When I disassemble intricate mechanisms I like to keep the small screws/nuts/etc in a little dish on my workbench so they don't get lost. If retrieving the items from the dish with your fingers, said dish should not have any corners lest the items get trapped there and are impossible to pick up.
The domed bottoms of aluminum drink cans work perfectly in this application. Mark the bottom of the can with a Sharpie held on a block of wood (a la a height gauge) and cut with a cutoff disk in a Dremel. (It's very difficult to get a nice clean cut (so the cup isn't tilted in use) with scissors.)
I find that the resulting cups are too light as is; they tend to flip easily if bumped. My remedy for this is to run a bead of glue around the inside circumference of the cup bottom, then fill with bird shot. After the glue dries, pour the unglued shot out and save for the next cup.
Last edited by mklotz; 07-08-2017 at 10:43 AM.
Thanks mklotz! We've added your Small Parts Cups to our Storage and Organization category, as well as to your builder page: mklotz's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:
Great first post Justin - welcome to HomemadeTools.net
There are many ideas for addressing the problem of losing small parts, but the soda can mod is definitely a clever one.
Seems like the simpler or less expensive the tool, the more I appreciate it. One of my favorites is this Tape Measure Modification; punching holes in a tape measure for increased marking accuracy. There's a comment on there for using the same concept to convert a tape measure into a jig. For crying out loud, the "tool" is just a hole! But I really like it.
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