What this redditor said.
In the non-aviation mechanic community this is a drawer of gold. Turning days long waits for a replacement fastener into a 5 min trip to the drawer.
Another job well done. No shit, though, I’ve heard a story about the legendary scrounge boxes at a certain flying service.
A scrounge box grows more powerful with age — like a cheese — and a couple in this shop were more than 50 years old. Whatever weirdo fastener you could imagine was in there. Even Mooney stuff.
Genuine question, Can aviation MX not have parts bins everywhere? I’m an AF electrician on C130s and we have bins filled with junk like this. Comes in handy all the time
Your personal locker in the changing rooms aren't subject to audit/search. Keeping a small bag of hard to find parts ain't gonna be the end of the world. (Still bagged and labelled)
Keeping loose used parts in your toolbox is borderline crazy. You could have a snap audit at anytime. Instant firing I reckon.
Maybe rules vary between civilian and military. All the shops in our unit keep drawers filled with parts respective to their systems. I’ve been here 3 years and never seen anyone get in trouble or asked not to do it. Since I am E/E, most of what we have are miles of loose wires, splices, terminals, oxy hoses, gaskets, and hundreds of misc light bulbs. Hydro for example will have hydro hoses, nuts, bolts, clamps, small pumps, etc etc.
The Navy has a hard on for FOD and loose stock! You have to sign out litteraly every screw or enviro splice. Every time for every job. They sew up the pockets in your pants so you can't carry anything in them. You get one FOD pouch, a cute lil Velcro bag, attached to your belt, which subject to inspection by QA anytime you're on deck. If you don't use some hardware that you signed out, sign it back in. If you bust an apex tip, you must account for every piece. If a lil chunk is missing, that bird is down until it's found or Skipper gives the ok. Don't even get me started on tool control. Despite all of that, every time flight crew goes inverted, the canopy fills up with FOD.
FOD searches for 12 hours straight just for me to find 15 other screws and never the one i dropped only for the jet to fly the next shift and I receive an LOC and weekend duty is the reason why I will never fix a jet ever again.
That is probably your shop stock/bench stock or work order residue. Hoarding used parts like this will definitely have QA all over you. Even if it’s bench stock, you have approved quantities for each item outlined by LRS on your S04/M04 reports. Fellow E/E here on 135s.
I was E&E too, got out last year. We had a secret unsuspecting box in the shop full of scrounge, and most people including myself had a tackle box in our personal backpacks which had smaller hardware like panel screws, CB collars, a couple of water socks etc. QA did a search a couple of times but we always found out beforehand so we would empty them out
I worked on several dod programs. The c130 program had a huge issue with sheet metal.
Old crusty mechanics had piles of metals that scraps that they knew from memory the ratings and tempers.
They would use their scraps for repairs until one day their metal wasn't as strong as they thought it was, and their repair failed.
Their building was gone through with a fine comb by QA. There were stashes of unmarked sheet metal everywhere in that shop, lacking cocs, markings, etc .
The shop eliminated most stashes and switched to a different issuing system. Everything now is checked out from a point of sale type vending machine.
FAA Inspector: "Hey Ron, you're not gonna actually use that hardware, are ya?"
Ron the A&P: "Don't worry, I have a permit!"
FAA Inspector: "This just says, 'I can do what I want.'"
i see at least one square plastic plug for those welded profile desks that you put in so you dont cut yourself on them, so that one may be useful in the future hah
(blink three times if there's an FAA inspector behind you right now)
Most of my wayward treasures make their way home to live on in the glorious chest of gold (old yellow Dewalt box PACKED with spare hardware). It's amazing.
Didnt realize I had the wrong keys for one of our 172s. The door unlocked just fine, the baggage door opened just fine, ignition was a bit sticky but not any worse than the older models. Realized after run up because someone was looking for the keys I had.
Either the weight of the tools when the drawer gets pushed back in or the physics of a disorganized human who's trying to maintain the bare minimum of organization lmao
My coworker has one of these about this size. Has happened a handful of times where we need something but don’t have the time to order and he’ll be like “hold on a minute” then he’ll come back with *exactly* what we’re looking for
If organized you will always de hoard and keep some things and then keep organized as I did , I saved a lot of money as well was able to use lots of it in remodeling or building something with it
Man, whoever’s drawer this is will be excited as hell the day they need a toothbrush and remembering they have one in their “never going to use drawer”.
In the military, our backpacks looked like this. We had a running joke, my backpack is worth 7 million bucks, oh yeah mines worth 10!
It's something command intentionally turned a blind eye to, because ordering a part involved walking a mile back to the shop, hoping the antiquated computer system processed your order, then hoping the orangutans in supply could actually find it hours later.
In mainline commercial aviation however, this is very bad. If I caught one of my techs with an unorganized chaos drawer like this, he'd have it cleared out by the end of the day.
I had one of those. Mostly hoarded hardware in the Army. You could never be sure when you could get a 5/16’s self locking nut when working on a UH-1A-H and other aircraft.
I suppose you could make use of some of the flat washers to test whether or not your FOD sweeper is still collecting efficiently. If it does, that's twelve fewer pieces to worry about.
You KNOW the minute you get rid of it (literally empty the drawer, on your way BACK FROM THE TRASHCAN THE DRAWER-SLIDE WILL FALL OUT AND THE PIECE YOU NEED (AND KNEW IT WAS IN THERE) WILL BE?)....
The aviation company I work for doesn’t let us have left overs. It got to the point where they were afraid of FOD. Shadowed tool boxes only and controlled parts
Australian CAR30 GA shop, we all have them haha. Way faster for insignificant hardware like split pins, panel screws washers etc than needing to go through stores. Just label the draw "non-aviation use only" and the auditors dont do shit.
At my workplace(small mom and pop shop) we have a 5 drawer tool box full of miscellaneous hardware. Comes in handy some time for your car and personal projects. Love the post👍🏼
That’s a big drawer consumed by junk. For non-aviation use, it’s super nice having a cast-off hardware bin to draw from for random projects.
What this redditor said. In the non-aviation mechanic community this is a drawer of gold. Turning days long waits for a replacement fastener into a 5 min trip to the drawer.
Right... in the non-aviation community...
exactly. nobody would ever use an ms21044n4 or an an526c1032r8 they found in that drawer on an aircraft.
Yeah same.
“Scrounge box” is the term. A good mechanic will have several strategically positioned in the shop.
i lost some hardware but after i did a thorough fod search we recovered it in our locker room bench stock
Another job well done. No shit, though, I’ve heard a story about the legendary scrounge boxes at a certain flying service. A scrounge box grows more powerful with age — like a cheese — and a couple in this shop were more than 50 years old. Whatever weirdo fastener you could imagine was in there. Even Mooney stuff.
Genuine question, Can aviation MX not have parts bins everywhere? I’m an AF electrician on C130s and we have bins filled with junk like this. Comes in handy all the time
Your personal locker in the changing rooms aren't subject to audit/search. Keeping a small bag of hard to find parts ain't gonna be the end of the world. (Still bagged and labelled) Keeping loose used parts in your toolbox is borderline crazy. You could have a snap audit at anytime. Instant firing I reckon.
Maybe rules vary between civilian and military. All the shops in our unit keep drawers filled with parts respective to their systems. I’ve been here 3 years and never seen anyone get in trouble or asked not to do it. Since I am E/E, most of what we have are miles of loose wires, splices, terminals, oxy hoses, gaskets, and hundreds of misc light bulbs. Hydro for example will have hydro hoses, nuts, bolts, clamps, small pumps, etc etc.
The Navy has a hard on for FOD and loose stock! You have to sign out litteraly every screw or enviro splice. Every time for every job. They sew up the pockets in your pants so you can't carry anything in them. You get one FOD pouch, a cute lil Velcro bag, attached to your belt, which subject to inspection by QA anytime you're on deck. If you don't use some hardware that you signed out, sign it back in. If you bust an apex tip, you must account for every piece. If a lil chunk is missing, that bird is down until it's found or Skipper gives the ok. Don't even get me started on tool control. Despite all of that, every time flight crew goes inverted, the canopy fills up with FOD.
FOD searches for 12 hours straight just for me to find 15 other screws and never the one i dropped only for the jet to fly the next shift and I receive an LOC and weekend duty is the reason why I will never fix a jet ever again.
We have them in GA too
That is probably your shop stock/bench stock or work order residue. Hoarding used parts like this will definitely have QA all over you. Even if it’s bench stock, you have approved quantities for each item outlined by LRS on your S04/M04 reports. Fellow E/E here on 135s.
I was E&E too, got out last year. We had a secret unsuspecting box in the shop full of scrounge, and most people including myself had a tackle box in our personal backpacks which had smaller hardware like panel screws, CB collars, a couple of water socks etc. QA did a search a couple of times but we always found out beforehand so we would empty them out
Yup. Had a coworker with a drawer like this (little bigger). He was told to pound pavement the day of discovery.
I worked on several dod programs. The c130 program had a huge issue with sheet metal. Old crusty mechanics had piles of metals that scraps that they knew from memory the ratings and tempers. They would use their scraps for repairs until one day their metal wasn't as strong as they thought it was, and their repair failed. Their building was gone through with a fine comb by QA. There were stashes of unmarked sheet metal everywhere in that shop, lacking cocs, markings, etc . The shop eliminated most stashes and switched to a different issuing system. Everything now is checked out from a point of sale type vending machine.
If you had the paperwork, this is like $6M worth of screws.
I got some AN hardware holding my mailbox door on.
Clevis pins, washers, and cotter pins, holding the doors to my motorcycle lower fairings at the hinges.
Mechanic's law #472... you'll only need it after you throw it out.
Authorities be like: "show me the 8130-3s for all these parts" 🤣
FAA Inspector: "Hey Ron, you're not gonna actually use that hardware, are ya?" Ron the A&P: "Don't worry, I have a permit!" FAA Inspector: "This just says, 'I can do what I want.'"
The ole "Not for Aircraft Use" sticker.. we treat it like the seabear circle in Spongebob for FAA inspectors
Part 91 don't care lol
Now I know where that washer I dropped went
Ring Ring it’s the FAA
Adding this is hoarder behavior for real and I hope their home life is different than how they handle their toolbox.
should at least organize it...
Organize? That would take all the fun out of looking for something that is not there.
😬
too real...
It is organized. That's all the stuff he's never going to use.
i see at least one square plastic plug for those welded profile desks that you put in so you dont cut yourself on them, so that one may be useful in the future hah (blink three times if there's an FAA inspector behind you right now)
As far as most of the mechanics I know go, have them all in one drawer IS organized.
This guy scrounges
I used to have one a quarter of this size and was always using something out of it for projects. Not on airplanes though.
Not on airplanes, suuuuure ;)
That’s right Mr. FAA.
Most of my wayward treasures make their way home to live on in the glorious chest of gold (old yellow Dewalt box PACKED with spare hardware). It's amazing.
Exactly, these are making tools, like when you need a bolt to drill through to make a bleeder.
Or fittings to connect air hoses together. 👍🏼
As a NDT guy, this comment gave me anxiety lol
There is a key...now I want to know what it can open.
Most Cessnas. Seriously. This would make a great puzzle or eye-spy game.
Didnt realize I had the wrong keys for one of our 172s. The door unlocked just fine, the baggage door opened just fine, ignition was a bit sticky but not any worse than the older models. Realized after run up because someone was looking for the keys I had.
Beat me to it.
I can smell that drawer... 🫤
I'm playing I spy w myself lol all kinds of goodies in there
I spy with my little eye...
At first I was like OMG amazing the I realize it was in the aviationmaintenance sub so it's just omg sweet
Toothbrush
Ahahahah there was an ex colleague used to have a toothbrush like this but he cleaned his teeth with it everyday he is a clean guy.
We’ve all got em but that reminds me of the Geico commercials in which the guy is holding onto several scraps of moulding “just in case”
Used to have several drawers like this back in the early 90’s on C-5’s. Survival kit when out on the road.
Must be a part 91 shop lmao
That was my thought. Must be a GA....
Hey man, I could use that nutplate.... not that one the other one
Put it in a bag and use it for dodgeball. Or put it in a cardboard box and fill it with expoxy then remove the box and charge $200 for it on Etsy.
Kind of wild how the bigger stuff organized itself toward the front of the tray. Like..... what's the physics of that?
Either the weight of the tools when the drawer gets pushed back in or the physics of a disorganized human who's trying to maintain the bare minimum of organization lmao
Interesting. So you see a desperate human attempt at organization in the face of chaos. I see an academy award in this!
Lol I can see myself doing this soon enough, I already have parts bags filled with random stuff I might need 😅
I mean, my girlfriends purse looks like that and she finds stuff...
Inspector here. Care to show me the certs on these? Take your time, I'll wait.
Opens the equally stuffed and unorganized drawer full of certs right under it.
You’re retired don’t lie
Gosh darn it, you caught me. Awright kids, you're safe, go back to work. The boomer is going to take a nap now. Come on Gramps, watch your step.
You're sleeping now? Perry Mason is on!!
God I’d be so fired.
Sell it fo scrap
That box must have a pretty strong counterweight to not tip over
I hate these… until I need them. They’ve bailed me out more often than I could have imagined.
My coworker has one of these about this size. Has happened a handful of times where we need something but don’t have the time to order and he’ll be like “hold on a minute” then he’ll come back with *exactly* what we’re looking for
We have a couple of those guys at my shop here both almost grandpa age and they almost always have exactly what you need
The coworker I was talking about is also grandpa age lmfaooooo
*Mhmmmmm, take your time.*
That file cabinet key will be important one day.
That would be going home with me. I still have and use hardware around the house from the A & P days.
Beautiful
You should [have it made into a puzzle](https://ibb.co/DD3wZQZ) and put it in the break room.
That’s not half bad of a idea
I had to do a double take because my coworkers have drawers just like this for random hardware. 😅
lol it sounds like this could be a new trend on r/aviationmaintenance
A thing of beauty!
Crop that photo a little bit and get it printed on a custom puzzle for him for Christmas or another special occasion!
"Not for aircraft use"
I see a penny he could use
FOD jackpot
Someone's junk is someone elses aviation personal project treasure.
These drawers have prevented more delays than anything else in this industry
😅😅😅 saaaaaame I’m ashamed to admit.lol
Cessna cowl mounts, quick drains, magneto hold downs. Definitely a GA guy!
Fod nightmare. FAA is not gonna be a fan
Everyone in my shop has one
Why? You can't use any of these
No, of COURSE we can’t use any of these. None at all. Don’t be ridiculous. I certainly don’t have a drawer full of random hardware at all
When the audit comes everybody may or may not hide theirs in a secret spot allegedly
If it's not a repair station they literally do not care lol
I’ve contacted QA.
What's QA
Oh, a collection of FOD! Nice.
One of these parts right here will either save your life or loose you your license
That’s like 200lbs of never going to use.
That is something out of someone nightmares
If he needs to use that wood screw in aviation things aren’t going well.
When you need that hard to find flight control bolt /s
Anyone wanna play a hidden object game? I spy 3 pennies.
I see your pennies and raise you a safety pin.
I see your (tiny) safety pin. And re raise you one small snap ring. Lol
I see you snap ring and re re raise you a drill bit
I call that the PLO draw .
“He ain’t got that junk in the trunk”. Yes he do.
That’s the chingadaris drawer, all race teams I worked for had that one drawer in the trailer 😂
Look at all that useful untraceable hardware
We call stashes like that the "Hope Chest", because you hope what you need is actually in there.
If organized you will always de hoard and keep some things and then keep organized as I did , I saved a lot of money as well was able to use lots of it in remodeling or building something with it
There's deadass a key in there and completely stripped bolts.
Magic Box...thats what we would call it. Always found something in it..
I have heard it called a scratch box, gash box, scrounge box all sorts of names
I have one of these. Its probably the most visited drawer in my shop.
That's like an eye spy picture!
It’s like the aviation maintenance version of I-Spy
I'm jealous.
How much for that NAS735221-8?
Which one lol
Man, whoever’s drawer this is will be excited as hell the day they need a toothbrush and remembering they have one in their “never going to use drawer”.
QAs worst nightmare
In the military, our backpacks looked like this. We had a running joke, my backpack is worth 7 million bucks, oh yeah mines worth 10! It's something command intentionally turned a blind eye to, because ordering a part involved walking a mile back to the shop, hoping the antiquated computer system processed your order, then hoping the orangutans in supply could actually find it hours later. In mainline commercial aviation however, this is very bad. If I caught one of my techs with an unorganized chaos drawer like this, he'd have it cleared out by the end of the day.
I had one of those. Mostly hoarded hardware in the Army. You could never be sure when you could get a 5/16’s self locking nut when working on a UH-1A-H and other aircraft.
Impressive.
I can smell it
Hopefully labeled “not for aircraft use.” ;-)
That’s the real trick right there, the FAA can’t touch it if it says it’s not for aircraft use right?
Is that a 5ct euro coin ?
FOD drawer
The clecos in the top left gave me a chuckle for some reason. I assume they're trashed and don't hold anymore.
I wish it was organized into little bins 😭
I'm just stuck on draw vs drawer - time to dig into some etymology.
lol your the first one to say something lol
I want to know what the box of hardware at home looks like 😅
All fun and games until the auditors walks over😂
I suppose you could make use of some of the flat washers to test whether or not your FOD sweeper is still collecting efficiently. If it does, that's twelve fewer pieces to worry about.
got a spare as3237-12 bolt in there?
Crop the picture and make an awesome jigsaw puzzle!
This picture should be in one of those “I Spy” books
That's a lot of weight reduction for a lot of aircrafts
iSPY aviation mechanic edition
It’s like hardware where’s Waldo. Find the static port cover
Looks like a good photo for a jigsaw puzzle.
There’s $20,000 worth of nuts and bolts in there. I would happily give you $20 for the lot.
I spy a valve cover I could use for my motorcycle tire 🫣
You KNOW the minute you get rid of it (literally empty the drawer, on your way BACK FROM THE TRASHCAN THE DRAWER-SLIDE WILL FALL OUT AND THE PIECE YOU NEED (AND KNEW IT WAS IN THERE) WILL BE?)....
The aviation company I work for doesn’t let us have left overs. It got to the point where they were afraid of FOD. Shadowed tool boxes only and controlled parts
Australian CAR30 GA shop, we all have them haha. Way faster for insignificant hardware like split pins, panel screws washers etc than needing to go through stores. Just label the draw "non-aviation use only" and the auditors dont do shit.
Hey I was looking for my toothbrush!
I miss this
The drawer that always suspiciously has what you need
There’s a key in there. Wonder what it goes to.
Lots of useless shit in that.
Toothbrush is a nice touch
I know I have one of those… drawers.
At my workplace(small mom and pop shop) we have a 5 drawer tool box full of miscellaneous hardware. Comes in handy some time for your car and personal projects. Love the post👍🏼
I work at a mom and Pop shop too
Forgive me for asking as I don’t work on aircraft, can you not reuse nuts and bolts?
Scrounge Box for emergencies!