Disappeared Into Thin Air!!

[Merkava_4]

I was disassembling my F936 tonight and dropped the little ball on the floor. After crawling around the living room on my hands and knees with a Streamlight Stinger and a telescoping magnet for 3 hours, I've finally concluded an unnatural phenomenon has occurred: the disappearance of a little steel ball.

 

[Tool Pants]

It is where the missing socks are.

 

[dps]

Put a fresh bag in your vacuum cleaner and vacuum the floor. Check bag.

 

[dogbucket]

Getting a large magnet like from a speaker or similar and sweeping it across the floor can often work.

 

[TheToolMan]

I will tell you a little secret that a detective taught me when i was working at the finger print lab building surviallence vehicles. When they are at a crime scene looking for small objects on the floor they get their flashlight out and lay it on the ground paralel to the floor shining the light across it. Get down on the ground behind the flash light and look down it like the barrel of a gun. This will magnify everything on the floor casting long shadow as well. Let me know if this works out for you

 

[speed bump]

Its often where you least expect to find it. I lost the little Bal out of my Napa NB41, then I found it, then I was resassembling it and dropped the ball in the hole in my chair and lost it again. Also i'm not sure about SO ratchets but that NB-41 doesn't work quite as well with a bigger ball (The hardware store only had bigger sizes and I didn't want to try and chase down the correct size.)

 

[wrenchr]

Was it broke??
If it was a hard wood floor then it is gone, they bounce like crazy.

 

[Rickster]

Sometimes it'll hit your shoe and bounce off further than you think, try widening your search area. Also my Dad has a huge-*** ring magnet on a 3 ft handle he got from Harbor Freight for finding stuff he dropped on the floor and he says it works great. Looks like this one: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42288

 

[eschoendorff]

Merkava lost his balls???




snicker snicker....

 

[krusty the clown]

Merkava lost his balls???




snicker snicker....

aparantly just one of them

 

[terabyte]

aparantly just one of them

with them being as small as he says they are... it's more of a "he never had them" case

 

[mickeyone]

check your brassiere,Happened to my mother in law with earrings last week

 

[Chris Adams]

Best of luck. All are good sugestions (Well, almost all...).
We once lost a sight spring from a SuperBlackhawk in a small room. We tried all those tricks, even taking everything from the room out, carefully, one item at a time. NEVER found it.
So anytime anything disapears around here we call it a 'Ruger spring'.
I think you have one.

 

[MXtras]

It will magically re-appear minutes after a replacement is obtained.

...it's some type of un-written law.

Scott

 

[dxdexter]

I have a feeling that if you find the ball, it will be in the last place you look.

 

[Cafe Customs]

If it aint broke, dont fix it! (Like that line will fly on this site...)

 

[sputnikv8]

try this....


cover your hands and knees with that red lube stuff you rave about. Crawl around for a few minutes and then see if it stuck.

Oh, and take good pictures.

 

[gofastman]

Put a fresh bag in your vacuum cleaner and vacuum the floor. Check bag.

NOOO! BB's and the like will punch right through a vacuum bag, I've tried it

 

[russlaferrera]

Sometimes it'll hit your shoe and bounce off further than you think, try widening your search area. Also my Dad has a huge-*** ring magnet on a 3 ft handle he got from Harbor Freight for finding stuff he dropped on the floor and he says it works great. Looks like this one: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42288

Merk was following your post up to Harbor Freight, then it went blur.

 

[russlaferrera]

aparantly just one of them

Is that why he only has ONE in his avatar?

 

[pl_silverado]

Thats why i always have one of these under my ratchets when disassembling them. Theres a reason your snappy guy does the same.

Magnetic parts try woulda saved your ball

 

[Stuey]

get [your] flashlight out and lay it on the ground paralel to the floor

I use this technique sometimes as well - nothing works better for locating small pieces of glass, crystalline materials, or metals. Plus, this method helps one see how clean or dirty their kitchen floor really is.

 

[charlie_nj]

That technique is called sidelighting, and as a previous poster said it's main use in law enforcement is at crime scenes looking for fingerpriints.

Now you have something in common with John Kruk and Tom Greene.

 

[Stuey]

That technique is called sidelighting, and as a previous poster said it's main use in law enforcement is at crime scenes looking for fingerpriints.

Now you have something in common with John Kruk and Tom Greene.

Well, technically it is used in a lot of fields, not just (or primarily) crime scene investigation.

In optical and electron microscopy, "dark field" illumination is used to highlight topography and other such features that are not visible when illuminated head-on.

 

[<>Severed<>]

Sounds like when my father-in-law drops a small diamond at work. my wife has a talent for finding them, (aparently she is drawn to diamonds). Good luck with the search, either finding the origanal or a replacement.

 

[bayou985]

Merkava Don't fret it GearWrench has plenty of little balls.....

 

[kartracer55]

The best part about it is that its still there. I always get close to giving up on small parts, but then I always remember that since there are no small drains in the floor, its still around.

Keep looking man.

 

[Merkava_4]

Thanks guys for all the tips, but it looks like I'll be ordering a rebuild kit. Even if I had a kit ready to go right next to me, losing that little ball would still bug the hell out of me.

 

[swgray]

Check your shoes, sometimes small things get stuck in the laces. Even check your pockets, especially if you were sitting down.