Last reviewed 16 Sept 2026 · 10 min read
Workshop safety
- Wear personal protective equipment — safety shoes, goggles, gloves (where appropriate), aprons; avoid loose clothing near machines.
- Keep tools in good condition — sharp cutting edges, tight hammer heads, handles fitted to files.
- Hold work securely (vice or clamps); never use hands as a clamp.
- Use the right tool for the job; never use files as levers or spanners as hammers.
- Keep the work area clean; clear metal chips with a brush, not bare hands.
- Follow electrical safety with power tools; disconnect before changing bits or blades.
Fitting shop tools
Holding tools
- Bench vice (parallel jaw vice) — holds work firmly on the bench; jaw caps (soft jaws) protect finished surfaces.
- Pipe vice, hand vice, pin vice, C-clamps (G-clamps), V-blocks (hold round bars for marking).
Files
| Classification | Types |
|---|---|
| By cross-section (shape) | Flat, hand (flat with one safe edge), half-round, round, square, triangular (three-square), knife-edge, needle files (fine work) |
| By grade of cut (coarseness) | Rough, bastard (coarse — rapid removal), second cut (medium), smooth, dead smooth (finest finish) |
| By type of cut | Single cut (one set of parallel teeth — soft metals, sharpening), double cut (two sets crossing — faster removal on harder metals), rasp cut (individual raised teeth — wood, soft materials) |
Filing methods: cross filing (removing metal), straight filing, draw filing (fine finish).
Hacksaw
- Frame (fixed or adjustable) holding a blade tensioned with teeth pointing forward (cutting on the forward stroke).
- Blade pitch (teeth per 25 mm): coarser blades for soft and thick materials, finer blades for hard and thin materials — commonly about 14 TPI for soft metals/thick sections, 18 TPI for general work, 24 TPI for steel tubes and angles, 32 TPI for thin sheets and tubes (at least two to three teeth should be in contact with the work).
Chisels (cold chisels)
Flat chisel (cutting and chipping flat surfaces), cross-cut chisel (narrow grooves, keyways), diamond point chisel (V-grooves, sharp corners), round-nose chisel (oil grooves, round grooves). Cutting angle commonly about 60° for mild steel.
Hammers
- Ball peen hammer — most common in fitting (riveting, chipping, punching).
- Cross peen and straight peen hammers — spreading metal, sheet work.
- Claw hammer — carpentry (driving and pulling nails).
- Sledge hammer — heavy blows (smithy, breaking).
- Soft-faced hammers/mallets (rubber, copper, wood) — avoid marking surfaces.
Marking and measuring tools
- Steel rule, try square (checking right angles), combination set (square head, protractor, centre head), scriber (marking lines on metal), dividers and trammels (arcs and circles), odd-leg (jenny) calliper (lines parallel to edges), surface plate and surface gauge (scribing block) (marking heights), angle plate.
- Punches: centre punch (locating drilling centres — about 90° point), dot/prick punch (light marks — about 60°), pin punch (driving out pins), letter and number punches.
- Callipers: outside, inside and spring callipers (transfer measurements).
- Feeler gauges, thread pitch gauges, radius gauges.
Other hand tools
- Spanners/wrenches: open-end, ring, combination, box (socket), adjustable spanner, Allen (hex) keys, torque wrench.
- Pliers: combination, long-nose, cutting pliers, circlip pliers; screwdrivers (flat, Phillips).
- Taps and dies for cutting threads:
- Taps — internal threads (taper tap to start, intermediate (second) tap, plug (bottoming) tap to finish) used with a tap wrench; a hole of the correct tap drill size is drilled first.
- Dies — external threads on rods/pipes, held in a die stock.
- Drills: twist drills (usually with a 118° point angle for general work), bench/pillar drilling machines, portable electric drills; countersink and counterbore tools; reamers (finish holes to accurate size and smoothness).
Precision measuring instruments
FormulaVernier calliper
Common vernier callipers read to 0.02 mm (e.g. 50 vernier divisions = 49 mm).
Reading = main scale reading + (coinciding vernier division × least count) (± zero error correction)
FormulaMicrometer (screw gauge)
Common metric micrometers: pitch 0.5 mm, 50 thimble divisions → 0.01 mm.
Reading = sleeve (main scale) reading + (thimble division × least count)
Other instruments: vernier height gauge, vernier depth gauge, dial indicators, bevel protractors, slip gauges.