He 'd ask Riza and Ed if either of them knew the significance of the item , but it was obvious , more so than others that it was important . Once Al was satisfied he had all the parts that could be found - and there were a number that could not , he tucked them away to work on later . It was n't completely unsalvageable , and for how cold he behaved to Roy at times in the past , he felt that it was probably due for him to do something for Roy .

Question: Why did Al tuck the parts away so he could work on them later ?
Answer: He wants to be able to give the project his full attention once he has all the partsHe wants to build a seperate machine in private , away from view of the othersAt present he is too drunk to do quality work , so he will wait until he is able toIn reality , he is stealing the parts , and he is only pretending to want to work on them