80 screws in 19 sizes and 38 wires, how do you remember?

[FriedMule]

So you are repairing or looking inside a unit and to do that did you have to remove countless screws randomly places, all in random sizes. On top of that did you have to disconnect wires, strips and what not. How do you make sure you can assemble the unit correctly a month later when you finally get time? :-)

[rsjsouza]

I write up all the details on my lab notebook, with drawings of the parts and assemblies with numbered subsections. Some photos may be taken depending on the complexity of the assembly. I also use those very small ziploc bags to hold screws and small parts together with the matching numbers to my drawings. In the year of covid, where we had quite a few take out orders from the restaurants, I repurposed those small clear transparent plastic containers for sauce and condiments to store those parts as well.

This works very well for my repair/restoration projects.

[coppice]

Modern phones have transformed disassembly and reassembly for people with enough patience to video the product as they dismantle it.

[SuzyC]

I take a picture of the device and the place of the device  being worked on with my smartphone.
I transfer the picture to my PC and print it out on my laser printer, several copies and each magnified to fit to a full page.
I paste each screw with scotch tape upon its actual location on the printed pages and use a felt pen to give each screw/cable/wire  a step number and write other notes. Repeat same on each printed page for connecting cables/sockets etc.
Easy enough to group same type/sized screws together and then put into a tiny ziplock and tape it to the printout paper and use radiating lines with a felt pen from the ziplock to the actual locations of same-sized screws.

[emece67]

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[FriedMule]

LOL:-) So no easy way out of it then?
Your comments make me think of this method:

1) mount a cheap video-camera above my table that just records while disassembling the unit
2) Have one or more boxes with small rooms in it and then just say "box 1 room 5" when I have removed the screw

How does that sound?

[mikeselectricstuff]

Use a screw box with lots of compartments - put each logical set of screws in consecutive compartments. Label the wires.

[Twoflower]

I used a double-layer cardboard to push the screws in relative position to each other through the first layer. A nice side effect is that the screws stay heads up and you can put notes on the cardboard (orientation of cables and such).

[Tens]

When taking a laptop apart I have put strips of double sided tape around the offending item, stuck onto my bench worktop. As each screw is taken out, stick it onto the tape, adjacent to its location. If really clever you can form a square of tape to mimic the device you're working on. If it's a long term job, use a cardboard backing so it can be stored somewhere safe.

[rsjsouza]

(...) when the assembly is done months (sometimes years  ) after the disassembly.

Indeed. I had a Toshiba laptop that took me about two years to get back to it - I remembered nothing of it, but then I ended up thanking myself for using this method.

When taking a laptop apart I have put strips of double sided tape around the offending item, stuck onto my bench worktop. As each screw is taken out, stick it onto the tape, adjacent to its location. If really clever you can form a square of tape to mimic the device you're working on. If it's a long term job, use a cardboard backing so it can be stored somewhere safe.

You reminded me of something else that I usually do as well. Sometimes I tape the bag with parts to the page I had just drawn. In certain applications (back covers or subassemblies of laptops, for example) where the screws have a small recessed hole, I simply put a tape on the top of the hole and the screw is held in its place.

[penfold]

I use a mix of a few: screw-boxes and compartments, sometimes zip-lock bags, sometimes sellotape directly to a piece of paper/card or to the cover I removed, and sometimes screw them back into the hole after removing the cover (though only that last one if its a relatively straight forward cover and all the screws are still easily visible). Masking tape is also useful for writing temporary labels and notes on where things go, covering sensitive areas that wouldn't normally be exposed to dust and disassembly detritus, and taping loose wires out the way.

I'd definitely advocate making diagrams as you go and making parts lists as it's great practice generally, though I'll confess I don't do it nearly often enough.

[Photoman]

Ive used the sharpie method, i.e. mark the hole with a sharpie color, mark the box the screw goes in with the same color.
If the screw if big enough, I will sometimes mark them with the color, only if the screw is steel and not black oxide coated.
This works for wires as well as connectors.  I usually mark connectors with a few vertical lines unevenly spaced.
That’s really important if they don't have polarity tabs.  Don't ask how I learned to do that....

They sell a giant pack of sharpies with a ton of colors.  Also the metallic ones are great for marking dark surfaces.
Mostly the sharpie does come off on metals with IPA except on plastics.

[BeBuLamar]

Ive used the sharpie method, i.e. mark the hole with a sharpie color, mark the box the screw goes in with the same color.
If the screw if big enough, I will sometimes mark them with the color, only if the screw is steel and not black oxide coated.
This works for wires as well as connectors.  I usually mark connectors with a few vertical lines unevenly spaced.
That’s really important if they don't have polarity tabs.  Don't ask how I learned to do that....

They sell a giant pack of sharpies with a ton of colors.  Also the metallic ones are great for marking dark surfaces.
Mostly the sharpie does come off on metals with IPA except on plastics.

When you get to 19 different colors it's hard to distinquish the colors.

[Photoman]

When you get to 19 different colors it's hard to distinquish the colors.

Good point.
You could always pick out a subset of colors that are far apart and put hash marks on the hole and the box.
For example, m3 screws 1 line.  m4 2 lines...(or by length).

[DenzilPenberthy]

Wherever possible, I put the screws straight back in the holes they came from.  Same goes for nuts & bolts.  Once I remove a bracket, the nut and bolt pairs go back loosely in the holes they came from.

[AtomicRob]

Same for me - after disassembly fastners go back in the hole. If loose, secured with tape. I've tried taking notes, taking pictures, etc but inevitably if the fastners are separated from the assembly it seems something eventually gets lost. Or worse, you end up with the dreaded "leftover parts" at the end.

[Terry Bites]

Photo as you go
Draw you phone or whatever on a piece of card, push the extracted fixing into the card to match the placements.

[RoGeorge]

Take a pic of each screw with the screwdriver fit in it, just before unscrewing it and with a wide enough field so you can see some surrounding assembles too, then after unscrewing it stiff the screw into a polystyrene case.  Sounds painful, but sometimes necessary.  Did that when I opened a photo camera.

[wizard69]

You ask a good question.   To be honest the big challenge for me is to not lose a part.

• As has already been suggested a cell phone is a minimalist camera that is aleays with you learn to make it your first tool that you reach for.
• Come up with a storage approach that keeps related screws separated.   A Mini coup cake pan can be one approach but you might want something with a cover and latch if a tear down will last more than a few minutes.   You might go a step father and put little labels in each bin.
• By the way a visit to you local sporting goods store will likely enlightening you to numerous ways to store small stuff.   Fishing tackle gear isn't too bad for this but I find two problems with this gear.   One is that the minimal bin size can be to large.   The other is that removable dividers kinda suck, if you do go this route consider gluing the dividers in place.
• Hobby stores, especially those that have beading supplies have what can be argued are better containers for small mechanical parts than the tackle gear.
• Order a bunch of tiny "Ziploc" bags from a commercial supplier.   A box of 1000 isn't really that expensive.   Good quality ones are you best bet against spilling everything at once.
• Somebody mentioned a log book above and while I don't do that for the simple things I work on it can be very useful.   Again with modern personal electronics you can just dictate to a voice recording app like a doctor doing an autopsies.   This has worked for decades in the morgues so it might be useful in a repair project.   You could even do video if you have lots of disk space.
• IF you don't care about looks sometimes it can be useful to color code parts and locations with a Sharpy or other device.
• Another approach that can work really well is sticking the parts to tape.   I work on industrial / automation systems and sometimes that means climbing over a tool to get ot a electronics enclosure and work on disassembly.   Usually this means no place to set things.    So when dissembling thins you may need to secure screws, clips or whatever from turning up missing.   So what you do is stick them to a piece of tape, usually electrical tape in my case.   Wrap or fold, the tape over once to maintain a good grip on the little guys, then place that close buy for reassembly.

A little aside, your cell phone can be come a primary tool for your technical life.   These are just some of the ways that one can put a cell phone to use as a tool:

• Camera to take pictures.   This allows you to quickly document how something was when you arrived.
• The Camera as a magnifier.   Find a label, color code, name plate or other marking hard to read?   Take a close up picture and then view on screen, zoom in if needed.   This is especially useful if you can't get your head oriented to actually get a good visual on the label.
• While this varies from phone to phone, a slomotion capability is very useful
• The general apps, Timer, Calculator and Notes for example, all end up being used daily.
• Web access for documentation is pretty obvious.   As is E-Mail for communications.

In any event this is just a list of things that a cell phone can do for a tech that don't even leverage special apps.   Basically features every modern smart phone comes with.   It is an instrument that gets and should get, daily use.   I just wanted to point this out because some people forget about that device in their pocket.

[FriedMule]

I am so sorry for my very late answer, had problem at the home front! You have many great ideas that I will try out, lol unfortunately no lazy solutions but hay your solutions do still make things a lot easier! :-)

[Rick Law]

Use a screw box with lots of compartments - put each logical set of screws in consecutive compartments. Label the wires.

I used to do that before the multi-compartment boxes got way to pricey...

Now, I have extra refrigerator ice-cube maker trays.    My ice-cube hole number is always left-to-right, up-to-down.  A screen-print or a sketches of the thing I am taking apart, and write the proper number on it as needed.

On occasions, I can wash those trays out and can make a larger supply of ice cubes.

[CatalinaWOW]

Late to this party but will add the following simpllfications.

1. Well designed equipment has few different screw types, since a wide variety makes it hard on the manufacturing end also.  No problems here

2. Imperfectly designed equipment has a dominant screw type, with exceptions where necessary or where someone screwed up.  You only have to record the exceptions here.

3. Some companies (I am talking about you Boeing and Airbus, but this happens on much smaller scales) put together assemblies from different sources.  Each assembly may have its own screw style.  Here it is just a matter of keeping things with the subsystem.

4. Frequently the reason for using an unusual screw type is fairly obvious.  If you understand that reason when you take it apart, you should be able to select the right screw at re-assembly time.