Everyone knows about Athearn worm housings don't they? Keep a hold of it when removing? Or ping. Well, I'm fiddling with one of my loco's when that did happen. I was in the lounge at the time and we have a deep pile grey carpet.Easy enough to find a lump that size I thought. No. I searched high and low for a good 1/2 hr to no avail. So I went get myself a coffee and, as I passed the dog, I gave him a stroke down his back. There,caught in his fur, was the worm housing. Grrrrrrr. I don't know how it got there as he was about 8 feet from me.
I considered seriously to sit down on the floor to do the locomotive detailing. Would be the natural place to be close to the parts....
The real truth is , parts disappear into thin air ....true story ! When I was building my Hulett ore unloader several years ago I had rivets to install ....1500 holes to drill and 1500 Tichy rivets to push into the .074 holes ......there are probably 50 rivets in the carpet and I have not seen ONE since back then . Poof !!
teejay Wrote:The real truth is , parts disappear into thin air ....true story ! When I was building my Hulett ore unloader several years ago I had rivets to install ....1500 holes to drill and 1500 Tichy rivets to push into the .074 holes ......there are probably 50 rivets in the carpet and I have not seen ONE since back then . Poof !!
:mrgreen: Try removing the carpet......it's probably riveted to the floor....50 times.....in one small area ! :mrgreen:
Seriously though, I recently bought a new Eureka canister vacuum. Now when I lose a small part, I empty the canister, clean it out, and then vacuum the carpet. I do retrieve about 70% of dropped,tiny, parts that way. Rivets, ring bolts, even some of the shackles I make from fine wire, for the rigging of the sail powered craft, that will go on the modules. Yeah, it's not perfect, but
I can live with a 70% recovery rate.
I have a built in vacuum, hard to clean out. So I just put a piece of cotton cloth over the end of the hose, tuck it in a bit and wrap my hand around the hose to hold the cloth and wave it across the carpet. With a little persistence I can usually retrieve all lost parts. Once in a while one will walk away on the cat or the dog or just vaporize into thin air to never be seen again.
Run a shop vac over the carpet with a piece of pantyhose covering the suction opening.
MountainMan Wrote:Run a shop vac over the carpet with a piece of pantyhose covering the suction opening.
Good idea, but only if your married or living with a significant other of the female persuasion who wears pantihose, otherwise things could begin to get awkward.
Mind you we face the same problem at work if we want to strain paint or cover the end of a vacuum, so sometimes we have to ask some of the ladies at work very delicately.
Mark
Mr Fixit Wrote:MountainMan Wrote:Run a shop vac over the carpet with a piece of pantyhose covering the suction opening.
Good idea, but only if your married or living with a significant other of the female persuasion who wears pantihose, otherwise things could begin to get awkward.
Mind you we face the same problem at work if we want to strain paint or cover the end of a vacuum, so sometimes we have to ask some of the ladies at work very delicately.
Mark
You're kidding. I just tell them the truth...I use the fabric in miniature modelling.