How to fit an M1.6 x 4mm screw into it's location?

[pwdrive]

When I was in the trade, capacitor wax was the trick.

Lawrence.

[Terry]

Excellent material for holding nuts and screws when trying to wangle them into awkward places! Just find the nearest wax paper capacitor and take a smidgen of wax off the end.

It was so much second nature that it was a bit of a shock when you realised that you were working on a set without a single waxy!

TCC didn't help, either - when other makes started using mouldings for their products, they carried on as usual, simply swapping the wax for plastic, so that their new 'Plastiseal' range looked identical apart from the shine on the plastic.

Add a dust covering to remove the shine and mount partly hidden and there is the surprise waiting for you! You want a bit of wax, spot the TCC cap and poke your screwdriver at the end of it as usual, only to find that the blade bounces off the hard plastic!

[Old Sparky]

Thanks, everyone, for your helpful suggestions. I have used melted Capacitor wax from time to time, and do have a couple of those RS screw gripping screwdrivers, in fact have had them for many years. Unfortunately, the smallest of those is too large for a M1.6 screw. Howver I've now managed to fit the said screw, but will have to fit a M1.6 x 2.5mm soon. That's going to be even more fiddly. I didn't know about the 'multiply by 2.5' bit, when searching for dropped small parts. Pardon my ignorance, but what is the reasoning behind this? As it's several days, maybe over a week, since I dropped the screw in question, this may be irrelevant to the present situation, but may well help in future!

[Refugee]

The 2.5 is about the distance a dropped screw well roll after it has fallen down and landed at an odd angle. It just happens so often that the search time on average is reduced by making this assumption.

[pwdrive]

Buy another screw then the old one will turn up.

Lawrence.

[frankmcvey]

I have an old 12" speaker magnet mounted on the end of an old brush handle. Just "sweep" the floor with that. Not much escapes it...

Cheers,

Frank

[Craig]

I've done something similar before, with the proviso that it helps not at all with non-ferro screws (brass, stainless, plastic etc) ;-)

[Nick]

I've hoovered the workshop floor with a piece of muslin over the nozzle before now - saved me more than once...

[pwdrive]

Blimey, he's shrunk

Lawrence.

[Craig]

I've hoovered the workshop floor with a piece of muslin over the nozzle before now - saved me more than once...

That's a good tip