Colour Coding Allen Keys

VEX V5 General Discussion General Forum
#1

We are going to (eventually) colour code our Allen keys with shrink wrap so you can tell the small ones apart from the big ones, as well as so they don’t get mixed up at competitions.

I am wondering what colours other teams use that do this as well? It might be interesting if there are some combinations that seem more popular.

Thanks!

#2

We use red for the small ones and blue for the larger ones. We even refer to the allen wrenches by the colors most of the time lol

#3

We use white for small ones and red for the large ones.

#4

Literally the exact same here lol - red for small, blue for big and we also refer to them by color :).

Wise choice to do this - makes it so much easier to find the right wrenches while working.

#5

To add to what has been said here, I have found spray painting the wrenches (masking the ends) has worked well.

You can also buy after market wrenches in say gold or chrome to help them stand out.

Something related that I have done is used after market screws with socket-cup heads for in-between sizes like 3/8th inch long screws to help tell them apart. (yes this is legal)

I might have to try the shrink wrap idea though :slight_smile:

#6

I like the shrink wrap idea… but why not combine that with a bit of labeling, too.

http://global.dymo.com/enCA/LabelsOverview/Heat_Shrink_Tubes.html

You colour code your tools AND put your team’s name on them.

Oh, sure the equipment costs a bit, but perhaps you could earn a bit of it back by selling customized labels to other teams.

Jason

#7

This is a freaking awesome idea! You could even label and mark wires on the robots with it as well.

#8

That thing is AWESOME! :slight_smile:

Now I just need to find some way to convince our school to get one. :smiley:

#9

We use red tape for large and white tape for small, but they don’t stay on very long :stuck_out_tongue: we are both too busy and lazy to re-colorize them again… the shrink wrap idea is really good though

#10

We do not mark any of ours excect for our 1 ball head 5/64". We mark it with a 5 inch piece of tape because it is the only on that we have.

Even with the big piece of tape, it still gets lost :frowning:

#11

We have put yellow electrical tape on the small allen wrenches. Since the tape comes off easily, I normally look for residue or lack thereof.
Basically, I do not suggest tape, but I am not sure what else works.

#12

Thanks for the input everyone! As it seems to be a bit of a “industry standard” we went with red for big and blue for small.

I put in the order for the heat shrink tubing, as well as a few thousand small zip ties for about 1/12 of the cost from VEX.

I’ll let you know how it works once we get it in.

Depending on your school system, Happy March Break!

#13