Count screws in a tray from a photo

Screw counter: checking a box or kit quantity from one tray photo

In many stores a screw counter means a counting scale, which needs a weighed sample and tells you nothing about which screws were included. A photo count gives you a marked image instead: every screw it found carries a marker you can check. Maintenance stores, kitting benches and goods-in teams use it to confirm a bulk box against its label, to verify a kit before packing, or to audit a drawer bin between full stock-takes.

Screws roll and settle at odd angles, so tip the box onto a flat tray with a raised edge and shake it until nothing rests on anything else. Pick a tray that contrasts with the finish: dark under bright zinc, pale under black-oxide screws. Long screws that cross form an X that can be read as one item, so push crossings apart. For mixed lengths, Similar items accepts up to three marked examples, one per length, and the result lists how many matched each example.

Polished heads can throw a glint that looks like a tiny extra item; in Distinct objects mode, raising Ignore small detections drops those specks. After checking the markers, add the tray to the tally sheet with the size in the label. Bins of hex-head bolts and hex nuts are counted the same way, and the inventory counter totals a whole fastener aisle across many photos.

Tray setup for screws

• One length per photo, or one marked example per length
• A single layer with no screw lying on another
• Light raking across the tray rather than a lamp straight overhead
• Tally row labelled with size and finish, for example M4 x 20 zinc