How do you document your projects?

[tirwin]

Since today is Blursday the Fortyteenth of Maprilay... hahaha... I have no idea what day it is anymore with this COVID-19 quarantine...

With all this copious time on my hands I’m wondering how everyone documents their projects? I’m thinking about teardown but could be other things as well like adding something to an electronic circuit so you’ll remember what you did later.

Scott (wareaglescott) has an impressive system for his teardown. Far better than my “eh, I’ll surely remember how that goes back together later” system.

I find that once I start working I’m usually so focused on what I’m doing that taking the time to stop and take pictures and notes is an annoyance. I commend those of you who have the discipline to document well.

So what are your tips and tricks to make it easier and less painful?

C’mon Pelican Braintrust! Show me what ya got!

[Noah930]

When I disassembled a dashboard once (to replace a heater core), I laid out all the screws (as I took them out) in order on a sheet of scratch paper on my work bench. That worked surprisingly well, as I disassembled one day, and reassembled the next. I had no shop manual for that project. Just some Youtube video in Spanish to follow.

Pics with a cellphone. You always think you'll remember the orientation of wires/springs/doohickeys, but it's easy to get mixed up, particularly if you're doing both left and right sides. I stitch in time...

[AG81]

Pic's are a must with me. I also lay out parts on my work bench as they came off. I do this a lot.
I make notes on more complicated stuff. I do not use a manual. I figure if it came apart it can go back the same way....

[2jmotorsports]

Label wires and hoses with blue tape, take photos as I disassemble, get a bunch of baggies and sharpies and bag and tag everything. Zip tie subassemblies together, take a ton of photos during disassembly, and store hardware in those plastic carrying cases with lots of little compartments. I also like to clean stuff before I store it.

This way nothing gets lost, and when you try to remember how to put stuff back together you have labels and photos.

[tirwin]

I have a dumb question. One reason I don’t take a lot of pics is because of the mess. If I wear gloves, the smartphone screen doesn’t recognize my finger touching it. Plus sometimes the gloves have grease or oil on them and them I’m wasting time taking them on and off so I don’t get it all over the phone.

I wish I had some kind of rig with a camera and a remote trigger.

Anybody ever done anything like that?

Like the ideas here. Keep ‘em coming.

Never thought about zip ties before. That’s a good idea!

[ian c2]

If you say “hey Siri take photo” it will take you to camera screen .
From there you can either use a stylus or any part of your anatomy to hit the little white circle and take a photo .

[rokemester]

I’ve been documenting most every project with photos from my iPhone. For my most recent suspension refresh I’ve been using Google photos to document the disassembly process. I’ve added comments to a shared album that I share with myself. I hope this makes it a bit easier in reassembly.

[chrismorse]

I’ve admired your avatar for some time Duder-sippin on a White Russian ....

My best mechanic/buddy uses yogurt containers to organize the small brackets, nuts washers, etc. I’ve tried this approach, but find it lacking in recall.
The best recommendation I’ve recently come across was home built Jeff’s compartmented plastic boxes. Iirc, he suggested using either a felt tip or sharpie to label the bins - just in case the project “runs long” and or having a senior moment.
I haven’t the discipline to clean the bits, as I blaze on disassembly, unlike the previous poster :-)
With the sheltering in place, I am really making progress on Dad’s 74, reviewing threads on the upcoming projects. I’ve recently started making notes, while reading: torque specs, tool specifics, cautionary tips and “as long as you are in there”, stuff, a particular weakness of mine, as I am easily distracted.
I no longer print and file threads of interest, but, I do bookmark noteworthy threads.
It helps immensely, having moved to a bigger place, with room to store parts on shelves/cabinets and being able to leave the car up on the lift.

Back to the documentation, I keep a note pad on the bench and a cell phone handy for photos and notes, like shooting a pic of the starter and engine wiring layout, before disassembly, or noting parts or operations that are needed, the list can get lengthy. It would help, if I were more diligent with the photos.
I’ve used electrical phase tape, (lots of colors), to tag wires, or, just used a fine point sharpie to number or letter disconnected wires.
Yeah, shooting pics with greasy gloves is off putting. Ditto, setting up lighting - but as has been said, a photo is.........
Looking forward to others thoughts.
chris

[tperazzo]

Lots of video so you can go back and watch all the areas you forgot to take pics of, ha ha.

This past week I rebuilt my steering rack and I couldn't remember how far the needle bearing was pressed in.

The video was clear enough to see that there needs to be room for the O ring to be recessed.

Cheers!

[tirwin]

^^^ The Dude abides.

I have used sandwich bags and a sharpie. Same concept as the containers. It worked to some extent. I didn’t always get pics from the right angles. And I thought I’d have the PET to fall back on but sometimes those diagrams leave a lot to be desired.

Kinda surprised there isn’t some kind of app that would let you tag a picture or insert text or a note.

I’ve wondered about setting up an old camera on a stand with some kind of foot pedal trigger.

In a perfect world I’d like to organize notes. Like what part numbers I’ve come across that are superseded. Wrong torque values. Stuff like that. Or for things that I do frequently. Cheat sheets.

[2jmotorsports]

Originally Posted by tirwin

I have a dumb question. One reason I don’t take a lot of pics is because of the mess. If I wear gloves, the smartphone screen doesn’t recognize my finger touching it. Plus sometimes the gloves have grease or oil on them and them I’m wasting time taking them on and off so I don’t get it all over the phone.

I wish I had some kind of rig with a camera and a remote trigger.

Anybody ever done anything like that?

Like the ideas here. Keep ‘em coming.

Never thought about zip ties before. That’s a good idea!

I usually have a few boxes of rubber gloves on hand. Those work fine with phone touch screens. I also typically use unlocked Android phones (with an SD card slot) that cost a couple hundred bucks tops. So if the phone gets an oily smudge here and there, I wipe it off when Im done and no harm done. If I drop it in a bucket of used oil...well in the words of Ivan Drago, "If he dies, he dies."

[2jmotorsports]

Originally Posted by tirwin

In a perfect world I’d like to organize notes. Like what part numbers I’ve come across that are superseded. Wrong torque values. Stuff like that. Or for things that I do frequently. Cheat sheets.

Ah yes, I forgot about this. I have a notebook with notes written in chronological order. Literally everything and anything worth remembering, including stuff the PO did wrong or places where I screwed up and lessons learned. This was a godsend for tuning CIS.

[Hi_Fi_Guy]

Many of the newer mechanics gloves feature touch screen comparable material on the tip of the index finger

[wareaglescott]

I way over document,

List every step of disassembly I take so I can reverse build it.
Take pictures of every step.
Number each picture and make a corresponding note in the disassembly log which picture goes with that step.

Yesterday I rewired the plug inside my passenger side mirror. I took that apart about 19 months ago. Pulled out my notes and pics of which wire went in which spot. Works like a champ (almost) every time. I probably have about 800 pics of taking my car apart.

[Locker537]

Notes
Those cheap plastic organizer bins from Harbor Freight
Pictures

...and still need to reference the manuals and forums.

[1979-930]

I do the sandwich bags and sharpie. But when I sent everything out for re-plating I did this.
I grouped every thing together for different parts and then used pictures to regroup them for assembly. The parts came back all shuffled together in one box.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by wareaglescott

I way over document,

List every step of disassembly I take so I can reverse build it.
Take pictures of every step.
Number each picture and make a corresponding note in the disassembly log which picture goes with that step.

Yesterday I rewired the plug inside my passenger side mirror. I took that apart about 19 months ago. Pulled out my notes and pics of which wire went in which spot. Works like a champ (almost) every time. I probably have about 800 pics of taking my car apart.

I wouldn’t say you over-document. Maybe you lose some time of the front end but it makes up for it on the back end. I probably waste time trying to figure stuff out on re-assembly.

Would you mind posting an example of a pic and your notes? I think you did an amazing job.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by Hi_Fi_Guy

Many of the newer mechanics gloves feature touch screen comparable material on the tip of the index finger

Haven’t seen that before! thanks!

[GH85Carrera]

If you look around on Ebay or even ask some friends, most likely you can find an old digital camera for free or cheap. A real camera with a shutter button. It will get greasy, so wrap most of the camera in a plastic baggie ahead of time.

Keep it on a tripod and it is easy to turn them on, and take a photo. It is not art, or high fashion, just a documentation photo so almost any digital camera will work. And most have a real shutter button and a real on or off button so a gloved hand works fine.

[tirwin]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

If you look around on Ebay or even ask some friends, most likely you can find an old digital camera for free or cheap. A real camera with a shutter button. It will get greasy, so wrap most of the camera in a plastic baggie ahead of time.

Keep it on a tripod and it is easy to turn them on, and take a photo. It is not art, or high fashion, just a documentation photo so almost any digital camera will work. And most have a real shutter button and a real on or off button so a gloved hand works fine.

I’ve got one or two older digital cameras that might work. A Google search turned up that foot pedal triggers are not uncommon. I’ll look into this a bit more and report back.

I also have an old iPad that I might be able to repurpose.

So it seems a lot of people use handwritten notes. Anyone else have a different system?