"Chairman Kaga" (mike-mckinnon)
11/19/2015 at 18:02 • Filed to: None
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"Chairman Kaga" (mike-mckinnon)
11/19/2015 at 18:02 • Filed to: None | 3
| 13 |
I was chatting with a neighbor who also spends his weekends banging on rusty iron, and we were both complaining about how being desk jockeys during the week has given us slight carpal tunnel, resulting in reduced grip on small, light things like wrenches, nuts and bolts.
So anyway I mentioned that I keep a sheet of 4x6 plywood under the area where I’m working so that when I drop a tool or a nut or whatever, I can usually just pull the plywood out and pick up whatever I dropped without spending 15 minutes scrounging through the leaves and other crud that accumulates under a project.
Dude’s eyes lit up like he’d finally understood the ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey. He told another neighbor who’s into Saabs (he has a SAAB 96) and he had a similar reaction.
Seriously. Does everyone do this? I figured it was just a thing. If not, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re a butterfingers like me.
crowmolly
> Chairman Kaga
11/19/2015 at 18:08 |
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Not plywood but I’ll use a tarp. And keep a strong telescopic magnet handy.
Where did that distributor spring go? SHIT.
Sam
> Chairman Kaga
11/19/2015 at 18:12 |
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Cardboard here. My dad always uses it to lay on the driveway and not get covered in rocks and ants.
davedave1111
> Sam
11/19/2015 at 18:19 |
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Yeah, I like cardboard too. Bit of cushioning when you lie on it, and it soaks up drips.
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davedave1111
> Chairman Kaga
11/19/2015 at 18:21 |
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I want one of these.
ttyymmnn
> Chairman Kaga
11/19/2015 at 18:38 |
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I’ve never heard of that trick, but it makes a hell of a lot of sense.
desertdog5051
> davedave1111
11/19/2015 at 19:09 |
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Lowe’s has a non-wheeled one for $15. You can push or pull it depending on what surface you are on. I use mine a lot. Everything that falls off the bench either goes under the bench or under the car.
Except for that titanium washer that lands on its side and bounces across the garage into the twilight zone.
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davedave1111
> desertdog5051
11/19/2015 at 19:15 |
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It’s not the price that puts me off, just that it’s a long way down a long list of things I’d rather a) buy and b) find somewhere to keep.
BobintheMtns
> Chairman Kaga
11/19/2015 at 19:55 |
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Yeah, I’d always wrench on my motorbikes on a gravel driveway... where if you dropped that screw/spring/nut/anything smaller than a head cover, you’d spend the next 45 minutes trying to figure out a work-around cuz it was gone.... Then started to place an old white bedsheet down where I’d work and life got a LOT easier....
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Sam
> davedave1111
11/19/2015 at 21:35 |
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He also uses a foam sleeping bag mat on top of the cardboard, for extra cushion.
BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires
> Chairman Kaga
11/20/2015 at 05:30 |
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Mind. Blown.
At the moment due to lack of garage space most of my non-Spitfire work (and there’s been a lot of it recently) is being done on a surface of loose road planings (the bits that you scrape up when you resurface a road). Consequently, if you drop a little bolt or nut it’s a 50/50 chance that you’ll never see it again.
I’ve lost a wheelbolt on that surface. A wheelbolt. Those are huge.
Oh, how's the Alfa going? Can't remember if you'd sold it in the end (I know a while ago you were umming and arring about it...).
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Chairman Kaga
> davedave1111
11/20/2015 at 10:31 |
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Looks like something you could make for $10. A pair of old lawnmower wheels, a 2x4, a strip of metal with a neodymium magnet embedded underneath in the wood to magnetize it, a broom handle.
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davedave1111
> Chairman Kaga
11/20/2015 at 16:42 |
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Yeah, that’s about what they cost. Little bit more, maybe.
H4N5 GRU83R
> Chairman Kaga
11/25/2015 at 10:20 |
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I usually keep a small sheet of plywood under the car I am working on because they are always pieces of junk that leak oil and I get tired of wiping the ground until I get to fixing the leak.