Alignment Tools and Trimmers
Special Purpose Tools
Alignment tools and trimmers are used to adjust ferrite cores, coils and trimmer potentiometers on populated circuit boards. Blade and shaft are made of ceramic or plastic so that neither the tool nor the operator's hand detunes the inductance or capacitance of the circuit; a steel screwdriver falsifies the alignment and makes the measurement worthless. Common blade widths run from 0.9 to 3 mm with a blade length of 32 mm, complemented by hex and cross-slot profiles for trimmer heads. The category holds 30 articles from Bernstein, C.K, Bahco and Piergiacomi.
| Blade profile | Dimension | Material | Application |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slotted | 0.9 to 3 mm, blade length 32 mm | Ceramic | Ferrite and coil cores |
| Hex | 1.95 and 2.45 mm | Ceramic | Trimmer potentiometers with hex socket |
| Cross-slot | PH000 to PH0 | Ceramic | Trimmer heads with cross recess |
| Double-ended slotted | 0.3 x 2.5 to 0.8 x 2.0 mm | Acetal resin | Alignment on assemblies, overall length 195 to 220 mm |
| Scraping tip | AWG 18 to AWG 24 | Metal edge, insulated handle | Removing enamel from magnet wire before soldering |
Typical applications: Alignment of IF filters, resonant circuits and coils in RF engineering; setting trimmer potentiometers on populated boards; calibration and service on test and measuring instruments; fine alignment in radio and antenna technology; stripping enamel from winding wire before soldering; repair and rework benches inside the EPA where no metal tool may touch the circuit.
