IC container

Thread Starter

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
After a recent pest extermination, I decided to put some order in my lab. Categorized and stored many things. ICs were last: They wouldn't fit in my plastic drawer rack anymore and they weren't easily distinguishable. I needed another solution and here's what I came up with:

Components:
Medium size card holder - 12.00 euros
100 card pack - 2.50 euros
Printer
Pair of scissors
Stick glue

The result is attached.
Easy distinction, a few info on each, and enough space in each bag to hold all of my spare ICs. Plus, I did away with all those bags that I had accumulated!
The only problem is that there's isn't enough room for many different cards. Maybe I 'll buy another holder.
(Don't mind the Greek characters in the pictures, they don't carry information. If they prevent you from opening the pictures tell me so.)

Now about ESD: I mostly work with the 74XX series and they're pretty sturdy. I haven't had any incident in the last 3 years. Also my workspace isn't grounded, so any countermeasure would be in vain. They only bag that holds some PICAXEs has them in black foam and sealed in the plastic bag they came and that's it.
And yes, I read here and here before I wrote the above.

Tell me what you guys think.
 

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tracecom

Joined Apr 16, 2010
3,944
You have an LM741?? I thought I was the only person here who would still use that dinosaur.

Or maybe I'm the only one who admits it.
 

Thread Starter

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
The 741s are leftovers from a university lab 2 years ago. Supposedly to work on the OpAmp's non-ideal characteristics. In effect, because it's the cheapest out there is out there and probably had them in stock.

In the last four years that I meddle with electronics I 've never fried a chip with ESD. Fry-prone chips that I have handled are Atmega's very few 40XX series and some small arduino mini boars that I don't know if they are actually in danger. So I guess I 'll test my limits. Maybe Greece's climate is gentle on ICs too.

My workbench is a refined wooden board, set on wooden easels, on a wooden floor. Not exactly conductive. I don't want to lay a metal layer on top of these because I do powered test on it too. Actually, I have emptied stray batteries quite a few times as I laid them on my metal cutting board along with other debris; "Why is my pair of scissors burning hot?". I definitely want a non-conductive working space.

I can't think of a workaround right now.
 

MrChips

Joined Oct 2, 2009
30,714
Great idea!

Your stock will grow eventually. You may want to start planning and get at least three boxes for analog, 74xx series and 4000 series digital.

More problematic components are SMD resistors and capacitors. So far I have been keeping then in the tape that they come in from Digi-key and keep them in plastic storage cases.

I have a plastic bag sealer. I take the long metalized antistatic bags that IC rails are shipped in and cut them to a suitable size, using the bag sealer to seal and cut.

We get our milk in three 1L plastic bags. I rinse the bags and leave them to dry. Then I reuse the bags using the plastic sealer to give me any size I need. I use this to store surplus items such as resistors, transistors etc. and nuts and bolts.

Maybe I'll post some photos later.
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
I have had one known ESD incident in the last 12 months, just about 12 months ago actually. They are sneaky, but I understand the logic.

Even without an ESD safe station, I would consider getting ESD bags for storage though. I use black foam myself. Another possibility is aluminum foil, as in wrapping the chips in it.
 

Thread Starter

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
Do I have to make sure that it's tight around all of their pins, or can the bag just be internally coated with foil?
 

Wendy

Joined Mar 24, 2008
23,415
A bag of foil would work fine. It is a crude faraday cage.

All static bags are is a plastic bag coated with a really tin layer of foil.

When shipping chips I've wrapped the foil tight around the chips, usually in pair to reinforce the pins.
 

Thread Starter

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
So I 'll need one one bag of milk, one jar, and one clothes pin to store my milk.

I 'll think I 'll stick to the carton box with a plastic lid. Weird customs you got overseas.
 

Thread Starter

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
Sometimes I wish AAC wasn't an "all audiences" site.

One last question. Is it fresh or concentrated milk? It says fresh in your photo.

I just can't imagine how these things can be packed inside of a pallet without bursting.
 

takao21203

Joined Apr 28, 2012
3,702
If I wish to see graphical illustrations of that kind, I visit http://rense.com

There is an external link, where you can find a large archieve with kind of paranoid illustrations.

On AAC graphical expression of that kind seems to be absent.

For instance doing things to babies, cats etc. in user icons, explosions, disturbed women etc.

When I want to see wacko Owlbeasts, I play WoW...
 

osx-addict

Joined Feb 9, 2012
122
LOL!!!! :D:D

Back to the ESD.. Why not just buy some small ESD bags from a place like this one? They sell, for instance, 100 3"x5" ESD bags for about $5US.. We have tons of ESD bags at work (frequently large) and they regularly get tossed out so I frequently grab them and take them home..
 

Thread Starter

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
Because primarily, I live in Greece, where the electronics market is very small, and secondarily, because I 'm a student, I don't make my living out of designing circuits.

My standards aren't that high.

Thanks for the link, though.
 

takao21203

Joined Apr 28, 2012
3,702
Because primarily, I live in Greece, where the electronics market is very small, and secondarily, because I 'm a student, I don't make my living out of designing circuits.

My standards aren't that high.

Thanks for the link, though.
Normally electronic components are quite insensitive to static, including CPUs, SRAM, PICs, 40xx, 74xx.

The only exception are JFET transistors, and to some degree, MOSFETs. But not digital MOSFETs :)

It can depend on the location, and what kind of person you are. Some people literally just touch a PCB, and it stops working.

I seem to have medical/surgical skills for static sensitive chips. One time I had a Pentium mainboard, 200 MHz, which sometimes after making modifications, adding drives etc., would not startup anymore.

Taking out the Pentium actually, and touching all the pins with my hand actually worked a miracle! It worked again! Electrostatic can be weird indeed.

If you don't encounter problems, then maybe you don't need excessive shielding. Styrofoam is bad actually...If you put some tinfoil on the bottom of your box and the walls, as well ground the bags properly (all the surface) before usage, should not be a problem.

Elecrostatic charges really tend to sit on the surfaces of plastic foils.

If it attracts hairs on your hand (like styrofoam will do), then be careful! The plastic is charged with some potential.

Also aviation transport can cause static charges, so it is a good idea to use suitable bags.

I have seen stuff arriving here 100% OK with no protection whatshowever.

High-frequency components are sensible as well but they would come inside special wrapping.

Would you like to see pictures from my components drawer?
 
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Thread Starter

Georacer

Joined Nov 25, 2009
5,182
I was referring to the special black foam that the PICAXEs were shipped on.

I may consider shielding the case, but shouldn't be completely tight to work? With the open top, I can't see how that would work out.
We 've recently paid a visit to a local technology company. They had a test facility for electromagnetic emissions. Their Faraday cage was a 4x5x3 meter custom metal room of which even the doors would shut tight in the frame, actually being inserted into it, not simply laying onto it while closed.

Post some pictures, they 're always helpful.
 
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