Fished a lost screw from a tight vent with a magnet on a string today

Parker Hall · 2026-02-26T23:35:39.774754+00:00

It kept me from taking the whole panel apart and saved a bunch of time.

Yeah the deep vents can be tricky. I had to fish a 10mm socket out of the dash vent on my old 2018 Ford F-150. Tied a decent sized neodymium magnet to some 20lb test braided fishing line for the extra strength. The key is to go slow and let the magnet wobble around until you feel it grab. Got it on the third drop and saved myself like two hours of dismantling the whole center console.

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graymiller6mo ago

The magnet-on-a-string method actually worked? I always assumed those vents were too deep for that trick.

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black.margaret6mo ago

You said you assumed the vents were "too deep for that trick". What makes a vent too deep? Is it the actual drop, or is it more about the magnet not being strong enough to pull something up from a weird angle? I've found the bigger problem is the socket or screw getting wedged sideways where the magnet can't get a clean pull on it.

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