componant storage

[carbon dude oxide]

hello,
i was just wondering how everyone stores all there componants in draws such as how you lable them ect.

for instance i order my resistors in E12/E24 series.


the reason i am asking this is that i don't think my current system is very organised at all and i would like to know some others to see which i most like its not just resistors i want to know about i would like to know your general componant storage as a whole.

[Paul Price]

I put them in cabinets, just like Davy Jones has them on his shelves in his videos. Pretty common and very effective.

Otherwise I keep them in appropriate sized ziplock bags with felt-tipped pen large descriptions and keep them in order like all diode bags together, all resistor bags together, etc. just like soldiers standing in line ready to do war with electrons. Works just fine and quick.l.

[Falcon69]

I've been using those little plastic storage boxes.  When I receive a new product from Mouser, I simply cut out the part number, and place that in the storage compartment of the plastic box with the part.

However, I noticed with the small components, those adjustable dividers ones are useless.  Anything smaller then 1206 footprint slip under the dividers and get mixed up. Also, My cat knocked the box off the table one day and got over 10,000 resistors of 7 kinds and 2 kinds of capacitors of 0805 size all mixed up.  That totally sucked.

So, to solve that problem, my small size stuff I am using plastic containers that do NOT adjust, and I've placed some thin foam over the top and then closed the lid.  I then place a strong rubberband around the box.  That way, if it is knocked off, it won't open or get mixed up.  Seems to work well.

For my bigger components, I use a drawer system and place a label on the outside of the drawer.

[madires]

Tons of Raaco cabinets for through-hole, plugs and so on. The SMD stuff is kept in zip bags and put into the drawers of the cabinets too. I'm too lazy to search :-)

[Hydrawerk]

I use a Billy cabinet from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/cz/cs/catalog/products/40085714/
and transparent boxes from Keter. http://www.keter.com/products/ap-organizer-14/#measurements

[roli_bark]

For SMD components, Adafruit sells these modular SMD storage Snap Boxes:
http://www.adafruit.com/products/432

[Hydrawerk]

Well, I don't have any SMD components.

[paul23]

However, I noticed with the small components, those adjustable dividers ones are useless.  Anything smaller then 1206 footprint slip under the dividers and get mixed up. Also, My cat knocked the box off the table one day and got over 10,000 resistors of 7 kinds and 2 kinds of capacitors of 0805 size all mixed up.  That totally sucked.

I hot glue the dividers so that doesn't happen.

[Kjelt]

Ah great topic, have been struggling with the same issue over the past.
 I will share my present storage solution, yesterday I bought an Ikea Trofast to store large spare components,
 no pictures yet.

So 20 years ago I started to store my components in plastick containers that hold these ESD cartonboxes with
ESD foam that used to contain 486 and Pentium processors in the computer store i worked (pic 1 and 2).
Still works fine for me for components I need just now and then.

But two years ago, for the direct for grab stock, I bought an Ikea kitchen closet.
And then made my own custom drawers in it. Also some standard Ikea PAX drawers which wouldn't fit in the closet size
so also had to be resawn and routed to make it fit.
The drawer gliders were pretty expensive (I believe around $35 a pair) but essential to get the drawer all the way out so
the stock in the back is good accessible. I always hate drawers were you can not look what's all the way in the back.

The drawers themselves were routed out of two layers of 18mm MDF plate and some were given a basic red/white ground paint,
i left it with that.
The red,green,yellow and blue plastick cups are standard size, exchangable which makes it dynamic alterable and they are
from Allit (http://www.allit.de), they also fit in some iron boxes they sell, see the blue fusebox on the last picture.
The SMD non ESD sensitive components are laboratory blood containers from smdshop.nl
For SMD sensitive components I use the standard black ESD containers from Conrad (www.conrad.de).

[Psi]

[alm]

This topic comes up quite regularly. Google should easily dig up the previous threads. For SMT passives and jellybean actives I like the SMT storage boxes sold by AideTek/SMTzone.

[rastro]

Hello Kjelt,
What is the name of the container in picture  * smdbox2.jpg ?  These look like disposable test tube sample tray? 

[Kjelt]

Hi Rastro,
yes they are laboratory test tube holders, I got them from www.smdshop.nl including complete assortment of SMD components, but they also sell them without components for 23 euros:
http://smdshop.nl/product_info.php?cPath=34&products_id=85&language=en

[metalphreak]

Just grabbed a whole bunch of these trays on clearout from element14. Bit of DIN rail on the front of the shelve to put 7 trays of what i'm currently using to build something

The rest of my stuff is in a bunch of Raaco cabinets or in those little SMD storage boxes you can get off dealextreme/ebay.

[Clear as mud]

I've been looking for something good for storage.  Originally I put different resistor values in individual drawers in a Stack-On storage container.  That was 12 years ago, and when I started doing electronics more full-time a few months ago, I purchased two more matching containers.  I was disappointed they didn't really match.  The drawers in the modern ones are generally flimsier.  I wrote a complaint to Stack-On, but I am pretty sure they plan to continue building them with the flimsy drawers instead of going back to the better ones.  By searching hard, I was able to find three or four companies still making them with the clearer, stronger drawers, but they are very expensive.
So, my girlfriend and I went out shopping for something different.  We found some flat Rubbermaid containers at WalMart.  They are still made of the cheaper material (polypropylene instead of polystyrene), but they are less flimsy than those thin-walled drawers.  We were concerned about the polypropylene material easily building up a static charge and possibly damaging the components, so we sprayed the interior of some of the containers with MG Chemicals 841 Super Shield Nickel Conductive Coating.  That didn't work so well, because the nickel spray doesn't stick to the container very well.  It tends to come off easily, so I haven't really used the ones I sprayed.  I used one for components for specific projects I am currently working on, and kept the components in bags inside the storage container so they don't get nickel metal on them from the spray-on coating.
The one I did not spray with conductive coating I use for connectors, and that seems to work well.  I would like to buy more of these containers, but I took off the stickers so I don't know the model numbers, and I can't find them on the WalMart or Rubbermaid web sites.
We have chosen to stock up on mainly 0805 size components, and I bought a whole kit of over 17,000 resistors (100 of each value) from vakits.com (in Florida, USA), and they came in plastic bags, which is not ideal, but for now they are still in the bags they came in.  For capacitors, we have only bought a few values so far, in quantities of 50 to 100, so I kept them in the bags from Mouser, and added a note card to each bag, taped the SMD components to it, and labeled the note card with "Capacitors 0805," value, voltage rating and tolerance.  I was hoping I could eventually find a drawer that will fit all these, like a library card catalog.

I will look through the forum for other suggestions.  The one thing I like about my storage right now is the flat Rubbermaid container with the connectors in it.  It has dividers for configurable size compartments, up to 24 compartments per container and the containers are stackable.  But I don't like that it seems not to be good for static-sensitive components.

EDIT: I went back to WalMart and found those containers again.  The item number on the tag is 151200 for the large one, and 151203 for the small one.  I bought more of the large ones today, because I have found them very useful for storing connectors and IC sockets.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-Large-Storage-Box-Clear/17474207
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Rubbermaid-Medium-Storage-Box/17208933

[Arp]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Empty-BOX-ALL-enclosures-SMD-SMT-resistor-capacitor-Organizer-0805-0603-0402-lid-/150915815194?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item232348971a

^ is a pretty neat  and cheap solution for storing SMD components

[Falcon69]

Nice little box there,

However, those compartments must be really small. 1210 size resistors don't fit!   It only says from 0402 thru 1206.   

[johansen]

i have a number of these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/24-divider-storage-container-94458.html
probably going to buy more.

i've also got about 30 of these:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-30-Gallon-120-Quart-Storage-Box-Set-of-6/8282894
no, not joking. 8 of them under 3 workbenches, the other 6 are in various locations.

[stiffman]

I use a lot of those little clear plastic component trays, Usually get them from the reject shop, or other junk shops for a couple of $ each. i've got maybe 20 of them
I did  buy some larger trays from bunnings:
http://www.bunnings.com.au/tactix-16-compartment-organiser-storage-box_p2580700
I got those because some stuff doesn't fit in the little trays. It helped a bit, but not as much as I would have liked.

Of course, i have a bunch of stuff that doesn't fit into the bigger trays either. That's where my metal cabinets come in handy (see photo attached below. Old photo from old house, but they show what they are. I managed to get them in a clean up from work. they are very handy

And then there are tubs of stuff that wont fit, old projects, project boxes, stuff to pull apart, future projects etc.... i would love to be more organised than i am, with everything nice and uniform.

[Falcon69]

The clear plastic storage boxes are fine, except the adjustable ones don't store the SMD components very well.  The smaller chips, like the 0805 resistors, slip under the adjustable dividers and get all mixed up. Also, if you accidentally flip the box on it's side or upside down, they are going to get all mixed up.

The fixed dividers work pretty well, but if they are flipped on end or upside down, they still get mixed up.  You can cut some foam, place on top, close lid, and that stops them from getting mixed up. Works pretty good.

[MacAttak]

I don't care for the small trays / boxes for smd parts - I prefer to keep them in segments of cut tape until use. Loose smd parts tend to grow wings.

The baseball card binder concept works best for me so far, although it too isn't awesome.

[Ed.Kloonk]

Gaaa!

Neat freaks - all of you.

The best way is to have it all at your fingertips...

[IvoS]

I use a Billy cabinet from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/cz/cs/catalog/products/40085714/
and transparent boxes from Keter. http://www.keter.com/products/ap-organizer-14/#measurements

Nice. To už jsem dlouho nevid?l ty Teslácké ozna?ení!