What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Time saving tip, inventory your tools often

ScottK

Active Member
I pranked myself pretty good today, so I thought I'd share a time-saving build tip. But I'm not much of a lecturer, so I'll just say that if (a) you finish a component like a flap and are happy with it, but (b) are wondering why it seems weirdly heavy on one end, and (c) why is it making a sliding and thumping sound when I move it, and (d) just where is my tungsten bucking bar, anyway? :confused:

...in that case you may have already missed the time-saving opportunity. But you may have found a new opportunity to practice your drilling-out-rivets skill. Always a silver lining, right?
 

Attachments

  • there it is.jpg
    there it is.jpg
    75.8 KB · Views: 280
You might be surprised at some of the things I find at inspection.

Don't think I've ever found a bucking bar, but I have found clecoes, bolts, nuts, etc. closed up in control surfaces.
 
Don't think you are alone. When pulling a Beechcraft 99 wing apart to replace its time-expired spar in the outer bay of the wing I found a rather large bucking bar. It had shuffled around inside the wing for years and had polished the skin to the point that it likely would have become a UFO (unidentified FALLING object) had the aircraft continued in service very much longer.

Yes, I still have that bucking bar - it serves as an excellent reminder to keep an eye on one's tools!
 
Back in the day, one of our 757 Skippers had a control issue. Had to use the break out function in roll.

Found a 4 D Cell Maglite in the wing - just shortly out of inspection.

Because our ******* accountants loved overseas maintenance, the post maintenance repairs had to be snuck onto a different budget......:rolleyes:
 
It happens . . . .

Once earned my living as a professional mechanic and very rarely lost a tool. After entering a career as an engineer I would lose a tool every 15 yrs or so. It happened after my 7 got to the hangar for final assembly. Some how a 9/16 Craftsman combination wrench had been misplaced. 8 months later I just ordered a new one. About 10 months after that I was doing an extensive first condition inspection and found it in the aft pocket of the wing root cavity. I inspected all and it had not been moving around in there, no dings or dents as one would expect.

Sometimes it takes a while to find a lost tool. It most often reappears when the new one arrives in the mail.
 
One way to reduce risks of this happening is to put your tools away at the end of each work session. By doing this I often realized I had set down a tool in my work area, went and retrieved it, and knew when I started my next session where all my tools were. Worked out well for me, but may not be in other's work style.
 
You might be surprised at some of the things I find at inspection.

Don't think I've ever found a bucking bar, but I have found clecoes, bolts, nuts, etc. closed up in control surfaces.

Yep, I’ll never forget that cleco you found in the HS of my 12 :eek:
 
Once upon a time on a MD-11 flight… flight attendant (as they’re nicely called nowadays…) reported after take-off that PAX saw a walkie-talkie in the flaps…
After landing and and docking at destination we extended the flaps, lo and behold found a bright yellow Walkie-Talkie wedged between some hydraulic lines on the rear spar :eek:
Forgotten by maintenance during the previous check… guess we’re all humans ;)
 
Different approach

Space Shuttle:

You had to log each tool (components/fasteners/clamps/etc. as well via the work doc) you took into a section (aft, wing, midbody, etc.)

Space Shuttle Main Engine:

Each tool box tool box was unlocked and inventoried at the beginning of a shift. Each was also "shadow boxed"; a profile was cut into foam in drawers for each tool to make a visual inventory quick. End of shift, the boxes were inventoried again and locked.

An untethered object is better/worse going to zero Gs and back; can move anywhere. In any case, a missing tool instigated a Problem Report creation and basically all work stopped until it was found. Necessary, yes. Painful and an impedance to progress, yep.

All those precautions and then a technician wears ankle weighs into the aft section; snags one and sends lead balls everywhere. The things you remember.
 
Exactly what stuff like this is for...

www.foamfittools.com
This guy sells foam already cut for some tool kits, but I just bought the blank foam he sells and used a small router to do my own tools. Not cheap, but the quality of the two color foam is excellent.
 
Human Errer

Space Shuttle:

You had to log each tool (components/fasteners/clamps/etc. as well via the work doc) you took into a section (aft, wing, midbody, etc.)
Yep, there is a similar, albeit not as strict, process in nuke plants when the reactor lid is off.
 
It's interesting to read all of these stories. I was a maintainer in the Marine Corps on F-18s and the level to which we tracked tools made stuff like this really hard. ATAF (All Tools Accounted For) happened at the start and end of every shift. No one went home until ATAF. If planes were flying when a lost tool was discovered, they were grounded. Doesn't mean it didn't happen, but all the attention helped make sure it didn't.

Had a Sgt. try to prove a point once about tool control and take a socket out of my toolbox. He didn't know I was watching. Called him out it. Still got in trouble. Haha
 
Each tool box tool box was unlocked and inventoried at the beginning of a shift. Each was also "shadow boxed"; a profile was cut into foam in drawers for each tool to make a visual inventory quick. End of shift, the boxes were inventoried again and locked.

An untethered object is better/worse going to zero Gs and back; can move anywhere. In any case, a missing tool instigated a Problem Report creation and basically all work stopped until it was found. Necessary, yes. Painful and an impedance to progress, yep.

This is our exact tool control method where I work. Missing tools never show up in aircraft, because it’s extremely rare to have a missing tool using this method.
 
tool find

This is our exact tool control method where I work. Missing tools never show up in aircraft, because it’s extremely rare to have a missing tool using this method.

Right after purchase of my-4, the AP and purchase inspector noticed a rubbing sound when the tail went back and forth.
Opened the rearmost inspection port to find a 3/8" socket extension 6" long.

Daddyman
 
Back
Top