TL 12 Mechanical Tool Set

[SpaceBadger]

I would like to expand some on what should be included in the TL 12 version of the various Mechanical/Electronic/Metalworking tool sets, plus TL 12 Ship's Engineer equipment. I'm going to divide this into four threads, starting off w some of my own ideas, and hoping to get more suggestions from y'all. This thread is for:

TL 12 Mechanical Tool Set

First, here is the description for the Mechanical Tool Set from The Traveller Book (p.109): TL 5 - 20kg - Cr1000. Includes basic tools necessary to repair and alter mechanical devices, including vehicles and guns. Calls for Mechanical skill in order to be used properly. Boxed set.

I want to try thinking of different functions of tools that would be in this set today, and then extrapolate to how these functions might be done differently w better tech.

Screwdrivers - I don't know if you can get away from swapping tips for all of the different types of fasteners you'll encounter: flat, phillips, various stars and hexes, etc. Having the tip of the tool actually morph to match the fastener seems to me beyond TL 12. I'd hope that the shaft of the thing would be very strong and flexible and powered to get into odd nooks and crannies that are hard to reach. Dunno if light and vision should be included in the tool; maybe better to have a separate generic thing for seeing into tight spots (kinda like medical laparoscopy).

Wrenches - These should come in some basic sizes - tiny, small, medium, large, very large, ginormous - and automatically adjust to fit all sizes and shapes within that size range, so you don't need different tools for inches, metric, Vilani, Aslan, etc. Socket equivalents should be flexible and powered to get into those hard to reach places. Extra leverage can be provided with a telescoping rod; materials for rod and wrenches should be strong enough that you can't break them with human physical strength.

Hammers (no, do not just use a handy wrench!) - These should cover a few different mass/size combinations, plus something like a rubber mallet. Small enough gravitics would allow some tricks with apparent mass, but that is probably beyond TL 12. Any ideas on improving these, other than better materials that won't shoot off chips when you hit something?

Pliers - Some of the function of pliers may go to our improved wrenches, but we probably still need a basic plier, slip-joint, needlenose, vice-grip, various clippers - I'm just not sure how to improve them any. Ideas?

Clamps, Files, Saws, Punches - Ideas for improvement by TL 12? Stronger, better materials - what else?

Measurement - Probably have some gadget that can scan whatever you are working on and convert it to CAD/CAM components in your hand-computer, so that you can pull out whatever measurements you need. Still some use for basic measuring tape or ruler, and various calipers for inside/outside measurements, angles, etc. Maybe something like a stud-finder that can give you a picture of cables, pipes, conduits inside walls, or would that require magi-tech above TL 12?

Drills and Lathes - Again, improved materials. Other ideas?

Chemicals - I think this could be a big area for improvement, as high-tech materials allow some temporary fixes by glues and epoxy welds to actually be permanent repairs - or at least, until the proper solvent is applied to dissolve your fix and let you put on a new part at your next vehicle maintenance in port. Probably also some improved lubes, such as super-powered WD-40 that will even work in vacuum to release vac-welded parts.

Small-part Fabricator that could create minor screws, bolts, nuts, widgets as needed from scrap metal and a file description?

 

[atpollard]

One of the most basic functions for mechanical repairs includes:

Holding and Manipulating
Currently performed by wrenches and screwdrivers and pliers.
What about magnetic grippers that 'grab' the object without relying on pressure?
So the Magnetic Screwdriver has a clay-like tip that molds into and over the bolt or screw (any shape) and holds tight until you press the release button.
The Magnetic Wrench functions the same way, but has a long handle for leverage.
The Magnetic Clamp will fix itself to a surface and grab on to another surface holding any object secure in any position. It includes long telescoping segments with universal joints to adjust the position of the grippers to suit the task.

Putting it all together, the MagDriver removes the restraining screws from the access cover and the long articulated MagWrench reaches around the drive housing to grab and twist the filter assemblies free from their sockets. One end of the MagClamp is secured to the wall and the telescoping segments adjusted so the second plate is at the optimal location to function as a temporary workbench. Then the Filter Assembly is attached to the MagClamp to hold it at the perfect angle and height for hands-free work. The MagDriver makes quick work of disassembly, unphased by the unusual double-star bolt heads and non-Imperial screw sizes. There is the problem, the restraining collar is cracked and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, we don't have a spare ... (to be continued).

 

[SpaceBadger]

One of the most basic functions for mechanical repairs includes:

Holding and Manipulating
Currently performed by wrenches and screwdrivers and pliers.
What about magnetic grippers that 'grab' the object without relying on pressure?
So the Magnetic Screwdriver has a clay-like tip that molds into and over the bolt or screw (any shape) and holds tight until you press the release button.
The Magnetic Wrench functions the same way, but has a long handle for leverage.
The Magnetic Clamp will fix itself to a surface and grab on to another surface holding any object secure in any position. It includes long telescoping segments with universal joints to adjust the position of the grippers to suit the task.

Putting it all together, the MagDriver removes the restraining screws from the access cover and the long articulated MagWrench reaches around the drive housing to grab and twist the filter assemblies free from their sockets. One end of the MagClamp is secured to the wall and the telescoping segments adjusted so the second plate is at the optimal location to function as a temporary workbench. Then the Filter Assembly is attached to the MagClamp to hold it at the perfect angle and height for hands-free work. The MagDriver makes quick work of disassembly, unphased by the unusual double-star bolt heads and non-Imperial screw sizes. There is the problem, the restraining color is cracked and needs to be replaced. Unfortunately, we don't have a spare ... (to be continued).

I like these, as they address the problem of switching out screwdriver tips and reduce the number of wrenches from the six I had down to just one (although you probably need two or three in practice, for use on multiple parts at the same time).

Do you think "magnetic" would be a strong enough grip for turning stuck bolts etc? That was my concern about positing a universal screwdriver tip; if it were malleable enough to reshape itself as needed, would it be strong enough for breaking loose stuck screws?

I don't claim to understand the exact physics, but I know I have broken more wrenches and sockets than I want to remember by adding too much leverage and exerting too much oomph in efforts to free a stuck bolt. Would the magnetic grip be strong enough to hold that bolt, even if we have already stated that the tools themselves are strong enough not to break?

 

[atpollard]

Cutting and Welding
Another basic mechanical repair function involves cutting things apart and sticking things together. Plasma Cutters (micro and macro sized) make short work of any job that traditionally required a saw or drill. Multi-spectral Tunable Laser welders allow precise control of depth and temperature to fuse a wide variety of materials together. With the computerized sensor options, it can even be programmed to fuse dissimilar materials together.
For joining materials that cannot be fused, there is either ChemWeld or EpoxyBond (caution, use only as directed and carefully follow all manufacturer guidelines. Not for use on Superdense or Bonded Superdense).

Grabing the PlazCutter, you quickly clean the edge of the restraining collar at the crack and the MST Laser quickly fuses the pieces back together. You've done this before and know to spray the piece with the MBrittle chemical hardener. That will hold until you can get a replacement ... (to be continued).

 

[atpollard]

I like these, as they address the problem of switching out screwdriver tips and reduce the number of wrenches from the six I had down to just one (although you probably need two or three in practice, for use on multiple parts at the same time).

Do you think "magnetic" would be a strong enough grip for turning stuck bolts etc? That was my concern about positing a universal screwdriver tip; if it were malleable enough to reshape itself as needed, would it be strong enough for breaking loose stuck screws?

I don't claim to understand the exact physics, but I know I have broken more wrenches and sockets than I want to remember by adding too much leverage and exerting too much oomph in efforts to free a stuck bolt. Would the magnetic grip be strong enough to hold that bolt, even if we have already stated that the tools themselves are strong enough not to break?

Good question.
If we assume current super-magnet gripping power, then it should be strong enough to hold it tighter than any human grip, so let's assume that by TL 12 they have magnets. Strong as needed.

Now for the tip.
What if the clay tip were naturally soft, like a plastic foam, with metal embedded in it. Perhaps the super magnet that grips the screw could hold the metal sand in place, temporarily fusing the driver, head and screw into one piece. In this case, breaking the head results in a simple slipping off the bolt. Turn the magnet off and the metal sand head returns to its soft natural shape, press the tip over the bolt, turn on the magnet and try again.

 

[SpaceBadger]

Good question.
If we assume current super-magnet gripping power, then it should be strong enough to hold it tighter than any human grip, so let's assume that by TL 12 they have magnets. Strong as needed.

Now for the tip.
What if the clay tip were naturally soft, like a plastic foam, with metal embedded in it. Perhaps the super magnet that grips the screw could hold the metal sand in place, temporarily fusing the driver, head and screw into one piece. In this case, breaking the head results in a simple slipping off the bolt. Turn the magnet off and the metal sand head returns to its soft natural shape, press the tip over the bolt, turn on the magnet and try again.

Good enough for me! Thanks!!!

 

[atpollard]

Fabricating New Parts
So, another basic mechanical function is making new parts by removing material from a block of metal, or adding material to an existing piece. For fabricating an entire simple part from nothing, I suspect that a Dot Matrix Fabricator that will print a simple part one thin layer at a time will be a practical approach. On the other hand, what if only a tiny piece is missing from a large object? Universal Putty could be used to mold an oversized lump over the missing piece and allow 1 hour for it to bond and fully harden.

Pulling the second filter assembly went as easily as the first, but disassembly revealed a completely different set of problems. The restraining collar had completely disintegrated and the internal turbine had enough play to hit the casing. Fortunately the Superdense turbine blades were fine, but the same could not be said for the external casing. There was a 5 x 7 cm hole in the casing. The hole is too big to patch with Universal Putty. Printing another complete casing would take almost a full day and use up virtually all of your stock of PrintableMetal. Fortunately, you know a trick. Using the TriD Scanner you create a 3D model of the hole, invert it, and print just the piece to fill the hole. Of course the ceramic casing can't be fused, but you can use the PlasTorch to cut away both the edge of the hole and the edge of the patch, leaving just a 2mm gap ... the perfect size to fill with Universal Putty. Making sure to coat both surfaces, you press the patch into the hole and leave lots of putty squeezing out past the edges. It is always a stronger patch of you overfill and cut away the excess than if you need to patch over a patch. The Universal Gripper is great for holding the piece while the putty hardens. Cutting away most of the excess with the PlazCutter is fast and easy, but that restraining collar and turbine are not forgiving of variations in the interior of the casing, so the job of removing the final layers and polishing the inner surface falls to NuclearSander (no it is not fusion powered, it projects a beam that attacks molecular bonds and 'sands' a surface to sub-nanometer tolerances.) While you were repairing the casing, the printer was fabricating a new restraining collar (at ten times what the part would have cost at a starport), so you are ready to put it all back together.

After a quick diagnostic check, everything is working, passengers are once again enjoying the zero-G jacuzzi, the captain is happy, so that makes the chief engineer happy which keeps your life happy. It feels like beer-thirty and tonight is Mojito Night.
END.

 

[SpaceBadger]

I thought of another hammer variation for use in zero-G, esp on the outside of the ship. Solenoid hammer, with magnetic grip to hold it in place so it doesn't fly away from recoil effect. Place it exactly where you want it, engage the magnetic grip to hold it there, set how hard of an impact you want, set it for one tap or multiple, engage solenoid. Call it a MagHammer in keeping w other names that atpollard invented.

 

[aramis]

Lubrication Application Tools.
your basic grease gun, can of WD40, and spray graphite.

 

[McPerth]

Lubrication Application Tools.
your basic grease gun, can of WD40, and spray graphite.

How will this spray graphite (or any spray for what's worth) work in zero G? Will they leave floating particles (with its explosión risk if in atmosphere)?

And how will vacuum affect spray performaces?

I sincerely don't know.

 

[SpaceBadger]

How will this spray graphite (or any spray for what's worth) work in zero G? Will they leave floating particles (with its explosión risk if in atmosphere)?

And how will vacuum affect spray performaces?

I sincerely don't know.

I don't know, either, but for starters I would think that instead of sprays of small particles of graphite or droplets of liquids, in zero-G you'd want to squeeze out gels w your active ingredients suspended in a neutral base so they don't get mixed into your atmo (or off into vacuum).

 

[CosmicGamer]

Probably one of my most common statements - if we know exactly how something works it is today's tech and no longer future tech.

I actual prefer what some call "handwaving" in my sci fi. Without it, the setting isn't as futuristic to me.

 

[Limburger59]

The "toolbox" at TL 12 is a small robot. You don't get the toolbox, you call it and it comes over to where you are working. Programmed with the mechanical drawings of every system on the ship, it will display high res expansions of the system and it will already know what size socket or screwdriver tip is required. In some cases you can even ask the toolbox to remove the access panel for you.

 

[aramis]

How will this spray graphite (or any spray for what's worth) work in zero G? Will they leave floating particles (with its explosión risk if in atmosphere)?

And how will vacuum affect spray performaces?

I sincerely don't know.

The graphite isn't for vacuum use. it's for use in atmosphere for limited applications. Standard graphite lubricant is a squeeze-tube, usually for lubricating locks.

Lock de-icer is the same size tube, filled with alcohol, ammonia, or both. (In Fairbanks, alcohol sometimes freezes. In Barrow, often freezes.)

A major part of mechanical maintenance is lubrication.

 

[aramis]

The "toolbox" at TL 12 is a small robot. You don't get the toolbox, you call it and it comes over to where you are working. Programmed with the mechanical drawings of every system on the ship, it will display high res expansions of the system and it will already know what size socket or screwdriver tip is required. In some cases you can even ask the toolbox to remove the access panel for you.

Too specialized, and given the prices in CT Bk8, too expensive to be the toolkit.

 

[SanDragon]

The graphite isn't for vacuum use. it's for use in atmosphere for limited applications. Standard graphite lubricant is a squeeze-tube, usually for lubricating locks.

Lock de-icer is the same size tube, filled with alcohol, ammonia, or both. (In Fairbanks, alcohol sometimes freezes. In Barrow, often freezes.)

A major part of mechanical maintenance is lubrication.

Yes! Good. Thank you!

I was going to say that throwing lube around was something best done dirtside, or at least with the gravity on, during your week of unloading passengers and cargo and finding new prospects.

Controlling where the lube went and wiping off/up any excess is part of the weekly.

 

[SpaceBadger]

Probably one of my most common statements - if we know exactly how something works it is today's tech and no longer future tech.

I actual prefer what some call "handwaving" in my sci fi. Without it, the setting isn't as futuristic to me.

I agree about a certain amount of handwaving, but I guess for me the future tech needs to hit a certain sweet spot of seeming possible by what we know now, even if we don't currently know how to do it or don't have good enough materials to do it.

I don't really like the tech to be sufficiently advanced that it seems like magic. Except for a few deliberately chosen areas (FTL travel, gravitics), too much impossible stuff takes it too far into the realm of sci-fantasy.

 

[CosmicGamer]

I agree about a certain amount of handwaving, but I guess for me the future tech needs to hit a certain sweet spot of seeming possible by what we know now, even if we don't currently know how to do it or don't have good enough materials to do it.

I don't really like the tech to be sufficiently advanced that it seems like magic. Except for a few deliberately chosen areas (FTL travel, gravitics), too much impossible stuff takes it too far into the realm of sci-fantasy.

Velcro. I can imagine what a conversation before it was invented would be like.

With my limited knowledge of science, something like this would be possible without being "That's impossible":

"Hand me the RAY gun, I need to get this access panel off". Shoot the ray gun at the access panel and it comes off.

One of the many possibilities: some chemical compound between two materials strongly bonds them, think epoxy, but some specific form of energy changes the composition of the bonding material, like xray, gamma, or whatever - I'm no scientist, in this case the non specific energy starts with the letter Y.

Or maybe the attaching hardware is made of a advanced material which when chemical Y is applied the hardware it transforms into a new substance which is either soft or brittle and the panel can just be pried away now. (current concept - instantly rusting a metal to weaken it)

In my games I don't pre plan the universe with this much detail. Sometimes I come up with futuristic ideas on the fly. I also allow the players to come up with their own ideas when their engineer reaches into their toolbox. It's about all of us having fun with our imagination.

EDIT: the RA in RAY stands for Rapid Access. The Y is for the energy or chemical or whatever that the RAY gun uses to open an access panel.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

For joining materials that cannot be fused, there is either ChemWeld or EpoxyBond (caution, use only as directed and carefully follow all manufacturer guidelines. Not for use on Superdense or Bonded Superdense).

Of course, you'll need something to dissolve epoxies and such. Better be careful storing this stuff......

In this case, breaking the head results in a simple slipping off the bolt. Turn the magnet off and the metal sand head returns to its soft natural shape, press the tip over the bolt, turn on the magnet and try again.

Interesting idea. I would use this as one of my "desk engineer: good idea, drive engineer: bad idea" bits. This is one of the reasons you can often locate the engineer by following the blue streak*. Some folks will think it's great; others, not so much. (May depend on the brand, too.)

Some knucklehead thought it would be a great idea to save money across the line by replacing every screwdriver in every toolbox with one of these stupid, confounded, [censored], [censored], [censored] magnetic sand POSs. Now it takes three times as long as it used to (when we would just grab the right [censored] driver to start with).

I guess for me the future tech needs to hit a certain sweet spot of seeming possible by what we know now,

It helps keep the suspenders** stretchy for when you really need to pull on them later (with jump drives or some incredible tech).

Don't forget that your socket set/wrenches are going to have to have a built-in torque wrench capability. You don't think those screws that hold the airlock access controls panel on can just be tightened to whatever tightness you think is fine, do you?

* "blue streak" is the cloud left in the air by the passionate and inventive string of cursing the engineer is uttering from underneath the drive. This "blue streak" can be toxic when it occurs in a closed system like a vacc suit.

** "suspenders of disbelief" are an important item of wear when role-playing, especially sci-fi games.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

It's about all of us having fun with our imagination.

He's just having that fun now!