Illuminated, Dropped Part Finder

[Paul Alciatore]

Illuminated Dropped Part Finder Plans for Sale - $5.00



$5.00 - Click here to buy now via PayPal and download instantly

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If you purchase these plans and are not 100% satisfied, we'll refund your purchase price.

These plans include:

• A 12-page PDF manual.
• 10 color photographs.

I am, what my wife likes to call, a klutz. So, this is one of the most used tools in my shop.

If you have ever dropped a small part and could not find it, YOU NEED THIS. With this part finder I located a small screw that I had searched for an hour or two earlier. It was right under my feet, but completely lost in the normal dirt and other droppings on my shop floor. It would have wound up being swept up and thrown away. But, when I finished this device, while testing it, I found it in less than two minutes. The trick is not just that it is illuminated, but in HOW THAT LIGHT IS USED. This device allows that light to be used in the most effective manner for seeing small lost parts. That, very effective technique is explained in the text.

It is also great for finding and retrieving parts that bounce under benches and other things in the shop.

Feel free to post any questions you may have in this discussion, either before you purchase or during construction. Or, post pictures of your finished illuminated dropped part finder.

Questions about buying tool plans? See: http://www.homemadetools.net/forum/f...6068#post65876

$5.00 - Click here to buy now via PayPal and download instantly

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[Paul Alciatore]

True story that just happened:

My wife dropped a large vitamin pill on the shag rug in our den. It was a translucent yellow and the rug is a light blue. Seems like you could find it, it wasn't under something or at the edge of a piece of furniture, just out in plain sight. But she could not. I went to the shop and grabbed the parts finder and gave it to her. A couple minutes later she came marching into my office proclaiming that she found it. "It lit it up!"

It DOES work. Even with a shag carpet which I had no thought of when I made it. I use it all the time in the shop and it works in the house too.

[mklotz]

I can remember as a child (some 65 years ago) seeing a hint in Popular Mechanics for finding small parts that were dropped. Roll your flashlight around on the floor so the part casts a long shadow.

[Toolmaker51]

Yes same here; and one Grandmother in particular, who I'm pretty sure never picked up a Popular Mechanics did it too. She'd also lay on the floor when daylight made a flashlight not so effective, where vision detects a projecting object.
Like real photography, both impose sort of a reduced 'depth of field' effect, compared to looking more or less straight down.

As such, this campaign makes me laugh every time.

Found it!

[Paul Alciatore]

Toolmaker, your photo precisely illustrates the value of this tool. Thanks for posting it. I also read PM back then, but do not remember seeing that there: your memory may be better than mine. But it is the same idea, light at a small angle to the floor makes a long shadow. And it works. It works like a charm. The flashlight that I used can be bent to different angles to achieve that.

Frankly, I use it all the time. I am too old to get down on the floor for every nut and bolt and other small part that I drop. So it is good for my back and knees. It sits near the front of my crowded work bench where I can grab it easily. I really need two with my multi-area shop.

Thanks for the comments.

I can remember as a child (some 65 years ago) seeing a hint in Popular Mechanics for finding small parts that were dropped. Roll your flashlight around on the floor so the part casts a long shadow.