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Tip: Miscellaneous hardware jar

M

mcencula

Well Known Member
Years ago I picked up the habit (from my dad) of collecting miscellaneous bits of hardware from the things I was about to throw in the trash. After 30 or so years of doing this, I've got a nice jar of miscellaneous stuff:

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I can't count the number of times this jar has saved me a trip to the hardware store. Why, just today I found this little guy:

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Which, a few minutes later became a spacer for my pop rivet tool:

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Good luck,
 
Nice lookin' pile of stuff! I see you have a 3/16" discantulated frabula screw in your collection... I've been looking for one of those for a long time. ;)
 
Cookie Tin

I keep an open cookie tin (14" diameter) around and any time I see a nut or washer in a parking lot, or have extra parts from assembling something, I toss it in. Saved me many a trip out. At the hangar, same thing: Caution: keep your fresh hardware separate from your used stuff. Use the used stuff only in appropriate spots. (For example, self locking nuts.)
 
DanH said:
A jar? A single jar? Only one? All by itself? ;)
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:D that's what I was thinking. I think I even have bins leftover from my dad, his motto: better not toss that out, might need it someday.

BTW-anyone need a ~22" dia piston ring. I think I have one hanging in the shop.:eek:
 
Junk Pan

I've got a pan full of stuff just like that. I can't seem to throw anything away. I was finishing up the Doll, and needed a couple of round knobs to put on the end of the four foot pins that hold the cowling half together. The plan was to pull them from the inside of the cockpit. I remembered these two small aluminum draw knobs I'd been saving for decades for some unknown reason. A quick search of the pan and there they were. It seems that who ever made them had designed them to be used in a experimental airplane. They were made of aluminum, and were strong, light, and just right for the job. A little J B Weld later, and they were part of the cowling pins. They have worked great for another decade.

I saw a vendor at OSH that was selling plastic bags of his junk stuff!
 
Me too. Downside is I'll sometimes look so long (I know I've got one of those), that I could have ordered one, gone fishing, and still save time.
 
I've got 6 of those little plastic cabinets with drawers stuffed full of miscellaneous HW.
My problem is, that I keep forgetting to look there. Just last night I was trying to find a thin AN washer from the HW in the paper bags that Van's uses. Jotted down a note to order some the next time I make a big purchase. An hour later it occurred to me to look in the cabinets, and sure enough I have a full drawer of these. I can repeat the same story with screws, adel clamps, snap bushings, etc...

I also have a plastic bucket full of all the aluminum scraps from the kit.
 
Used Hardware Bins

Many years ago the police force I worked for bought their first Helicopter, a Bell 212. One of the engineers lived across the hall from me and we became friends. The aircraft flew a lot of hours and a few years later went for its first overhaul. I asked the engineer if he would save me all the nuts and bolts they would normally throw out. They came back with boxes of stuff, not just from their aircraft but from the hanger in general. I still have some of that hard wear and many lawn mowers, my MG TD, personal cars and my RV4 have some of the parts.

Joe
 
I have a similar jar, but...

...it is labeled as "Airport Ramp FOD". My hangar is the farthest one from the FBO building. Each time I walk to the FBO, I take my long, telescoping magnet wand and use it to pick up left-behind hardware on the ramp. Over the last few years, it has grown to quite a collection. I am still amazed at what gets left behind from the aircraft that pass through.
 
panhandler1956 said:
I have a small nightstand-size cabinet with 3 drawers full of 'shop sweep' - very handy!
Click to expand...
In the maintenance shop at the NAS Norfolk hangar I (long ago) worked at, we Airdales referred to it as the "Thousand Year" drawer.
 
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