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http://www.shopsmith.com/ss_forum/commu ... ml#p248897

This thread from Ed reminded me an incident I had finding a dropped item. I was working as an aircraft electrician on the F-16 line at the depot on Hill AFB. This was in 2000-2001. We were doing the night vision lighting upgrade on the F-16. It involved extensive rewiring of the aircraft lighting system (both internal and external) to install very low level LED lighting so the pilot could see with a night vision helmet on.

Anyhow, I was working in the cockpit. The cockpit was totally stripped, all the electronic boxes and the seat were removed so we could run the new wiring. I was installing a wiring harness clamp in the right console and dropped the nut. The console is empty but there are still lots of wiring harnesses and disconnected Cannon plugs all over the place. I looked for that nut for almost an hour and could not find it. Not finding it was/is not an option. It must be found.

So I took a break. About 15 minutes later I climbed back in the cockpit to continue looking. I looked down into the console and within 30 seconds I saw the nut at the very bottom of the console on top of one of the ribs in plain sight. Go figure!

It's always in the last place you look.

I wonder why that is????.?????.?

Because when you find it you stop looking!

mountainbreeze wrote:Because when you find it you stop looking!

But then it is time to start looking for whatever you were carrying when you began the search, and put down somewhere along the way.

My older brother was an aircraft mechanic and top gunner on a TBM during WWII in the Pacific. He got back in one piece physically.

Here's what he told me how to find dropped parts. It works most (many) times.
when you drop a small part, stay still as much as possible and knowingly drop another like piece from the same location, it will probably land near the origional

charlese wrote:My older brother was an aircraft mechanic and top gunner on a TBM during WWII in the Pacific. He got back in one piece physically.

Here's what he told me how to find dropped parts. It works most (many) times.
when you drop a small part, stay still as much as possible and knowingly drop another like piece from the same location, it will probably land near the origional

Interesting concept. Unfortunately, if it only works 'most (many)' of the times then you have two parts to find.

jsburger wrote:

charlese wrote:My older brother was an aircraft mechanic and top gunner on a TBM during WWII in the Pacific. He got back in one piece physically.

Here's what he told me how to find dropped parts. It works most (many) times.
when you drop a small part, stay still as much as possible and knowingly drop another like piece from the same location, it will probably land near the origional

Interesting concept. Unfortunately, if it only works 'most (many)' of the times then you have two parts to find.

Doubt that works with ball bearings. (the loose kind) Stuff that rolls will wander.

jsburger wrote: Interesting concept. Unfortunately, if it only works 'most (many)' of the times then you have two parts to find.

This process can be scary if you don't have non-valuable parts to purposely drop. But I have found that another item of similar size will sometimes help.
Also should mention this process sometimes takes multiple drops. It is the first bounce that tells a lot toward the wanted location.

ESPECIALLY WITH BALL BEARINGS .

Y'all are assuming a floor free of other stuff. Ya know stuff like saw dust and other detrius.