# The Fourth Dimension



## Harold Lee (Feb 14, 2012)

It was not until I started machining in my shop that I realized that there is a fourth dimension. We all know from our first drawings that with projections and isometrics that we can simulate the third dimension. Today with the CAD programs we are very comfortable in working with 3D models where we can view, check fits, run and rotate our projects before they have ever been committed to a machine for making a part. 
But it is not until after we start to make one that we can come in contact with the fourth dimension. Last night for the um teenth time I was making a teeny weenie part when all of a sudden the part flew out of the chuck and entered the fourth dimension. Why do I know? Because I looked everywhere in the three dimensional world and it was no where to be found. I have had something in my hand and poof ??? it enters the fourth dimension. The reason I know is it no longer exists in this time space continuum. I have spent two hours looking for a part that I only took 10 minutes to make.
I have to say I spent a lot of time in denial about this rather saying. "Well the swarf got another one". RIGHT!!! Swarf!!! As if it is some conscious, breathing, living thing.

Let me tell you, I have discovered another dimension where all of those parts go that get parted off, dropped, flung, and discarded. They go to another dimension; The Fourth Dimension!!! If only travel to this dimension were possible. I know I would find all of my errant parts and probably all of yours as well. Would take a long time sorting through all of the stuff I am sure I would find there..

If this travel ever becomes possible imagine how much quicker we could make our projects without having to spend the rest of the day looking, and hoping, and then in despair remaking our parts... When I return from there I'll post a list with pictures and perhaps you can reclaim some of yours as well....


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## tel (Feb 14, 2012)

Well if you find a way in to it let me know - 'cos I have about 7 tons of stuff residing there.


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## Ken I (Feb 14, 2012)

Someone resides in that fourth dimension with a very wierd sense of humour.

The parts are sometimes ejected back into our spacetime continuum to reappear at a position - glaringly obvious - that we had searched several times before.

I say wierd sense of humour because it often reappears just after you made its replacement.

There is also a corrolory - sometimes an additional part is injected just to confuse the hell out of you.

I made 12 parts the other day - but for some reason I have two left over that I know for a fact I did not make !

Maybe they're Tel's

Ken


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## tel (Feb 14, 2012)

> Maybe they're Tel's



That wouldn't surprise me at all - my section must be well and truly overflowing.


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## fcheslop (Feb 14, 2012)

And Iv been blaming elves all these years can you see if theres a load of scribers and various boiler fittings whilst you're in the fourth dimension for me Harold :big:
Just spent an hour looking for a boiler bush that only took ten minutes to make that elf again


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## Noitoen (Feb 14, 2012)

If you look under the bench, just out of reach, you will find the black hole where the parts usually go to.


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## rake60 (Feb 14, 2012)

I have had my share of disappearing small parts.

Building the Poppin engine was one occasion.

My first brass valve rod bushing was parted of and lost forever.
Well, almost lost forever, until my wife asked me where the scratches in the kitchen
floor tile were coming from.

A close examination of my shoe sole located the bushing.
It was slightly smashed and 95% embedded. 
Just enough sticking out to cause me some tile replacement time.
:toilet:

Rick


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## Captain Jerry (Feb 14, 2012)

The shop is a scary place. There is a moving event horizon that sweeps over my bench and swallow tools and parts. It used to get just the very small parts but lately the disappearing parts are getting bigger. Today it got a two pound hammer.  I told my wife, if I don't come home from the shop someday, don't come looking for me.

Jerry


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## Harold Lee (Feb 14, 2012)

Noitoen  said:
			
		

> If you look under the bench, just out of reach, you will find the black hole where the parts usually go to.



After reading all of the posts of people with similar experiences I now think it is more of a wormhole in space and not a black hole. A black hole has a single entry point and a wormhole is a portal to everywhere. What I now see is this wormhole exists in Australia, South Africa, England, Portugal, Illinois USA, Florida USA and most importantly, under Rick's shoe!

As Jerry said, "it is a scary place" but it sounds like we all have a portal into it... If you see me over there say hello ;D Now excuse me while I go find that pesky pipe wrench...


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## 1Kenny (Feb 14, 2012)

I once looked for hours trying to find a little nut that slipped out of my hand. That night after going around town doing shopping, coming back home I took my shoes off an there it was, under one of my shoe strings.

Kenny


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## Clockguy (Feb 14, 2012)

A forth dimension!! I never though of that. In my shop we are sure that gremlins rushed out and grabbed what ever hits the floor. This has been going on so long we don't even bother to look any more. If it hits the floor, it's gone. They have a wicked sense of humor though as they will occasionally bring something back during the night. Next morning, there it is on the bench. Weird!! Cheers, JL


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## dvbydt (Feb 14, 2012)

Yes, I too have suffered from the Taker, but unlike you lazy lot, I decided to do something about him. I would beard him in his den and finally sort him out. After thinking about the problem , I came up with a quadridimensional program for my PC. This was based on the use of the twin speakers to create a uniform quantumtransference field interface. 
Just before I pressed return to load and run it, I realised that I needed a way back, so I used my moble phone to program an interupt so that I would be able to get home. Very clever eh? 

As with most of my experiments, I have high hopes that it was going to work, I texted Run then send.










Well, I just got back, sorry didn't bring back any of your stuff, it was a great disappointment, nothing but huge piles of Meccano nuts and bolts, ballpoint pens, rollerballs and pencils, heaps of paper clips and floorspace. I don't know who loses all that floorspace but it has got to stop, because there is so much now that the Taker says that He has great difficulty finding things to return to us. 

He says its not his fault that stuff keeps getting transferred out there, he has a gang of extra dimensional civil servants who scan everything that we do and keep loading him up with more overiding priority targets.They don't care about us slaves, we're are only there to generate interesting stuff for them to look at to see if it's worth adding to their transparent heap of restructured quantitive easing etc. that we were never meant to understand anyway.

So, nothing really gained from this exercise, 'cept, if you've got floor space you can see where you dropped something and the Taker dosen't need any more floorspace. 

Ian


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## tel (Feb 14, 2012)

There is hope, however - the infallible method of getting the 4th dimension to spit yous stuff (or a lot of it) back is to buy, make or steal a replacement item!


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## hopeless (Feb 14, 2012)

worked for me Tel. I lost my makita 4" sidegrinder and spent 2 weeks looking for it. Gave up and bought a cheaper GMC to help out. Got back home to the workshop and there it was ......on the bench!!! Definately agree with the 4th dimension theory
Pete


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## MachineTom (Feb 14, 2012)

I do not believe there is a fourth dimension which swallows those parts. The proof is that I know where exactly I placed a tool, and a couple minutes latter it was gone, looked all around and it was not in the shop. My Dad took it and hide it under his shirt, although he passed away 6 years ago, he still plays that trick on me, and sure enough the next day that tool was back, right where I left it.
He does the same things to my brother in FL, he does get around. Maybe you guys have seen him short guy, gray hair, always smiling, with a sparkle in his eyes.


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## ShopShoe (Feb 14, 2012)

Lost It. Made a new one but did it wrong. Found the first one before the project was done: threw it out because I thought it was someone else's random junk. Lost the second one. Made a third one. Found the first one again because the round filing device rejected it. Put the project together. Found the second one. Decided to leave the shop for the day. Where's the house key?

--ShopShoe


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## dsquire (Feb 14, 2012)

Harold

Thanks for starting this thread. One of the most informative thread's I've read in a while. :bow:

Cheers 

Don


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## Troutsqueezer (Feb 15, 2012)

I made an important discovery recently and I do thank Einstein for this revelation. I took a cue from him to think outside the box after several important small parts fell from the workbench recently. After an hour of crawling around on the dirty shop floor, shining a flashlight this way and that, running a magnet on a stick coming up empty, I began to think...what if I were riding on that little metal part? How would the world look from a falling set screw? I heard the screw hit the floor, but did it? Possibly, from the floor's point of view the set screw never reached the floor at all. I began to look at the problem in a new light. There must be a place, or dimension if you will, that the set screw popped into. A quantum foam of some sort. At that relative place in time, my eyes gazed upward from the floor. Lo and behold, there between the floor and the benchtop was a shelf, out of sight, out of mind. As sure as e=mc squared, there were all my missing parts from the past 8 months.


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## Ken I (Feb 15, 2012)

Has anyone seen my Ryobi skill saw ?

Ken


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## alien0ne (Feb 15, 2012)

No, but my micrometer, which disappeared a couple of years ago, materialized behind the fish tank I moved yesterday!!


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## Dr Jo (Feb 15, 2012)

Years ago when I was married I used to find that what ever hand tool I had been using would often or not disappear as soon as I turned my back. I soon discovered that these migrated to my ex's work bench. 

The record was 8 identical 4" smooth flat hand files disappearing in a day, every time one went missing I decided I would not chase him but went to the drawer and put another handle on a new file blade and then a few minutes later GONE! He did look sheepish when I enquired why he needed 8 identical hand files piled one on top of another by his vise but it did not stop him. 

Since he has been gone the tools still go on holiday but not at the same rate and never to the same location....

Jo


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## mcostello (Feb 15, 2012)

Worst one I have ever done, was grinding a 1" square cube from rough cut stock. Phone rang, I answered, hung up and could not find the cube. Decided I WAS NOT going to make another, job would have to wait till the part showed up. Took 2 weeks and realized I had put it in the water trough to cool off from the grinding. It was below the water level. Smack head for that one!


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## arnoldb (Feb 15, 2012)

I think some tools and workpieces have the fourth dimension built into them...

The chuck keys for my drill press, mill, and the lathe's headstock chucks all tend to remain in their own regular vicinity - never have problems with them. 
But the lathe's tailstock chuck key has a habit of wandering all over the show; I regularly have to search the shop for it. The other day after taking a break for a bit to eat I just couldn't find it... NOWHERE...
That evening when I went to fetch a beer I found it : In the fridge, lying on top of the butter tub oh:

The worst are my glasses and the car key though; I've spent hours searching for both when I need to leave for work in the mornings. They wait quietly... and then pounce the moment I want to scratch my head. Then suddenly the glasses are right there on my nose, and the key in my hand... The glasses have another peculiar trick; they like going for a shower early in the mornings; I get out of bed, walk into the shower, and there the glasses are - suddenly on my face.

Regards, Arnold


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## jpeter (Feb 15, 2012)

My kids, much more able than me, were at times able to see into the wormhole and find those lost parts. They though have since left the nest and its now solely my responsibility to view into the wormhole. I'm finding as I age the wormhole appearing darker and less revealing than once was, becoming harder to see into.


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## moconnor (Feb 15, 2012)

Hello All,

When I was old enough to go to my Uncle's machine shop with my Dad to watch and eventually help when they worked on the racing engines for his hydroplanes, I was gradually introduced to all of the technical terms and shop jargon at an early age. There was one term that initially puzzled me though as it was often used to describe any number of small retaining fasteners like e-clips, retaining rings or those Spirolox retainers for piston pins. You know the type that you must either expand or compress with a set of special pliers or tool to fit into an external or internal groove. The term was a 'Jesus clip'. I remember asking my Dad's partner and engine builder why they called them that as the Spirolox clip he was trying to install into a piston went sailing across the shop never to be seen again, he exclaimed "Jesus!" Over the years, I have heard many of my co-workers refer to these items in the same way. It taught me a good lesson early on as I always try to keep an assortment of the common e-clips, retaining rings and small nuts that I often use in my shop. It never fails though, no matter how careful you try to be, something that you don't have an extra one of will fall on the floor and get lost or waste more time to look for.

Great thread.

Regards,
Mike


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## tornitore45 (Feb 15, 2012)

I am glad to see I am not the only one that lose trach of parts and tools.
I am not a very clean worker, tools, clamping accessories calipers etch pile up until can't find anyting... that is the signal to place everything back where it belong and sweep the floor.

I have 3 benches in the shop and most fallen object used to scutter underneath. Tired of bending down with a flashlight I blanked out the gap between the bottom shelf and the floor with strip of thin plywood.
Did not completely solve the problem because there are other places to hide but considerably reduced the search area.

I never found the 15mm socket lost 5 years ago.


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## Maryak (Feb 15, 2012)

Being a retired Marine Engineer, most of my tools and instruments various have nominated part of the 4th Dimension water. There is a 1" micrometer, a selection of Witworth spanners, a lovely Zippo lighter and a 2lb hammer lurking on the bottom of Sydney Harbour. 2 mobile phones, a very nice camera and several more spanners somewhere in the mud of the port Adelaide River. I refuse to own up to what I left in Hong Kong Harbour or Subic Bay in the Phillipines.

The other part of the 4th Dimension is commonly called swarf. Every part dropped in the workshop immediately camouflages itself as swarf and every piece of swarf on the shop floor has a symbiotic reaction and camouflages itself as the dropped item.

Best Regards
Bob


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## Mosey (Feb 15, 2012)

Troutsqueezer  said:
			
		

> I made an important discovery recently and I do thank Einstein for this revelation. I took a cue from him to think outside the box after several important small parts fell from the workbench recently. After an hour of crawling around on the dirty shop floor, shining a flashlight this way and that, running a magnet on a stick coming up empty, I began to think...what if I were riding on that little metal part? How would the world look from a falling set screw? I heard the screw hit the floor, but did it? Possibly, from the floor's point of view the set screw never reached the floor at all. I began to look at the problem in a new light. There must be a place, or dimension if you will, that the set screw popped into. A quantum foam of some sort. At that relative place in time, my eyes gazed upward from the floor. Lo and behold, there between the floor and the benchtop was a shelf, out of sight, out of mind. As sure as e=mc squared, there were all my missing parts from the past 8 months.


I don't know if you made up that term (quantum foam), but it is the best one I can remember hearing in a long while. I shall use it myself. Thanks.


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## mklotz (Feb 15, 2012)

Mosey  said:
			
		

> I don't know if you made up that term (quantum foam), but it is the best one I can remember hearing in a long while. I shall use it myself.



Of course there is such a thing as the quantum foam. It's as real as anything else in quantum mechanics. Read all about it here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_foam


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## Harold Lee (Feb 15, 2012)

I have to tell you guys.... I have not laughed so much in a long time. What I see is we are all connected with the same experiences. When this thread started veering off into Quantum Foam It took me back to the 60s when we would be sitting outside and looking up at the stars and...... Well you have probably seen Jack Nicholson in Easy Rider at the campfire scene.... You know what I mean!!! All of you really brightened my day. THANK YOU!!!!

Harold

Now where did I put my glasses?


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## Mosey (Feb 15, 2012)

It's difficult to read this cause the smoke is burning my eyes, but I think he's got it! Now I know exactly where to look for those 0-80 screws that dropped in my lap and never hit the floor.


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## Ken I (Feb 19, 2012)

I found my Ryobi skill saw today (when I no longer need it) - its in its usual place under the bench - I wonder where its been the last few days.

P.S. when I turn my back on it I imagine I hear it giggling at me.

The perversity of power tools.

Ken


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## Blue_Rock (Mar 26, 2012)

Hmmm, yes that most curious of places the 4th dimension to where many small parts, tools and miscellanea often disappear, with very few making the jump back. A few years ago, my compact digital camera mysteriously disappeared. A few weeks later, it reappeared with a few eerie photos that had been taken... not by me.

Ken, Rather than falling foul of the 4th dimension, I think what you are experiencing is a mild case of Selectively Hard to Identify Tools syndrome. Left untreated, this illness can escalate into the much nastier Buy Unneeded Goods and Get Extra Replacement tools syndrome.

Here are the photos from my camera... There seem to be an abundance of springs, small nuts and bolts. I can also faintly make out what appear to be clock parts?


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## Mosey (Mar 26, 2012)

When I was little we stopped at the Turnpike gas station for awhile, and there were some guys trying to fix a Ferrari that had a loud vibration at speed. They kept fussing under the hood and taking it out and coming right back, with the noise still there, and driving them crazy. Naturally us kids were watching in ecstacy. The guys were tearing their hair. Then my mom, who knew absolutely nothing about cars, let alone Ferraris, said "maybe it's that wrench lying against the firewall?"


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## dsquire (Mar 26, 2012)

Mosey  said:
			
		

> When I was little we stopped at the Turnpike gas station for awhile, and there were some guys trying to fix a Ferrari that had a loud vibration at speed. They kept fussing under the hood and taking it out and coming right back, with the noise still there, and driving them crazy. Naturally us kids were watching in ecstacy. The guys were tearing their hair. Then my mom, who knew absolutely nothing about cars, let alone Ferraris, said "maybe it's that wrench lying against the firewall?"



Mossy


I love that one. I have heard different versions of that over the years and it always makes me feel good when I hear one like that. Here is my true story.

Many years ago, probably about 1978 or '79. I had to get my drivers licence renewed. The Motor vehicle and Driver license office had just converted to using the computer for printing out the license. I had filled out the form and given all the information including my postal code which was "N0B 2G0" When the clerk entered all this information the computer spit it all back out saying that there was invalid information. They looked at it and keyed it all in again even though they couldn't see anything wrong with it and it was spit out again. They have supervisors and everyone looking at this and re keying it and it still won't compute. 

You have to understand my postal code "N0B 2G0". It is N0(zero)B 2G0(zero) 
or alpha,numeric,alpha numeric,alpha,numeric.

I had been watching as well wondering what was happening and when they were going to figure it out as I just wanted to get going as I had a run scheduled. I asked the clerk what she typed in for the postal code. She said NOB 2GO. I told her to try NzeroB 2Gzero and it worked like a charm. A typewriter doesn't care if you use "0" or "O" but a computer does. They were pretty impressed that I knew this and they all learned something that day. The only reason that I knew it was that I had a Casio FX-602P calculator which was programmable. Kind of made my day that did.

Cheers 

Don
edit: Spelling1256​


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## Ken I (Mar 26, 2012)

BlueRock  said:
			
		

> Selectively Hard to Identify Tools syndrome



 Rof}

Sorry I'm a bit slow but got it eventually.

Ken


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