What do you guys do to keep all your parts neat and orderly?

Thread Starter

judoGTI

Joined May 26, 2005
25
I apologize if this is the wrong forum for this, if it is please feel free to move it.

I'm curious what kind of storage bins/organizers you guys to keep all your parts neat and orderly? In my house I do not have a dedicated work space, so I have everything right now in a big cardboard box, with lots of little tupperwares in it to keep all my resistors, transistors, soldering iron, handsfree kit, etc. separate? Its messy and really kind of a PITA. So Im looking for something maybe like a rolling tool kit (similiar to what mechanics have) ora tackle box that will hand something like this? But a tackle box and toolbox have great 'big' storage areas they dont have any small storage areas for things like LEDs, etc...

I figure I'd pick your brains to see if there is something already out there that I havent found yet? Or if you guys have come up with something better.

Thanks!!
 

KL7AJ

Joined Nov 4, 2008
2,229
An excerpt from "The Opus of Amateur Radio Knowledge and Lore" :D


........
Well, we’re almost halfway there. We now come to Method Six of self-destruction: choking on small parts. This is actually more of a hazard than it was in days of yore, because——well——radios are smaller nowadays.
To be honest, the only time I really came close to choking to death on a small part, other than, perhaps, some prehistoric experience during my infancy, was when a transistor (I believe) had fallen, unbeknownst, into my coffee from an overhead shelf. (See how all these safety issues can be related?) I think I actually swallowed the item in question. In any case, it was a most unpleasant, and best unrepeated, experience.
Now, as unlikely as you are to undergo a similar trauma, you may (in fact, you should, if you are a ham worthy of the name) occasionally entertain young visitors in your ham shack. Young people, up to the age of around nineteen or so, have a penchant for inserting small foreign objects into their mouths and other orifices not intended for such. Be ever on the alert for this eventuality. Keep easily swallowed parts in appropriate bins until ready for use. In fact, you might even entertain the notion of labeling said bins, so as to more readily find the parts in question. This is a wonderful, innovative idea, though I have yet to encounter any ham who’s actually implemented it.
I suppose there is some aspect of this hazard I’ve forgotten, but we should probably move on.


Eric
 

SgtWookie

Joined Jul 17, 2007
22,230
I store my components in units called "piles". :rolleyes:
Actually, I have a number of parts storage bins with little pull-out drawers that measure about 1"H x 1.5"W x 6" deep with separators for things like IC's, fuses, hardware, etc.
I have some roll-around bins a couple of feet tall that have 3" deep drawers for various other things.
One drawer has a variety of LEDs that are bagged and labeled, sorted by color and type.
One drawer has a variety of transistors and MOSFETs, also sorted (more or less) by number and type.
Another drawer has a compartmented box that contains a variety of inductors.
Another has aluminum electrolytics bagged & sorted by capacity.

I have some larger 3-bin storage compartments on rollers. In one drawer I have a collection of fixed resistors that I collected over the last 30 years or so. They're in coin envelopes (available at your local office supply) that are stood on end in cardboard trays with the resistance marked on the end, sorted ascending in resistance so that I can rapidly locate whatever value I need. When I pull out an envelope, I'll raise the flap of the one behind it so I can quickly find the spot to re-insert it.

I also use coin envelopes to store small value ceramic/mylar/poly caps.

It can become a real chore keeping things sorted out.
 

KL7AJ

Joined Nov 4, 2008
2,229
I store my components in units called "piles". :rolleyes:
Actually, I have a number of parts storage bins with little pull-out drawers that measure about 1"H x 1.5"W x 6" deep with separators for things like IC's, fuses, hardware, etc.
I have some roll-around bins a couple of feet tall that have 3" deep drawers for various other things.
One drawer has a variety of LEDs that are bagged and labeled, sorted by color and type.
One drawer has a variety of transistors and MOSFETs, also sorted (more or less) by number and type.
Another drawer has a compartmented box that contains a variety of inductors.
Another has aluminum electrolytics bagged & sorted by capacity.

I have some larger 3-bin storage compartments on rollers. In one drawer I have a collection of fixed resistors that I collected over the last 30 years or so. They're in coin envelopes (available at your local office supply) that are stood on end in cardboard trays with the resistance marked on the end, sorted ascending in resistance so that I can rapidly locate whatever value I need. When I pull out an envelope, I'll raise the flap of the one behind it so I can quickly find the spot to re-insert it.

I also use coin envelopes to store small value ceramic/mylar/poly caps.

It can become a real chore keeping things sorted out.
Golly Sarge~ I thought you Marines alphabetized your socks! You're human after all~ :D

Eric
 
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