Day 56, The Ubiquitous Gem: A Coffee Can of Junk
I had something different in mind for today's garage gem, but as I was waiting for a 30 minute 3D print to come off the printer, I thought to myself that I'd need some 1/4"x20 nuts and bolts to attach the print to my 3D printer (it's basically a little clip that I can use to attach it to the horizontal gantry of the CNC, and attach a cheap Harbor Freight digital dial indicator for me to make sure that I got the Z axis configured properly). While I currently have most of my metric hardware sorted, a lot of my old 1/4"x20 apparently suffered a randomization accident at some point in the past, so it got swept into the ubiquitous element of organization in every shop: The Coffee Can of Despair. Or is it the Coffee Can of Joy? It's hard sometimes to tell the difference, isn't it?
Most shops have these. A can which you can sweep random parts into to avoid the mental task of sorting them for some future time that somehow never seems to come. Even when the time when having such a can is useful, it has by then gotten so deep that finding what you are looking for is impossible.
Through some strange coincidence of having:
- some time
- some motivation
- a temporarilly clear horizontal surface I could tip the can out onto
I decided to go ahead and tip the can out. I'm actually a fair way along in the sorting process before I thought to grab a camera. Most of the 1/4" hardware has been extracted and committed to a small sandwich bag. Somewhat curiously, while I found at least four different sizes and three different styles of 1/4" bolts, I found not even a single 1/4" nut. I find that pretty astounding.
But overall, I found the experience to be oddly tranquil and satisfying this morning. While I have not risen to the high levels of "knolling" that my Lego enthusiast friends have aspired to (and often reached), I did get some of the broad types and uses organized into several functional categories.
- I sorted all the change out. I have always had a bad habit of tossing coins wherever, and a fair number of them end up in cans or boxes like this. When I was first dating my wife, I was cleaning my car and asked my son for help. He was not especially enthused until I said he could keep whatever change he found. I think he scored over $100. As a further aside, I took all the change I found in my car at the start of COVID and used the funds to buy a fairly nice ukulele. But I digress...
- All the 1/4" hardware was extracted. I thought some of them might be M6 hardware in disguise, but dug out my screw gauge and assured myself that there were no metric interlopers. These are all now bagged, and will enter a "classified" section of the trays I have mounted on my French cleat wall.
- I found a fair number of Allen wrenches. I now have to complete metric sets, plus a set of balldrivers which I use and try to take good care of, but having some extras never hurts.
- All the screws went into a separate baggie. When I am purpose building something, especially something large I take the time to purchase decent star drive screws, but occasionally you are just hacking together and having a few extras in various sizes is useful. The total number isn't too large.
- Random other machine bolts and nuts. Most appear to be 8x32 hardware, which is not all that useful, especially because they are often crappy and slightly bent, but again, not too many of them, and occasionally useful. I put most of the washers in this bag as well.
- I found four different keys, including a key which I believe to have been a spare to the 1987 Mustang I had. I have a story about old keys, but that can keep for some other time.
- A small collection of ball bearings, a few 1/4", but some very tiny ones as well. I have no idea why I have these.
- A very tiny screwdriver, obviously meant for a keychain. I have a place for such things on my pegboard. It will join its fellows.
- Five or six set screws. Didn't bother figuring out the size or type. I have no idea where they came from.
Here's the aftermath.
I wonder how much money I'll make when I take this can in? What upgrades to the CNC can I fund?
Addendum: also pictured on my bench are a couple of small parts trays. These trays are excellent for using up extra filament when you just have a yards left on a roll. I got this idea (and a link to the print) from this video, done on the Functional Print Friday channel (recommended!):
You can (and should) download this model from his website and print some of these yourself. I have over half a dozen of these that I leave stacked on my workbench in a variety of colors, and find them very useful for disassembly and reassembly tasks.
Happy Tuesday all.