A tip when working with fiddly components.

[ollypenrice]

I had this idea while working in a non-astronomical domain, but it concerns working with small, fiddly components which are easily lost, flicked onto the floor, etc. As well as putting them down in a vertical-sided tray, you can put a strip of double-sided tape on the floor of the tray and put items down on that to keep them secure. It you make it a long strip of tape you can also put the components down in the order you removed them so that, when re-assembling them, you have them in the right order. If the tray gets a nudge, they don't stir themselves up to confuse you!

This may be a known trick but I hadn't come across it and it's working wonders for me.

Olly

[Peter Drew]

I also have a magnetic tray.     🙂

[Elp]

Will it stop something like this being lost if you say had a sneeze fit whilst holding onto it for dear life?

[laudropb]

Great idea Olly. I use a garden potting tray which I line with a towel. I put the small pieces into a pill dispensing box which has numbered compartments and I take note of which piece is in which compartment.

To be honest this was not my idea. I was in charge of an Electron microscope for many years and this was the set up used by the engineer who serviced the microscope.

[AstroMuni]

5 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I had this idea while working in a non-astronomical domain, but it concerns working with small, fiddly components which are easily lost, flicked onto the floor, etc. As well as putting them down in a vertical-sided tray, you can put a strip of double-sided tape on the floor of the tray and put items down on that to keep them secure.

Great idea. I line the bottom of the tray with coarse sponge and this allows me to arrange the small items in different positions to coordinate the sides I removed them from etc. It wont survive a bump but light nudges dont affect it. Turkish towels work as well.

Edited June 20, 2023 by AstroMuni

[ONIKKINEN]

I stick small setscrews/grubscrews on a piece of tape and write on the other side where i took them out of (and fold so that they dont fall). The AZ-EQ6 is full of these concrete soluble size screws that look similar but can be slightly different sizes and there is no chance i would remember where they should go after a few weeks.

The magnetic tray thing sounds like a good investment, less MacGyver anyway.