Vanished!

[Baltimoreed]

I have spent half an hour building a spacer or something small between my mill and belt sanders only to drop it into the netherverse and have to start over again. Tis a true pain.

[waksupi]

I do disassemlby over a large tuperware container, AND have a magnet in it. I spent a lot of time over the years crawling around on the floor looking for screws, springs, flies, anything small.

[Cap'n Morgan]

Turn off the light and hold a flashlight close to the floor. Even tiny objects will cast a long (and visible) shadow that way.

[copperlake]

Turn off the light and hold a flashlight close to the floor. Even tiny objects will cast a long (and visible) shadow that way.

We have a winner! That is exactly what I do with remarkable success. Also, working over a bath towel when in a 'small, small world.'

[gc45]

Get yourself one of those pole magnets, works great. Mine was cheap from amazon years back and having a telescopic handle. Just drag it accross the floor and get all knds of stuff I've dropped over the years.

[slim1836]

Magnets are my friend. That said, my shed (12'x20') is so full that parts can hide anywhere.

Slim

[fixit]

Being a mechanic, gunsmith, woodworker, plumber, electrician...... you get the idea, if I can do it instead of hiring someone, yeah, I'll do it! Well , doing all these things, I've gotten real good at losing things, and by necessity, finding things. Probably my best loss and subsequent find would with a 1917 Mauser 98 that I was doing the first strip after purchase on. As I was re assembling the firing pin/spring/cocking piece, my fingers slipped, sending the spring and cocking piece to points unknown! The spring was easily found, as I had caught sight of it two or three times during its escape, the cocking piece, however went to an unknown location...... for a couple of days! Needless to say, it's path occupied my thoughts during its times of freedom, as well as some good degree of searching, until it hit me....... I needed to search in 3 dimensions! Inside of the next 15 minutes, I discovered my cocking piece nestled behind one of the pictures on the wall! All to say, when a stray part decides to go on liberty, it's resting place will likely be unexpected, possibly humorous, and definitely educational!

[bdicki]

Brownells sells replacements. I bought the whole kit. What size is it.

[Gtek]

Go get some more eyes. The wife after briefing has on more than one occasion walked up and goes "is that it" as my masculine manly man shudders slightly!

[TNsailorman]

It is not the things I drop that I have the most trouble finding. It is the things I put up for safe keeping that is driving me nuts. james

[WRideout]

Glock 19x pistol while reassembling firing pin, the spring and the two little plastic cups that hold it together. Next thing I hear is a "ping" and the spring is gone. After the launch, I hear the ricochet and landing in another room.

I said to myself, "Self, this ain't good!"

I looked, I crawled, I went back where I was sitting, looked over the trajectory of the spring, and did it all again,...and again...and etc.

The little wifey-woman comes home, I tell her the details,... a couple of minutes later she says, "I found it!", and she gives me the spring!!!

I really don't know how women can find things so easy!

My mother was clairvoyant; she could find lost things. I would tell her I couldn't find a particular toy to which she would answer, "Look under your bed." It always worked.
Wayne

[john.k]

I was working on a machine in the factory laneway,when a hydraulic valve flew apart ,and a piece landed on the roof of the shed across the laneway........it rolled down the tin roof ,into the gutter ,along the gutter ,into a down pipe,jumped the grate under the downpipe,and rolled out into the centre of the laneway......I just had to pick it up.......Another time a valve from an overhead crane went free ,and landed on the blast room floor,lattice grid,with a special collector array under the grid.......tons of steel grit everywhere .....I started the collector system,but never found the valve .......had to cannabilize a crane out in the yard.....and six months later the boss discovered Id "robbed Peter to pay Paul".....the worst crime imaginable in his feeble mind.

[405grain]

I found the missing screw. It was easy. All I had to do was order a 12 pack of 6-48 x 3/8" filister head torx screws at lunchtime today. Then when I went out to the garage tonight (barefoot) to get some firewood I stepped on it. It didn't even wait for the new ones to show up before it was plucked from the void. Typical.

[Winger Ed.]

I found the missing screw. It was easy. All I had to do was order a 12 pack of 6-48 x 3/8" filister head torx screws at lunchtime today. .

That's happened to me more than once.
I'll search & search, finally give up and order a new part.
After I hit the 'place order' button, I'll go back out in the shop---- and find the missing one.

The longest a part stayed missing was a .38/.357 shell plate for the Hornady.
I got in the new one, put it on, used it, got done.....

Took the new one off, and went to stack it with the other caliber ones --- and it had come home.
Oh well, I put one of them on S&S and made one of our buddies in Alaska happy.

[Bobbers]

Just this weekend I was fixing the trigger switch on my Bosch hammer drill. Took it apart till I got inside the switch itself. Sprayed the switch down with contact cleaner. I got a little impatient on the drying time of the contact cleaner grabbed a can on air with 1 quick shot of air I saw that smallest of parts fly in to the great abyss of the shop. The part was a thin piece of brass 1/8" wide by 1/2" long. Never to be seen again. Luckily I had a dead Bosch drill that went down in a flood and was able to get that small part from it. The hammer drill works like a champ now.

[Winger Ed.]

I had a dead Bosch drill that went down in a flood and was able to get that small part from it.

Having quick access to spare parts is either a direct violation of Man Law,,,, or cheating.

[ScrapMetal]

I use a combination of the "flashlight" method and this Hillman magnetic sweeper from Lowes

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Hillman-Mag...r-Pick/3363970


If it's magnetic I find 95%, unfortunately I work with a lot of brass, nylon, plastics, etc.

-Ron

[Hickok]

The floor in my reloading room/man-cave is carnivorous.

It is like a big predator patiently waiting for a meal. If something falls or gets dropped on the floor, it eats it!

[country gent]

Its what I sit down that disappears. 6" machinists scales must be made of chameleon steel I can sit one done and it blends into surroundings impossible to find for ever

[john.k]

Possibly worst I ever did was dropped my car keys into the 3 ft thick layer of junk inside a shipping container,it was getting dark,the yard is in a very bad area ...anyway,cab home,spare keys,cab back ,pitch dark ....cost over $100 for cabs .........so I tied a long length of gold gift wrap tape to the key s.........dropped again a couple of days later,saw the tape in the long grass before I knew Id dropped the keys.