I Have a Gremlin in my Workshop.

  • Thread starter Thread starter WmJW
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cdnfurball said:
I figured I had a couple Gremlins here, but I didn't know they had kin folk WORLD WIDE !
Should we ban together to rid ourselves of these creatures ? What does one look like ?
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This is how the gremlin looked in the 1963 Twilight Zone episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet." He was tearing off pieces of the aircraft's wing. The episode was based on a short story by Richard Matheson and starred William Shatner. That's Shatner's ear in the photo. Of course, gremlins do vary in appearance.

gremlin.webp

Here are Russian gremlins (gremlins from the Kremlin) tormenting Adolf Hitler in the 1944 Warner Brothers cartoon "Russian Rhapsody." Hitler was piloting a bomber to attack Moscow.

gremlins kremlin.jpeg

And, of course, there was the 1984 movie "Gremlins." There, under the proper conditions, they transformed from cute, cuddly things into evil creatures.

gremlins movie.jpeg
 
When considering effects of gravity and energy on object falling or flying across the workbench, we must also remember rotational energy from daily movement of the earth.

If you expect a part to fall straight down from where you dropped it, it will always be off to one side or the other when the gremlins but it back.
 
OlivierF said:
I feel your pain! My gremlins are actually quite mean to me… if I drop a fiddly bit which I follow with my eyes all the way to the floor, by the time I reach down to retrieve it, IT’S GONE! I will now spend an inordinate amount of time searching the floor. I may even vacuum with a panty hose filter on the end to no avail. Once I sit up and return to the work bench, the little BA$TARD has placed right on the bench in plain sight!
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I know the drill!
Thomas said:
I don't have to drop things for them to disappear. I have gremlins on my work table! E.g., where did I put those tweezers?
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Exactly.
 
I just painted 4 tiny door hinges.

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Came back after lunch and only 3 in the basement workshop. Spent 1/2 an hour, on knees, flashlight, etc.

Gave up and miraculously found it upstairs in the hallway.

My best guesses: 1) Gremlins or 2) Wet paint stuck to my sleeve and it dropped when I went upstairs for lunch.

I WAS cursing gremlins for 30 minutes!!!
 
AndyA said:
Another place you could look for your socket is under your dishwasher. We got a new one a couple of years ago and I found a socket, an extension, and a ratchet handle that had been under the old dishwasher for about 15 years. I guess I was distracted while leveling it. :oops: Fair winds!

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That's okay Andy. My wife's iPad was lost for a week. I turned up in our microwave, which we mainly use for storing bread because out kitchen is so small.
 
WmJW said:
There must be. Whenever I drop a small part (like an eyebolt or deadeye) it simply disappears. The gremlin grabs it and takes it who knows where. He usually returns the part anywhere from a few hours to a few days later, sometimes longer. Then he places it in a spot I KNOW I had thoroughly searched before. I can almost hear him laughing at my puzzled expression and cuss words.
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If I('m making 2 parts I always 3 one for the Floor God.
 
WmJW said:
There must be. Whenever I drop a small part (like an eyebolt or deadeye) it simply disappears. The gremlin grabs it and takes it who knows where. He usually returns the part anywhere from a few hours to a few days later, sometimes longer. Then he places it in a spot I KNOW I had thoroughly searched before. I can almost hear him laughing at my puzzled expression and cuss words.
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They live in my carpet pile!
What of those wee 0.3mm brass eyebolts supplied in Caldercraft Victory? Once blackened you'll never find em again!!!
I work with a tray covered by white paper, at least they supply extras in case.
 
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AndyA said:
There is no need to consider mythical beings. Science can explain this phenomenon.
  • Entropy: The second law of thermodynamics introduces us to entropy, which tends to increase. The higher the entropy the higher the disorder. In other words, nature does not like little parts to be where you think they belong but prefers them scattered about.
  • Murphy's Third Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
  • Murphy's Fourth Law: If several things could go wrong, the one that causes the most damage will be the one that goes wrong. In practice, this means that if you drop and lose a small part, it's likely to be the part of which you don't have any spares.
  • Heisenberg's uncertainty principle: You cannot know both the position and the velocity of a particle at the same time. This works against accurate estimation of the direction and distance that a small part travels when dropped.
  • Search Theory: It's always in the last place you look. Since you can't know where the last place is, you may need to look in an infinite number of places to find what you lost.
  • Gravity: According to Einstein's theory of general relativity, gravity is the bending of spacetime. While Newton would have us believe that apples all fall toward the center of the earth, Einstein tells us that small parts can go almost anywhere.
If we could find where gremlins hide the stolen parts, we might be able to retrieve them along with missing socks and food container lids. Fair winds!
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Sorry Andy, blah blah blah blah ...at my place it's just a simple black hole. The same one in which all my money and single socks cross the event horizon.!
 
Stuart Little said:
They live in my carpet pile!
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The plastic chair mats! The pieces will hit it then roll to the edge. Limits the amount of area to search. Then again, if it stays on the mat and you roll the chair, there is a good chance you will roll over it and break it anyway. Gilda Radner said it so well........... Never mind......
 
Kurt Konrath said:
When considering effects of gravity and energy on object falling or flying across the workbench, we must also remember rotational energy from daily movement of the earth.

If you expect a part to fall straight down from where you dropped it, it will always be off to one side or the other when the gremlins but it back.
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Yes. As illustrated by the recession of a Foucault pendulum.
 
I have identified my Gremlins! They are: Hoover, wielded by Terri (spouse); and Pee
per, the long gone cat (went to another family after destroying USS Constitution and HMS Alert. and Chris, who let pepper into my computer room where my ships were! These gremilins, with the exception of Pepper, are bipedals! And of course being bipedal myself, i MUST ALSO INCLUDE MYSELF DUE TO CLUMSY FINGERS.
As Paine said, "These are the times that try modelers' souls". Cussing not allowed, per the head Gremlin!
 
WmJW said:
There must be. Whenever I drop a small part (like an eyebolt or deadeye) it simply disappears. The gremlin grabs it and takes it who knows where. He usually returns the part anywhere from a few hours to a few days later, sometimes longer. Then he places it in a spot I KNOW I had thoroughly searched before. I can almost hear him laughing at my puzzled expression and cuss words.
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What my wife calls “A man look”
 
WmJW said:
There must be. Whenever I drop a small part (like an eyebolt or deadeye) it simply disappears. The gremlin grabs it and takes it who knows where. He usually returns the part anywhere from a few hours to a few days later, sometimes longer. Then he places it in a spot I KNOW I had thoroughly searched before. I can almost hear him laughing at my puzzled expression and cuss words.
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That was me, I know where you live, my goal in life is to misplace other people's belongings. Where is my fork? Had one in my hand, where the hell did that go? Must have left with the EX.
 
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