Help with SMD component identification

[paul_b_78]

Hi EEVBlog team,
I am in a bit of a pickle. This is a bit of a long’ish read and hope there is somebody out there who can help me.

I like to remove components from donor PCB’s and normally store them in little individual micro boxes.

However, this storage has fallen off the bench onto the floor…
They are all now mixed up and although I have retrieved a vast majority, I now need to re-identify them.
I have 1005, 0201 etc etc Caps, Resistors etc etc.

I have a multimeter but these components are far too small.



What other gadgets are out there that can speed this whole thing up please.

Before anyone replies with… don’t waste your time just throw them away and start again…..
I have been pulling these components for years and years and so don’t want to start again.

If you have read to this far then you are keen to help me with good quality advice.

Look forward to your replies

[DC1MC]

There are the SMD RCL tweezers that were discussed here on the site as well, some of them are actually useful for in circuit measuring as well.

Example: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/MS8910-Mastech-Measuring-Tweezers-Passage/dp/B07DN98GX3

You can spread the parts on a piece of paper, roughly sort them into categories and pick/measure individually with the tweezers then drop them in the assigned compartment. The only question left is how much your time is worth compared with the cost of the parts.

Cheers,
DC1MC

[Fred27]

Maybe you should take sunk costs out of the equation. Just because you spent a lot of time sorting these once, that doesn't mean it's worth spending a lot of time doing it again.

[MathWizard]

How many of each do u need laying around ? The cost of no-name SMD resistors and caps, is not much, as side from shipping maybe.

On amazon or ebay, you can probably get kits of 10pcs*30 values, for like $5

I hate trying to measure SMD parts with DMM probes, especially if they have crusty old solder on them. And I didn't find tweezers much better, like on my LCR meter.

[wasedadoc]

Multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) are highly susceptible to physical damage which makes them short internally.  You will frequently see advice to throw away new ones which have been dropped.  That would be even more applicable in your case as they have also have been through the stress of you desoldering them.