So, I have ways of dealing with the parts that accumulate when I am prototyping and generally messing about on the bench.

I use small plastic trays that collect devices by general type, and I have one of my large parts drawers labelled "INBOX".

Occasionally, I sort the parts back to where they belong, but it can build up and maybe some of you have some more clever way to deal with this. I hate having bins of passives all mixed together that might end up effectively "lost" if they don't get sorted back out.

Any ideas? Hints? Clues?

 

I know the problem well! Its truly entropy in action! There is always the thought of just scrapping it all but you know that the very next day you will need one of those mysterious parts!

 

the very next day

Boy have I been there plenty of times.

 

Boy have I been there plenty of times.

Do you think there's enough evidence for a publication? "The nature of spin and the quantum implications of part redundancy & disposal causality, on future project implementation."
Can it be forced?

 

At one point, my wife really wanted to declutter and she made it a rule that if we hadn’t needed something in a year, it was out. I told her that my workshop didn’t work that way, and sometimes I needed things I’d had for much longer, even decades, and she agreed, so long as it was organized. But several boxes of “good stuff” were not in the shop, and without me knowing it, they were tossed.

One day, I needed a certain piece of aluminum I had scavenged from a wrist support about 10 years earlier. I knew I had it, I recalled it precisely, but, you guessed it—it was in one of the boxes.

The amazing part to her was that I recalled a small, 2”x6” long ¼” aluminum piece from 10 years earlier and was actually looking for it.

 

It's hard. I deal with it all the time. It just takes a lot of discipline. At the end of the day, for ICs, I do what you wife suggested at work, unless the IC cost a lot.

 

Oh yes! I have been "organized" myself many times. Just dump everything in a single box and hide it away and its fine - organised!.. "Oh that box... well...it wasn't being used.. so..."
Absolutely! Messy as things get I still know where they are.. it's one of my active prevention techniques against dementia! (Much as I would of course like to organise everything...)

 

It's hard. I deal with it all the time. It just takes a lot of discipline. At the end of the day, for ICs, I do what you wife suggested at work, unless the IC cost a lot.

I clean up my bench at the end of every project or logical part. I find it very beneficial both mentally and organizationally. I put all the tools back where they belong, and wipe off the surface as needed.

It gives me time to think and a clean palette to work on.

 

The only successful methodology I've found so far is to sort and store the loose parts as soon as the project (or the aspect currently being worked on) is finished. So, for example, while working on a gain stage I'll break out on my desk a handful of suitable op amps and passives from their long-term storage bins. The parts will stay close at hand while I work on the prototype, for however long that takes. Once I'm done, I invest 30 minutes or so to "re-package" the parts for long-term storage. It's a bit of drudgery, but it's made easier by its association with having completed some part of the project.

I keep DIP op amps in those form-fitting plastic trays that Digi Key, et al, ship their ICs in, labeled by part number or general category; these get binned in a cabinet on the wall. Through-hole passives go into labeled plastic baggies, and then binned in the passives section of the cabinet. For SMT components, I have tightly-closing plastic trays with each compartment labeled. Cleaning up SMT parts is definitely no fun.

 

Put the parts in a big box for safe storage, then 15 years later you can have it hauled to the dump with ease.

 

At one point, my wife really wanted to declutter and she made it a rule that if we hadn’t needed something in a year, it was out. I But several boxes of “good stuff” were not in the shop, and without me knowing it, they were tossed.

To quote the late George Carlin, to you its 'your stuff' to her it is 'your Junk'! ..
Max.

 

To quote the late George Carlin, to you its your 'stuff' to her it is your 'Junk'! ..
Max.

Well it surely wasn't easy for her, either. She also had her saved “important” stuff that had to go and it really took a lot of effort for her to part with things in order to make our house a nicer place to live. I am very proud of how hard she worked at it, we’d moved boxes from apartment to house to house and she took charge and did the hard part of giving them up.

 

They usually just wind up on mine workspace somewhere. If I am really lucky they wind up in a tray,

It really gets bad is when I select one or two components out of the package for use and the whole package winds up on my workspace. Later when I need a component of that type, I can't find any of them. I curse myself for not putting it away where it belongs but then just repeat the practice all over again at a later time.

 

They usually just wind up on mine workspace somewhere. If I am really lucky they wind up in a tray,

Sounds like a universal trait!
Max.

 

Do you think there's enough evidence for a publication?

I have clung to parts and things with full intention to do something particular with them. Clung to them for many years. When I finally decide to start decluttering my shelves I come across a lot of stuff I had (I said "HAD") good intentions to use, but have never pursued them. So I've gotten rid of a bunch of stuff.

What ends up happening is that having decluttered I now find myself with time on my hands to pursue those very projects "I just threw out." I hung onto an old snowblower for its drive mechanism with the intentions to build a tractor for my grandchildren to play with. They're far too old today to be playing with snowblowers turned into tractors. So into the scrap yard went the machine. Out of nowhere my daughter announces she's adopting a child, age 8. Oh well.

I don't know if there's enough evidence for publication, but there's plenty of evidence of slothfulness.

 

I don't know if there's enough evidence for publication, but there's plenty of evidence of slothfulness.

It may just be selection bias but it certainly feels like throwing "good" stuff away creates a need for it.

 

Found a keeper treasure while cleaning up some old project electronics while tossing junk..

One of my old wirewrap I/O boards that I think was from a 80's Z80 project.
UPB8214 PRIORITY INTERRUPT CONTROLLER UPB8214 for several
UPB8212 EIGHT-BIT INPUT/OUTPUT PORT 8212

One of my old programming X-terminals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_X-Terminals#Entria_II

It boots up the setup screen but still headed to the dump.

 

I use whatever is handy -

• craft bead boxes with about half a dozen compartments (surplus from my Wife's projects). I have several that contain parts I used on some DIY EPROM programmers I used to sell.
• clear plastic boxes with hinged lids (3"x1.25"x0.6" - bought several hundred on eBay 10 or 15 years ago). Similar to this:

• anti-static boxes that parts came in,
• envelopes - coin or business,
• zip lock bags - bought a lot of a thousand 2"x3",
• bug trays/boxes (these are blue anti-static trays with one or more compartments that can be stored like drawers in a box that holds half a dozen trays),
• weighing dishes (have several different sizes)
• shallow cardboard boxes from cases of canned cat food

 

Cookie tins. I have several and use them both as static shields and storage. I have an old wallet tin (tin my wallet came in), small, good for small parts. Of course, you need a way to identify them.

 

Leaded components get tossed into a small tray during "work in progress". They get sorted and put back into their proper storage months or years later.

SMD parts get put on sticky tape and labeled ASAP once removed from the PCB.