Loosing Parts

[montmill]

We used to laugh at our son in law who was always reminding his daughter to eat over the plate so she wouldn't spill on the floor. Well, that was darned good advice. I can't tell you the number of parts I've dropped on the floor and never found them. I'm going to have to have an old baking tray with paper towels on it and work on top of that so if something drops it won't go far. Anyone else have that problem? What's your solution?

 

[dogcatcher]

Get a piece of tight weave carpet for the workbench top. The small parts won't bounce like they do on wood. A gentleman I koew rebuilt carburetors, a gadzillion little screws and pieces. His work bench cover was a piece of carpet. The carpet collected the excess oils and grease and the gadzillion little parts. When it got too dirty, he just replaced it. Places like Big Lots usually have them.

 

[ed4copies]

The Dollar Store sells plastic "freezer containers" that are 3-6 for a dollar. Put a few on your workbench, then when you open a pen kit, pour all the contents, including springs and trim rings into the plastic container.

The small parts (excluding springs) are not available separately--the vendor buys them as kits and sells them as kits, so if we have to "scrap" a good kit for a trim ring, the cost of that ring is actually the cost of the kit. With costs increasing, this will be more difficult to justify. So, please be careful!!

 

[monophoto]

Yeah, and the combination of piles of shavings, and that rubber cushion mat flooring just adds to the problem.

For metal parts, I find that a magnet can be helpful. I mounted on of those circular magnets that Harbor Freight sells on a handle, and then wrapped it in a plastic bag. I can sweep it across the floor to pull metal parts out of the shavings.

But the more fundamental problem is that when something hits that rubber mat, it bounces and its sometimes impossible to know where it ended up.

 

[egnald]

Interesting. I thought my shop was the only one that had a disappearer in it - I guess not. - Dave

 

[grpass]

I use the top of a shoe box size plastic storage bin. I also want to know how you can watch something fall to the floor by your feet and never see it again...

 

[KenB259]

Oh they are easy find, they are always far away from where I dropped them and underneath the hardest to move heaviest piece of equipment in the shop.

 

[CHARLES STOPCZYNSKI]

I posted regarding this subject earlier this year. Complete with an error. Wrong date, correct date January 11. Steve Good of Scrollsaw Workshop created a wonderful pattern for a "Small Parts Tray". Free pattern. scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/2022_01_11_archive.html I built two (2) of these. Modified for pen assembly. Eliminated the area of the 6" ruler in front and expanded that front area a bit more by the elimination of the space the rule occupied. Also did not make the removable parts box at the rear center of Steves original pattern. Then lined the bottom and sides with felt.
NO MORE SPRINGS and SMALL PARTS ROLLING OFF WORKBENCH!

 

[qquake]

I use a disposable plate. Years ago I had a tray I made with felt on the bottom, but I don't know whatever happened to it.

 

[HawksFeather]

Like mentioned I have carpet on my workbench, but parts seem to avoid it at all costs and head to the floor. Sometimes these parts are found, but then again there are times when they only appear after replacement parts are used.

 

[monophoto]

Like mentioned I have carpet on my workbench, but parts seem to avoid it at all costs and head to the floor. Sometimes these parts are found, but then again there are times when they only appear after replacement parts are used.

I have that problem with tools. I lose them in my shop, and have found that the best way to find a lost tool ls to buy a replacement.

 

[Ken T]

I keep 1-2 wood bowls that wern't nice enough to gift or sell on my bench. When I open a kit I dump all the parts in there, remove all the plastic and then proceed. If I'm batching out a bunch of the same kit, its useful to have a few containers that you can separate the parts into the order you'll need them.

Oh, and in hindsight, that beautiful epoxy flake floor I had poured has made it almost impossible to find a dropped spring or ring.

 

[Jans husband]

If I drop something on the floor, and it rolls under the bench, I call my wife!
I can no longer get down to search, but she has excellent eyesight and magnet fingers!!
Mike

 

[Todd in PA]

I have, to date, only lost one spring.

Since losing that spring, I now use the plastic bins my lunchmeat comes in to carry all my bits from benchtop to bandsaw to lathe, to gluing station, etc. I also use them to organize my kits in the drawer. I keep eating lunchmeat, and keep finding more uses for the bins.

 

[jrista]

I've wondered how effective a magnetic mat might be. I'm sure it would have its own problems, but, at least it would hold any dropped metallic parts at the spot they hit. I usually know where I heard that little screw or tube land, but with a hard floor they skitter across and vanish into remote corners you wouldn't even have imagined. If they fell and stuck in place, I suspect the chances of finding things again would rise dramatically.

(It is amazing, how months after losing something, I'll find it in the LEAST likely place. I've even found parts that bounced so high they ended up on a concrete ledge in my garage that sits about a foot off the ground...)

 

[pshrynk]

I use a disposable plate. Years ago I had a tray I made with felt on the bottom, but I don't know whatever happened to it.

You should look under the heaviest and most difficult to move piece of equipment in your shop. That's probably where my steel ruler is, so if you could just send it along to me after you're done...

 

[Penultimate]

Hi
I drop stuff all the time. I got one of these. There are three sizes. https://www.harborfreight.com/small-ultra-grip-flexible-parts-tray-58159.html

 

[Fine Engineer]

Oh they are easy find, they are always far away from where I dropped them and underneath the hardest to move heaviest piece of equipment in the shop.

In my mechaniking days, we referred to a similar phenomenon as 'magnetic oil', as anything that was dropped always seemed to gravitate toward the biggest puddle of oil near where you were working. Well, that's what happened to the parts or tools that actually made it to the floor. Many an engine bay were actually portals to another dimension that is chock full of nuts, bolts and various small parts.

 

[RunnerVince]

Oh they are easy find, they are always far away from where I dropped them and underneath the hardest to move heaviest piece of equipment in the shop.

The best method for finding these parts is to move on. You will surely find them, years later, when you move something that was across the room, or the day after you finally throw out the rest of the kit.

 

[Roger Schlenz]

I've noticed old-time watchmakers/repairers have a seated workstation with a slide-out tray at low chest level. It's made to pull out after the worker sits down, and is about 20 inches wide, to catch anything that gets dropped. The innards of the tray have a piece of cloth loosely slung inside, from one side of the tray to the other, so that dropped things don't bounce out.