Screw Retriever

Cheaply hack a Swifer-type mop into a tool to find screws lost on the floor.

Step 1: Materials List

Swifer- type ($8) mop
Sheet of rubber magnet ($6) can be reused from the backs of locker photoholders
Liquid Nail adhesive, storm window or gasket sealant
Scissors or paper cutter

Step 2: Cut Rubber Magnet to size

1. Measure the footprint of the mop or trace it onto the magnet sheet.
2. Cut the magnet to size with scissors or a paper cut.

Step 3: Glue the magnet strip to the mop head

A. Using Liquid Nail or another gasket adhesive to secure the magnet to the mop
head.
B. Let dry under weight.

Step 4: Assemble mop handle

If you will be retrieving screws from a seated position, you may only need some of the handle sections.

Step 5: Retrieve some screws

sprinkle your floor with screws, staples or paperclips
and then pick them up.
do this over and over until it is time to go home.

Comments

[peter register]

I hope your not dropping so much stuff that you need a regular tool for picking it up all the time! ;) I use a speaker magnet inside a plastic bag. Why the bag? Try pulling all those nails and things off the magnet bit by bit. Turn the bag inside out after using it to pick up all those nails and voila', all the nails are in the bag and the magnet is in your hand! :) I'll post a demo when I get around to it. Another variations for picking up non ferrous materials. Let's say you drop a box full of tiny plastic parts. Magnet won't work. So take a nylon stocking and shove the toe part down the plastic intake of a vacuum cleaner to about 5-10 cm. Wrap back the rest and hold it in your hand firmly. Adjust the power of the vacuum by either opening the hole at handle end of the tube (near the top of the tube) or adjust the power knob to minimum. Suck up your plastic parts and turn off the vacuum and voila' you have all the bits inside the nylon stocking and dust free!. Have fun buying nylons if you haven't got a girlfriend. Don't ask your mom. She may get the wrong idea:D

[juanoporras]

Yes man, once my swiss army knife's toothpick (is made out of plastic) went down the sink's drain, I had to vaccum the sink just like you are saying :P, but I had to take out the dirt bag so no water could fill the inside and make te dirt become mud :P; it's a good trick though.

[TheMadScientist]

ok, a bit of advice, if this is an at-all powerful magnet, do NOT use the collected bolts in construction of anything that can be wrecked by magnets.... i've messed up my pc badly using magnatized bolts....

[lemonie]

I have failed to understand how a magnetic screw would damage a PC (if used correctly). Strong static magnetic fields can interfere with CRTs & floppies, but what did you do with your screws man?

[TheMadScientist]

used em to reconstruct a harddrive, and i didn't use a fridge magnet, rare earth all the way.

[heartburnkid]

Well there's your problem!

Rare earth magnets are much stronger than the magnet used for this. This will probably do little-to-no magnetization.

[trebuchet03]

This type of magnet is as harmless as a fridge magnet... mainly because that is what it is :P

[bookratt]

This would be great for moms and grandmas who sew and drop pins and needles on the floor, then can't bend or see well enough to pick them all back up again. Ever had a forgotten needle go into your foot all the way and needed a Dr to get it out? I have, so this thing could come in handy in my sewing/ craft room. Great for pet owners or parents of little ones, too, who need to get the spilled stuff up and out of the way quickly, without missing even one of them, before Jr or Fido eats them or chokes on them. Shop magnets or Mag Sweeps like this one in the real world cost around $50 to $200, so if this one is less than that, and it actually works, I'm all for it.

[lemonie]

While I can usualy manage not to drop many screws & use my fingers to pick them up if I do, this would be good for staples & paperclips on office-floors.

[alexdcd]

Arent those types of mops detachable to replace the foam bit?, its a dual mode mop!

[jgodsey]

Iit's the kind where you 'wrap' a pretreated sheet over the head and 'tuck' it in on the top side. So yes it IS a dual mop as you can still use it for its original purpose!

[mikesty]

Very neat :) Ilike it! I wish I had more use for something like that :D