Tools

“Desoldering wick”! This is a very useful tool to desolder circuit when you make a mistake, or hacking toy circuits. I use them often but I never knew the name.. Here is the wikipedia explanation
“A solder wick, also known as a desoldering wick or desoldering braid, is a roll of fine, braided 18 to 42 [...]

Very convenient tools for making pompoms in all different sizes. But you can also use cardboard to make your own tool.

Dino-Lite digital USB microscope AM-311S
Handheld Microscope
0.3M / Resolution 640×480
USB 2.0 Output
0X~50x, 200x Magnification
Built-in 8 white LED’s
185$

Knitting dolly (Strickpüppchen in German) is a tool to make thin knitted tubes.

The picture is the one I bought at the local craft shop with about 5 Euro. In Germany and Austria, there are also a child toy version of this one, made of woods with fancy paintings on them.
There are also small machines that [...]

also see: circular knitting machine, sock knitting machine
also: knitting nancy, knitting wheels, knitting frames, rake knitters, French Knitters, knitting doll, flower tool, corkers and spools, German: Nahliesle
These are so easy to make by hand!!!

also see: circular knitting loom, circular knitting machine, sock knitting machine

Also see: circular knitting machine
These things look amazing. I have not got one of my own yet, but I would love to.

I never though I’d use one of these, but for threading conductive yarn into small needles for stitching to components with small holes they really are perfect!

Thin nose pliers are useful for making loops at the end of components like LED, capacitor, resistor.. so on.
Also, it is often used to pull out needle when sewing in neoprene.

Sewing machines, sergers, embroidery…

also: knitting nancy, knitting machine, German: Strickmühle
also see: circular sock knitting machine
These machines are amazingly easy to use. I bought myself a barbie Knitting machine via Amazon UK because it was cheaper than the more professional looking ones. It works fine for the circular knit but is very messy at the edges when it comes [...]

Most of our processing code we use to visualize our sensor input is based on the following “arduino meets Processing” Potentiometer example.

also: Craft ROBO, Klic-N-Kut, vinyl sign cutter, plotter

Great for opening electronics that weren’t designed to be opened.

Roland MDX-40
With engraving drilling head, you can produce your own PCB. It can not make copper lines thinner than 1.6mm, but enough for DIP circuits. Great thing is that you can skip the messy etching process.

>> Obi
>> Local hardware store

also: iron, quilting iron, mini iron
Comes in handy when ironing small pieces. Fusing fabrics together.

For cutting conductive fabrics, neoprene, velostat…

Comfortable, angled grip. Do not use to cut anything but fabrics, this will keep the blades sharp.

Great for filing perfboards to have smooth edges, that will not fray or cut through conductive thread.

also: air-erasing markers, textile markers
Marking pen, often bright purple in colour, that will vanish without washing. Do not iron over marks because heat will set the marks and they cannot be removed. Test on fabric before using.
For darker fabrics chalk and white pencil works well.

>> http://yarntree.com/cross-stitch/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=5753 (USA)
>> http://www.clotilde.com/detail.html?prod_id=504 (USA)

see also: Materials >> Metal Poppers

see also: “Fashioning Technology” by Syuzi Pakhchyan, page 195