Topic: Don't loose another screw/bolt/

[Magpie]

I take screws and bolts out of cases and forget which one goes where - it drives me crazy. So, then I take a piece of cardboard, try to draw a reasonble picture of what I'm working on and poke holes where the screws go and stick them in the cardboard. It's still not that great. Why not take a digital picture, print it on some heavy stock and poke the screws in their picture perfect spot? I'm sure you guys are way ahead of me on this one but there may be someone out there like me, just learning. It seems to work well.
Cheers,
Cliff.
 

[CrisPDuk]

I don't find that very fun.....it takes time that is better spent doing other things. I like Magpie's idea a whole bunch better (just a mechanic's opinion).

for many years I never found it a problem, I am one of those people blessed (or cursed?) with an almost photographic memory, I never had a problem identifying parts from my variuos cars, or putting them back in the right order.

Unfortunately as I get older I'm finding the memory isn't what I remember it being So recently I've tended toward the Magpie way of thinking

I'm still OK wth my cars, I've had them for so long, I'm almost at US Marine stage with them, where I can strip and reassemble them blindfold.
But new stuff, I photograph everything before I start on it, and I label everything if there is going to be a delay before it goes back together.



My old foreman, back when I was an apprentice engineer, was a budding artist. He decided to paint a watercolour illustration of every stage during the stripdown and reassembly of his Rover P5. The restoration took him over 12 years as a result

The build record he ended up with however, is to this day one of the most stunning pieces of work I personally have ever seen

[burmashave]

Gosh, I thought everyone did what I do.  Whenever possible, I screw the fasteners back in after I've gotten the cover, etc. off (especially when something is gong to be apart for some time).  When I can't do this, I have a special place (where it won't get kicked) near the work area where I carefully lay the fasteners in a pattern that will allow me to put the equipment back together.  Sometimes this is a pattern (like for the covers) that allows me to arrange the screws back on the cover.  Other times, the I arrange the fasteners in groups so that I know which order they go back in.  I think I'm too impatient to take digital pictures.

[736cc]

Honda parts book has exploded diagrams of every part along w/ dimensions of each screw, bolt and washer. Just use a metric ruler and mutter: "uh-huh"

[DammitDan]

I either take the extra couple of seconds to put the bolt/screw back into it's place, or just leave them in the holes on the piece I'm removing so they "hang loose"

When it came to head bolts, I laid them all out and taped them onto a piece of cardboard like this:   L  ! ¡ ! ¡ ! ¡ ! ¡ ! ¡  R

The ones facing back to front (head to thread) were the back ones, and the ones facing front to back (thread to head) were the front ones 

Worked well enough until I got everything put back together 3 months later.

[Jonesy]

I like to take digital pics, especially if I'm working on something of interest to the larger group here, so I can share my experience and hopefully help others.

But, when I get into what I'm doing, I don't like stopping and I hate to fumble around with a new digital camera with oily, grimy hands!

[Bob Wessner]

Dan,

One possibility is troll eBay for an older digital to keep in the garage just for this. I have 3 now, a fairly nice pocketable Canon and Nikone digital. The Kodak is quite old by current standards, a rip roaring 2 meg . I use it just for stuff like that and the 2 meg limit is more than adequate for web posting. You could probably find something similar pretty cheap. Oh, it has fairly large, easy to use controls. I keep it in a plastic bag with just the lens sticking out. You can still hit the shutter button through the plastic, grubby hands and all.

[medic09]

Dan,

One possibility is troll eBay for an older digital to keep in the garage just for this. I have 3 now, a fairly nice pocketable Canon and Nikone digital. The Kodak is quite old by current standards, a rip roaring 2 meg . I use it just for stuff like that and the 2 meg limit is more than adequate for web posting. You could probably find something similar pretty cheap. Oh, it has fairly large, easy to use controls. I keep it in a plastic bag with just the lens sticking out. You can still hit the shutter button through the plastic, grubby hands and all.

I do like Bob.  I don't even protect the camera.  The I put the photos in my laptop (THAT I try to protect a bit more, though it's six years old too) so I can look while I work.  But my Kodak is more modern - a whopping 2.2 megapixels!

And shouldn't the title here be spelled LOSE not LOOSE?

[jabbadeznuts]

I put all the bolts from each assembly into their own separate, labeled, zip-lock bags. Works like a charm

[Pwfyrcat1]

If I think the screws/nuts/bolts are going to be off for a while, I'm like jabba and put them in zippy bags and label them.  In the short term, I will remove the part, and put the screws back in.

[dpen]

we were taught the original idea as apprentices in the early 70s

the side of a beer carton with some holes punched in it was perfect for keeping pushrods etc in the order in which they came out.