Doncha Love It . . .

[Harvey Pascoe]

. . . when a bolt falls out of one of your machines? Its just laying there on the floor, you don't know how long its been there or where it came from. Could be this machine or that, you don't know because you could have kicked it, moving it away from whence it came. You examine the nearest machines exhaustively . . . but no missing bolts are to be found. So, for the next month you look at that bolt and worry about which machine is going to fall apart. Shops are full of nasty surprises.

[Mike Wilkins]

Whatever you do, don't throw that baby away. Just when it hits the local landfill you will discover its origin. Don't ask how I know this.

[Dick Bringhurst]

The quickest way I've found to find where it came from is to pick it up and throw it away. You will usually have your answer the day after your trash pick up.

[Ryan Hellmer]

Maybe the answer is to carefully measure the part, find a place to purchase a replacement and throw the original away, that way when you do find out where it came from (on trash day) the replacement is just a trip to the hardward store away. Seems logical. I'd be really worried if it came off a machine that spins heavy metal things at high speeds. I hate to imagine if a bolt came out of the bearing block of a jointer what could happen.

Ryan

[Matt Day]

I don't throw any bolts away unless they're mangled and can't be used. I have a couple containers for misc bolts.

I have the same problem when doing car audio work or maintenance - I take lots of pictures now before I start tearing into anything and while I'm doing it!

[John Nesmith]

I have such a bolt. It sits in a little cup in the front of one of my hardware drawers. I don't intend to dispose of it, so I guess I will never know where it belongs.

[Bruce Page]

I had a serious looking bolt fall out of my Dodge Ram a few years ago. I looked and looked and never did figure out where it came from. Everything still seems to work fine, must’ve not been needed in the first place...

[Bill Edwards(2)]

When I first read this I thought it said "belt", which made it very funny.

Sorry, yes... bolt is bad.

[John M Wilson]

I had a serious looking bolt fall out of my Dodge Ram a few years ago. I looked and looked and never did figure out where it came from. Everything still seems to work fine, must’ve not been needed in the first place...

I was an engineer in a car factory for over 3 decades. We discovered this is a major dissatisfier for customers. Often, the assembler just dropped or mis-placed a bolt or screw & it was quicker/easier to grab another than search for the original. However, the customer doesn't know that he got an "extra" free part, and has a sinking feeling that some vital component is going to go flying off at the worst possible time.

Making the assemblers aware that the biggest problem wasn't the tiny expense of extra parts, but rather the extreme effect on the perception of our quality in the eyes of the customer reduced the problem to very low levels (at least in my un-named plant.)

[Chip Lindley]

It is more likely the errant bolt was one dropped during manufacture and found it's way to your floor, than one that vibrated loose and will cause a catastrophe involving loss of life limb. Put it in an envelope, write which machine it came from, and file it away in your tool drawer, just in case...

[Harvey Pascoe]

That is perfectly logical - throw it away and you will soon discover where it went.

I've had quite a few bolts fall out of machines over the years, usually just one attaching some kind of sheet metal part that is not critical. This one looks unused, doesn't have a mark on it, its black and shows no bare metal at all so it could very well be an extra. But sometimes . . .its a bolt that looks serious.

[John Coloccia]

A co-worker of mine had no end of trouble with his new BMW motorcycle. BMW had rebuilt the thing practically from the ground up, but it still wasn't right. They weren't rebuilding it right, either. He had to bring it back because there were literally bolts falling out of the thing (not extra...legitimate bolts). When he finally got it back, I ran into the lab, grabbed a small handful of nuts and bolts and scattered them around the ground where he parked It only took him a second to figure it out, though. "All my bolts are metric." LOL. That's the problem with playing jokes like this on engineers and scientists. We can't tie our shoes half the time and can't tell you what day it is, but we notice trivial details like this and it makes it no fun sometimes!

Incidentally, BMW eventually replaced the motorcycle with a brand new current model year cycle. Good for them, but it took a year to get there!

[Jerry Lawrence]

Bolts like this are what I refer to as "Pocket Bolts"...if everything seems to be functioning properly and nothing is falling apart, just put it in your pocket and forget about it

[Lex Boegen]

It probably goes to the reverse valve adapter on the left-hand threaded doo-hickey that facilitates the framistat.

[Victor Robinson]

I've found they usually belong to items purchased from Harbor Freight.