Discuss Hi everyone, I'm starting level 2 and need some advice about tools in the The Welcome Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

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I start my level 2 next week as a mature student and I decided to do it at college instead of one of those intensive courses so hopefully I've made the right decision. The college hasn't been very helpful about what tools I need. They just said safety shoes, basic tool kit and no trackies. What do you think I'll need? I just don't want to turn up without the right stuff but equally don't want to go and buy loads of stuff I won't need. A megger is on my wish list but that's a few years away :)

I've already got some stuff in my kit bucket which I'll take:
hammer, boat level, tape measure, hacksaw, multi meter, gloves, safety specs.

I'll need to get new screwdrivers and pliers because mine aren't properly insulated but is there anything else I should get? Any brands that don't cost too much but are ok for college? I also need some kind of bag to cart it all around in.

Any advice would be really helpful, thanks everyone.
 
Have a look at Toolatation, as for tool bags try B and Q ,don't plump for one of the brands bandied around on various forums, they are far to expensive and more a luxury, CK tools for Sparkies are very good and most wholesalers stock them, good luck and don't become a tool tart like me.
 
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Here's a few items I can recommend getting that I've found useful during training that won't bankrupt you. They should/will have some of these at your college but always nice to have your own gear and not have to wait on others to finish with tools before you can use them.

Stainless steel rule (300mm/500mm) - set of 2 on Amazon for less than £6 - good for measuring/marking the smaller cuts and fixing points you'll be doing at college without the weight of the rest of the tape measure getting on your nerves.

Conduit bush wrench - approx £10 - you will need this when you move onto steel conduit. When training, they had 3 of these between the whole class so lots of guys waiting to share. Thankfully I had my own.

Ear defenders - Try to get the ones that block out at least 33db of noise. If not, cheap foam ones that go inside your ear. Trust me, when you are in a class of 10+ students all sawing steel conduit at the same time you will wish you had ear protection. Get the best you can afford because once that hearing gets damaged, it's damaged for good.

Safety glasses - cheap as chips for glasses rated for use with hand tools but when you start working with power tools in the real world make sure you get impact rated glasses. Your eyes will thank you.

Screwdriver magnetiser / de-magnatiser - available for under £5 and handy for making your drivers magnetised for those fiddly little awkward screws.

VDE Side Cutters - these are worth spending a few extra quid on because you will be using them all of the time. Everyone will have their favourites but I can recommend CK VDE CombiCutter 180mm, they are decent cutters and have built in 1.5 & 2.5mm strippers which will be by far the most common size of cables you'll be working with. They're £43 from Screwfix but you may be able to find them cheaper elsewhere.

VDE Bull nose and long nose pliers - just get cheap ones for training. Same with screwdrivers.

Worth getting your own electricians knife. I've found the ones provided by college are terrible and for some reason a lot of training places do not allow stanley type knives.

As for bags, the Stanley Fatmax bags seem very popular, loads of students had them on my course. I think they're around the £40 mark.

I'm sure other forum members will be able to add to this list.

Good luck with the course.
 
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Worth getting your own electricians knife. I've found the ones provided by college are terrible and for some reason a lot of training places do not allow stanley type knives.
That's because Stanley knives are for opening boxes and when the blades snap, which they do easily, they tend to break into multiple shards that get into eyes and other squidgy bits of humans where they're not wanted.

A good lock knife, such as the CK one, and keep it sharp. Learn to use a sharpening stone, a blunt knife cuts twice.
 
I think you’ll find for the actual college course you won’t require any tools as they are all provided in house. Usually all knackered and abused. All you’ll need is the books, note pad, coloured pens/pencils and the safety shoes/boots that are prescribed.
 
here a good starter kit.it will last for years .
 

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