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Nailing Aid for Small Aircraft Nails


Frustrated with the awkwardness of picking up short, small aircraft nails such as those used in wood wing ribs, I've come up with this device. It's simply constructed of wood and a piece of aluminum window screen.

The screen is stapled to the back piece of the lower frame and the remaining three sides are secured when the upper frame is nailed to the lower. To use: place a couple of pinches of nails on the screen and close the cover. Shake the box a bit then tilt the box away from the hinge side and sift the nails that have not gone into the screen to the other side. Open the cover and you should find several nails heads up just waiting to be picked up with the magnetized screwdriver. A practiced touch in positioning the nail and tapping with a hammer just to start it will have you merrily on the way. To return unused nails to a container, invert the box and sift the nails into the "vee" as indicated in the drawing. Open the box, still inverted, and the "vee" becomes a pouring channel.

Click on the diagram for a larger, pritable version.





This page last updated 26-May-2001
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