3 ms·

I think the key word there is M3. There is a Cartesian product between: - Screw thread (M3 isn't the only type; and not all screws are ISO Metric) - Screw len

I think the key word there is M3. There is a Cartesian product between: - Screw thread (M3 isn't the only type; and not all screws are ISO Metric) - Screw length - Intended material (wood, metal, plastic, matching washer, etc.) - Head type (e.g. pan head, etc.) - Driver type (e.g. Torx, Phillips, flat, hex, etc.) - Screw material (e.g. brass, stainless, various coatings, etc.) - Screw strength (e.g. structural screws which can handle shear, etc.) - Special properties (e.g. self-tapping) ... and so on. In most cases, there's a good-enough replacement in my big bin of oddball screws. Sometimes, I do need to redrill or retap the hole first.

jacquesm 3y ago
What helps is to know roughly what is in your big bin of oddball screws etc. Sorting by rough groups can help though: a bin of oddball bolts, another for oddball nuts etc. That way you at least narrow it down a bit without requiring a ton more space for bins that will have at most two screws in them.
- frognumber 3y ago
  The really time-consuming bit is comparing similar screws or bolts. They all look the same. Come to think of it, IF I had a quick way to identify them (e.g. a machine vision system), I could keep the organized by keeping DISsimilar screws together. Sheldon Brown had a system where he kept 5mm/10mm/15mm/... in one color, 6mm/11mm/16mm/etc. in another. Color + very rough size was good enough to find the right tool: https://sheldonbrown.com/colorcode.html https://sheldonbrown.com/colorcode.html Something similar might work for fasteners. Binning the would help a lot. If I could identify them in the first place. For which I need some kind of open-source machine vision system or something. To answer your question: I have screws, bolts, and nuts left over from installing things, from fixing devices (e.g. laptops), etc. all sorts of place. This morning, I disassembled a clock which broke to see if I could fix it. I tend to reuse parts when building things. The little plastic screws from the clock are perfectly usable. I can drill a hole in a piece of plastic, and screw them in. In this case, I don't need precision. For something like a laptop, I do. One of the bolts fell out of my laptop, and I'd love to be able to quickly find a replacement.
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    That's interesting: given a picture of this assortment of screws point me to the nearest equivalent of an M3x12, could be longer but not shorter, preferably with a hex head but Torx is also good. That would be a useful thing to have. But that's going to be a lot harder than it may seem at first glance.

jacquesm 3y ago

What helps is to know roughly what is in your big bin of oddball screws etc. Sorting by rough groups can help though: a bin of oddball bolts, another for oddball nuts etc. That way you at least narrow it down a bit without requiring a ton more space for bins that will have at most two screws in them.

frognumber 3y ago
The really time-consuming bit is comparing similar screws or bolts. They all look the same. Come to think of it, IF I had a quick way to identify them (e.g. a machine vision system), I could keep the organized by keeping DISsimilar screws together. Sheldon Brown had a system where he kept 5mm/10mm/15mm/... in one color, 6mm/11mm/16mm/etc. in another. Color + very rough size was good enough to find the right tool: https://sheldonbrown.com/colorcode.html https://sheldonbrown.com/colorcode.html Something similar might work for fasteners. Binning the would help a lot. If I could identify them in the first place. For which I need some kind of open-source machine vision system or something. To answer your question: I have screws, bolts, and nuts left over from installing things, from fixing devices (e.g. laptops), etc. all sorts of place. This morning, I disassembled a clock which broke to see if I could fix it. I tend to reuse parts when building things. The little plastic screws from the clock are perfectly usable. I can drill a hole in a piece of plastic, and screw them in. In this case, I don't need precision. For something like a laptop, I do. One of the bolts fell out of my laptop, and I'd love to be able to quickly find a replacement.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  That's interesting: given a picture of this assortment of screws point me to the nearest equivalent of an M3x12, could be longer but not shorter, preferably with a hex head but Torx is also good. That would be a useful thing to have. But that's going to be a lot harder than it may seem at first glance.