Carpet Monster Killer

[uncletony]

I picked up this led flashlight at the place where I get my car serviced. It has a bank of 8 very bright LEDs arranged in a row, as you can see. Perfect for scanning the floor for lost parts, as you can just lay it on the floor and scan a wide area for misplaced flotsam.



A couple of days ago I lost some microscopic, semi-transparent  parts sent to me by Bertl -- not even sure how I managed to misplace them. Searched for many tens of minutes with a conventional led flashlight with no success. I had given up all hope of ever finding them, until I remembered this thing. Found them on the floor in quick succession.

Edit: posted duplicate photo by accident

[Nigel Jackson]

Now that is useful Bo, although goodness knows what I'd find. I spend far too much time playing hunt the photo-etch.

Best wishes
Nigel

[Ernie]

Geez Bo, could have used that an hour ago...spent 20 mins. on my hands
& knees looking for teeny PE parts.  Hard on old knees.  I think I will have to look
into your find.  Good idea!

Cheers,
Ernie

[Des]

No amount of light would find the tiny part my carpet monster ate tonight, but nice light Bo.

Des.

[lcarroll]

  I'm going to shop around for one or at least something similar. I could put von Buckle out of business if I could locate only half of the buckles and tubes I've "tweezerpulted" out of sight somewhere around here! Perhaps a small metal detector...??
Cheers,
Lance

[Ken]

I build my kits in the basement .  It has a black tile floor.    Lose a control stick or other small painted  part all I can do is wet down a paper towel and blot around the floor before the attack cat gets to them. 



The criminal returns to the the scene of his crimes,  Hmmm   I love the smell of styrene in the morning. 

[GAJouette]

  Thank goodness for wooden floors! Much easier to locate lost articles than carpet for sure.

[Chris Johnson]

Sometimes a vacuum cleaning will find that missing part too.

Cheers,

Chris

[cduckworth]

I've lost a few parts but have a great way to find them.  Take your vacuum cleaner and place a piece of your wife's old hose over the opening.  Vacuum over the area and you'll find the missing part plus a lot of other extras.   I recently building a kit that had turn buckles in 1/87 scale and dropped one, the kit required 8 of them and the box didn't have any extras.  Got out the vacuum cleaner and a piece of hose and found it within 5 minutes.

Charlie

[Des]

That is an excellent idea Charlie and one I will be using next time my carpet monster gets hungry.

Des.

[Lyle]

I've been using my Blackberry's built-in light, but this device looks far better (and easier to turn the light on, too).  My workroom has a wood floor and it's amazing how stuff bounces and travels...

[Ernie]

I've been using my Blackberry's built-in light, but this device looks far better (and easier to turn the light on, too).  My workroom has a wood floor and it's amazing how stuff bounces and travels...

I'm mystified as is Lyle. I have linoleum on the floor, thinking it would be much preferable
to carpet...I didn't take into account the lino monster.    How things disappear so easily
on a hard surface. 
  Maybe I'll give Charlie's idea a go.

Cheers,
Ernie

[lcarroll]

   The vacuum trick is about my only salvation these days! Several years back I bought a set of Dewalt 12 Volt cordless power tools which have proved to be an exceptional addition to the Home Maintenance and improvement scene. It came with a small hand-held vacuum cleaner, a little more robust then the average "Dustbuster", and has found me dozens of lost parts over the past several years. If something "pults" I take a quick look, and if nothing turns up I fire up the mini-vac, nine out of ten times what I'm looking for is in the small dust collector container once I've passed it around the area.
Cheers,
Lance