Saturday, July 21, 2012
Helpful Hint of the Day
If you have a small, easily lost tool in a dark, hard to see color -- such as the tiny allen wrenches that come with lasers for adjusting the elevation and windage --before you put them in a tool box where they will gravitate towards a dark corner and be lost forever, take a moment to acquire some nail polish in a bright color such as mirror shine or shocking pink and paint the body of the tool. (If you are worried about precision fit, you may leave the working part of the tool unpainted.) This will dramatically increase your chances of finding that dark, tiny tool in whatever crevices it manages to lodge itself. It also makes it easy to find on the floor should you accidentally drop it.
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Clever!
ReplyDeleteMyself, I'd go with "dayglo", "blaze", "safety" orange.
Do they make paint in that color? If so, go for it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a rather good idea. I have some white acrylic paint that could do a temp job.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing is use the power of *magnets*! But that only works for steel parts. I suppose you could attach little fobs.
Brilliant! And doubly so, for its simplicity and obviousness. Good job!
ReplyDeleteExcellent idea. May I recommend a stripe pattern for good contrast as well?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I know that our local (Philippine) military (which has no budget for more expensive solutions) uses nail polish to create lines across screws and bolts on military vehicles in order to keep track of any pieces that have become loose due to vibration and motion..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dayglostore.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=134
But I think you might prefer this...
http://www.dayglostore.com/catalog_item.asp?itemNbr=132
I have some of those small plastic containers with drawers that they make for organizing desk that I keep all of my small gun tools in. Of course, it helps to have a chunk of space in my living room that I dedicate to 'gun stuff.'
ReplyDeleteOooh, clever! I'll have to try that.
ReplyDeleteI like it! Of course, that assumes I actually attempt to put it away in the first place.
ReplyDeleteFoam and magnets and ziplock bags are great for storage, but what
ReplyDeletehappens if you fumble-finger the tiny tool and it falls onto a dark
carpet? That happened to me more than once.
Be aware that if you have expensive precision allen wrenches and are using expensive precision fasteners, a layer of paint will make using your tools VERY frustrating.
ReplyDeleteWhich is why I stated that you should leave the working part of the tool unpainted and only paint the shaft. ;)
ReplyDeleteHeheh Hehe. You said paint the shaft. That was cool /beavis.
ReplyDeleteI have also had luck with tying a piece of day glo orange or pink surveyors thread around little allen wrenches- it not only makes them a bt easier to find, but makes them easier to pick up too.
That's when you take your flashlight and lay it on floor and look for shadows from the missing item.
ReplyDelete