
  • machine oil
  • cotton swabs
  • (charged) AA, AAA and 9V batteries
  • wires: different gauges, solid, stranded, flatcable, coax…
  • audio cables (from broken headphones and the like)
  • solder
  • super glue
  • two component glue
  • heat shrink tubing
  • sugru
  • zip ties

Components:

  • little loudspeaker (not everybody brings their speakers with a defective amplifier)
  • mains power leads with and without ground
  • glass fuses
  • resistors
  • electrolytic capacitors
  • diodes
  • connectors: barrel jacks and sockets, stereo headphone jacks (3,5mm) and sockets
  • metric bolts
  • switches

I will probably add stuff to this list in the future.

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