The Concrete Singularity

[Watcher]

So I'm changing the bulb in one of my indicators and drop the screw for the lens.  With the screw I dropped a little metal bushing in the lens, and I watched the bushing fall and recovered it immediately but the screw is NOWHERE to be found!  It has ceased to exist!

Seriously spent an hour looking for it.  When I didn't find it right away I pulled out my pocket flashlight, nothing, I moved the bike back a few feet, searched, nothing, went inside and got my 1000 lumen Nitecore flashlight and searched, nothing.
Not in any of the cracks in the slab, my light would have reflected off of it and I would have seen it.  Not on the open floor, I laid down the light and looked for anything casting a shadow.  I even laid on my side and searched under the misc crap along the walls like an old desk and a ruined chair.
Then I thought maybe my bike caught it, so I looked all up in the front fender and in the wiring and stuff and shook the shaZam! out of the motorcycle and nothing came out.

It's a small screw, granted, but it's about as long as my thumb is wide so it should hardly be invisible.  The only conclusion is it's vanished off the face of the earth!  Gone!  Claimed by the concrete singularity!

So I used come clear packing tape and secured the lens, and tomorrow morning I gotta run to the hardware store and get a replacement.  It's not the end of the world, just annoying as all hell 



Just as annoying is how my Honda hates the left turn signal.  When I bought it the previous owner had just changed them.  Soon after getting my own plates for it the left went out.  I changed the bulbs.  It's been about two months and the left went out again...
But they're dual filament with a running light, and only the running light goes out.  It's dangerous since the combo of my one headlight and only a right side indicator makes it look like I'm half of a car.
So this time I saved the bad bulb and when the left I just put in goes out eventually I'll switch the right side one with the bad one.  So that way neither side has a running light.
It'll work for me until I can get all LEDs...

[Janx101]

As silly as it may sound... I have found special size screws before (when dropped like this) ... by having a rummage thru my 'spares/screws/bolts' container... finding a close match and then recreate the drop as best I can... do a few tests to variability. .. you'll be amazed just how quick and far the little buggers move!!...

Of course you likely have replacement items by now..   but wouldn't you love to know just where the damn thing went!?

[barry905]

I think I have an extension of that singularity in my garage, except that is also catches tools, particularly screwdriver bits!

[Janx101]

..... oooh....  the singularity is a planetary scale warp of the space time continuum! ....

I've often noted small localised parts of it!.... thus why a dropped tool rolls to centre or lowest to ground point of vehicle! 

Maybe Sheldon could explain the physics of the occurrence? !

[Big Rich]

I've had small bits like that land on my shoelaces. So I move as little as possible after the initial drop.

[Tekime]

Haha, this explains the floor of my shop perfectly. So many drill bits, screws & other items disappeared from the face of the Earth.

I'm convinced there is another dimension somewhere full of small screws and left socks, the inhabitants likely feeding off them for the energy to build new singularities into our dimension and further expand their empire!

[Watcher]

Lol, I've done the "drop another screw the same way" trick before.  In my experience it's not very successful, and in at least one instance I lost the second screw as well 


I replaced the screws with socket-head style instead of Phillips heads.  If the tool mates with the screw more securely, it should be harder to drop as well.  That's the theory at least.

[Janx101]

Yeah I've lost them with the drop trick as well... it's not 100% technology! ...

Speaker magnet on a string or stick is handy too for searching under heavy benches and cupboards. . Down in all the fluff and dust!

[yamahonkawazuki]

kinda like finishing a project and having an EXTRA screw or nut. or when id assist a friend with a project, id place a random screw close to project area and ask nonchalanntly " got a question, whats this go to?" . cars are the worst for absorbing dropped screws and sockets/screwdriver bits.
Aaron