What was the problem? What tool did you use? How did it change things? Do you still use that tool and in the same manner?
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Wellā¦Iād say my 3D printer but thatās really just a specialized CNC so Iāll dig a little deeper 
A silly little $9 āembossingā tool I picked up on a whim at a craft store. I got it because I thought my wife would have fun with embossing powder as I had remembered being amazed by it as a kidā¦but we just dusted it over wet ink and held it over a 100w light bulb to make it emboss.
The little $9 tool is basically a small lower temp heat gun with low air flow. But I use it all the time for way more things than it was ever intended for.
I shaped a nozzle for it out of aluminum foil and used it for hot air soldering surface mount circuit boards.
Itās amazing for heat shrink tubing - heats up almost instantly, doesnāt get things too hot, and doesnāt leave any soot like a lighter can.
We hot glued crayons to pumpkins and used it to melt them down the sides as an art project - it didnāt melt the glue but did melt the crayons making it perfect:
It does however soften hot glueā¦so Iāve also used it to help remove hot glue and keep it softer longer when gluing bigger projects.
Small paint stripping tasks it can sometimes do but that starts to push itās limits since itās not THAT hot. Thatās when the ārealā hot air gun comes out of itās dusty storage box 
Itās not a tool that really āchanged everythingā but it is one that I keep finding new uses for and really didnāt expect it to have ANY practical uses when I bought it so it gets used way more frequently than I ever expected it to.
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For me Iād say my āFormatkreissƤgeā (so a large table saw with a sled). I can finally do cuts with the precision I want and itās got a shaper included and I can change the spindle to use it as a router table as well.
I even sold my mitre saw because it didnāt see any use any more.
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This response is still cheating, but itās the truth for me, and that tool is CAD software. The ability to get from an idea in your head to something you can visualize without actually making anything physical feels like magic. That combined with a 3D printer and/or a CNC opens up a whole new world. CAD software without those is still useful, but using more traditional tools greatly limits the designs that are practical to make.
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At work, they had a great electronics soldering/rework station. I designed a PCB with components wat too small for my skills and I asked the techs there for help. They showed me how to use the microscope style magnifying glasses and I was amazed. I really though my hands were going to be the weakest link. But once I could see the tip of the soldering iron and the workpiece with no latency at high magnification, I had incredible dexterity.
On the other side of the spectrum, I wanted a recip saw for a long time. But every time I had a job that could use it, I found another way to get it done. Finally, I just bought one and it has made a bunch of things easier. Same with an angle grinder. Jack of all trades. Master of none.
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What: ChatGPT, and similar LLMs.
How: An example meta chat about how others and myself use ChatGPT.
Usage in Past-Now-Future: Originally used ChatGPT just for Search, or as alternative to digging around stackoverflow.
But then usage evolved to using as an assistant, increasingly delegating tasks as my understanding of capabilities and accuracy trust increased via Agents/MCPs/etcā¦ Lately, usage evolved to include using as a coach to optimize how myself and the LLM maximize interaction style and outcomes.
Diminished objective critical thinking is a risk with these tools. So, am trying to intentionally tune our interactions to promote maintaining and growing that skill.
Guessing next steps are that I end up being subjugated without realizingā¦ Similar to how many people are addicted to their phones, unknowingly hooked on the dopamine hits that big tech social/digital media have intentionally tricked/duped us into excessively using, e.g. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.
Feeling a bit reluctant and vulnerable sharing this chatā¦ But, hopefully something here helps people leverage their time better. Would appreciate knowing how I can use tools better too, cheers!
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I can only pick one? Ill go with the impact driver that came in the drill set. Why would i need one of those when a drill can do both drilling and driving? Things we dont know until we use themā¦ I now have 3 of them. The bit swaps are so fast and the impact many times saves the head or breaks stuff loose better than a plain drill would.
If i had to choose a second, Iād go with the dewalt electric screwdriver my FIL gave for christmas one year. It has a tilt sensor to control rotation speedā¦ you press a button and twist the direction you want it to turn and it just works. It is just super fun to use and play with. Best gift.
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Does anyone have links for a decent but inexpensive rework station and microscope style magnifying glass. They are on my wish list but donāt know the junk from the good enough or even what to look for.
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For me I would say my $10 digital calipers that I bought at harbor freight. Itās amazing how many times I reach for them.
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For me I would have to say multimeter.
So handy for so many things.
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I scratched my head over this one last night and came up with nothing. Look at all of you go! For ice carving my Makita pistol grip sander with velcro backed sanding pad makes the difference between an āice carvingā and a āprofessional ice carvingā. It may not have changed the way I approach carving but it certainly took my game up immesureably.
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I unfortunately donāt have a recommendation. I have the vevor microscope doug joseph found for a typo price of $15 a while ago. But it costs like $200 normally. I havenāt used it for SMD soldering yet (I havenāt had any projects). Iām confident it will work for me. But I canāt recommend it until I have. The ones we had at work are professional quality and probably cost way too much.
Other things that really help are fine solder tips, flux, solder wick, fine solder (0.5mm). I have a cheap rework station with hot air and adjustable temp iron. I also have a pinecil and I think it is as good as any iron.
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Ooooh! I donāt think it counts as a tool but those heat shrink solder seals literally changed my life!
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Vacuum sealer. I seal fresh food to cook for later, cooked food for leftovers. I vacuum seal rats to feed to my snakes later. I seal my emergency rain gear to store in my tool roll on my motorcycle. I seal filaments with dessicant to keep it dry. I could probaby think of a few more uses to it too.
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Like someone else said, āwe only get to pick one?ā Iām not sure I can sort out just one, but I might be able to give a short list of tools that I found myself using way more than I thought I would. And I know that the LowRider CNC is disqualified from the list, but it certainly would top the list for me. But besides that, digital calipersā¦ and Iām astounded how often I use the high power heat gun that I bought. Likeā¦ All. The. Time. Also it is a surprise to me how often I use the Vevor belt sander, and a surprise how often I have used the Kobalt cordless drill. (Iāve also been surprised with how good the batteries are on cordless tools lately.) One other thing that Iāve used a lot and really enjoyed is my Omnifixo set that helps with holding things in place for soldering work (and other tasks).
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Nope!
When youāve lived long enough itās easy to see a couple of tools that āchanged everythingā.
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Somewhere in the 1960ās I bought a Mutoh MH-1 belt-pulley Drafting āMachineā (which cost a monthās salary). It was so much more advanced than the old tee square, that I instantly more than doubled my output. I still have it, use it occasionally and it sits waiting for a full restoration job āwhen I have timeā.
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Next was the Apple Mac in 1984, but more than that the big change was learning to touch type a couple of years later. That single skill is possibly the greatest tool I possess even today. It truly makes the computer just an extension of a thought process. If you canāt touch type, get an app, go through the pain and start NOW.
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About the same time, I bought some Japanese waterstones, and learned to sharpen things well. Using sharp tools is a game changer and a delight. The waterstones were a revelation after the old 60 grit oil stone I had till then.
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As others have said, things like measuring calipers and table saws and other equipment came along and added to my ability to make things better or more efficiently, but seriously the 3D printer was as big a change to our life as that old Mutoh machine.
Barely a day goes by without it being used for something - a repair or replacement part, a jig to make things or just making stuff for the fun of it.
The idea of thinking of something in the morning and having that piece in your hand in the afternoon is preposterous.
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I tried so hard to learn to touch type when I was young. I knew it was holding me back but just couldnāt get it. This was in the 80ās and I had a commodore 64 and I tried so many different typing tutor programs but always got frustrated and just couldnāt āget itā (though having recently restored a couple of old C64ās I now wonder if the keyboard itself was part of the problem because man itās messing with my head typing on them even now!)
In high school I finally decided to take a typing class. It was still taught on actual typewriters though I was one of the last classes to use actual typewriters as they switched to computers before I graduated. I couldnāt fit it into my schedule so I gave up part of my summer and took it as a summer school class (which meant most of the other students in the class were there because they had failed it during the normal school year and had to retake it.)
Butā¦between the time I signed up for the class and the time the class started I discovered IRC.
Andā¦quickly found that if I couldnāt type fast I couldnāt get a word in on the discussions. So I HAD to learn to type or I couldnāt participateā¦and I REALLY wanted to participate. That was the key that finally made something in my brain flip and suddenly I started typing faster and faster without having to look at the keyboard.
By the time the actual typing class came around I didnāt need it. Was one of the easiest Aās Iāve ever earned and on day one I was typing faster than most of the other students were at the end of the class 
On the upside I sat right behind a girl I kind of knew and really wanted to get to know better and since I didnāt need to spend much time practicing the lessons I had plenty of time to do just that and the next year we started dating 
(it didnāt work out - but it was still the best part of that typing class!)
I get such a big stupid grin on my face from this. I remember my first exposure to ray tracing in the early 90ās and spending hours writing code defining a scene then having to wait sometimes a few days for it to render. Being able to visually design something in CAD and actually hold it in my hand the same day still feels like deep magic and makes me feel like Iām living in the future!
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Since I canāt say the CNC (though I really want to - hasnāt just changed my approach, but also my life. Always wanted to make stuff, but just really not very good at it. The CNC ālevels the playing fieldā and has had me out making chips literally every second Iāve been able to!) Iāll also cheat and say 3d printer. Specifically, the Prusa MK2 I bought eight years ago. Glad it was a Prusa, not a cheapy, or I might have got frustrated and given up!
Whilst I didnāt get straight into designing my own parts (I was after all, seventeen - yes, sorry for making you all feel old 
) I have gradually done so. So that was how it changed my approach. Build not buy.
Thinking about it, buying that is what set me on the path to land here. I actually looked at building a MPCNC years ago. In a way I wish Iād have done it, cause I could be ten steps further down the new exciting road I find myself on, but I wouldnāt have had the right skills. Or the space. All things in good time - doesnāt hurt that the V1E state of the art is so much better now, of course 
Now, Iām well on the way to living and breathing making stuff - additive or subtractive - and thatās just bliss.
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I am still young! You are not taking it away from me!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. 
At least I know that there are waaaaaay older people on here. 
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I second, third and fourth the combination of CAD and 3d printerā¦ as others have mentioned. Being a fairly prolific maker and living alone (widower and retired), Iāve been literally surrounded by machines Iāve bought or made for years nowā¦ and have often said that should I ever be faced with a house fire and could save only one machine, it would be my Prusa 3d printer. Thereās great joy to be had seeing ideas take shape in CAD and become reality as fast as the printer can print themā¦
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