Saturday, May 09, 2020

Sonic Screwdriver?

     I have been working on a connection panel that will have over 400 screw terminals wired up when complete, all of them small enough to be fiddly.  I'm using Euro-style blocks with crimped ferrules on the wire, a fast and space-saving system.  But that's a lot of screwed-down connections to open up and tighten by hand.
     This little gem has been a real time saver.  It's not quite torque-y enough for the last couple of turns that crunch down on the ferrule but it does all rest of the work.  And it has a one-button control: push it and twist the thing in the direction you want it to go, and it spins. The farther you turn, the faster it spins,  This means there's enough feedback as it reaches its torque limit to slow it gradually.  It charges from a standard USB supply and came with a nice assortment of driver bits.

     Mine was bought from an online limited-number deals site at a lower price some time ago, but the ES121 is about $95 on Amazon and the ES120 is a bit less expensive -- I'm not sure what the difference is.
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2 comments:

  1. RandyGCMay 9, 2020 at 5:13 PM

    Neat! Thanks for the info.

    I noticed the battery in that little critter is 300mAh.

    More (IIRC) than the original BP-3 battery pack for the old Icom IC-2AT* HT back in the day, and the whole tool is smaller and lighter than the battery pack alone. Probably charges faster and lasts longer too.

    *and what a technological wonder that was. You could set the frequency with thumb wheels without having to open up and change out crystals! Bonus you could switch between a Repeater and simplex with a simple slide switch! I still have one in my shack (along with the IC-3AT 220 model), as those bricks just won't die. Although I tend to run them off of 12v supplies (using an IC-DC1 DC-DC converter) as the same can't be said for the battery packs)

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  2. BCMay 9, 2020 at 11:19 PM

    It looks like the 121 says something in the specs about soldering as well, not sure how that works?

    120 does not mention anything about soldering

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