As somebody with an eternally messy office, I have learned to be extremely careful with irreplaceable parts while sitting at it. Not because the irreplacable parts are fragile, just because finding anything dropped is an exciting challenge all by itself.

Yeah, if you lost a part then you'd be screwed...

"Damn, I lost this very specific hard-to-replace screw"

- "Where is it? I'll help you look for it"

- "Somewhere in that pile of very specific hard-to-replace screws"

"As somebody with an eternally messy office"

A friend once told me the following story:

"I went to visit a colleague in his paper-strewn office. His phone rang - and he couldn't find it under all the paperwork. Apparently the Health & Safety department later condemned his office as a fire hazard."

"As somebody with an eternally messy office"

Are we twins, separated at birth?

I think we may in fact be triplets!

Quads, at least.

Let's just say that I've always felt an affinity to this line of the personality characteristics of J. Random Hacker from the jargon files.

"Accordingly, they tend to be careful and orderly in their intellectual lives and chaotic elsewhere. Their code will be beautiful, even if their desks are buried in 3 feet of crap."

I have learned to be extremely careful with irreplaceable parts while sitting at it. Not because the irreplacable parts are fragile, just because finding anything dropped is an exciting challenge all by itself.

I bought a [1]Magnetic bowl for repairing my bike for this reason. It's so useful I use it whilst working on other stuff too.

[1] https://www.parktool.com/en-int/product/magnetic-parts-bowl-mb-1

That magnetioc bowls are a thing;

I use steel service and food prep bowls from a restaurant supply store and my own magnets. The various shapes, sizes and depths come in handy when restoring all kinds of things ... and they double as parts baths, being solvent-proof. Note that while they are often advertised as "stainless steel", they are usually magnetic anyway.

A pair of rather powerful magnets on a metal bar which was once inside one of those aquarium cleaners. The ones where the abrasive cleaner inside the glass is moved by another magnet on the outside. The problem isn't getting stuff to stay on it. It's pulling things off again.

I put mine in ziplock bags. The plastic is strong enough to not rip when stripping off anything too small to remove by hand.

> because finding anything dropped is an exciting challenge all by itself.

Does anyone else find that a small screw or component, when dropped onto a floor (particularly carpet) will - even if you watch it as it drops - mysteriously warp through hyperspace before coming to rest?

The number of times I’ve dropped an M2 drive retention screw, seen it fall near my feet, but only found it, after much searching, somewhere yards away near the door or in one extreme case, out in the corridor…

I’m not saying it’s aliens, but we all know it’s aliens.

Reminds me of the time I did a pool break (UK 8 ball) in my local and managed to get the white off the table, through the door and half way across the road outside!

They started closing the door for my breaks after that!

-------------> What a decent 8-ball gets you!

Last year, when I was pressure-canning tomato sauce, I somehow managed to lose the little plastic washer on the pressure gauge (those of you who have used a presto canner will know the one). I looked everywhere for it, to no avail. Got down on my hands and knees with a strong light, and even asked the wife for a second set of eyes. Nothing. It was gone. Fortunately there is a shop that stocks them up in Santa Rosa (under 20 miles), so off I went ... but I had to purchase a whole new $20 gauge assembly, I couldn't just buy the proprietary 3 cent nylon (delrin?) washer. Got home, spent the next couple days putting tomato sauce in jars, and then cleaned up.

When I was done, I noticed one of the cats batting something around on the kitchen floor ... it was the missing washer.

At least I have a spare, known good, gauge assembly ... which of course means I'll never need it.

When at university (back in the 1970's) I spent a year as the photographer on the fortnightly student newspaper. This involved getting story outlines from the editorial team and then having a week to get some shots. All on B&W film and I was given evening access to one of the university darkrooms for all my processing. The one I used had two areas:

One was for printing and replete with an enlarger (that was usually taking the glass plates from electron microscopes, but also had a carrier for my 120 and 35mm film), plus assorted tanks and kit to process the paper. This one had safe-lights so it was easy to work in.

The other was for film (and glass plates) and totally dark. You had to work totally by touch (and remembering exactly where you placed anything) because, if you dropped or brushed anything onto the floor.

Luckily, my hearing got quite acute and many was the time I'd drop a film canister end on the floor (loading bulk 35mm film into cassettes was quite fiddly) but I was able, most times, to reach down to its exact position. Spatial/positional awareness needed to be quite good, as well.

Oh, and screwdrivers were mightily useful for prying open canisters...

"As somebody with an eternally messy office"

A clean desk is the sign of a warped mind.

Posting anon because this is truly embarrassing.

This weekend I needed to cut down a dead tree that was in our garden. All of the main branches came off no problem using a combination of an electric recip saw and a hacksaw.

As I got to the base the recip saw wouldn't quite get all the way through. It had however gone maybe 60% through. My gut instinct was maybe I could break this off.

Very long flathead screwdriver + wooden hammer

= Screwdriver stuck in the base of the tree.

I did manage to get it out with considerable effort and yes it was bent beyond repair. There's something wired into our DNA as humans that you can use these tools for literally anything requiring brute force.

Screwdriver: tool to screw things up and, while doing so, drive you mad. Any other use of a screwdriver is purely accidental.

"Very long flathead screwdriver + wooden hammer"

Respect, Sir! On two counts:

First the recognition that a screwdriver and hammer is a proper combo (Kamasa do some nice hammer-through screwdrivers as I hear you're in the market for a new one)

Second, that you didn't resort to mis-use of a power tool, like the endangered species who fit saw blades to angle grinders, or remover the safety guard from their circular saws.

I'd say using a reciprocating saw that's shorter than the diameter of the trunk is definitely a mis-use!

And the punchline, years from now, will be a future owner of your house, very puzzled as to why there’s a screwdriver embedded deep into the trunk of a healthy and thriving tree in his garden.

《= Screwdriver stuck in the base of the tree.

I did manage to get it out with considerable effort and yes it was bent beyond repair.》

So not the rightful king then?

I would have left it there as an object lesson or in case aforementioned regal chap turns up.

At least you didn't compound the felony by driving an axehead behind the screwdriver to try to unwedge it.

I assume the recipocating saw only reached 60% into the centre. The uncut 40% in the well seasoned centre always going to be a hard nut to crack.

Oh boy, excessive force and tech, i've got plenty of stories on that subject...

PFY me was helping relocate an office, and it was time to start moving displays. I grabbed one, and got stabbed in the finger by something sharp. Turned it around, found a DP cable properly ripped out of the socket with a bunch of wires from the forcibly disassembled cable still sticking out of the socket. Looks like I wasn't the first to try and relocate this monitor.

Got a couple about printers, for some reason most people resort to the "when in doubt, apply more force" mantra when it comes to paper jams, plenty of broken off retainers and other small components from people trying to rip out paper or improperly disassembling them.

The best printer story i've got has to be a ticket with the subject line "printer exploded". I have absolutely no idea how, but some troglodyte managed to rip out a bracket holding all toner cartridges, but in such a way that they made the printer room look like an abstract expressionism art exhibition. They somehow never found out who did it, i feel like it shouldn't be difficult to find the culprit there...

A lot of stories of various devices that were "stuck", and people "pulled a little harder", and they presented me with a completely disintegrated device.

I have a folder where i store the photos of these, well over a hundred of them from my short helldesk career.

Hmmm! the number of keys (entry not keyboard!) that I have broken over the years.

Those — screwdrivers are for situations requiring a wedge.

Those X screwdrivers are for situations requiring a hole-making tool.

All other uses are at your own risk.

I never figured why there are Phillips and Pozidriv and a bunch of other types of X screwdrivers. After all, they make pretty much the same hole.

"I never figured why there are Phillips and Pozidriv and a bunch of other types of X screwdrivers"

Because the original Phillips design is prone to cam-out, which is more likely at higher torque and when not quite aligned. That isn't a common problem with the generally more fragile electronics and small equipment, so Pozidriv never really caught on, and PH continues to be popular.

I have to say, my experience is that PZ are still prone to cam-out and chewing the heads, and that is why the gods invented Torx screws.

Torx! FTW!

Don’t forget JIS.

Torx are excellent for what you describe. But with their lack of a proper pointy end, terrible at making holes.

"...lack of a proper pointy end, terrible at making holes."

You have forgot the mantra that started this thread .... if it does not work/move ... apply *more* force !!!

Torx will make holes .... at a high enough velocity !!!

:)

That's what the smaller TORX sizes are for: pilot.

No, the God Robinson invented the ultimate screw driver and head combination. All other heads are pants in comparison.

I'm surprised that nobody has used the same principle for slotted or triangular drivers.

"screwdrivers are for situations requiring a wedge."

Except for supporting the bottom of a door while you hang it. For that the proper tool is a chisel,at least an inch wide, bevel side down so you can adjust the height of the door by pressing your foot on the handle. Pro-tip from my dad who was a joiner.

I once installed a handle and lock in a solid wooden door - rebate, keyhole, handle hole and all - using nothing more than a crosshead screwdriver and a scalpel.

It took a long time... but I was stuck there with minimal tools and nothing much to do.

Assessing that it would provide adequate leverage for the task, he wedged it in under the battery on the board and applied what he hoped would be enough force …

ZZZZZZINGGGGGG! The battery came away from the board and flew from the UPS as if terrified at what had just happened

Sounds like Sylvester should have left it Stallone...

Did the flying battery say "I tawt I taw a puddy tat!"?

Sorry, couldn't resist, I'd best be going

As it's a screwdriver-related story, should the Regomi s er have named him Philip?

Also, as the story is set in Austria, i think Arnold would have been a better name than Sylvester

I remember my father telling me about Royal Navy rules

"If it moves, salute it. It it doesn't paint it"

"If it should move but doesn't get a bigger hammer"

These are not entirely consistent. and my father said he often had to get a blow torch to get paint off nuts before they could be undone!

And of course the related version:

“If it moves, but shouldn’t… duct tape.

If it doesn’t move, but should… WD40.”

A young nephew called them skoo divers - seems he had it right.

P.S. said nephew now has grandchildren, and still gets ribbed about this by the family.

"and still gets ribbed about this by the family"

And who's to blame for propagating that one, wewonder.

skwoo dwivuh... ;-)

https://images.app.goo.gl/N6r48J7T1b3jZxmq6

Self Ejecting Micro SD. No tools required.

Having isolated and made safe a motor control panel, I instructed one of my serfs to check the security of the power cables whilst I attended something more suited to my technical skills. When I returned with the tea I found my boss had reviewed the serf's work and closed up the panel. As he turned on the breaker there was a resounding 'thump', 'flash' and darkness abounded. Some moments later the serf asked if we had seen his spanner.....

It transpired that for convenience, he had placed the spanner across the copper busbars and forgotten to retrieve it.... He never did.

As soon regonomial* ( [1]Sylvester ) was revealed I could see this ending cat lives -= 1

This episode was almost reenacted when an "engineer" (ostensibly electrical but likely computing/software) pulled out a similar tool to open the battery compartment (showing an error condition) of a seriously big 3 phase UPS. I suggested that mucking about with high voltage DC is not likely to end well and that if he intended to proceed, to give me a fair chance to vacate the area. He decided discretion was the better part of (my lack of) valour.

I don't know at what DC voltages the battery chains in these UPS operate but I imagine at least around 100V otherwise the DC currents would be extremely high. I am pretty sure that shorting 100V with 12mm steel rod (aka large flat screw driver with 450mm square shaft) would launch molten steel all over the shop and would be a good day if the batteries didn't commit harakiri flinging their superheated guts behind the shrapnel.

* or regonominal although the OED has nomial from 1700s

[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PkhPuH8G5Hg

Shouldn't that be the Reginomicon?