Hi.

When I breadboard circuits, I use a lot of different resitors. Often they just pile up, in a big mess, with all the different values. So usually, when I need a resistor, I have to measure the resistance, waisting a lot of time, because I never get the right value at the first try.

Then I had an eureka moment:



I used FreeCAD, http://freecadweb.org/ and constructed some small boxes, and printed them out.

Design time 5-10 min, print time 20 min a piece. Whenever I need a new box, I just print it.

Amazing!

What do you do with resistors while breadboarding?

 

What do you do with resistors while breadboarding?

I've placed axial components endwise in polystyrene foam -- 'Tho I like your idea better

Best regards
HP

 

I wish I had a printer

 

See what I done and that has reason for it.

 

So you had to label every single one eh !

 

So you had to label every single one eh !

As the same method, maybe you just need to labeling some values of resistors isn"t easy to identify.

I thought about to stick the label on the resistor itself, but still not doing yet.

 

Labeling each resistor would be idiotproof - if the label is right. If I put a resistor back in the wrong place, and it doesn't stand out, I'm risking of see the magic smoke...

 

i can read carbon kinds but not metal film

i dont use many different values, if needed i look out for the carbon part. metal film kit is on tape cuts.
and i write it on smd tape too after cutting off.

 

What do you do with resistors while breadboarding?

I generally keep my resistors in neat piles and read the resistor color code.

For storage I have a 60 drawer cabinet and use 48 for resistors. Top row is <10, 10, 100, 1K, 10K, 1M+, 3rd row is <20, 20, 200, 2K, 20K, 200K, 20M+. For some resistors with few values, I combine; e.g. 4 and 5, 8 and 9. I don't bother separating tolerance or power rating. The second row is for <10-20, etc because there are more values between 1 and 2 and I commonly use 1K, 10K, 100K in my designs.

When resistor leads get mangled while breadboarding, I use needlenose pliers to straighten them before storing; it makes them easier to use. I also tend to use needlenose pliers when bending the leads. If I have a lot to do, I use a lead former.

 

I'm still using my bags...

Resistor Parts Storage

 

If a resistor leg is bend beyond recognition, I use a flat needle nose plier to straighten the legs.

@Bill, do you put the resistors back in the bag between circuits?

 

At 2 cents each ($0.02) I don't save used resistors. I do keep a kit box for my breadboard projects, where I file the used (bent, not soldered) resistors in a small kit box referenced to X10^X values. I've shown pictures of it here before.

Since my reuse box is just that I don't generally have a large stock accumulated.

 

At 2 cents each ($0.02) I don't save used resistors. I do keep a kit box for my breadboard projects, where I file the used (bent, not soldered) resistors in a small kit box referenced to X10^X values. I've shown pictures of it here before.

Since my reuse box is just that I don't generally have a large stock accumulated.

less than that considerably. 0.5 cents for 1000pc standard carbon film, and less for NOS.
larger resistors on the other hand cost much more. Thats just raw price, to which cost of doing business + profit is added.

Theres also 1/8W, appeared first in 1980s japanese PCBs what you see now on the market is a cheaper quality (they have no glazing just laquer). Advantage is they take much less space, and so also save on shipping.

With the help of sales acontacts I even found 1/8 coils these are very tiny, almost better than SMD since they only need thin hole which can serve as via. Unless you want to deal with mobile phone microscopic resistors, these are better to use than SMD I think.

I've spent a lot of time researching these parts.

 

when I ordered larger amounts of ewaste NOS I found most parts are just a handful values, all other values make 1/10 of that.

I use the cheapest food plastic bags from a roll for these, 15 or so in a larger plastic box, values which arent needed often just smashed together.

What worked for me was getting stackable plastic boxes in different sizes, they can be closed fully, and are durable.
I have more than 100, including much larger ones than in the photo.
Actually I'm quite well equipped now for making new circuits.

I digged out older PCBs again, want to sell all of them. a few are from 2008 to 2010, one is from early 2013, never sold...

Its as I said I started reselling because making good PCBs takes too much sacrifice otherwise i dont want to stop living or save on food just to get some exotic SMD parts which *maybe* work, maybe the PCB will sell, or it will sit around for years...

Resistors? I have most in one large box with joule thief components, I dont use resistors often, then often just a few values.
No labels of any kind, most boxes are shared for more than one component.

SMD resistors I have in one large black bag, with smaller bags inside, which over time, did wear out, some small resistors floating around, cant be helped for now. Then some 1/8 kinds which of course are very distintive. and 15L box just with power resistors and some electrolytics. I can find 95% parts in one minute.

 

I have some empty ice buckets for PCB, modules and components that still is in their original bag.

I love ice cream, so I have a lot of them to store components, modules, and motors in.

 

takao21203

I was referring to my personal costs. If you read the thread I pointed to I have a complete set.

I've some n thing similar for my CDs/DVDs, but nowadays I seem to be switching to thumb drives for data transport.

 

I generally keep my resistors in neat piles and read the resistor color code.

For storage I have a 60 drawer cabinet and use 48 for resistors. Top row is <10, 10, 100, 1K, 10K, 1M+, 3rd row is <20, 20, 200, 2K, 20K, 200K, 20M+. For some resistors with few values, I combine; e.g. 4 and 5, 8 and 9. I don't bother separating tolerance or power rating. The second row is for <10-20, etc because there are more values between 1 and 2 and I commonly use 1K, 10K, 100K in my designs.

When resistor leads get mangled while breadboarding, I use needlenose pliers to straighten them before storing; it makes them easier to use. I also tend to use needlenose pliers when bending the leads. If I have a lot to do, I use a lead former.

I do something similar, but I file the resistors in a 24 drawer cabinet where each drawer is for one of the members of the E24 series. When I need a resistor I go to the appropriate drawer and then read the color code for the multiplier (and verify that the value codes match). At the place were I worked we found a 30-drawer cabinet with extra deep drawers so I put in dividers and had multipliers <=2 in front, 3 and 4 in the middle, and 5 or more in the back. I used the extra six drawers to dedicate to the handful of specific resistor values we used most. I made no distinction on tolerance for 1% or greater. For values outside E24 or for higher than 1% tolerance I put in a separate (adjacent) set of drawers. Only needed a few drawers for those.

 

Design time 5-10 min, print time 20 min a piece. Whenever I need a new box, I just print it.

So what's you best estimate on the marginal out-of-pocket cost for a box? Material cost but perhaps also an estimate of the amortized cost of the printer.

 

My stock is in small drawers -- one drawer per 5% value. I put all resistors below 1/2 watt into the same drawer. SMD resistors are in small zip-lock bags and 1% resistors go into the next lowest 5% drawer.

Once a resistor is removed from stock, it is never restocked. Parts used for solderless breadboarding are typically re-used from the pile on the bench. When (if?) the bench is cleaned up, the resistors go into bin-trays on the bench sorted by decades. I have bins for black, brown, red, orange, yellow and green multiplier band colors. The few values below 10 ohms go into the "black" bin and the values 10 megohm and above go into the "green" bin.

I never straighten the leads that have been cut and bent for breadboard use. With my breadboarding technique, nearly all resistors are cut and bent to lie flat to the breadboard surface. This is very important at the high frequencies that I often do on the solderless breadboard.

 

I keep my resistors on the cut tape pieces they come on. I buy in semi-bulk, at least 500 to 100 of every value I get, and sometimes if I find a deal I'll buy a bulk of random values off EBay.

Each tape gets the value clearly written on the back of the tape. Then all the tapes are sorted by resistor size and put into plastic boxes. So far I have two boxes: 0805 and "others."

Such is the joy of surface mount parts.