Like all manual skills, practical electronics requires the correct tools to make your job easier and achieve a professional result.
These days it’s easy to find extremely cheap tools, but this usually comes with the compromise of poor quality. On the other hand, tools used by professionals are often extremely expensive. For example, you can spend $2 for a pair of cheap cutters, but professional cutters can cost $200 or more!
If you’re just getting started with electronics as a hobby, you should aim to purchase the best quality tools you can reasonably afford without overspending for high end gear. The best value is usually somewhere in the middle part of the price range. Good enough to be efficient and long lasting, without being overkill for your needs.
Workspace
Not really a tool, but it’s perhaps the most important thing of all: somewhere to work! It should be clean, well-lit, and have enough room to work on your projects with your tools in reach. If you will be working on a kitchen table or some other space that is also used for other purposes, it’s a good idea to get a protective mat. The common green craft mats that you see in many places are better than nothing, but be warned that they melt very easily if your soldering iron touches them. The best type of mat is a static-dissipative work surface that will handle the temperature of a soldering iron for at least a few seconds without melting.
General Hand Tools
Side cutters are a fundamental tool for electronics. You’ll use them constantly for cutting wire, trimming component leads, and removing insulation. They come in different sizes, with different handle styles, return spring types, and blade profiles.
Wire strippers make quick, neat work of removing insulation from wires. They’re not essential and you can build many projects without ever needing them because you can also strip wire using side-cutters, but dedicated strippers can do a better job more quickly.
Pliers come in many different sizes and types. Pliers with serrated jaws give good grip on many surfaces, but they can also damage the item you’re holding. Flat nose pliers provide a smooth surface but with less grip. Needle-nose pliers can be useful for bending items into a small radius.
A small knife such as an X-ACTO style knife, a scalpel, or a retractable knife is useful for many projects.
Some form of magnification can be extremely helpful, particularly when you begin working with smaller parts such as surface-mount resistors. A simple magnifying glass is a good start, but many people invest in a stereo optical microscope or a USB microscope when they become serious about assembling more complex projects.
Soldering
Soldering irons vary dramatically in price and capabilities.
Solder comes in various formulations, including leaded solder (typically a 60%/40% mixture of tin and lead) and unleaded solder. Unleaded solder was developed to reduce the use of harmful substances such as lead in consumer electronics, but it melts at a higher temperature and doesn’t flow very well. Many hobbyists and professionals prefer leaded 60/40 solder because it’s so much easier to use. You should also use solder that includes flux within it, because this helps it to clean the metal surfaces it connects and make a better joint. Diameter can also be important.
A soldering iron stand is vital for safety. Don’t leave a hot soldering iron just sitting on your bench! It’s a burn hazard, both to you and to anything nearby on the bench.
A flux pen or a syringe of tack-flux can help your soldered joints make good connection when the metal is tarnished.
Test Gear
Multimeter
Lab power supply
Oscilloscope