Count nuts in a tray from a photo

Counting hex nuts that stack, stand on edge and catch the light

Hex nuts look simple until a few stand on edge or sit stacked two high. From above, a flat nut shows a hexagon with a hole; one on its edge shows a thin rectangle; a stacked pair shows a single hexagon. Fastener stores and assembly lines meet all three when they prepare kits, check incoming quantities against a packing slip, or confirm that a bulk bag holds what the label says.

Shake the tray until every nut lies flat on a face, then glance from the side to confirm none are stacked. Nyloc, flange and plain hex nuts often share a bin; mark one of each in Similar items and read the Found per example rows. Bright zinc mirrors the light source, so tilt the tray slightly away from a window. Washers mixed into a nut bin are round, thin and similar in size, and they can be picked up as nuts, so pull them out first.

When reviewing, look for stacked pairs read as one and correct the tally row, keeping one row per thread size. Counting the bolts from the same order and washers that go with them into one tally gives a single CSV per kit. For edible nuts or any other small item, the general object counter lets you type a different item name.

Nut tray checks

• Every nut flat on a face, none on edge
• No nut resting on top of another
• Washers and lock rings taken out of the tray
• One thread size per photo, named in the tally row