Little TimmyOK.... I have to come clean. It's me.
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Once again this forum has proven useful for answering a very difficult question. The mystery has been solved!
Timmy is a scoundrel.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Little TimmyOK.... I have to come clean. It's me. I use a little known "Black magic" spell, and cast it over the entire planet. If a tiny part "bounce's , at least once, my spell go's into effect. And the part's are Tele-ported into my spare part's box....
Timmy you fiend! I had a hunch it was you all along.
Dave Nelson
Ok here's another "variation" of the dryer phenomena, socks appear that dont match ANY other socks in the household.
I've had this hit before, I was assembling a Accurail gondola, cutting the stirrups off the sprue, when one goes flying off into... Never-Neverland.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
dknelsonOK, so ... where do these things go? To heaven (or the other place)? Have I accidentally been modeling with my mouth open and swallowed them? Do spiders rush out and grab them and take them back into the dark corners?
OK.... I have to come clean. It's me.
I use a little known "Black magic" spell, and cast it over the entire planet.
If a tiny part "bounce's , at least once, my spell go's into effect. And the part's are Tele-ported into my spare part's box....
It's the only way I can "create" all the stuff I want, ... without buying a bunch of stuff. ( I have saved $ Hundred's $ over the year's .)
But now that I have "Exposed" myself as the Evil Villain, I'm going to have to be even Sneekier......
BUAH HA HA HA HA HA !!!!
Rust...... It's a good thing !
The cleaning service was coming and I had a loco out, measuring it to create patch decals. I moved it out of their way and haven't seen it in 2 months.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
It's so simple, I can't believe no one else has figured it out yet.
They simply go into "never-never-land."
Where they are never-never to be found again.
Those lost boys must be having way too much fun with them to return them.
And our socks? Well, Tic-Toc Croc needs something to muffle the sound so she can sleep at night.
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
It amazes me how far small things travel when they drop or break off from something.
I'm surprised there hasn;t been a Dr. Who episode on this, where the Doctor winds up in an odd dimensal void which is filled with vast numbers of mismatched socks and little tiny detail parts - it all falls through the same interdimensional roft and all those little parts that fall to the floor - the reason you can't find them is because they never actually reached the floor. Somewhere between the bench top and the floor, they transited this interdimensional rift and are now safely held, beyond reach, along with all those socks that go missing from the dryer. The exact physics of the missing parts has not been determined, but perhaps it is because they are so small they are easily tumbled as they fall, generating the same sort of vortex that occurs in the clothes dryer that causes the socks to enter the void.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
This happened again to me just yesterday.
The little piece pictured below just disappeared. After a three hour search I found it in an Evergreen bag with the 0.010" by 0.100" styrene strips.
How did it get in there?
Shoot, guys, I can have a tarnished Kadee knuckle spring fling off a pair-o-tweezers and ricochet around the room for 17 seconds, land 15 feet away in a crack on my copper-ish colored laminate floor behind a table leg, and I'll find it in a quick glance without really trying. No problem! Why? Because it knows I have a whole envelope with far more spares in it than I could ever use in a lifetime.
BUT! I can drop that all-important one-off piece, or tool, up to the size of an eight inch crescent wrench, hear it bounce like said crescent wrench, and sometimes even see and hear the direction it went... Uh-huh! If it's the only one I have or can get, then naturally, it will have been abducted by that which I call Accelerated Lateral Gravity Syndrome. Scientifically proven. After it hits the floor, it goes faster than it was when it made impact with the floor and continues to accelerate laterally until it burroughs itself into a that dark (100,000 candlepower flashlight notwithstanding) mysterious place that knows exactly when you have acquired a replacement before giving it up. IF it gives it up. Sometimes it will give it up, and even do so immediately thereafter, but only if you have no use for a spare.
I go through every speck of debris when I empty the little shop vac. And do usually find pieces-- that I didn't know were missing! Dan
I have a method that works almost 100% of the time----walk barefoot, at 0200 hrs. through the space, to get a drink of water. Works almost everytime.
herrinchoker
Attn Dave Nelson--
My father's local doctors in north central PA wanted him to just shut up and go blind from the glaucoma, after insertion of a drain tube failed.
We went to see Dr. Harry Quigley, the foremost glaucoma surgeon in the nation, at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. They did trabeculectomy (trap door) procedures on my dad to save his sight.
My father asked Dr. Quigley what they were doing to help his son so that someday my eyes don't get as bad as his. His reply was that they have four floors of the Wilmer Eye Institute in Baltimore, above the basement glaucoma clinic, working on solutions.
My father had other eye issues, also, that did rob him of his sight at the end, at 84.5, and it was not the eye pressure.
If I were you, I would get a second opinion from doctors outside your area. Hopkins is an absolutely amazing place...and worth the trip.
Respectfully submitted--
John Mock
To find the parts on the floor, if it's something important to me, I like to lay down on the floor with a good light, and I typically ask God to help me find it. He answers.
I model HO scale, and tiny parts have a habit of traveling amazing distances and ending up in the most bizarre and unlikely places. One time I was working on a tender truck and had a spring that goes on the truck mount on the tender shoot off like a rocket. I did the standard hands and knees search, (multiple times by the way) on the carpet with a flashlight for hours, but could not find it. I had to get a new spring for it, then about two or three months later I was giving another locomotive an overhaul, and lo and behold, I found the spring in the coal bunker on that engine's tender. And that locomotive was parked a good 5 feet or so in the opposite direction of where I thought the spring flew. As for the subject of clothes dryers, I am convinced that they generate small sock sized wormholes when running. Or maybe aliens beam them out along with the tiny parts.
Perhaps you should do what they did in Honey I Shrunk the Kids and suspend yourself from the ceiling to look for the lost parts.
Joe Staten Island West
"eventually found it in the garbage can"
"I too am convinced that objects gain legs"
"as they fall these small parts come close to the speed of light"
"they warp time"
"can end up in clothing among other places"
"inside my shoe"
"defy the law of gravity"
So, what we are saying is that dropped small parts morph into little space creatures with arms, legs, and opposable thumbs (so they can climb into trash cans on minature ladders to hide because they don't like workbench litter), can time travel at the speed of light through worm holes, and are perverts with a foot fetish.
Does that about cover it?
Too funn about this discussion topic and hearing everyone's horror stories. Mine include losing them on light brown carpet on the 1st layout and now on gray concrete. I just can't win!
Now that you mention it, perhaps put down some cardboard or material that is a different color to the pieces? You always could do what I do with my kids and Legos: work on the floor!
I too am convinced that objects gain legs. Working on a clean bench helps avoid losing parts. Some of them are small so I nip them into a plastic container. Perfect ones are any small leftover containers or just get a cheap tupaware set.
Reality is that your floor is dirty. Other explanations are more fun tho.
Come on guys we have missed the obvious explanation. As they fall these small parts come close to the speed of light. As they do they warp time and reappear at a later date pretty simple...... As for socks everybody knows the dryer grinds them up into lint.......
Micromark has an apron type thing to help with that problem. I have a dedicated vacuum just for this reason. Have yet to actually find a part in it
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel
An optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel
A realist sees a frieght train
An engineer sees three idiots standing on the tracks stairing blankly in space
PEDCheck your pants cuff and pockets. I have had parts take that weird bounce and wiind up in both.
riogrande5761 Surprisingly, I seem to find most of them - shocker. But I suspect the rest go into the time vortex that is generated by our dryers and where some of our socks go never to be seen again to ensure we always have some mismatches.
Surprisingly, I seem to find most of them - shocker.
But I suspect the rest go into the time vortex that is generated by our dryers and where some of our socks go never to be seen again to ensure we always have some mismatches.
My theory is that they never make it to the dryer in the first place. I wear a lot of patterned socks and they're not particularly expensive but cost enough to be annoying if one goes missing. I started only putting them into the washer if both socks were confirmed to have gone in together. Singles wait for their mate is located.
I find the missing ones all over the place. Under the bed, fell into a drawer, stuffed in a pant leg you name it. Since implementing this is process I haven't lost a man.
PED Check your pants cuff and pockets. I have had parts take that weird bounce and wiind up in both.
Check your pants cuff and pockets. I have had parts take that weird bounce and wiind up in both.
Inside my shoe, too!
Ed
Paul D
N scale Washita and Santa Fe RailroadSouthern Oklahoma circa late 70's
If the usual two-or-three minute hands and knees search with a good flashlight doesn't get results I grab one of the cordless vacuums I have on hand.
These have a handy pull-out crevice nozzle that gets under and around tight areas.
Vacuum_DC by Edmund, on Flickr
This model has a clear-bodied dust chamber and it is easy to empty into a tray where I can sort through the fur-balls and dead bugs to hopefully find the grab iron or 0-80 screw I just dropped.
Generally, I'm successful. Murphy wins one every now-and-again.
Good Luck, Ed
Tiny parts defy the law of gravity and end up several feet from where they are suppose to land. I will never figure that out.
So..
With flashlight in hand down on all fours I go looking for a tiny part that is hiding several feet away!
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
The tile in my workshop is mottled gray... the worst.
Everything that hits the floor disappears. When I sweep the floor looking for a part that dropped, I only find parts from previous projects I gave up looking for.
It is like there is a revolving doorway to this nether-world.
gregc i've seen experienced modelers do work with fine parts in a box. dknelson OK, so ... where do these things go? i lost a small spring. searched for it on the floor. eventually found it in the garbage can
i've seen experienced modelers do work with fine parts in a box.
dknelson OK, so ... where do these things go?
i lost a small spring. searched for it on the floor. eventually found it in the garbage can
Rich
Alton Junction
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
dknelsonOK, so ... where do these things go?
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading