Our Readers’ Best Tips for Organizing Screws During a Repair

I save the plastic bottle tops from anything that has them - water bottles, milk bottles, etc. These work especially well for very small screws like those out of watches.

Magnetic parts trays help me A LOT~!

Take a picture of the thing you’re taking apart (back of the laptop), print the picture in color, then sit each screw you take out on the picture where it goes. Once the back cover comes off, take a picture of the inside, print it, and repeat. Put those pieces of paper and screws on another table that won’t get bumped.

Those pill organizers for keeping tack of what pills you are supposed to take in the morning and evening of each day are great for if you’ve got toddlers or cats. They aren’t the best if the screws get to be long, but I’m sure there’s something in the recycling bin that would work well to hold those screws.

Plastic organizer boxes with a lid, and removable dividers work great! I’ve written numbers in the bottom of each compartment, and made a few bigger compartments for things other than screws. Then I can simply make notes like “1 - Bottom case screws” on a sheet of paper. What’s really nice is if a project sits for a few days, or if you have to move the dissasembled product around, there’s no chance of the screws getting knocked off/out of the box, since it has a lid that latches. Works great in a repair shop where you may have several projects going, and some may wait days or even weeks on replacement parts. Just have a box for each device and keep everything nice and tidy.

I place each screw back into the holes they originated after seperating the pieces of whatever I'm working on. And then I cover each hole with electrical tape, to keep the screws from falling out, until I’m ready to put it all back together again

I use ticky-tack to put the pieces and parts beside me. Make the patch the approximate shape of the part and then place them in the location you found them. By pressing them in a bit, they don’t get away from you and it’s easy to back-track to replace each section’s screws. Debba Sekou

I use a fresh clean egg carton made of recycled cardboard. It is both non conductive and there are twelve compartments for organizing those tiny bits that cannot be risked to roll away. The attached lid is also great to place your tools so they cannot get lost during the repair. Bonus feature is that it is an off gray color that contrasts against the parts that make it very easy to see.

Jar lids! I hate getting everything on my bench magnetized so I defer to jar lids over magnetic trays when I can, but I have both.

I always have one or two jar lids for small parts when I'm disassembling something. Then when I'm assembling something, I keep one jar lid as a trash dish (stripped insulation, clipped wire ends, de-soldered tin from my de-soldering pump, etc.)

I have recently replaced the lightning connector on an iPhone 8 using a kit from iFixit….. Having done a few jobs previously on iPhones, and scrabbled around the kitchen floor trying to find screws that I then couldn’t remember where they went I ordered the magnetic mat along with the kit. Probably one of the most useful purchases ever. Takes all the stress out of the job.

I use a cardboard under a photo of the laptop were the screws are situated as i take them out and onto the photo

i hope this helped

I use the back of fridge advertising magnets, (I’ve been thinking about ‘borrowing’ a signage magnet from a car door). I lay the screws out in an exact screw map that they come out in. I usually have about 4 or 5 phones and an iPad or two apart on my desk, this keeps them all very organised, and I can work around them by just shifting the screw magnet out of the way. It works for me.

Ice cube trays! I label the bottom with a number, and then write on a sheet of paper what each number corresponds to.

I use a piece of corrugated cardboard. Lay out the shape the screws are in for whatever component you’re removing and make the holes with the tip of a pentalobe screwdriver for each screw. Take screw out and stick it right in the hole in the cardboard. If you need to work on it later, you can keep the screws in place with another piece of cardboard placed over your patterned cardboard and tape or rubber-band them together.

I use wide painters tape for storing screws during repair. Rip a 1 foot section off and fold each end over so you can stick it to table with sticky side up. Rip another piece, same length, and slightly overlap this piece but have it stick down. Divide tape along its length into sections with a marker.

I put the screws on top of the tape , push down to make sure they stick just a little bit, and label the boxes with the number of the iFixit step they came from. My system is cheap and it works and its easy to cleanup. I suppose I am creating a bit of waste, but since I only upgrading old macs with SSD/RAM, two feet of tape hardly represents a huge waste in this work. I sure would like to get a magnetic mat some day, but I’m not exactly running a business or working for one.

I use either my screwdriver case or a flambeau tackle case

Pill organizers are a good option to use. They latch, preventing spillage and jump into other sections. Try to get one that has large enough sections and has a curved side (curve makes it easier to get part if it is small).

3d printed stuff is also pretty viable, along with like small part closeable storage organizers are GREAT too

Do you sell only this il you can buy the same fasteners and bolts?

Fasteners are now widely used in all areas of industrial production and everyday life. Meanwhile, such a plus as a wide variety of hardware makes it difficult for the average consumer to choose a suitable sample.

Find small zip-top baggies (Walmart; by the beads/old dope bags) Take a hi-res photo of the work as a whole or in steps, if needed. Use colors or # system an label the photo and bags accordingly. Use the same system and reuse bags. FYI - vertical file holder boxes work great to store multiple projects, especially if they’re all one size. Label those and you got a good recall/storage system for small projects. Party on.

I like a desk sized (~2 x 3') piece of 1/2" gypsum drywall. Enclose the dusty edges with duct tape. You can write on it, poke screws into a diagram on the paper, it's light in color making it easy to see parts, and the whole thing can be moved (carefully) if needed, unlike cardboard.