Oh Wheeere IS IT!? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 01:17:40 pm
content: Back in Nov 2013 I took apart a workbench I'd been using since I built it in my teens. It didn't fit the new layout in my electronics area, so I unscrewed the bolts and put the pieces in the storage shed.Now I'm doing a spring clean rearrangement of both the electronics area and the mechanical workshop. Decided I could fit that old workbench in the back corner of the mech workshop. Fetched all the wooden parts of the bench.But do you think I can find the BLOODY BOLTS? Noooo....I'm certain I put them somewhere sensible and safe. Probably in a small box, or a tough plastic bag. Maybe even labeled "for old desk" or something like that. But wheeere did I put it? I'd have thought they should be in the nuts and bolts shelving. Specific area for big bolts like that, and even more specific containers for cup-heads. Nope... not there. Nor in about four other places, in diminishing order of likelihood/sanity.I found some other bolts the same size (5/16" cup-head) but only half as many as I need. Can buy more tomorrow, but this was supposed to be assembled tonight, so more stuff can be done. Now it's just stuck. (Stream of curses...)Hands up whoever else is certain they must be getting Alzheimers?I give up. Going to bed. OK subconscious, in the morning I want an answer from you, or you're fired.1st pic is the last time those bolts were seen, just before I disassembled the bench. I was hoping that pic series would show me what I did with the damned things, but no.2nd pic is the utter shambles my mech workshop is in now while shuffling stuff around. Half assembled bench in the far rear.Edit: PS. And I just know that within an hour of getting back home from buying new ones tomorrow, I'll find the old ones.

author: Deathwish
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 01:25:32 pm
content: blue box on window or filing cabinet ?. if not the borrowers have borrowed them

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 01:31:35 pm
content: Quote from: Deathwish on September 09, 2015, 01:25:32 pmHa, nice try. But no, the blue cube holds the tools that were on the desk before I overturned it.No borrowers in my place, the cats got them all. No one to blame for this but myself. Sheesh.

author: kolonelkadat
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 01:40:28 pm
content: My father taught me to always put the screws/bolts/lynch pins back into the holes after disassembly. This way as long as you have the parts, you have the fasteners as well. Hopefully this can be a lesson to some of the younger members here.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 01:46:50 pm
content: Quote from: kolonelkadat on September 09, 2015, 01:40:28 pmYes, it's a good idea and I often do that with mechanical/electronic things. But long cup-head bolts don't screw into the wood, they need nuts. And then they can slide and stick out, also the legs and braces wouldn't stack neatly with bolts sticking out. So... better to put all the fasteners together 'somewhere safe' ha ha.Edit: I was calling them coach bolts. Another senior moment; actually they are called cup-head bolts. There's no such thing as 'coach bolts, there are 'coach screws' which are very large wood screws with hex bolt heads.

author: elex_enthusiast
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 02:15:28 pm
content: I guess you left the bolts somewhere in your storage shed. Maybe somewhere near where you dissembled the workbench. Just a wild guess..

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 03:36:26 pm
content: i'm pretty sure you will find them in the last spot you look. that always happens to me.. ( probably because once found i stop looking )when i take stuff a part i wrap all the nuts bolts and stuff in a ziplock bag , then duct tape that to the thingamajing.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 07:24:52 pm
content: Same as Vincent, I try to grab a plastic bag, drop the fasteners inside and use a cable tie through one of the holes to keep them together.Now just have to find that 5kg bucket of M8 bots and nuts to put the shelving together, I found the 5kg bucket of M6, but no M8. I think I have at least 5 buckets of shelving bolts, though the shelving is all pretty much no longer in use, too weak.

author: German_EE
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 08:02:59 pm
content: Three years ago I ordered a tube of fifty solid state relays from Mouser, the project they were to be used on was still in the design stage but I ordered them anyway so I could get free shipping on my latest goody bag. Fast forward twelve months, can I find that tube? Not a chance. I've since relocated a thousand Km and everything was packed up and then unpacked at the other end and no SSRs ever surfaced. My guess is that they vanished into a black hole and reappeared as coat hangers.

author: GreyWoolfe
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 09:41:06 pm
content: "Hands up whoever else is certain they must be getting Alzheimers?"Been working on the 'z' in Alzheimer's for yearsYesterday, I lost the keys to my company van---------inside the van-------the seating portion of the van as the rest is separated by heavy wire mesh. Took me 5 minutes to find them

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 09, 2015, 09:45:39 pm
content: Quote from: kolonelkadat on September 09, 2015, 01:40:28 pmI like it! So simple. Nothing worse when you have leftover screws and bits after pulling something apart.

author: isaiahA
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 12:36:13 am
content: when i give up looking for something, then i will find it!

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 01:27:56 am
content: I am terrible at looking for things, I can put something on my bench, pliers, screwdriver, roll of packing tape, doesn't matter how distinctive, and 30 seconds later proceed to spend the next 30 minutes looking for the damn thing, and I KNOW I'm probably looking right at it but just don't see it.

author: free_electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 02:11:42 am
content: Quote from: German_EE on September 09, 2015, 08:02:59 pmstuff like that goes to the same place were lost socks go.

author: Deathwish
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 02:31:20 am
content: Quote from: free_electron on September 10, 2015, 02:11:42 amahh ha !, time to dismantle the washing machine drum then

author: RJFreeman
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 03:25:26 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on September 09, 2015, 01:17:40 pmYeah, I have found that's the problem, when I just dump stuff somewhere without thinking about it, then it is somewhere that evidently makes sense, and I can usually find it again with (relatively) minimal trouble. but when I stop and think about where to put something safely, so I can supposedly find it again, that's when I forget where I put it, and it goes missing.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 05:49:21 am
content: I bought new bolts. No sign of the old ones yet. They are biding their time, waiting for the moment of maximum irony and ignominy.Eyeglasses and tape measures are the other prime culprits for going missing. Only a few years ago I started needing glasses for reading and close work. It should have been easy enough to get in the habit of not losing them, but no. There've been some classic stupid glasses misplacements around here. Luckily I only need cheap '2 dollar shop" x1.5 glasses (or x3 for really fine work), so I eventually just bought a bundle of them. Leave them lying around where ever I might need glasses. This works quite well.After that victory over absentmindedness, I tried the same thing with tape measures. Bought a pile of them, leave them lying around everywhere. Also works well. Except for the time I couldn't find one anywhere. Finally opened the big 'misc tools' case (a drawer of a filing cabinet), and there they ALL are. I had no memory at all of tidying them all up or any idea why I might have done it. But I'm the only one with a key to the workshop. It's scary.

author: SL4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 10:02:11 am
content: 1) back in the same holes2) in a tough. plastic bag, taped to the bundle of legs etc- the only problem I have is matching which legs to the rest of the bench(es) !!

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 10:50:44 am
content: So did you disassemble or stored something else at almost exactly the same time ?Good chance the box that contains that stuff could contain your bolts.But I unfortunately do recognize this problem, you bought parts for a project in March, some parts were delayed so you store them. Then in June you get the last parts, it is summer and holiday so the project is postponed. Then in september/october you find the parts from June but can not find some parts of MarchAfter a two day freetime search you order them again.Luckily you can get the bolts new, I sometimes need some parts that can not be ordered new again so it has to wait till I find them.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 05:02:42 pm
content: Quote from: Kjelt on September 10, 2015, 10:50:44 amHa ha, yes, about half the room. It was during this:http://everist.org/NobLog/20131021_Logic_Analyzer_furnace.htmMy memory isn't the only non-optimal thing around here. As part of the reorganization I'm putting in some shelves above where the old bench will sit. My 'mechanical workshop' (makes finger quote signs in air) is a very, very old and simple single car fibro garage. Probably built around 1930. When putting reinforcing steel in concrete slabs was a luxury they often skipped. In fact they also skipped the effort of leveling the ground before the pour too, so the concrete thickness varies from about 4" at one end, to 8" at the other end. And no foundations, so there are tree roots playing crunchy biscuits with the pathetic weak slab.Anyway, this end of the shed now slopes quite a bit. In first pic the white horizontal string line is where one of the shelves will be. The line is level. At the left end, in 2nd pic. the red line is where 'level' ought to be according to the shed frame. A bit over 2cm out. (Vertical green line is some masking tape for markout.)So, do I make the shelf level (and it will be visibly out of line with the building structure), or lined up with the building (probably won't be storing anything on it that can roll), or a compromise somewhere between?I hate these kind of shitty no-win situations.Good thing is, I may not have to live with this broken-down old shed too much longer. Otoh, I may not get to enjoy it too much longer. Depends how things turn out.

author: crusader66
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2015, 08:30:18 pm
content: I recently had a little zip lock bag of diodes. I decided I would tape them to the shelf above the bench. Surely I won't lose them when they are hanging in front of my face? For the next three boards I had to assemble, I could not find the diodes. Last week, which was probably 6 months after I put them in such an obvious location, while looking for something else in my deathtrap of a shop, I found the diodes.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2015, 08:39:14 am
content: Found them! Yes, with both irony and ignominy aplenty.This is all part of a space allocation improvement. Moved some junk out of the mech workshop room, reassemble that table in the freed-up space, and put up some shelves on the wall above it. Which then allows me to move some 'mechanical' stuff out of my electronics area, into the mech workshop room where it belongs. Among other things my stock of nuts and bolts. Some of which is in parts drawers, and some in original boxes from suppliers.With the shelves up now, I was sorting out boxes of fasteners while hunting for the boxes of bits I need for construction of a stand for a big sheet metal working machine. Discovered that for some reason back in 2013 I thought putting the bolts from the table in a box labeled "M10 socket head cap screws" was a good idea and I'd remember that actually meant "1/4 inch cup head bolts from the table." There's the ignominy.The irony was in opening that box on the table for which I needed them last week. Much too late.That's one mystery solved today, but with another one taking its place. The missing roller castors.The stand to support the sheet metal folder needs four very heavy duty castor wheels. Only for moving it around, normally it will sit on screw-down posts so it doesn't move.I have two 19" equipment racks of the same kind, by HewlettPackard aka whatever their name is today. Each one had two really solid castor wheels, that I removed. The wheels are permanently part of a uselessly custom metal bracket, but with the most recent pair it occurred to me to just cut the useful part out of the bracket. So I had those two in my box of roller wheels, and if I had another two they'd do fine for the metal folder stand.But can I find what I did with the two from the earlier rack? I'm pretty certain I didn't throw them out.Don't want to wait till they turn up, so today bought 4 new castor wheels. The missing pair will turn up soon after I finish the folder stand.Apart from those annoyances, this project is going well. It's having a lot of those little 'karmic thumbs-up' events that make one feel good. For instance:* While buying some stuff for the folder stand at a place in my nearby industrial area, asked the guy if he knew where locally to get heavy duty castor wheels (Bunnings ones are so-so.) Turns out there's a great place that specializes in industrial castors just around the corner - Style Steel, 23 Fitzpatrick St Revesby. I did not expect it to be that easy.* The old table turned out to be a PERFECT fit between the existing stuff and the end wall. Part of the row is a wooden base for a couple of bench sander-polishers, and I think I may have worked out the length of that to fit the future bench, a couple of years ago. If so, yay me for getting it right. Moving other things around would have been a huge amount of extra work.* Buying the main steel beam to make the folder stand base, I needed a bit under 3m so asked for 3m at the steel supplier. This means cutting it from the usually 7m long sections. 100mm x 50 x 3mm wall rectangular section, is $18.83 a meter. Buying a full length is overkill and anyway I can't transport it on my car roof racks. (Well I _can_ but it's not legal on the road.)So I'm there in the warehouse, and the guy pulls a length off the rack, and carries it over to the cutting machine. I think hmmm... that's not a full length, it's a bit over 5m. The cutting fee is $7.60. They'll be left with a barely salable 2m offcut. So I asked if I could just take it as is, for the same price. They agreed. Juuust short enough that they'd say OK, and also juuuust short enough that the warehouse guy would look the other way while I put it on the roofrack. Should really have brought the bumper bar bolt-on front support to be legal. But it's a short drive and back streets all the way.Wheee... free steel, due to luck that they had a piece that size.* Also at the steel supplier, when paying in cash the bill was $68.30. Turned out I had exactly $8.30 in coins in my wallet. I love it when stuff like that happens.

author: codeboy2k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2015, 09:03:18 am
content: Colonel Mustard, in the library, with the lead pipe?

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2015, 09:30:14 am
content: Quote from: codeboy2k on September 18, 2015, 09:03:18 amFor once google leaves me even more mystified. What do you mean?

author: Kjelt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2015, 09:40:47 am
content: I think he means Cluedo boardgame, aka Clue.But the nice thing about misplacing/loosing something is you can purchase new shiny goodies

author: codeboy2k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2015, 09:53:11 am
content: yep, fun Clue reference... because it was a mystery

author: Len
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2015, 03:26:12 pm
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on September 18, 2015, 08:39:14 amDid you look in the tins labeled "Plastic Couch Feet"?https://youtu.be/qY4RIWjXfQg?t=8m47s

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2015, 05:55:59 pm
content: Let me guess, you have a lot of cans of that blue around. I bought 2 cases 2 years ago, along with 2 cases of silver. Still got blue, but used all the silver, so went and bought cans of grey primer ( which is gloss and not matt, basically grey paint) instead. Now the AC units will be grey after the service. currently they are being well washed in the rain, will go up on the roof next week to cover the rust on those up there, then have to haul up the long extension ladder on a rope to get in the air wells for the others. 3 I am not touching, they are basically scrapped but still there till they rust to bits, which will probably be this year for the one, the other is used once a year when the office/archive has people in it for a week. Third one will be bricked up when I remove it, it has rusted to bits.

author: C
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2015, 11:17:06 pm
content: You all are talking about the wrong way,What about having parts remainingThe bolt that holds one of the main bearing caps for the crankshaft.A rod nut that holds on a rod cap.for a car engine you just rebuilt.Those are so important the engine was probably still out of car.The extra flywheel bolt?The extra bolt box can be good or bad.And does not need the big "A" to cause problems.C

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 18, 2015, 11:17:11 pm
content: Quote from: Len on September 18, 2015, 03:26:12 pmHa ha... yes I looked in the storage cube labeled "feet". Knew they would not be there as they are too big. The two I did find were in a box of brand new, in-shrinkwrap castors for planned additions to a test setup in the middle of my electronics area. But those ones are all too light-duty for this use.Sigh... the two missing ones are probably in a storage shed under a mound of stuff that's not yet on shelves due to the shelves not being built yet. At the time I didn't think I'd ever get two more the same.QuoteWow, Dave being *really* annoying. OK, so the seller had OCD. But since I don't know if he also had a workshop and ever actually used any of that stuff, I have no idea if there was a point to that collection. Even if not, it was the guy's hobby and he liked doing it. I find Dave's attitude pretty disrespectful and snide. Also a case of someone griping about an ebay purchase in which they got exactly what they should have expected. I'd just have been going through the collection with interest, binning some, and being very happy about a few of them. That tin of mixed size washers for instance.Personally, I consider the extent to which people salvage and save stuff tends to reflect their economic circumstances. If they are accustomed to never having enough money to buy materials they need to do the things they want, and they have the space for storage, then keeping odds and ends seems perfectly reasonable.If you can always afford to buy whatever you need, then storage makes a lot less sense. Dave was judging someone else's actions in the context of his own well-off circumstances. While just the fact that the guy used cheap/free containers (coffee tins and takeaway food containers) suggests he was very financially limited.Of course there's a spectrum of practicality, and one has to keep tabs on the hoarding getting out of hand. It may have been out of hand with that guy, but I don't know his age & health status so couldn't say for sure. Still made more sense than collecting stamps, teaspoons, cars or animal heads on a wall. He didn't deserve to have his lifetime hobby ridiculed like that.Quote from: SeanB on September 18, 2015, 05:55:59 pmTook me a moment to figure out what you talking about. Oh! You mean the blue beam? No, I didn't paint that (yet.) That's just the rust-inhibitor undercoat that the steel comes with. Once the stand is built it will get a couple of coats of a deep blue enamel. Which I think I am out of, so will need a new tin. I try to only buy paint as needed, it's a pain to store. (Despite that, still have a cupboard full of paint tins.)

author: elex_enthusiast
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2015, 01:31:56 pm
content: QuoteYeah sad but true. I can sympathize. Not everyone has the opportunity to buy whatever they need in order to do whatever they want. I really appreciate how the guy organized every bits of things. With that video, I got an idea how to organize mine more economically. It is much cheaper to buy cheap containers than spending on expensive drawers that cost a lot here in our country. And beside those cheap containers have a lot more space than those expensive component bins.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2015, 01:34:55 pm
content: Turn the cans so the lid is at the bottom, that way the solid layer will be at the bottom when you need it. Did a clean out of paint a while ago, some cans were basically solid blocks of resin. I did use the undercoat though, even though it was a little thick, but as it was being used outdoors I really did not care about the lumpy finish.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 20, 2015, 02:30:25 pm
content: Quote from: elex_enthusiast on September 19, 2015, 01:31:56 pmIn my teens and early 20s I was extremely poor by Ozzie standards. When I was 17 my girlfriend's mum had collected a garbage bag full of matchboxes. The good solid wooden kind. Pretty sure it was her lifetime's collection. She gave them to me. For many years after (till my late 30s I think) my entire IC collection was in matchboxes. Stacked end-up in some old computer punch card boxes I still had from Uni. It was actually a pretty good system, with labels stuck on the ends of the matchbox 'drawers'.I still have some of those matchboxes, 43 years later.The rest of my storage system was large ice cream tubs, and cardboard fruit boxes. All zero cost.These days it's mostly plastic storage cubes (of which no more are available, f*ck you very much Bunnings) and parts drawers (mostly obtained as free salvage.) Oh, and metal filing cabinets, also mostly free.Quote from: SeanB on September 19, 2015, 01:34:55 pmPaint tips time!Don't you have a paint stirrer for your drill? Add some thinners (or turps) then high speed blend. Oil based paints have to be very far gone before they're unrecoverable. I find it makes a big difference to use a brush to clean out the lid groove as soon as you get paint in it. Once any paint hardens in there you can forget about hermetic sealing. Any skin on old paint, cut around the edge with a knife then scoop it out in one piece.Water based paints - I usually don't even try to store. They rust through the tins.If you're using a roller and tray, and the job will take a few days or for gaps between coats, it's not necessary to clean the roller and tray in between. Just wrap it all up in plastic bags - shopping bags if they'll fit. Tie each one off reasonably airtight, then add another layer. I usually put three layers. Water based paint on the roller will stay wet for days. Oil based a bit less, since the solvents diffuse through the plastic bags. But you can pour a little turps in to compensate.

author: Deathwish
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: September 20, 2015, 02:42:43 pm
content: Simple rule of thumb here .If you have a partner blame them.If your single, blame the borrowers.if your old blame both the above, never admit to being forgetful unless its a birthday or such. Then get a lawyer to protect you from the above #1 putting you in a care home.If none of the above work and you find yourself being carted of in a white coat and big van, start screaming I know my rights, I plead the fifth, I am innocent.

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 20, 2015, 02:52:13 pm
content: Quote from: Deathwish on September 20, 2015, 02:42:43 pmHa ha, your rule of thumb is not applicable to me. I am neither single or married. Some kind of Shrodinger's indeterminate state in between. It's a long and bizarre story, that I don't wish to detail here. And lawyers are no help.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 20, 2015, 07:30:47 pm
content: Tip for metal cans is to use a small punch to pop a hole through the top groove so any paint that is in there can drain back into the tin. Still will seal hermetically, just gets excess paint back inside easily.Stirrer I do have, but often I just take the can to my local hardware store, go to the paint section and give it a 5 minute shake rattle and roll in the paint mixer they have. worked a lot better when I was painting floors with epoxy paint, as I ordered it from them, and on the Saturday I was doing it I simply did 1 tin by hand, gave it to Joseph the painter with some quick instructions then took the shopping trolley off to mix up 10 5l tins. Had 3 hours till gel, so was able to get all of it done before I was going to worry. Application was to open lid, pour on floor then use a roller on the end of a broom handle to work from the corners to the door, then down the corridor and finish off in another room. I used all 11 cans before they started to gel, then finished off by throwing the rollers and empty cans into the bin and leaving. B%gger the 2 coats, just one thick one, self levelling in spots.

author: sunnyhighway
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 20, 2015, 08:17:51 pm
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on September 20, 2015, 02:30:25 pmWhen using turpentine soluble alkyd paint you can wrap your paint-roller in plastic and put it in the freezer. The paint-roller stays good for months.Move it from the freezer to the fridge the day before reuse and you are good to go.

author: Dave Turner
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 20, 2015, 08:49:51 pm
content: As with anything they'll be in the last place you look; either that or you'll buy replacements and then they'll be the first thing you find when looking for something else.Sod, Murphy etc. have laws about this!