Tech Tip by "allmyEXes" Week 3518

[allmyEXes]

This weeks tech tip is about gravity, sort of. If you are like me when I work on a vehicle, I have a tendency to put the tools and nuts and bolts on the radiator support. Doing this they are easily knocked off and fall on the ground or lost in the engine bay area. I have a tool cart to put these items on but it currently has shtuff piled on it. I have several magnets out of a common household appliance which I will place in two or 3 spots under the hood of the vehicle. It works for me. There are little metal bowls with magnets on the bottom made for this purpose. Harbor freight is one of the many suppliers. I hope this tip works for you as well as it has for me.
Magnet

 

[allmyEXes]

Caution: I like my magnets but they have caused me a problem or two. The inadvertent "magnetization" of my tools when I don't want them to be. On more than one occasion I have picked up a screwdriver one of my small parts will be attached to it and if I'm not consciously aware of this I could loose that "little important screw". 3 weeks ago this happened to me when I was rebuilding an Edelbrock 1405 4 bbl carburetor. At some point in the job the accelerator connecting rod must have been attached to one of the tools and got lost during the process of picking up the tools for the day. I'm just glad I was able to buy a new little parts kit for $17- that had in it the part that I needed. It is a calibrated part and no one around here has a Carter AFB for parts just sitting around.
I have tried to demagnetize my tools with no results. The only idea I have come up with and not tried is using the magnetic tape eraser that is in my Dad's old stuff...

 

[Mbrooks420]

They make a tool for this for a few bucks. Heat also works, but you have to get it hotter than I’d want to heat most tools.

 

[allmyEXes]

Ah! Where would one obtain this item? My Mig Welder hose/wand seems to be magnetizing tools that it lays across too...
I have not tried turning my strong magnet over to demagnetize, but I will tomorrow.

 

[Mbrooks420]

The one in the pic came from Amazon for 6.99

 

[Rick]

The one in the pic came from Amazon for 6.99

I just ordered one

 

[Rick]

There are little metal bowls with magnets on the bottom made for this purpose. Harbor freight is one of the many suppliers. I hope this tip works for you as well as it has for me.
Magnet

I have one in the Pumpkin so when I have to pull things apart on the trail they won't get lost in the dirt. I also have a couple in the garage as well.

 

[Mbrooks420]

That’s actually a really good idea. I just spent a 15 minutes crawling around looking for a dash screw.