A screw holder, is there such a thing?

[easysurfer]

The past couple of days, I along with a friend's brother put up this metal shed for my friend. Man, there were a lot of screws and nuts for the task. Seems like what we did most of the day was one person secure a nut with pliers, then another person use a drill to tighten the screw.

Got me thinking, what if I was working on my own and my arms aren't long enough to one had hold the nut, other use the drill. Is there such a thing,
(I'd think like a metal magnetic weight) that would help one person do the fastening would would be routine for two people?

Surely would be a handy gadget if there is one.

 

[Dimsumkid]

Yes, there is. There's also screwguns that are made to rapidly install screws off of full sheet of screw if you need.

 

[Midpack]

Absolutely. There are spring loaded, magnetic, simple holders and of course you can rent (or buy) a screw gun that will hold lots of screws - just the ticket when you have lots of screws to put in. That's how any pro would handle it...

 

[ls99]

Most common are the magnetic ones, for phillips and hex heads too.

Very handy. I roofed a shed with metal roofing using a magnetic screw holder. Left handed, while right was in a sort of sling, nursing a broken right collarbone. By the way, I'm right handed.

DW observing the exercise concluded I was nuts, frettting the whole time.

 

[Nords]

Gosh, having something to hold the nuts in place will suck 80% of the fun out of any assembly job.

Googling Images for "nut holder" is best done with filtered search results... but most of them are designed to keep the nuts inside the box wrench:
LTI Lock Technology LTI230 Magnetic Nut Holder

A socket set with really deep sockets is nice... if you have enough room for the sockets.

The cheapest answer? If you can get access, it'd be clamping the nut in a pair of vice grips and then duct-taping them to the surface where the nut is being threaded onto the screw. But having to resort to that kludge would have me reaching for self-tapping sheet-metal screws instead of nuts & bolts.

 

[ronin]

There are many qualified, low-cost nut holders available from the parking lot of your local Home Depot.

 

[easysurfer]

Gosh, having something to hold the nuts in place will suck 80% of the fun out of any assembly job.

Googling Images for "nut holder" is best done with filtered search results... but most of them are designed to keep the nuts inside the box wrench:
LTI Lock Technology LTI230 Magnetic Nut Holder

A socket set with really deep sockets is nice... if you have enough room for the sockets.

The cheapest answer? If you can get access, it'd be clamping the nut in a pair of vice grips and then duct-taping them to the surface where the nut is being threaded onto the screw. But having to resort to that kludge would have me reaching for self-tapping sheet-metal screws instead of nuts & bolts.

Yes, that was the need I had. For example, yesterday I noticed on the shed roof, we had missed a screw. Alone no way my arms could reach the roof and underneath to secure the nut while using the screwdriver. I had to use the tape method.

 

[Telly]

If you're looking for a screw holder, around here they are called a "tire"

But to hold a nut when it's around the other side of something you are working on, and arm or a breaker bar with socket on it won't reach, that is a problem. For all the things I've done, it is rare that I have come across that. Sounds like a really poor design.

Working as you are, in effect in space, there is no place to wedge a box-end wrench against something to hold it.