Is there a law .....?

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RichB

RichB

CherryCuda65
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So I worked for hours making a part for my throttle linkage mount. I was holding it with pliers and sanding it on a belt sander to finish it up when it flew away. Do you think I could find it? No!
This has happened before, working with grinders, wire brush wheels, and compressed air nozzles.
There must be a law that says that this will happen. What's the law?
 
I guess attaching a string to the part would help. Or paint it red to begin with :lol:
 
It's in the same section that describes how a part dropped near a car will roll underneath to the center line.

I'd start looking under what ever is at the far end of the shop, or the smallest gap/nook/cranny anywhere in the potential flight path or anywhere in an "arc and slide" trajectory.

I once dropped a guitar pick (the only one I had on me), felt it hit the top of my shoe and then bounce.

I looked for an hour and moved literally everything in the room.

After driving home to get another one and back to play- at the end of the day when I removed my shoe...there it was.

It must have bounced straight up and came down in a perfectly vertical orientation to slip between my shoe and foot without me feeling it, and stayed right there, again without me feeling it.
 
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Had to change a ballast in a T8 fixture at work last night. About 25ft up on scissor lift. I usually try to get the lift under what I am working on so it can catch anything that falls (usually just wire insulation I strip off or an occasional wire nut.
Where this light was located,, best I could do is get close along side of it. Only one screw in it that holds the ballast. Of course I dropped it. Watched it do Plinko off a couple things on the way down. Thought I knew pretty close where it was. Nope. Found 6 other screws, but not the one I dropped. LOL
 
The rule of thumb is that you won't find it until it's absolutely certain that you never, ever, need it again.
 
The wife took the kids out to the museum a few weeks ago, and while there she lost her phone
So once she came back, I went online to track it, and lo and behold, the map shows it is in the museum parking garage
So we drive out there, and as I'm pulling up to the garage, I look at the map and see the elevator tower on the side of it, and I knew, it has to be in the elevator

Turned out I was close, it was UNDER the elevator
She figured the phone was on the stroller and fell of as she entered the elevator

Have you ever seen the gap between an elevator and the tunnel?
Do you know how hard it would be to intentionally drop a phone down that gap?

It made it's way down there though, and since the tower had windows in it, I could see the phone laying on the bottom as the elevator went up

We had to call security who had the call the city who had to call the company that does the maintenance on the elevators to come out and get it
 
RichB said:
So I worked for hours making a part for my throttle linkage mount. I was holding it with pliers and sanding it on a belt sander to finish it up when it flew away. Do you think I could find it? No!
This has happened before, working with grinders, wire brush wheels, and compressed air nozzles.
There must be a law that says that this will happen. What's the law?
Click to expand...

How about buying something an a short while later find the same item at a much lower price!
 
diymirage said:
The wife took the kids out to the museum a few weeks ago, and while there she lost her phone
So once she came back, I went online to track it, and lo and behold, the map shows it is in the museum parking garage
So we drive out there, and as I'm pulling up to the garage, I look at the map and see the elevator tower on the side of it, and I knew, it has to be in the elevator

Turned out I was close, it was UNDER the elevator
She figured the phone was on the stroller and fell of as she entered the elevator

Have you ever seen the gap between an elevator and the tunnel?
Do you know how hard it would be to intentionally drop a phone down that gap?

It made it's way down there though, and since the tower had windows in it, I could see the phone laying on the bottom as the elevator went up

We had to call security who had the call the city who had to call the company that does the maintenance on the elevators to come out and get it
Click to expand...
If I was the maintenance guy, I would have told you 'really sorry about your phone..." :poke:lol
 
69FBCuda said:
How about buying something an a short while later find the same item at a much lower price!
Click to expand...
That would be almost everything I have bought. :BangHead: I just don't even look at prices after I get something any more.
 
RichB said:
So I worked for hours making a part for my throttle linkage mount. I was holding it with pliers and sanding it on a belt sander to finish it up when it flew away. Do you think I could find it? No!
This has happened before, working with grinders, wire brush wheels, and compressed air nozzles.
There must be a law that says that this will happen. What's the law?
Click to expand...

The "Law" is that those kinds of tools suck your thumb knuckle in and take the skin off down to the bone, so maybe you are lucky and don't realize it.:D
 
Don't EVER drop a second piece with the idea of seeing where/how far it could go.
Shoes, cuffs, pockets...
I once found a bolt a block away that I dropped under the hood and gave up on.


Alan
 
Mark Wainwright said:
Hi Mike. How you doing my friend? Haven't dropped in for a while. Keep warm.
Click to expand...
Doing fine my friend, it has been a while ! Victoria and I are doing good, finally have a shop here on the hill 40X36 with 12 foot ceilings

000029.jpg
 
I was in a scavenger hunt once and one of the objects was a foreign coin.

I knew my mom had one, but it was my partner's turn to retrieve the object, while I drove.

We were in his car, a somewhat vintage mercedes being restored and without carpet...don't know why but he decided to throw the coin while I changed sides to be the passenger. It went between my hands and into the car. I watched it hit the floor board on top of a "hat shaped" unibody brace, and slide down the length perfectly parallel (despite the odd angle it struck at) until it found a hole that was exactly 1/32" larger than the coin, fall in and continue sliding.

It took 35 minutes, a coat hanger, a ball of tape, and a pair of tweezers to retrieve that coin.

We came in second.

Interestingly the first item was prize from a claw machine.

I got it on the first try after never having been successful on those for my entire life.
 
Good input.
To summarize the law:
When a part launches away from your power tool, or grasp, it will find the most unlikely and inaccessable spot to hide in.
You will not find that part until you no longer need it.
 
I still haven't found that part, although I have searched some more for it. I have named it the Little Bastard. I have since worked around it and no longer need it so it can now come out of hiding.
 
Know what you mean......
Wirebrushing small tapered screw, flew of visegrips to ground beneath me.
Searched 1/2 hour no luck. Went to 3 hardware stores to finally find one to work.
Went in house for dinner, took workboots off, noticed something caught in between tread on boots.......LOL!...WTF!.... Really?
 
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