So many fun and interesting projects to make this season! Make sure you have the right tools to get the job done right! We’ve put together a gift guide of some of our favorite tools perfect for stocking stuffers or a great gift for your own tool box!
Available At Adafruit
Professional Non-Slip Magnetic Project Mat– Repairs can be tough. You don’t need missing screws making it worse. iFixit designed this mat to make repairs easier. You won’t lose screws and won’t forget which screws go where.
Magnetized to hold tight onto small screws.
Dry erase surface lets you keep notes and stops mistakes.
Reduces reassembly time by up to 40% while preventing errors.
New! The Pro version of this mat has a better quality magnet for a strong hold and a foam non-slip padding
Magnetic surface is safe for hard drives, and other modern electronics.
Anyone who has done electronics repair knows how irritating lost screws can be—if you’re lucky, you’ll end up with a slightly lighter laptop. If you’re unlucky, your $1,000 laptop will be brought to its knees by a $0.05 clip hiding under a table leg. Designed by fixers, for fixers, the 8”x10” Magnetic Project Mat solves this repair problem. Spacious and secure, the mat will catch screws as you pull them out of a device and hold them there. (read more)
Toggle Clamp – Small Flip-down Style – *Ka-thunk* Pin down that PCB with our Toggle Clamp, a sturdy and reliable way to quickly press and release with precision! A pogo-pin bed is a great way to connect and test boards without any soldering, but you have to somehow get that PCB aligned right and evenly pressed down on each pogo. After much experimenting, we settled on this toggle clamp and we use it all the time in our testing processes.
This beauty is strong enough to grip onto a PCB, but the rounded rubber tip ensures it won’t mar or damage any circuits. You’ll need to bolt it securely, then attach the rubber nub with the included hex nuts. The height of the nub can be adjusted, as can the location along the clamp. (read more)
Mitutoyo – Absolute Digimatic Digital Calipers, 6 in. – 500-196-20 – The most useful tool we’ve ever laid our hands on. We thought we’d use them just for electronics but then we got our hands on these calipers and had so much fun we started measuring everything.
They’re indestructible – which is good because we don’t know what we’d do without them – and ultra precise which is super helpful when measuring components or when trying to decide what diameter blueberry you prefer the most.
They have a capacitive sensor instead of a rack and pinion, so they never go out of alignment even if, say, you accidentally drop them (a few times). One button converts the measurement from millimeters to inches which is perfect for measuring components.
We’ve used the same pair multiple times daily for 5 years and never replaced the battery. They are very much treasured and we’re very pleased to offer them in the store as The Best Calipers On Earth. (read more)
Ladyada’s Electronics Toolkit: Starting out on your electronics adventure?
Want to wield the mighty soldering iron?
Tired of saying “I’d totally get into electronics if I only knew what tools to get…”?
Working with substandard equipment is a terrible way to learn electronics: a lot of frustration with too little success. The right tool set will keep you progressing without the stressing.
This toolbox contains carefully selected hand tools that will last you for many many years. (Read more)
38 Piece Screwdriver Set – Look, over there at that thing! Take it apart! You can now attack just about every kind of box or enclosure that needs undoing with this 38-bit screwdriver set. This set is fine quality and excels at disassembling games, phones, cameras, and other small portable electronic goodies.
What drew us to this tool box is its small compact size, the big grippy rubber handle (not a thin or slippery metal grip), the magnetic bit holder (which is not hollow so you don’t have to get annoyed when bits fall through into the handle, tough CR-V alloy steel bits, the very nice box to hold it all and of course the fine selection of bits! Each bit is also stamped with the name/size. Also comes with a 60mm extension so you can get into nooks & crannies. (read more)
Sugru – Black and White Pack – Sugru! Soft-touch silicone rubber that molds and sets permanently. Sticks to aluminum, steel, ceramics, glass, wood and some fabrics + plastics! sugru is the incredible new air-curing rubber for hackers, makers, gadget lovers & anyone else who wants to make things or make their stuff work better. Self-adhesive to most other materials, and flexible when cured, sugru is a versatile tool for hackers and makers – Repair and strengthen damaged cables and housing, mount components where you want them, strengthen attachments and protect against vibration, and a hundred other uses we’re sure youʼll find for it. This is great for prototyping. Please read all of the following before purchasing… (read more)
Extech EX330 12-function autoranging multimeter – EX330 – If you’re looking for one of the best multimeters, we’re proud to now offer our personal favorite! The Extech EX330 “12 Function Mini MultiMeter + Non-Contact Voltage Detector. Autoranging DMM with NCV detector and Temperature function”. This product is the winner of EEVBlog Multimeter Shootout (Extech press release) & Dave’s site here and on top of that, its been our daily-use multimeter for over 3 years. It’s compact, has auto-off, tons of features and a temperature probe for checking thermal properties, soldering iron calibration and perhaps even a DIY reflow control
Compact auto-ranging multimeter features extra large 4000 count display and built-in non-contact AC voltage detector. Advanced function include Frequency (nice for checking UART baud rates, crystal oscillators), Duty Cycle, Capacitance and Temperature (is your power supply overheating?), Diode test and continuity beeper. Rubber holster protects meter. UL listed Cat III – 600V. Includes test leads, Type K temperature probe, two AA batteries and tilt stand. UL listed. Large display and a host of features. (read more)
Aluminum USB Microscope with Precision Stand – As electronics get smaller and smaller, you’ll need a hand examining PCBs and this little USB microscope is the perfect tool. Its smaller and lighter than a large optical microscope but packs quite a bit of power in its little body. There’s a high quality 640×480 camera sensor inside and an optical magnifier that can adjust from 20x (for basic PCB inspection) to 200x (for detailed inspection). Eight mini white LEDs are angled right onto whatever you’re examining so you get enough lighting to see, and are smoothly adjustable via a dial on the side.
If you plug this into any computer, it just shows up as a standard USB camera so you can use any webcam software (there’s some included software for Windows – for Mac we suggest just using QuickTime Player which comes with all Macs). (read more)
We’re excited for the Holiday Season here at Adafruit, and we can’t wait to share that excitement with you! Stay tuned into the blog where you will find new, handpicked gift guides five days a week from November 9th through December 24th, 2015 alongside holiday themed tutorials and builds!
Free Deals
Adafruit offers exciting deals and free items when you shop with us. As of October 13th, 2015 we are currently offering:
- Adafruit Perma-Proto Half-sized Breadboard PCB – Single for order $99 or more
- Adafruit Trinket – Mini Microcontroller – 5V Logic for orders $149 or more
- Adafruit Pro Trinket – 5V 16MHz for order $249 or more
Adafruit Holiday Deadlines 2015
Here are your 2015 shipping deadlines for ordering from Adafruit. Please review our shipping section if you have specific questions on how and where we ship worldwide for this holiday season.
The Adafruit Shipping Department works hard to get your orders out as quickly as we can, but once they’re in the hands of our carriers they’re out of our control.
Carriers have been struggling to keep up with the sharp rise in online orders. UPS, FedEX, and USPS all experienced delivery delays over the last few years.
So all the Adafruit Shippers say: Please be sure you get your gifts early! Order as soon as you can! Once you place your order we’ll ship like the wind!
UPS ground (USA orders): Place orders by Friday 11am ET – December 11, 2015 – There is no guarantee that UPS Ground packages will arrive by December 24.
UPS 3-day (USA orders): Place orders by Thursday 11am ET – December 17, 2015 – Arrive by 12/24/2015.
UPS 2-day (USA orders): Place orders by Friday 11am ET – December 18, 2015 – Arrive by 12/24/2015.
UPS overnight (USA orders): Place orders by Monday 11am ET – December 21, 2015 – Arrive by 12/24/2015.
Please note: We do not offer Saturday or Sunday service for UPS or USPS.
Friday, Dec. 25, 2015, Christmas, no UPS pickup or delivery service.
Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, New Year’s Day, no UPS pickup or delivery service.
United States Postal Service, First Class and Priority (USA orders): Place orders by Friday– December 11, 2014 – Arrive by 12/24/2015 or sooner.
USPS First class mail international (International orders)): Place orders by Friday – November 20, 2015. Can take up to 30 days or more with worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/25/2015 or sooner, but not a trackable service and cannot be guaranteed to arrive by 12/24/2015.
USPS Express mail international(International orders): Place orders by Friday – December 5, 2015. Can take up to 15 days or more with worldwide delays and customs. Should arrive by 12/24/2014 or sooner.
Gift Certificates are always available at any time.
When in doubt contact us!