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What’s up with this title?? Dropping something small and not finding it again is probably as close to a universal experience as possible
Only few will understand what’s up with this title…
skill issue
then its like ‘eh…3 screws is good enough’
“It’s OK, they always add extra screws”
Who needs all of the screws for their brake calipers anyways?
Pro tip: When you drop a small thing quickly look down. Takes practice because you have to do it so fast, has to be a reflex.
You’ll often catch it on the bounce, and in any case, your ears are also pointed the right way.
Quickly look down, but don’t look around, keep your vision still. Then the bouncing crew’s movement will be easier to catch and you’ll at least be able to get a sense of direction. It’s been working really well for me and makes me feel like a super hero when I can find the dropped screw
I use a yoga mat as silly as it sounds. I place it under my feet. When things drop on the yoga mat, which is neon green colored, three things:
- Yoga mats have no bounce in them.
- Tiny ridges on it prevent screws from rolling around into oblivion.
- High contrast with the screw - I instantly see the screw.
Alternate option, get on the floor and look across where it probably is.
That’s how I usually find it.
Apparently if you are smart or clean regularly, you can just like… go buy some pantyhose for a dollar, and put a leg over the vacuum tube and just suck all the shit into it, typically including any screws. If you don’t clean regularly, you’ll be disgusted, but you’ll probably find the dumb screw.
As a bonus if you really wanna be lazy, you can put the hoes in the tube somewhere upstream of the main intake, so you can vacuum as normal and still catch the thing you lost.
As an ex computer tech, this is the way.
Have carpet, can’t confirm.
lay a flashlight on the ground aimed to where the thing fell, look for a shadow
“Holy shit I really need to vacuum this room.”
Never seen again… Until you step on it barefoot.
I had never seen a comment that is as painful as your comment😢.
spoiler
the spoiler increased the humor so much, I was expecting a story of something incredibly painful lol
I got one of those powerful rare earth magnets, so my lost screw percentage is way down, from 99% lost to only about 95% lost now!
I have two, one on a telescoping stick and one on a chain
They are never on me when I need them
And once you get up to fetch it, the screw makes a run for it.
I got a magnetic dish which has been a game changer for fallen and potentially lost bits and pieces.
Yup! I’ve even found needles dropped in shag carpet, and I found a small metal screw dropped in the grass once.
This is why I always kept my cat around when I was working on stuff. He’d track the dropped screws for me. Of course he’d also occasionally jump onto the table and fuck up whatever I was working on but there’s pros and cons to anything.
Newton’s fourth law of motion states: “A small screw in an observed state will never dissappear.” So, just keep your eye on it when you drop it and you’ll be fine.
If you watch it then it will always continue to roll or bounce until it lands somewhere inaccessible.
Lay a flashlight on the floor.
In the horizontal beam of the flashlight, every mote of dust will cast a long shadow. Something as large as a tiny screw becomes easily visible.
Anytime I’ve tried this I’ve ended up with the rim of the flashlight being larger than the item I’m looking for so I just end up going “wow this is a dirty floor” and turning it off to look with my eyes
If your floor is so dirty that you can’t use the flashlight technique, it’s time to pick up a broom…
Funnily enough it’s always happened in someone else’s space where it’s not my place to tell them to clean up
I shake my phone flashlight around when looking for things, so it’s easier to spot and recognize objects.
I made the mistake of having those color chips on my epoxy garage floor. Looks nice. Can’t see anything. Perfect camouflage for small dropped parts.
As Louis Rossmann says, listen for it as it falls. Don’t look for it. You’ll always hear where it lands.
Drop another in the same spot and watch where it goes.
Great, now I’ve lost two screws. Any more ideas?
Do you happen to have 3 screws?
Not anymore!
the one remaining screw, a long zip-tie, some electrical tape, and two new cuss words later…
“all done. good as new!”
Our feet evolved to provide the perfect angle for dropped objects to bounce in a quasi 90° angle and go hide themselves under whatever table/desk we were working in front of.
I saw somewhere a great name for those tiny screws and springs: pingfucks. Named after the sound they make immediately followed by the sound you make
Now try it with a dropped 0201 resistor. Might as well be a speck of dust.
I was able to solder the 0201 LED on this (confirmed connectivity with a multimeter), but I had a little too much pressure on the tweezers with the resistor, and it flicked away into the void.
