Electronics componants and hoarding

[Brumby]

What we need are bigger houses for storage

Always the dream.

where it can all be sorted out.

... yeah, well.

[tggzzz]

I've had stuff hoarded for so many years I couldn't count.  I know how it came about, though.  In my early years, I had a Philips EE20 kit and components were not easily obtained.  Certainly I didn't know where to find them and they weren't well advertised in my circles.  Even so, when I did find some, they weren't cheap for a school kid.  The answer was simple - see an abandoned device and drag it home.  I scored a TV that way and managed to get it going without killing myself.  I thank some instincts on HT and the thing that looked like a spark plug lead.

Wow, that was exactly my experience - including the EE20. I still have the instruction booklet somewhere, and the mustard caps I threw out were from that!

With a childhood pattern of behaviour having been established, the stuff kept accumulating - so I instigated a regulation system.  By this time I was working in a computer room and had access to as many empty 15x11 eyeline boxes as I wanted.  I assigned one class of accumulation to each box and then when that filled to capacity, I had to decide what would be discarded to make way for the new acquisition.

Unfortunately in my case, s/box/house/. But it help does keep the expense down

[Terry01]

I got 1 of these... It was only £30!

It's handy as hell for making a quick label up and they stick good and proper to just about anything. I don't have anywhere near as much stuff as some of the more experienced members who have built stuff up over years or whatever have but I have a wee bit and if I start labelling early.....

                        .............I'm missing the point here aren't i...... right? 

[Terry01]

Does it still count as hoarding if everything has a nice label on it.... 

[bd139]

I think hoarding is defined by the likely opinion of the person who has to clear all your crap out if you snuff it suddenly

For SWMBO here "hey he labelled all his hoarded crap"

[Terry01]

I think hoarding is defined by the likely opinion of the person who has to clear all your crap out if you snuff it suddenly

For SWMBO here "hey he labelled all his hoarded crap"

 

[sokoloff]

Out of a desire to be sure they got recycled, I once labeled “dead” on some old lead acid batteries. Didn’t quickly get to recycling them, causing some teasing from a girlfriend.

[bd139]

I've got two big SLAs in the shed awaiting recycling. They were put in there when I moved in about ten years ago 

Just realised I ran out of some major resistor values from my dev kit. This resulted in 2140 resistors being ordered from Tayda (Royal Ohm ones). I haven't decided if I'm hoarding or not there. Is "buy 50 just in case" hoarding?

[Zero999]

How do your electronic component clear-outs go? I'm sure we've all been there at one point, I'm in the middle of sorting stuff now but not really making any progress.

Just throw out what you have not used for years. The biggest problem with hoarding stuff is that you forget what you have and end up buying new anyway.

Nope the worst is when you know you have the part. And then spend hours searching that 10 cent part instead of just buying it. Or even worse. You spend hours searching, don't find it, buy new. And then accidentally find it a few days later.

It's also a bugger when you need something which you recently threw out and buying a replacement is difficult/impossible.

Just realised I ran out of some major resistor values from my dev kit. This resulted in 2140 resistors being ordered from Tayda (Royal Ohm ones). I haven't decided if I'm hoarding or not there. Is "buy 50 just in case" hoarding?

If it's commonly used resistors such as E24 values from 10R to 1M, then it makes sense to keep a stock, as long as it's well organised. I stock E24 resistors from 10R to 10M and E12 from 1M to 10M and 1R to 10R and some <1R values for current shunts.

I can't imagine not keeping a stock of most commonly used resistors, capacitors, transistors and ICs, for prototyping.

I admit I do have hoarding tendencies, but I normally avoid keeping truly useless crap or stuff which can easily/quickly replaced and is rarely used.

[Terry01]

I've got two big SLAs in the shed awaiting recycling. They were put in there when I moved in about ten years ago 

Just realised I ran out of some major resistor values from my dev kit. This resulted in 2140 resistors being ordered from Tayda (Royal Ohm ones). I haven't decided if I'm hoarding or not there. Is "buy 50 just in case" hoarding?

That’s the first time I’ve seen Tayda. I take it they are good for stuffs? Ebay can be a bit dodgy sometimes.

[bd139]

50/50. Their branded stuff is ok. The rest is crap. Main thing is they label everything with $7 value on the customs declaration 

[Terry01]

50/50. Their branded stuff is ok. The rest is crap. Main thing is they label everything with $7 value on the customs declaration 

LOL 

[coppercone2]

does anyone question themselves on screw accumulation?

It's like the one thing I have serious doubts about. I swear sorting a junk screw box is one of the worst things you can sort.

[Kilrah]

Two years sitting on a shelf doing nothing sounds about right.

Until the very next day after you threw it out of course.

[MrMobodies]

What we need are bigger houses for storage

Always the dream.

where it can all be sorted out.

... yeah, well.

I am actually in the process of finding a larger home in the country side where you get a lot more for your money.

I think I'll take my chances in the middle of nowhere where I'd have a bit more freedom than what my own town has to offer.

It'll be very nice to get rid of my junk so I don't have the problem of storing it but the problem is it is my companion as it is there when I need it and stops me getting bored.

[sokoloff]

does anyone question themselves on screw accumulation?

It's like the one thing I have serious doubts about. I swear sorting a junk screw box is one of the worst things you can sort.

I don't sort random screws anymore than I'd sort random value 0603 resistors. (I admit the screws do at least go into a box.)

On the other hand, I bought a wide selection of metric screws in a variety of lengths and head types (socket cap, socket flat, pan, etc) and put these into bins sorted by radius (M2.5, M3, M4, etc). I got a much smaller assortment of SAE hardware. (Living in the US, SAE hardware is pretty readily available. If you want an M2.5 socket head cap screw, 14mm in length, you're probably not going to find that at the local hardware store.)

[tggzzz]

does anyone question themselves on screw accumulation?

It's like the one thing I have serious doubts about. I swear sorting a junk screw box is one of the worst things you can sort.

Same as a junk resistor box: if you can easily find what you need, good. Hence each type in a small Ziploc bag with a paper insert with the type is fine. OTOH, lots of resistors/screws in together is "suboptimal".

Having said that, I do have half a dozen compartments with "similar" screws in each; that reduces the number I need to sort through by a useful amount.

[tggzzz]

Two years sitting on a shelf doing nothing sounds about right.

Until the very next day after you threw it out of course.

... Because after two years you had forgotten it existed, until you threw it out.

[nctnico]

On the subject of throwing stuff out... the oddest thing just happened to me. We still had two old style CRT TVs and I decided to throw them out a while ago. Collecting large garbage is done by appointment over here and tomorrow is 'the day' I got assigned. So while creating a pile of stuff we no longer need (besides the TVS) on the side of the road a white van stops. A man comes out and starts loading my old TV just while I was rolling the second one out. He ended up taking the TVs and everything with metal in it. I'm just wondering how he got his timing so impeccable.

[bd139]

Pikeys. They’re attracted by the quantum effect of scrap metal and damaged driveways.

Did he try and sell you a dog?

[nctnico]

Pikeys. They’re attracted by the quantum effect of scrap metal and damaged driveways.

Did he try and sell you a dog?

He didn't look like a pikey and he didn't try to sell me a dog. More like the many people collecting scrap metal. I'm just happy he took all the stuff with metal. The city's trash collection isn't exactly stellar with collecting trash. Chances are it is still there next week just like some other people's trash across the street.

[MrMobodies]

Just remembered something and found it. EEVblog #737 - World's Biggest Collection Of Electronics Components.

The collector did well out of it and moved on.

I got rid of a few black Dell 19" or 21" rebranded Sony Trinitron flat crt monitors as I was running out of room. I shouldn't have done as they were in excellent condition and would have made a good collection for a vintage set. When I put them outside and someone knocked later that day and asked of they can take the large one but they were not interested in the smaller ones.

[VK3DRB]

What's your real estate worth?

My take on hoarding components is: "If in doubt, chuck it out." and "Live simply so you can simply live."

I am qualified to say this as a reformed hoarder who took a total of 13 trailer loads of boards, including TV boards to the rubbish tip. I will never hoard again. Better to buy again from Digikey or whoever for your next project. But if you do store components, at least practice 5S: https://www.5stoday.com/what-is-5s/

[bd139]

Sounds like Six Sigma but with one less S (which stands for Shit in 6 sigma )

[VK3DRB]

Sounds like Six Sigma but with one less S (which stands for Shit in 6 sigma )

I have experience with both.

IBM took on Six Sigma as a religion in manufacturing in the 1990's. Six Sigma was a dud with hundreds of millions of dollars being wasted on it. Senior execs at IBM would lose face if they said "Six sigma is a failure". One zealot championed it for an extra two years after everyone else had moved on. Management would not tame him because it was they who preached it and his number one job goal was introducing, promoting and measuring six sigma. Corporate stupidity at its finest.

5S on the other hand is very different. Painful to implement, but fabulous when it is up and running. I work in R & D. When I joined 2 years ago, you couldn't find anything anywhere - components, prototypes, dev boards, tools, test equipment, rubbish, documents etc. It was an out of control mess. I introduced 5S. Now everything is sorted, labelled, clean, uncluttered and now us engineers know where everything is. I also threw out crappy tools and bought a high end Tektronix oscilloscope, a MegiQ VNA, a 6 GHz spectrum analyser and other vital tools. Even the crappy side cutters were thrown in the bin and replaced with the wonderful Tronex (USA made) side cutters.

The end result is higher productivity and a happier workplace.