So I completely stripped BF yesterday, waxed it and replaced all lights with LED's.
After I completed the reassemble of the playfield parts I noticed I have lost 2 nuts and have 3 extra screws in my parts cup??
I looked over everything and can’t find where I missed a screw or where the nuts went?
The game plays fine with no tech issues. But I can’t stop thinking about the extra screws and lost nuts. 
That happens to me everytime I've stripped down a playfield. Just happened again on this past Saturday. It's like the extra parts fairy drops by.
Quoted from practicalsteve:Just save them in a little baggie in case you figure out where they go.
Yea that's about all you can do if you did a thorough look over and can't see where they go. If there is an area where I think I could forget something when I take it apart I take plenty of before pictures which helps a lot.
This is one manifestation of quantum uncertainty on the macro scale - one that scientists have failed to adequately study. You see, there is not a fixed number of screws/nuts/etc in a pinball machine. The possible values for the number of screws/nuts/etc in a given PF/assembly/etc can only be represented as a probability distribution. In fact, (in a manifestation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle), you cannot measure the number of parts in a given example of a pinball machine (or subassembly) without taking it apart and counting them. And when you put the machine back together, you similarly cannot know exactly how many screws/nuts/etc will be required until you try to put it back together - though in all cases the number of screws/nuts/etc will be close to what was specified in the design.
All this assumes that any example of a PF or other subassembly is working - if not, of course, all bets are off w/regard to how many parts are in it.
...
Yes, I am a bit bored at work.
Quoted from practicalsteve:Just save them in a little baggie in case you figure out where they go.
That's very practical, Steve. Well done!
With every section is take apart, I put a little note in my ziplok baggy about how many screws were involved.
Quoted from DrAzzy:This is one manifestation of quantum uncertainty on the macro scale - one that scientists have failed to adequately study. You see, there is not a fixed number of screws/nuts/etc in a pinball machine. The possible values for the number of screws/nuts/etc in a given PF/assembly/etc can only be represented as a probability distribution. In fact, (in a manifestation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle), you cannot measure the number of parts in a given example of a pinball machine (or subassembly) without taking it apart and counting them. And when you put the machine back together, you similarly cannot know exactly how many screws/nuts/etc will be required until you try to put it back together - though in all cases the number of screws/nuts/etc will be close to what was specified in the design.
So what you're really saying is that my machine is both alive and dead at the same time or at any moment a cat is going to appear in my coin door? 
Quoted from stangbat:Left over parts is the sign of a good mechanic (or pinball tech).
So it is better to get them to work with fewer parts? Nice!
Quoted from dung:Sometimes you will end up with extras because there are parts in the bottom of the cabinet.
Yes, among other things. Last game I took apart had a rusty razor blade, a few screws and washers, a rusted screwdriver tip, and two quarters!
I've avoided this problem by putting everything in ziplock bags while I'm tearing a game down. Of course it never hurts to have extra hardware on hand.
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Elkhorn, NE
Malmberget
Sydney
