One of those days

[thehomeengineer]

Hi All
Had one of those days when you put something down in the workshop and 6 hours later still can’t find it. The piece in question was 1 of 8 webs I machined up for some stands I am building, All the items were machined up ready for welding and housed in a box. Then that moment I am sure we have all suffered where is that bit gone. After six hours of tidying the workshop and getting down on my knees looking under every bench, machine and corner and even conscripted my lovely lady to look for it as well, still no web so made another one in 20 minutes. Why I didn’t make one this morning I really don’t know.
Very frustrating but every cloud has a silver lining at least the workshop is a lot tidy now.
The Home Engineer

[ibdennyak]

Hi All
Had one of those days when you put something down in the workshop and 6 hours later still can’t find it. The piece in question was 1 of 8 webs I machined up for some stands I am building, All the items were machined up ready for welding and housed in a box. Then that moment I am sure we have all suffered where is that bit gone. After six hours of tidying the workshop and getting down on my knees looking under every bench, machine and corner and even conscripted my lovely lady to look for it as well, still no web so made another one in 20 minutes. Why I didn’t make one this morning I really don’t know.
Very frustrating but every cloud has a silver lining at least the workshop is a lot tidy now.
The Home Engineer

LOL.....all the time. What's even worse is loosing more search items in the process of looking for the original.

[Frank S]

I have maintained for most of my working life that I have a doppelganger in a parallel universe who borrows my tools or parts I have made. I wouldn't' mind him borrowing them and carrying them off to the other side as long as he returns them once in a while.
I swear I could lay as brand new screwdriver on an empty table, turn my back and five minutes later it would be gone.
When this happens and I am the only one in the shop what else am I to believe

[thehomeengineer]

I have maintained for most of my working life that I have a doppelganger in a parallel universe who borrows my tools or parts I have made. I wouldn't' mind him borrowing them and carrying them off to the other side as long as he returns them once in a while.
I swear I could lay as brand new screwdriver on an empty table, turn my back and five minutes later it would be gone.
When this happens and I am the only one in the shop what else am I to believe

Hi Frank
Totally agree with you again. I still have not found the web maybe I am in my own little world and thought I made eight but really only seven appeared in this mad dream world of mine.
BUT! I know I made eight because I cut four then realised it was actually eight I needed so cut another four and gang milled them in sets. I do not know what goes in in that workshop sometimes and like you, I am the only one that uses it.

[olderdan]

Hi Frank
I had a chuckle when I read that, my father always blamed that happening on “those bloody gremlins are at it again”. He was convinced that his garage was infested with them.

[Frank S]

Hi Frank
I had a chuckle when I read that, my father always blamed that happening on “those bloody gremlins are at it again”. He was convinced that his garage was infested with them.

A buddy of mine swears it is the WEE people trying to re fill their pot of gold. He says when that happens put something shiny where you last saw your missing item and they would return it

[mklotz]

Being a physicist, I take refuge in quantum mechanics which says that the act of observing changes the position and momentum of elementary particles. Although the effect is infinitesimal at macroscopic sizes, I like to think that, living here in Herr Doktor Heisenberg's world, I accidentally looked at it too long and thereby made it disappear.

In my long list of implausible excuses, this one is probably my most ingenious.

[Frank S]

I dare say that there is probably not a single person alive who can lay claim to have never mislaid misplaced had something that they were dead certain should be in one place only to find it in another or never find it at all or find it only after replacing it.
Just a few months ago I was rebuilding my 8N ford I had all of the steel oil and fuel lines off tied together in a bundle after cleaning them. When I went to reassemble the tractor there was one line missing the one from the governor to the oil filter. after searching hig and low for a week I decided the heck with it and made a new one. it wasn't until after I had the tractor running that I found the errant oil line laying on top of the very table I had been working from. No the table wasn't perfectly clean but at one time or another during the reassembly everything on that table had been moved from one end to the other to clear a work space So my question is if the oil line had not transmogrified into a parallel entraphy and returned where was it
Have you ever disassembled something with several bolts dropping then in a can as you removed them only to find you were 1 bolt short while reassembling? then replace the missing bolt with a new one only to find the missing bolt in the bottom of the can after the job was done? Of course you have we all have at least once in our lives.
I like Marv's explanation however I think the quark or Higgs particles sometimes become over active. or maybe it is simply dark matter that hids things from view at times.

[Jon]

We joke, but I often wonder about the genuine scale of this problem. What percentage of work is actually taken up simply by locating items? Anything from hunting for a rarely-used tool, to blindly slapping your hand around while working under a car, grasping for that wrench that's 6 inches away. At what point does ultra-neurotic organization become perfectly worthwhile? Are there working/handling techniques to minimize temporary tool or item loss?

This is kinda the elephant in the room when looking at time/motion study. I guess it counts as "Search" in the 18 Therblig Model.

[thehomeengineer]

Being a physicist, I take refuge in quantum mechanics which says that the act of observing changes the position and momentum of elementary particles. Although the effect is infinitesimal at macroscopic sizes, I like to think that, living here in Herr Doktor Heisenberg's world, I accidentally looked at it too long and thereby made it disappear.

In my long list of implausible excuses, this one is probably my most ingenious.

Hi Marv
I work in a diagnostic section at work with physicist in a scientific research campus I will see if there is a formula they can come up with to solve the mystery of the missing time we all loose from rummaging around on our hands and knees possibly looking for something that was never there in the first place.
Still haven’t found the missing part, lost it Sunday morning. if it turns up in anyone’s workshop and you think I don’t remember making that its possible it is my missing part. I am starting to doubt myself now, hope I am not going mad well madder than I already am.
If it turns up please drop me an email
many thanks