Looking for bits ... -
Savage GT - 20th-Sep-19
… When I drop something working on slot cars in my man-cave.
It happens frequently and I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time searching for the little blighters, and sometimes they disappear altogether .
Someone needs to invent a smooth white magnetized sheet I can park the work desk on to save me time !
Mind you that won't fix those senior moments like earlier. I spent 10 mins looking for a complete Scalextric axle to put back in a car I had been tuning, only to find I had put it in the box of spare tyres and wheels in the drawer
RE: Looking for bits ... -
Gordon Steadman - 20th-Sep-19
Ronnie keeps telling me to use a tray so the bits don't roll off the table. I keep meaning to but.......instead, I spend ages searching on a rug for the little bits and pieces that inevitable fall. As even I have to vacuum occasionally, those I haven't found remain unfound.
RE: Looking for bits ... -
Scuderia_Turini - 20th-Sep-19
Hello Savage,
I bought a large plastic tub to use for assembly/disassembly so that when I dropped stuff it would be easy to find. After a few days I started to store stuff in it.
Best laid plans and all that...
Leo
RE: Looking for bits ... -
woodcote - 21st-Sep-19
I have a foam rubber pad with raised edges that does help prevent most ‘rolling’ incidents. However, stuff still goes on the floor - especially the tiny HO scale springs that ‘ping’ quite impressively. For anything with some steel content that gets picked up with a magnet, I have an empty lighter-fuel can covered with various traction magnets removed from 1/32 and HO cars. For brass springs, I have a torch and my hands and knees...
RE: Looking for bits ... -
Mr Modifier - 21st-Sep-19
(20th-Sep-19, 06:21 PM)Savage GT Wrote: Someone needs to invent a smooth white magnetized sheet I can park the work desk on to save me time !
Sounds like you just did (invent).
Mind you - I think you can buy A4 sheets of white vinyl fridge magnet material to print on. Maybe they do it in A3. That might answer your prayers.
RE: Looking for bits ... -
Top Down - 21st-Sep-19
I recently a acquired a large, good quality, black shoe box - black inside and out (came free, with the new shoes

) that can be pressed into use for the trickiest disassembly. I use the inverted lid as a tray but the box itself, with good high sides, when disassembling anything for the first time that
might contain unexpected 'exploding parts', which could make a bid for freedom.
I also have a large white-moulded Melamine tray with a nice curved lip surround that makes things like washers easy to slide up over the edge and into my hand.
Finally, I use a range of translucent boxes with snap on lids* for disassembly and storage of part disassembled/re-assembled cars so the correct parts are kept together.
(*The sort you get with microwaveable meals from the supermarket, for example.)
For anything ferrous that DOES get away - a 'magnet on a stick' works well - and if using a torch I shine it across the carpet's surface to throw the item into relief.
RE: Looking for bits ... -
Scuderia_Turini - 21st-Sep-19
This is great for searching for metallic bits in dark places:
[attachment=3661]
[attachment=3660]
RE: Looking for bits ... -
Steven.G - 21st-Sep-19
Or one of these!
[attachment=3662]
[attachment=3663]