What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
(OP)
We have a High school engineering club and I am putting together three "tool kits" to be used by the club. I have $500.00 per kit to spend. The goal of the club is to introduce students to all branches of engineering so the supplies should be general / diverse. I need ideas on what to include in the kit. We are thinking a multimeter, solar cells, wire, a small pump, hand tools. Any other ideas on what I should include?





RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
When you say tool kits, it seems you mean just not the tools but also basic supplies for doing experiments?
For electrical I'd throw in some bulbs, led's, maybe even capacitors, solenoids, motors etc. We used to have some 'modular' bits and pieces that you could build circuits with then pull apart.
For mechanical, as well as a bunch of fasteners how about something like a mecano/erector set kit with gear, pulleys...
Make sure and include appropriate metrology equipment, a good steel rule, tape measure, calipers (real Verniers maybe without the digital read out just to make them think), Micrometer, level, feeler gauges... Your budget may not extend to all of these but depending what kind of projects they'll be doing and what they already have available in the physics room... you can down select.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
So from the point of artificial limbs you could to crazy with various linkages etc. Playing around with some pneumatics & hydraulics could be cool too. Again technic lego used to have that, and now they have robots too.
What is Engineering anyway: FAQ1088-1484: In layman terms, what is "engineering"?
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
I used it a few times before. The first time I built an autonomus mobile robot. Was lots of fun!
Don't forget http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_rocket
Or how about a model of an IC engine. Or a model of a DC motor....
I can think of tons of engineering related things that would be great.
You could also consider stopping by a lotal hobby shop..
Fe
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
http://www.aqpl43.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/museum.htm
Fe
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Blue roll
Swarfega
- Steve
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
-Scale
-Safety glasses
-TheTick's list
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
ht
Add in some thermocouples, accelerometers, relays, etc. and you can accomplish a lot both in terms of electronics and in terms of expanding on mechanical/physical experiments through data acquisition and analysis.
On the mechanical side, consider a vacuum pump or vacuum generator if you have access to compressed air. With some plastic sheet, tape, and creativity you can use that to do composite layup work or form wood/plastic sheets over molds.
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Question for the OP... Can you give a little more detail on what sorts of things the club does; where they take direction from or what they're working towards?
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Fe
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
EIT with BS in Civil/Structural engineering.
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
HAZOP at www.curryhydrocarbons.ca
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Maybe there is a lot of stuff "beyond economical repair" that can be donated and fixed for some money.
$500 isn't a lot to splash around and most will probably go on stationary and sundries.....
Oh, hang on, this is $500 per kit? That makes a difference. That sounds quite generous but.....good tools cost money.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
- A multimeter
- A soldering iron
- A TI-86 programmable graphing calculator with DataMate
- Computer interface cable for said calculator
- A thermocouple (http://w
- A force sensor (ht
- A photogate (http://www.vernier.com/products/sensors/vpg-btd/)
- A vernier caliper
That should burn through about $500 and get some pretty cool tools.
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Is there any programming / data processing capability with the DataMate software? An advantage of the LabView series is that it would allow the computer oriented kids to do some object programming in a common software suite.
Does anybody have sufficient experience with these systems to compare DataMate / Labview / Arduino kits?
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Oh, and a Poster.
The poster is to accustom them to the ways of management communication. My favourite management poster is the one that says "The customer pays the bills", something management always forget come pay review or bonus time: they act then like the money is coming out of their own pockets.
The poster showing the simple rules:
- Measure twice
- Cut once
- File to shape.
- Bash to fit
- paint to cover.
Job done.Note (include on poster): when using a hammer, don't force it, get a bigger hammer.
For the ladies, a selection of Craftsman screwdrivers to be used as cold chisels or pry bars and returned under guarantee when broken, and some well honed wood chisels to be used as screwdrivers, tin openers etc.
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Good Luck,
MrL68
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Unfortunately for you, I've long since lost the list, but most of the line items came from the Snap-On catalog, and the total list price came to a little over $5000. .. when that was a lot of money, mind you.
I thought it was total busywork and a complete waste of time.
To my utter amazement, they bought the entire lot, complete and unmodified, after my departure.
I know that because I got a call from the surviving lab tech asking why I had put a five pound ball peen hammer on the list; he'd never seen one so big. The remainder of the conversation went like this:
me: "Have you used it?"
him: "Yes."
me: "End of Discussion."
Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
JMW
www.ViscoAnalyser.com
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."

Have you read FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies to make the best use of these Forums?
RE: What do I include in a High School Engineering Tool Kit
Learn about Engineering at
http://www.whatisengineering.net/