Gifts for Engineers, Chosen by People Who Sell Them Screws

Engineers are the hardest people to buy gifts for. Not only do they already own three of everything, but if they don’t, they’re liable to have bodged together something similar themselves. Plus, anything you buy them, they’re liable to take apart just to “see how it works”.

We get it, because we’re those kinds of people. So, to help make festive gift buying a little less fraught, we’ve put together a guide to buying gifts for engineers using the insight that comes from being the folks that sell them precision components. Is that a conflict of interest? Probably, but really, when you’re scratching your head trying to think of a practical gift they might actually use and drawing a blank, wouldn’t you want the advice of the people who sell them the things they frequently run out of, like screws? 

So, in this engineering gift guide, you’ll find recommendations to suit many different budgets and interests. Or, if you prefer more engineering parlance, “tolerances”.  The one thing that unites all of these gifting ideas is that they’ll get used, so before you opt for another mug with a funny slogan on it or a pair of garish socks, check out this list of gifts approved by our own in-house engineering team.

Contents:

• Stocking Fillers For Engineers

• The Colour-Coded Hex Key Set

• A Year Of Not Waiting: AccuPro

• A 3D Printer (And A Free STL Library)

• Precision Measuring Tools: The Classic Gift For Mechanical Engineers

• Gifts For The Engineer Who Takes Everything Apart

• Fill Their Pockets With Useful Things

• Something To Build That Isn't Work

• A Game That’s Really A Simulation

• A Single-Board Computer

• Coffee, Over-Engineered

• Things Not To Buy An Engineer

• Gifts For Every Type Of Engineer

• Key Takeaways

• FAQs

Stocking Fillers For Engineers

For some people, it’s traditional to put a tangerine at the toe end of their Christmas stocking. For others, it’s a pound coin. Really, what use is a bit of fruit (beyond contributing to their five a day) and what can you actually buy with a quid these days?

Well, the answer to the last one is Torx bits. Starting at 71p each, they’re an always-useful staple for any workshop that won’t break the bank. The only issue you might have is trying to wrap them, so maybe grab a chocolate orange and sneak a few in the box or tape them to the outside.

For something a little more substantial, check out these Wera Kraftform screwdrivers. They start at £2.43 each, so for £15 you could put together a few different sizes for a genuinely handy and useful present that a practical person in your life will love. 

Part of the problem of being someone who has one of everything is that you often can’t find the size you’re looking for, or you lose the one you use the most often. If you’re looking to be particularly thoughtful with your gift-giving, why not sneak a look in their toolbox, see where the gaps are or which pieces are the most worn or damaged, and choose engineering gifts that will replace or refresh?

The Colour-Coded Hex Key Set

If there’s one thing we know about engineers, it’s that they love to eyeball something. A distance, a size, a diameter. Nothing is safe from being squinted at, possibly with one eye closed and a tongue poking from the corner of a mouth, before being categorised and ranked.

Of course, tools are no different. Most get selected by eye based on what the engineer, hobbyist or tinkerer thinks they’re going to need in that moment to torque down a bolted joint or loosen a stubborn screw. Again, often with one eye closed and tongue protruding for that real “I know what I’m doing” authenticity.

Of course, as much as we engineers like to think we’re infallible and know what we’re doing, we often get things wrong if we don’t measure exactly. Sometimes, we think we’ve got a 4 mm hex key, when in fact that’s not what we’ve picked up at all.

So, what about a gift that takes some of that guesswork out of the equation? The Wera colour-coded hex key set does exactly that, using bright and bold colours to denote which hex key is which, helping to ensure you’re getting the right tool for the job. Supplied in 1.5 mm to 10 mm, they cover all of the common sizes and are made from stainless steel, making them resistant to the corrosion that often attacks tools left somewhere like a damp shed.

A Year of Not Waiting: AccuPro

We mean this with love when we say it, but engineers aren’t fans of waiting. Good jobs and precise work both take time, but ask an engineer to pause what they’re doing on account of logistics or admin and you’ll often see a very different side to them.

Nobody likes to wait, especially if they don’t have to. Good news for engineers: when it comes to getting the precision components your project needs, you don’t have to. AccuPro offers twelve months of unlimited free UK Express next-day delivery on eligible orders for a one-off fee of £30, with no minimum order value, though other terms and conditions apply.

Really, this is a gift for both of you. For them, it’s the peace of mind that they can get what they need tomorrow. For you, it’s never losing another Saturday afternoon having to trek to different hardware shops trying to find the one fastener that’s needed.

A 3D Printer (And A Free STL Library)

Engineers love a fancy tool or a gadget. They don’t come much fancier or more high-tech than a 3D printer, making them an ideal present if you’re looking to splash out and treat someone to something amazing. Of course, the only thing that an engineer loves more than a fancy new tool is a project, so a 3D printer represents the best of both worlds.

At the entry end, the Bambu Lab A1 mini starts at around £249 and is about as close to plug-and-play as this hobby currently gets, making it ideal if they’re just going to want to get it up and running immediately. If they want to work in engineering materials like ABS or ASA, they'll need an enclosed, heated chamber, which is where the Bambu Lab P2S and the Prusa Core One sit. And if they're the kind of engineer who'd rather own something they can strip and modify themselves, Prusa's machines are open source, largely assembled from printed parts and fasteners and still available as kits. It’s kind of cool that you can print your own spares for your printer using that printer, which is the sort of detail engineers love.

While Accu doesn’t stock 3D printers, there’s one thing that we definitely do have that any engineer into printing would be interested in. For all of our standard, non-bespoke components, we offer CAD files to allow you to print them at home. These are completely free and available to anyone with an Accu account, which is also free to set up.

Why does this matter? For one, it takes the ambiguity out of prototyping. Not sure if the component you’re looking at will fit your project? Why not print one and check for yourself? If you find a component we don’t have a CAD file for, just ask and we’ll make one for you. 

We also have a range of resources specially tailored for 3D printing, such as Threaded Heat-Set Insert Pilot Hole Size Charts and guides on installing threaded inserts in 3D prints and plastics. There’s even engineering-focused articles on how NASA 3D-prints tools in space, if you want to provide a little project inspiration along with your gift.

“For me, magnets are a good shout. I'm always integrating magnets into 3D-printed stuff.”

Rich

Head of Digital Acquisition

Precision Measuring Tools: The Classic Gift For Mechanical Engineers

Of course, not every component or bore can be eyeballed or guesstimated and sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and use the right measuring tool for the job. Whether that’s measuring thread pitch or working out the depth of a bore, specialist measuring tools make for excellent practical gifts, with the advantage that many of them come in special cases that make them much easier to gift wrap.

Accu stocks a range of quality metrology brands that suit a variety of budgets. Insize branded tools offer fantastic value, though for more rugged use where the instrument is likely to come into contact with dirt, debris or moisture Fowler is the go-to as they offer instruments with an IP67 rating for ingress protection. For pure brand recognition built on a legacy of accuracy and quality Mitutoyo is the name everyone trusts, while if you value Swiss craftsmanship and precision in things like watches then Sylvac make an excellent choice.

While metrology equipment doesn’t make for a cheap gift, an amazing set of callipers or a micrometer are a treasured part of any workshop setup. A cheap calliper is worse than no calliper, as it won’t be trusted and won’t get used.

Gifts For The Engineer Who Takes Everything Apart

This next category goes a bit beyond the old “do not open till Xmas” label. For many, an interest in engineering comes from a childhood fascination with opening things up, seeing how they work and generally tinkering. A good gift taps into something fundamental in the recipient, so if you’re looking for a gift for an engineer or a practical gift for someone special who’s handy, then something that supports the simple pleasure of opening things up to see what’s going on inside them or mend them if broken could be just the ticket.

Accu stocks a range of iFixit kits designed to help with the difficult task of opening complex electronics like phones. These range from driver kits for those who enjoy tinkering with their electronics to full repair kits. They’re the ideal present for anyone in your life who can’t help but take things apart.

There's a larger argument behind that and it's gaining a lot of traction. The UK's Ecodesign for Energy-Related Products and Energy Information Regulations 2021 obliged manufacturers to make spare parts available for certain products, which is real progress, though it covers washing machines, dishwashers, fridges and electronic displays rather than the phones and laptops most people actually want to take to bits and mend. iFixit has spent years publishing repairability scores to keep the pressure on. Until the law catches up with the devices in our pockets, the ability to open one still comes down to whether somebody bought you the right bit.

Of course, if you’d rather they stopped taking things to bits, we can help there too. Our range of Hafren tamper-resistant fasteners are ideal for stopping anyone who views a “warranty void if seal is broken” sticker as a challenge rather than a warning.

Fill Their Pockets With Useful Things

Engineers are far from the only folks who spend their days being bombarded by TLAs, or three-letter acronyms, but here’s one that might be new to you: EDC. It stands for Every Day Carry, meaning the things you keep on your person and use every day.

Even if you don’t already know about EDC, chances are you have a few items you’ve carefully chosen and keep in your pockets. Stuff like your wallet, phone, headphones, maybe a few other things. The core philosophy of EDC is to buy things that are not only useful, but long-lasting and high quality so they can be relied upon for years to come.

So, if the engineer in your life appreciates quality, why not invest in an EDC piece for them? Something like a Leatherman is an excellent choice, but there are more niche brands that will delight a practical gift-receiver. We’re big fans of The James Brand and WESN products here at Accu thanks to their durability, utility and craftsmanship and because they make gear out of titanium, which as engineers we love.

And, for the record, you can’t go wrong with Olight torches.

Something To Build That Isn't Work

Alright, let’s not beat around the bush here. Engineers, just like anyone else, like a good toy. And when it comes to Christmas gifts, there’s one thing that everyone wants… something that they want, but would never buy for themselves.

So, all this is a very long and circuitous way of saying that it’s perfectly acceptable, in fact maybe even encouraged, to buy the engineer in your life LEGO. But what LEGO to buy? After all, there’s an absolutely baffling number of kits and options, from Harry Potter sorting hats to plants, the Taj Mahal or even a scale model of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

LEGO Technic is the obvious answer. The larger sets are genuine mechanical assemblies with working differentials, gearboxes and suspension geometry, and there's a specific pleasure in building something well engineered without being responsible for whether it works. You already know it does, that’s why it’s a LEGO kit. If only every engineering challenge was so simple.

For something with more of an edge, UGears sell laser-cut plywood mechanical models that run on rubber-band drives, and they look considerably better on a shelf than a plastic supercar.

If you want the smaller, meaner version of the same idea, Hanayama's cast metal puzzles are the best few pounds you can spend on an engineer's evening. They're rated by difficulty, they're beautifully made, and there is no dignity in the way a chartered engineer behaves around one at eleven o'clock at night.

A Game That’s Really A Simulation

If they maybe want something that doesn’t involve following complex instructions to build something (maybe because that’s their day job), but you still want to get them something that screams ENGINEERING, then why not look to digital storefronts like Steam for the answer?

Video games have come on a long way from the days of simple platforms and catchy chiptune soundtracks. Nowadays, developers have embraced people’s desire to test their engineering skills by offering them ways to do that that lean into the fantastical rather than the mundane. Games like Factorio, Kerbal Space Program and Satisfactory provide what seem like fun little amusements that, once you get into them, become increasingly intricate and challenging engineering puzzles thanks to their real-world physics. For example, Kerbal Space Program, despite it’s cartoonish facade, is extremely accurate when it comes to core aerospace principles. 

And, best of all, you can play them without risking getting oil stains on your work trousers or needing to put steel-toed boots on.

A Single-Board Computer

This is one for those who may be struggling to buy gifts for electrical engineers or the computer-minded, as well as those who get annoyed with devices like their phone because they can’t tinker with them, reprogram how they work, or make them do things that they weren’t originally designed to.

Say hello to the Raspberry Pi. A single-board computer that can be programmed, plugged into and endlessly customised to become just about anything. They’re cheap, but genuinely impressive and capable of becoming utterly astonishing things in the hands of a dedicated engineer. They’re a staple of everything from invention to home automation, making them precisely the kind of thing that will make an engineer go “Oooooh” when they unwrap it.

Want to remember what that childlike sense of wonder at the sheer potential and possibility of something is like? Buy them a Raspberry Pi.

Coffee, Over-Engineered

Engineering runs on caffeine. Whether it’s energy drinks that look (and taste) like nuclear waste or a thermos of fresh-brewed dark roast, it’s the one universal that unites all branches of engineering. Here at Accu, we love our coffee so much we even made our own blend, but you can’t go wrong with a coffee-themed gift when it comes to an engineering present, so why not help them kick the habit on grimy granular instant and get them an AeroPress?

An AeroPress is cheap, nearly indestructible and endlessly adjustable. A decent hand grinder is the upgrade that actually matters, because grind consistency dominates everything else. This is one of those presents that they may not actually know they want, but once they’ve perfected their pourover technique and discovered the world of fresh ground coffee, they’ll have not only learned a new skill but perhaps even discovered a new passion. What more could you ask for from a Christmas present?

Things Not To Buy An Engineer

This wouldn’t be much of a gift guide if it didn’t do anything to help steer you away from making the wrong choice, so here are a few things to avoid when it comes to gifts for an engineer:

• Anything imperial, for someone who works in metric: This goes beyond the Blur vs Oasis or Beatles vs Stones type rivalry. While it might be a lovely thought, getting the dimensioning type wrong will ensure that great gift will gather dust and never see the light of day.

• The petrol station socket set: Yes, they’re very cheap and come with loads of options. There’s a reason they’re so cheap, and once you’ve stripped the head on a dozen bolts or the wrench handle’s snapped on its second use you’ll know why.

• A novelty mug: “All Torque and No Trousers”, “Check Your Nuts” or “Always Ready For A Screw” might sound funny in isolation, but they’re just cringe. Best-case scenario is that they’ll be used once before they get consigned to the back of a cupboard and never used again.

• Socks: Same as the novelty mug, with the caveat that a nice pair of tasteful, warm merino wool socks is always appreciated, especially when the temperature drops and you’re cramming your feet into a pair of poorly insulated steel toecapped boots. Tread carefully.

Gifts For Every Type Of Engineer

Engineering covers a lot of ground. A gift that delights a mechanical engineer can leave an electronics engineer cold and an aerospace engineer will have opinions about both. So, if you know which branch they work in, use the table below to narrow things down. Whether you’re after gifts for mechanical engineers, electrical engineers or engineering students, every row pairs a gift with the reason it’ll still be getting used long after Boxing Day.

Not sure which branch they work in? Ask them what they do all day, then put the kettle on, because they’ll tell you. Or let the flowchart below make the decision for you.

Key Takeaways

When it comes to buying gifts for an engineer, or anyone practical really, the old adage holds true: it’s the thought that counts. The best gift for an engineer is rarely the one that looks most like a gift, it’s the specific thing they’ve run out of in the specific size. The advantage of most of these gift ideas is that they’re cheap but incredibly useful, which is exactly the kind of gift that’ll be used and appreciated rather than unwrapped and forgotten. It is also why a free downloadable CAD model sitting behind every one of our 750,000 precision components counts as a present in its own right, and why AccuPro at £30 for a year of unlimited express delivery is the rare gift that improves every project the recipient starts next year. Whether the workshop is a bench, a garage or a spare room with a 3D printer in it, the principle holds: buy the thing they’ll actually use.

• Engineers don’t lose tools, they lose sizes. A Wera Kraftform screwdriver in the size that went missing beats a forty-piece set in the sizes they already own and starts at £2.43.

• Free counts. Every Accu component has a downloadable STL file, which makes the 3D printer the excuse and the model library the actual present.

• Most standard components have no minimum order quantity, right down to a single piece. A bespoke set of the six sizes someone genuinely uses is a better gift than any pre-made assortment, and it retires the jam jar.

• The fastener nobody will fit is the unmarked one. Without a grade marking or a Certificate of Conformity, that bargain 300-piece kit is just expensive uncertainty in a plastic tray.

• The novelty mug with the torque equation on it will be read and then rehomed to the back of a cupboard. Every year. Without exception.

Further Reading:

• How to Build Your Own Lightsaber With Precision Engineering Components.

• These Screws Revived a Rally Icon: The Lancia 037.

• Laura Mathews x Accu: These Screws Bring Dragons to Life.

• Fasteners for Kit Cars: A Buyer's Guide.

• NASA And 3D Printing: How NASA 3D Prints Tools in Space.

FAQs

Q: What do you buy an engineer for Christmas?

A: Buy the specific thing they’ve run out of, in the specific size they lost. Engineers rarely lack tools in general, they lack a certain 3 mm hex key, a T10 driver or the twenty M4 socket caps that finished the last project. A Wera Kraftform screwdriver in the right size starts at £2.43 and will get used immediately and forever after. A forty-piece set in the wrong sizes won’t get touched.

If you want one present rather than several small ones, the reliable options are a colour-coded hex key set, a measuring tool they can trust or a set of fasteners in the grades and sizes they work with. Most standard components across our range of over 750,000 precision components have no minimum order quantity, so you can build a bespoke set instead of buying a pre-made assortment where four fifths of it is sizes nobody needs.

Q: What are some funny presents for an engineer?

A: The funny engineering gift that actually works is the one that is also usable. The joke lands, then the object stays in the workshop instead of the cupboard.

Good examples: a comically over-specified tool for a trivial job, a set of tamper-resistant security fasteners for the person who takes apart everything you own, or a single beautifully made component presented as though it were jewellery. Anything that rewards being taken seriously is funnier than anything that announces itself as a joke.

Q: What does every engineer need?

A: Four things, roughly in this order.

• Fasteners of a known grade. An unmarked screw from a bargain assortment kit is unusable in anything that matters, because you cannot torque what you cannot identify. Traceability and a Certificate of Conformity turn a box of hardware into something specifiable.

• A driver that fits properly. A worn or wrong-profile bit rounds out fastener heads, and a rounded head costs far more time than the tool saved.

• A measurement they trust. A cheap calliper is worse than no calliper, because it gets used once and then doubted forever. Insize, Fowler, Mitutoyo and Sylvac cover the range from sensible to Swiss.

• Somewhere to put it all that isn't a jam jar.

Everything beyond that is preference. Notice that none of it is a desk toy.

Q: What should you buy an engineering student?

A: Something consumable and something that lasts, at a total spend well under £50.

The consumable half is fasteners and inserts for whatever they are currently building. Because most standard components have no minimum order quantity, you can buy the exact sizes their project needs rather than a kit sized for a factory. The lasting half is a single good hand tool, since students accumulate tools one at a time and remember who bought which.

If they have a 3D printer, which many do, the useful thing to tell them is free: Accu provides downloadable CAD models for every standard component in STEP, IGES and STL formats, up to 20 per day on a free account. Pair that with a set of heat-set threaded inserts and our pilot hole size charts for PLA, PETG and resin and you've given them a capability rather than an object.

Q: What do you buy an engineer who already owns every tool?

A: Stop buying tools and buy either a consumable or a service.

The consumable route is the fasteners, inserts and fixings they burn through and never quite have enough of. The service route is the more interesting one. AccuPro costs £30 excluding VAT for twelve months of unlimited free UK Express next-day delivery on eligible orders, with no minimum order value and no recurring payment. It is not an object, it just quietly removes the wait from every project for a year.

One practical note: AccuPro membership is registered to an individual Accu account and email address rather than to a company, so if you are buying it for somebody else, talk to our team first to get it set up against the right account.

And if what they actually keep describing is a part that does not exist yet, our Custom Manufacture service exists precisely for that.