Aircraft Maintenance Tools

Hammers

• Soft head hammers are used to seat or position work for machining, strike surfaces without damaging them, and strike full impact blows without danger from rebound.
• Materials used with soft head hammers include brass, copper, aluminum, wood, rubber, and rawhide.
• Copper face rawhide hammers are used in maintenance practices.

Slide Hammers

• Slide hammers are used with pullers to shock components apart.
• They are common in aircraft maintenance and range in weight from a few grams to several kilograms.

Hammer Safety

• Ensure that the head is secure and the wedge is in place before using a hammer.
• Check the head for splits or burrs, which could allow fragments to fly.
• Check that there are no splits in the handle.
• Use a clean, dry cloth to wipe your hands and the handle of the hammer.
• Remove any oil, grease, or dampness, which can cause the handle to slip from your hand or the striking face to slip from the work.

Punches

• Punches are hand tools that you hit with a hammer.
• Lockwire pliers have a special twister built into the handle that quickly and efficiently twists lockwire.

Lockwire Pliers

• Lockwire pliers are used to lockwire components.
• Cut the length of wire needed and insert it into whatever is being safetied.
• Cross the wire close to the head of the object being safetied and grip the ends of wire with the flat serrated jaws.

Needle Nose Pliers

• Needle nose pliers are used in aviation maintenance for electrical and electronic work.
• They are typically small enough to grip and hold small components and wires.
• Some needle nose pliers have long, thin jaws that are bent at a right angle to the handle.

Circlip Pliers

• Circlip pliers are used for fitting and removing circlips in assembly and maintenance work.

Punch Safety

• Safe use of punches depends particularly on hitting them squarely and keeping their heads free of burrs that lead to mushrooming.

Mushrooming

• After a punch shank has been continuously hammered, the shank end typically deforms to the shape of a mushroom.
• The mushroom shape should be removed and returned to its original crowned shape using a bench grinder.

Prick Punches

• Prick punches are small, sharp-pointed punches used to transfer dimensions and locations onto sheet metal for drilling.
• To mark sheet metal work, place the prick punch in the desired position and then tap the head of the punch with a small hammer.

Files

• Files can provide either a roughing process to alter the size of a part by removing a considerable amount of material or a finishing process to smooth a surface without removing much material.
• Flat or curved surfaces may be produced by varying the direction of the cutting motion.

File Characteristics

• The rate of cutting and the finish given to the work are mainly determined by the depth and spacing of the file’s cutting teeth.
• There are different types of cuts, including rough, middle, bastard, second cut, smooth, and dead smooth.

Cutting Tools

• Aviation snips are useful in aircraft maintenance work for cutting sheet metal to its rough shape and size.
• Diagonal cutting pliers (or side cutters) are used for shearing off wires in confined spaces and cutting off wires close to electrical terminals.