hookedonrc

Well, actually, it was my workbench that ate my part. No, not a tiny screw that holds on a cowl, or a servo screw while attaching the arm, but a fitting for my fuel dot. Much bigger than a real dot, but able to hide somewhere. Sometimes I think I could build something with as much as I lose either on the garage floor, on the shelf under the bench top, or on the top itself. Now I have to wait till my new fuel dot arrives in the mail to continue. I have looked under the table saw, under the bench, pulled stuff off the shelf, and cleaned up the bench, and moved all the yard tools and still nothing! Although I did find a servo mounting screw I lost about 3 weeks ago.

SO... I am looking for a way to keep the parts from under the bench, or off its shelf...at least the rest is garage floor and most parts are eventually findable. I am trying to avoid buying 2 of everything.

Any ideas are welcome.

flyinwalenda

My Feedback: (5)

Well if your dog ate it you can wait to get it back in the form of another delivery !

hookedonrc

LoL. ...... Very true,except he was nowhere in the garage when it disappeared.

Checklst

Have you check in your shoes!!!!!!! Don't ask me how I know this because I'll lie. Dang this getting old can be funny at times.

MajorTomski

I keep a magnetic parts pan on my workbench, works for most hobby hardware. Then there's something called a jewelers apron. It attaches to the bottom edge of your workbench and around your neck. When you drop something it goes no farther than just below the table top.

proptop

My Feedback: (8)

It's probably hiding with all those odd socks that somehow get lost between the washer and the dryer?

chuckk2

The only way I've found to find the first lost part is to get another one.
Then, inevitably, the first part shows up.

slopoke

My Feedback: (16)

There's a monster that gobbles my stuff when I drop it. He hides under my bench most of the time. I've never seen him but he's well fed.

hookedonrc

The first thing I would do with one of these would be to try to leave the bench with it still attached. I have a magnet for reaching into the fuses because I never get parts attached the first time. Unfortunately, this part is plastic, so if it is hiding under the bench or on the shelf, I will just have to wait until the bench coughs it up. I took a bunch of stuff off of the shelf yesterday, but didn't run into it. And underneath the shelf is where I store large plywood pieces, so I can see most of the area there. I think slopoke is right...the monster that hides under my bench ate it.

proptop

My Feedback: (8)

I think that if you don't feed that monster every once-in-a-while, it comes out, late at night (when you're not around) and re-arranges your stuff...
I must have one under my bench too...
"Where's that muffler?....oh yeah, it's in that box over there...oops..no it isn't ...I thought I knew right where it was...!?"

I don't have a wife who trys to "tidy-up"...so it must be that monster, aye?!

hookedonrc

LOL...My wife won't go near my bench. I think she has seen the monster....and I think is me.

lopflyers

My Feedback: (12)

OMG, I thought that only happened to me

macdona

My Feedback: (3)

My dog isn't in the shop, but I swear I have gremlins. I can fly my plane one day and put it away in good shape. The next week I go to the field and the engine will not run or something else is wrong requiring an hours worth of work to fly. Been trying to trap them for years but they are still there.

jtotten

When I am working with small parts, I try to spread out a couple of newspapers underneath , and work on the floor, not the bench. Not elegant, but the parts dont fall far, and are usually easy to spot. However, one of murphy's laws is that a small part dropped from a height over 2 inches can bounce enough travel over 6 feet in a random direction.

hookedonrc

Well let's see then, it fell from about 5 feet which is 60 inches divided by 2 would make it 30 times further than the 2 inch example. So that makes it 6 feet x 30 for 180 ft. Maybe I should be looking in my neighbors garage. That's probably about right.......LOL

TomCrump

No. It happens to all of us. It's a law of nature, like gravity or the theory of relativity.

GerKonig

I have 3 levels, and 3 stud finders. 2 hammers. Why? When I needed them I could not find them, so I got a new one. The advantage? Easier to find one level out of 3:-)

There are 2 things you can do to find things lost in the shop

a) Buy a new one, and pretty soon you will find the missing part
b) Look for something else, and you might find it

There is a third thing you can do, but it is almost impossible to do. Well, for what it is worth, one can be more organized.

I now use an old towel on the workbench when I work on things with little parts, it helps. But when the parts are really very small, a piece of fabric works better, because you might not find a little screw in the towel... I did not get to theat level (using a piece of fabric)

Another thing I do now when I look for little screws or a washer on the floor is to do it like the cops in the movies. Low light, and use a flashlight. Makes little things pop up... Yes, like NCIS, like a crime scene investigator.

Under my workbench I have a small fridge. The fridge is known to attract stuff that hides under it. From time to time I move the fridge out, and find things I did not know I lost. Did I mention I have Xacto knife holders all over the place. It makes them easy to find...

Gerry

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I am firmly convinced that there is a gremlin that lives under my workbench. His only goal in life is to confound me. When something falls from my bench he immediately reaches out and grabs it and then prepositions to someplace else that to which it could not have possibly have fallen on it's own. This gremlin thrives on seeing the frustration on my face as I am on my hands and knees looking for whatever part has fallen on the floor. I am also convinced that his secondary goal is to also go to into my nuts and bolts drawers and remove exactly one of whatever nut, bolt, screw, washer, etc ... that I am looking for. For instance, if I need 6 sets of screws and washers I will look into the my spare parts drawers and of course I will find exactly the perfect screw and washers I am looking for, but I will only have 5 of them there!!!!!! argghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Ken

CafeenMan

Join the club. I've lost my X-Acto knife a brazilian times when I was using it while seated at a desk and never left the seat. So you know it has to be within arm's reach, right? I never got up so I couldn't have taken it anywhere and I can't find it. Eventually I do but usually a day or two later and long after I've pulled out another knife so I can keep working.

jtotten

GerKonig - I have a third way of locating a lost part - Ask my wife to use a vacuum cleaner with an almost full dust bag to clean the area . In less than 30 sec I will hear the part rattling up the hose. Then its only a matter of sifting thru a couple of quarts of matted hair, dust, party crumbs, lint, and some things I can't begin to describe. She often finds stuff I didnt even know I lost - it plays out as " Nice to see you back from the field. When I was vacuuming, I heard something rattle up the hose. Are you missing a part?"

GerKonig

You are onto something! Yesterday I cleaned (emptied) one of the vacuum cleaners. This one has like a see trough plastic thing. I think I will vacuum the shop with that one from now on... Just clean it, and vacuum the floor... The problem are always the darn jumpers... (parts, nuts, screws, whatever).

Other common risk is when you find something, you do not need it, but you will soon. So, you think, OK where can I put this gizmo, so I find it when I need it? and you think carefully and put the thing away. You will find it if you move, or when your family clean out your stuff after your passing...

Gerry
Now where is my mouse, I just had it here...

JollyPopper

My Feedback: (6)

CafeenMan and I have the same disease. I can't count the number of times I have lost something while sitting at the bench without getting up and I CANNOT FIND IT. EVER!!!!!! How is that even possible?

CafeenMan

I can only speak for myself, Jolly. Baby Jesus hates me.

f16man

How bout a trough or gutter to catch junk before it hits the ground..............

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

What's even worse than this is the reverse inversion foot field that exists that effects only x-acto knives. you know the one. those that when the knife is falling anywhere near your foot and the field will then kick in and then preposition the blade pointing down, and then accelerate knife, so that it sticks into the top of you foot and stays there!!!!!!!

Ken