Did something dumb. Ever happen to you?

Okay, so I started tearing down my first redesign of my I3, because I'd kind of painted myself into a corner. I wanted to be able to use my Precision Piezo sensor kit, and in trying to "fix one more thing" decided that it was maybe easier to just go back to the drawing board. I kind of needed to redesign the print head carriage, since the way that I'd planned on mounting the extruder wasn't going to work anyway.

So I started taking things apart. I had my Duet Wifi connected to the motors, endstops, etc, and while the parts were flying, I disconnected it, put it in the box, and put the box "somewhere safe" (You know where this is going, right?)

I spent all day Sunday looking for that damned box. Then all Monday evening. I've torn the entire second floor of my home apart. I can find the Molex connector pack, documentation, most of what was IN the box, but the box itself seems to have grown legs and walked off.

Today I ordered another one. I figure that's the most certain way to find it at this point. I guess if I end up with 2 boards, I can always upgrade my other printer. I hadn't really PLANNED to do that, but it would be a real shame to have 2 of these boards lying around.

I'd have been better off just leaving the board connected to the old printer until I was done. Kind of feel like kicking myself.

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MBot3D Printer
MakerBot clone Kit from Amazon
Added heated bed.

Leadscrew self-built printer (in progress)
Duet Wifi, Precision Piezo parts

I have been there, and to prove it (~a psychic prediction~) the day before the replacement parcel arrives you will find the missing box.

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Computer Programmer / Electronics Technician

... and, the day after the replacement board arrives, you'll put them both in the box and put it away again.

I'm glad my brain works in pictures. I could 'rewind' my memory and see me putting the board.....there!

I usually put things where I'd expect to find it if I'm looking for it. This sounds obvious, but when you think about it, how many times did you put things where you'd never expect to find it? It's usually when you are doing something vaguely related, got distracted and put things where you never put them.
So my strategy is to try to be concious what I'm doing even in the thick of things. Just stop, think and continue

Other things that help is add extra reminder data and associations. A common memory trick is to do it in a story form. When you have to remember ball, scissors and orange you tell a story around the house. Playing ball in the garden with my son, but the grass is too long, I cut it with scissors. Mom reminds us to eat an orange in the kitchen. Something like that

Another way is using your buildlog and put in it where you place things so you have a reference. I did that when I moved house, put everything in numbered boxes (corresponding to the rooms in the house) and in the excel sheet where is what.

Also, if you can't find where you expect it, but are sure it should be there, check the direct surroundings. Things slip off tables, drop out of boxes so look behind, under and around boxes etc and on the floor. 9 out of 10 I can find back what I need.

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Kind regards
Imqqmi

NFAN CoreXY printer:
[reprap.org]

... my experience with "finding lost things" is: -- you have to get into the same "mood", you were in, when placing them ... then the chance to remember the last place is more than 80%

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Viktor
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Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

garage, closet or under the bed

Senility isn't nice is it....

It will be in the last place you look (as most people stop looking when they have found it!)

When this happens to me, usually whatever I have mislaid turns up a day or two later somewhere where I am sure I looked for it. So I have a theory that these things flit back and forth between parallel universes. There is probably another universe in which @SupraGuy has just posted "Another Duet WiFi appeared from nowhere!".

Ball point pens are especially good at doing this, except they are also gregarious, so instead of coming back to the place they left they often reappear as a large herds in an unlikely place. Sometimes they reappear in wardrobes, where they metamorphose into wire coat hangers.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Thanks for the replies, makes me feel better.

I do tend to have very good visual recollection. I "remember" putting the box in the box with my filament storage. It's not there. Probably means that I moved it while I was thinking about something else. Well, I just listed my house for sale, so I've had a lot on my mind.

Generally, I don't lost things, but when I'm doing mechanical work, I seem to have a propensity for losing screwdrivers. (Not wrenches, ratchets, sockets, extensions, or the can of WD-40. Just screwdrivers.) I put it down, and can't find it. I have a non mechanically inclined friend (Whose car has often been under my care) who sometimes helps me with these projects. his primary job is to watch where I put the screwdrivers down. When he's not helping me, projects take longer because I spend a non trivial amount of time looking for screwdrivers.

Good tips on finding things.

Well, my filament storage box is in the closet where the 3D printer lives. I've emptied it to the bare floor, so it didn't just fall down from where I thought it was. I've moved everything on the whole floor of the house. I went through all of the boxes stored there (It's more like an attic, but my bedroom is also up there) including some boxes that apparently haven't been opened since before there even WAS a Duet Wifi. (Oh, THAT's where my box of AGP graphics cards and Pentium III motherboards was.)

Well, I figure that it'll turn up when I do my final packing to move. If not, then it becomes likely that I'll never see it again.

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MBot3D Printer
MakerBot clone Kit from Amazon
Added heated bed.

Leadscrew self-built printer (in progress)
Duet Wifi, Precision Piezo parts

If you havent yet looked in the fridge your not trying hard enough.

Quote
MechaBits
If you havent yet looked in the fridge your not trying hard enough.

I even emptied the freezer, damnit.

So I'm also missing my Android tablet, with its charger, and a Raspberry Pi 3 with power adapter, and mini keyboard/trackpad. I figure that the chances are pretty good that they're all in the same place.

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MBot3D Printer
MakerBot clone Kit from Amazon
Added heated bed.

Leadscrew self-built printer (in progress)
Duet Wifi, Precision Piezo parts

checked the local pawn shop?

Sounds like you have thieves!

it's in the freezer in the box the half eaten chinese,
but normally talking about it or sleeping on it can sometimes help...
you might have to torture the little man with the all seeing eye...
slap him in a vice and start turning the screw, he'll give it up eventually...

Yeah, all of those would be things that I'd be very surprised to just lose, but I've had some unusal circumstances of late, and I'm sure that I absentmindedly put them "somewhere safe" and promptly forgot where that was. My fear is that it somehow ended up in the cardboard recycling bin. (Which really would be weird. I keep original boxes for everything, so I can't imagine that I would ever toss the box in the recycling when I still have so many other (completely verified empty) original boxes for so many other things in the same general area as I think that I had this, including for the missing Raspberry Pi.

I'm most upset by misplacing the Duet Wifi. (Tracking says that my replacement is here in town, possibly out for delivery.) I'm a little annoyed by the tablet going AWOL. I wasn't using the Raspberry Pi for much of anything, and I have several of them. I probably wouldn't have even noticed that it wasn't there if it hadn't been for the power supply and mini keyboard.

Well, I'll make another sweep through the house today, but I'm starting to suspect that the next time I see it will be when do a final pack to move, or else when I unpack after moving. (The house is listed for sale.)

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MBot3D Printer
MakerBot clone Kit from Amazon
Added heated bed.

Leadscrew self-built printer (in progress)
Duet Wifi, Precision Piezo parts

Quote
imqqmi
I usually put things where I'd expect to find it if I'm looking for it. This sounds obvious, but when you think about it, how many times did you put things where you'd never expect to find it? It's usually when you are doing something vaguely related, got distracted and put things where you never put them.
So my strategy is to try to be concious what I'm doing even in the thick of things. Just stop, think and continue

That's why I store everything important in my bathroom.

Quote
imqqmi
Also, if you can't find where you expect it, but are sure it should be there, check the direct surroundings. Things slip off tables, drop out of boxes so look behind, under and around boxes etc and on the floor. 9 out of 10 I can find back what I need.

...and why I never empty waste bins before sifting through them for important stuff.

Many years ago - 1998 - I got this little article published in Model Engineer (a UK magazine). I even got paid for it!

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I think we've got a demon in our house. He is not your usual "horns, tail, teeth, wreaking horrible damage" type demon so beloved of fiction writers. No, ours is the "eat inanimate objects that you know you put down in a safe place" type of demon. You know what I mean. Take the other day for example; I was at my workbench, using a screwdriver - a real fluorescent plastic handle it had, a real sunglasses job - and I put it down in full sight. Turned away momentarily, turned back quickly, and there it was, gone! I tried everything, turned the place over, I did. Picked everything up, moved things, took everything off the bench until all that remained was bare wood - and what did I find? Nothing. Not so much as a fluorescent red sausage.

We've had demons in our house before - we've experienced the "move keys from where you've put them to somewhere else" variety. We've even had the "turning things on that I have sworn that I turned off" type. I think those types are quite common, and such demons bother most people at some time in their life, model engineer or lesser mortal. They seem more mischievous than harmful, and as such one can learn to tolerate them - just about.

But this slippery little beast is spiteful. He acts at random intervals, mostly at times of greatest inconvenience, leading me into using substitute tools that can cause damage or injury. Does he ever eat the things I need? Of course not! He prefers to leave such items accumulating in the most unlikely places, to be discovered and puzzled over much later, when the urgent need for them has long disappeared.

Hang on! Could it be? Perhaps he's using the shelf full of rubbish as a hiding place! I wonder...

... the best weapon against it should be "Occam's razor"

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Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

The tablet and charger turned up. The Duet and the Pi are still AWOL. The replacement has arrived, and would be connected to my new printer, but somehow I managed to build the frame using my approximation of my motor depth of 45mm (It's 47mm.) and somehow the X axis gantry doesn't quite fit. Fixed the CAD work, now I need to get material re-cut.

I like your story, David. Screwdrivers and I have a special relationship, they seem to love playing hide and seek with me. Other tools, no problem, but it seems that screwdrivers have a propensity to vanish the moment they leave my fingers.

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MBot3D Printer
MakerBot clone Kit from Amazon
Added heated bed.

Leadscrew self-built printer (in progress)
Duet Wifi, Precision Piezo parts

Perhaps it vanished in a puff of magic smoke.

I suspect the 'magic smoke' is what caused the scatter brain forgetfulness in the first instance...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2018 06:37AM by Dust.

When you come to fit the new Duet board is when you find the old one - it's still on the printer - you only meant to take it off and box it up but didn't actually get around to it (played that game before).

I buy things in bulk - for me it's tape measures and pens so I always buy packs of 10 at a time (and no, I can still only find one or two).

Lost count of the number of screwdrivers and hex keys I've bought - they are permanent items on my birthday/Christmas list (might as well have another set).

I have too many hobbies and too many "man caves" - garage, shed and study as well as a van full of tools. I put together a basic tool kit for run of the mill household repairs which resided in a kitchen drawer because I could never find what I wanted in the garage, shed, study or van. Doesn't help. Now I have to look in the garage, study, shed, van and kitchen drawer and still can't find what I want.........

Getting senile is good for the body, if not for the mind. The number of times I find myself at the top of the stairs wondering what it was I came up for, going back downstairs, then remembering what it was so going back up stairs.......

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[somei3deas.wordpress.com]
[www.youtube.com]

No 'magic smoke' involved in my forgetfulness. I am not the type to indulge in such, and I can't see that changing even with the imminent legalization of such here in Canada. I can't even blame the vodka in which I do occasionally indulge.

I's most certainly not connected to the old printer, which has been largely dismantled at this point. I scavenged the smooth rods and motors from it Friday. I'll have new laser cut pieces tonight to correct for my earlier bad measurements.

I can't blame senility for the screwdrivers... I started that in my teens. I still seldom misplace other tools. I'm quite confounded by this with the Duet. I certainly do hope that it turns up at some point. I may well want to use it for my CNC project.

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MBot3D Printer
MakerBot clone Kit from Amazon
Added heated bed.

Leadscrew self-built printer (in progress)
Duet Wifi, Precision Piezo parts

So, I went out to the garage looking for a sawblade today, and of course, there it was, in a box of old car parts. WTAF?

All's well that ends well, I suppose.

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MBot3D Printer
MakerBot clone Kit from Amazon
Added heated bed.

Leadscrew self-built printer (in progress)
Duet Wifi, Precision Piezo parts

Quote
SupraGuy
No 'magic smoke' involved in my forgetfulness. I am not the type to indulge in such, and I can't see that changing even with the imminent legalization of such here in Canada. I can't even blame the vodka in which I do occasionally indulge.

"Magic smoke" in this instance means the substance that flows through electrical circuits to make them work - the circuits won't work if you let the smoke out of them.

You're talking about "Wacky Backy" (pick your favourite name for it).

yeah it was the 32bit internal magic smoke I was talking about, but the other magic smoke might help you remember

Heh. My first encounter with magic smoke came from an 8 bit Z80 processor... Unless it was the 6502.

Anyway, it's all good now. Now I need a project to use the other Duet. I'm thinking of starting my CNC router project. I know that the drivers have a 2.4A limit, and the drivers are software limited to something a little lower (2.1A? I'll have to look again.) I was looking at These motors on Amazon which are 2.8A motors. Drivng them at 1.4A (50% rated) should give me enough torque to move a reasonable spindle if I'm careful with my acceleration values.

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MBot3D Printer
MakerBot clone Kit from Amazon
Added heated bed.

Leadscrew self-built printer (in progress)
Duet Wifi, Precision Piezo parts

The limit for Duet is 2.4 A and you can set up to 80% of the stepper current/phase.

If you go to the limit, you have to cool the Duet.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2018 02:36PM by JoergS5.