After spending 30 percent of my modeling time crawling around on my hands and knees looking for photoetched-metal parts that are attempting to cross the inter-dimensional barrier, I decided to do something about it.

Watchmaker’s benches have a pull-out tray that catches little parts that may fall down in the space between you and the work table. I built a slide-out tray that fits next to my belly. The tray was made of some surplus tempered Masonite that I had laying around and a couple of 1″ x 3″ pieces of wood. I used 1″ strips of Masonite to space the wood so the tray would slide. These wood strips are screwed into the 2″ x 4″ supporting my workbench top. I made a cut that’s an approximation of my midsection. Wood blocks serve as handles to make it easier to pull out the tray.

The tray works — as long as I remember to pull it up tight!

Tip submitted by:
Myles MarcovitchLouisville, Kentucky