Electronics componants and hoarding

[theleakydiode]

How do you decide what to keep and what not to keep? Over the years I've amassed several boxes of electronic components that I've either salvaged or purchased, but to be honest its just taking up valuable space in my small house. When I sort through components I just end up seeing the potential in everything and keeping it. Obviously I don't keep broken/blown items but still its too much.

"Oh that transformer might be useful, that old SMPS capacitor tests fine so I'll hold onto it, that old inductor is a good size for a buck converter".

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.

 

[German_EE]

I went through a clearout exercise a couple of years ago, two years since I came to Germany. Anything that hadn't been touched since I arrived here was either sold, given away or trashed.

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

[georges80]

I order from Digikey/Mouser/Arrow/Avnet (at least one of them) weekly. So, I have a file that I put stuff onto for each vendor order when I think of a neat new thing to try out or build. So, stockpiling old components is not essential since within a week or so I can order something that I need.

The issue with hoarding (as the pile gets bigger) is trying to find that gem in the pile of junk. Not worth wasting time cataloging the gems and easier to just order as needed. Time is reasonably precious.

Even then I still end up with boxes of 'neat' stuff and that requires more discipline than I often have to toss out. So, when I reach the point of frustration with the boxes of 'neat' stuff I try to ride the wave and toss out as much as possible without looking at each component bag.

Maybe I should just offer up a box every so often in the trade/sell sub-forum and give them away to someone that is a compulsive hoarder

cheers,
george.

[tggzzz]

While renovating a Solarton 7075, I initially thought an unobtanium IC was faulty. It turned out is was a 7407 (no middle letters) driving that IC was faulty. Fortunately I had one in my store cupboard, from when I designed my first 6800 computer in 1977

I bought a Power Designs 2020B precision PSU, missing two front panel knobs. I had a couple that I bought in ~1980 https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1839581/#msg1839581 BTW, those PSUs are just right, and definitely a keeper

I suppose I ought to add, YMMV

[nctnico]

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.

[wraper]

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.

[sokoloff]

Can confirm. I have a bit of hoarding tendency naturally, but it really expresses itself with engineering and electronics parts...

[theleakydiode]

I went through a clearout exercise a couple of years ago, two years since I came to Germany. Anything that hadn't been touched since I arrived here was either sold, given away or trashed.

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

How do you find people to sell/give stuff to locally? Even on local seller/freecycle groups people don't seem to want anything other than working appliances. You go to the local recycling center and the place is filled to the brim with unwanted modern looking appliances. Can't find any local maker places either in this small town.

Hate to be nosy and its non of my business but before moving to Germany were you living someplace where electronic components were hard to come by?

The issue with hoarding (as the pile gets bigger) is trying to find that gem in the pile of junk. Not worth wasting time cataloging the gems and easier to just order as needed. Time is reasonably precious.

Even then I still end up with boxes of 'neat' stuff and that requires more discipline than I often have to toss out. So, when I reach the point of frustration with the boxes of 'neat' stuff I try to ride the wave and toss out as much as possible without looking at each component bag.

Maybe I should just offer up a box every so often in the trade/sell sub-forum and give them away to someone that is a compulsive hoarder

cheers,
george.

That's a good point, the bigger the hoard gets the more time it takes to find what you actually want. I'm sure hoarding is a form of delayed decision making, when I come across something I deem useful I would think to myself "hmm I'll take this home and see if I can find a use for it". I've got better in recent years and don't take things home anymore, at one point family used to drop off their unwanted electrical items here for me to part out.

How does the trade subforum work here, do you have to pay anything and do you have to give people your real contact info? Also around my area its real hard to even give stuff away for free these days.

While renovating a Solarton 7075, I initially thought an unobtanium IC was faulty. It turned out is was a 7407 (no middle letters) driving that IC was faulty. Fortunately I had one in my store cupboard, from when I designed my first 6800 computer in 1977

I bought a Power Designs 2020B precision PSU, missing two front panel knobs. I had a couple that I bought in ~1980 https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1839581/#msg1839581 BTW, those PSUs are just right, and definitely a keeper

I suppose I ought to add, YMMV

Argh that's the other side to the coin! If I throw something out then I'll probably come to need it down the line. What percentage of your "just in case" pile actually comes in useful?

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.

This sounds like my dad, he's a mechanical hoarder and the garage is full to the brim with old vehicle parts and other DIY randoms. But when he needs a part he'll go right to the local hardware store and buy new than actually look for one in the garage.

But with my electronic hoarding I think I've become blind to my own problems, my boxes of parts aren't that messy but it involves unstacking the pile of boxes.

[theleakydiode]

Can confirm. I have a bit of hoarding tendency naturally, but it really expresses itself with engineering and electronics parts...

Having watched a few of those hoarding shows it seems a lot of them are engineering types too, or crafty women saving stuff for future grandkids.

[ataradov]

There is a trade off between desire to store things "just in case" and the space they take. I try to store things in a more compact way, which is possible less appropriate for the components.

For example below is my entire collection of ICs. They are stored in plastic locking bags with original DigiKey labels inside. This is a very compact way of storing them, but plastic bags may potentially have issues with static. But I'd rather store things in a more compacts way and risk them being damaged, than throw them away and know for sure that I can't retrieve them back if needed.

I have similar storage bin for transistors/diodes, resistors, capacitors.

But I am getting rid or not acquiring in a first place through hole components. They do take up space, and I really never use them anymore.

And having things stored definitely helped me from time to time, so I would not get rid of everything, just for the sake of cleanliness.

[bd139]

I got to the point it was easier to buy something than find it in my parts stock. I just sold it all in lots on ebay then. Now I have a few tubs of stuff. I don't even keep it too organised now. There's no point. Only thing I get through epic quantities of is resistors as I just sweep them into a box when I'm done. When that box is full it'll go on ebay and I will buy more. It's not worth it any more.

One thing I don't do now is go "oh those are cheap, I'll buy a hundred of them" and never use them. I had about 10,000 crappy quality electrolytic capacitors for example. I have about 100 now, all good brands. And I'll probably never use them all.

[Alex Eisenhut]

With easy availability and next day shipping, there's little reason to hoard so much. I've thrown out boxes of stuff. I keep SMT resistor kits from eBay on hand, some DIP logic for my vintage computers. That fits into one 8 drawer cabinet.
The problem is the vacuum tube stuff naturally takes up a lot of room but doesn't represent a lot of components.
Tools and consumables go into a big toolbox though.

[tggzzz]

While renovating a Solarton 7075, I initially thought an unobtanium IC was faulty. It turned out is was a 7407 (no middle letters) driving that IC was faulty. Fortunately I had one in my store cupboard, from when I designed my first 6800 computer in 1977

I bought a Power Designs 2020B precision PSU, missing two front panel knobs. I had a couple that I bought in ~1980 https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg1839581/#msg1839581 BTW, those PSUs are just right, and definitely a keeper

I suppose I ought to add, YMMV

Argh that's the other side to the coin! If I throw something out then I'll probably come to need it down the line. What percentage of your "just in case" pile actually comes in useful?

Sufficient And that's the only answer you are going to get.

The key is to have a relatively small volume, and to be able to find what you have. The latter can be achieved by realising that any filing system defines where things aren't, not where they are.

By that I mean that if I have a right resistor, it will be in one of the small subset of drawers/bags marked "resistor", not in one marked "old TTL".

Problem areas are that I might forget I have a single purpose tool because it is buried in a box (e.g. cork borers), or I might thrown out rubbish because I don't realise people will pay stupid prices for it (e.g. Mullard mustard capacitors).

Oh, alright. I keep things with sentimental value, and I junk things that I don't like or which can be easily replaced.

[bd139]

Problem areas are that I might forget I have a single purpose tool because it is buried in a box (e.g. cork borers), or I might thrown out rubbish because I don't realise people will pay stupid prices for it (e.g. Mullard mustard capacitors).

That's the first crap I sold. Also anything that wasn't worth anything that had gold bits went in the "gold recovery" auction which made quite a bit of money.

[coppercone2]

its often because you don't store things efficiently. Imagine if pages in a book had to be stacked like loose leaf in a binder, you would be called a hoarder for owning even the smallest of libraries.

My #1 tip for through hole chips is to get carbon foam, cut it into trays that fit into a thin organizer with lots of dividers, then insert the chips into the foam. If you use good foam it won't disintirgate and it will protect the chips somewhat.

It gets more complicated with ESD but for thin things like SMD or through hole components, you can put them inside of plastic organizers like baseball cards that are modified to be smaller with thermal fusion of plastic.

I have stuff sorted in such a way that I need tweezers to get the right part but its fine because it saves ass loads of space.

With the right organizational strategies I was able to reduce my stockpile size by like 75% then reuse the old containers to properly store wire etc or other shit that was improperly stored.

That picture in this thread with all the components stored in ziplocks in a tupperware is extremely inefficient for instance. I used to do that and I only do that now for my smallest parts (which actually take up the most room) that I am most paranoid about storing (i.e. 30$ DDS systems and shit). That will be stored properly in due time in custom chip cabinets/drawer system.

I do feel the pain with larger transformers, heat sinks, etc. I think you could use divider boxes for alot of it. You actually need to plan that out, make measurements and look through storage catalogs to find the correct solutions here. Or get proficient at quickly making custom drawers/boxes.


Also it takes 5 minutes to make a inventory list in notepad by category, how could you forget what you have unless you are mega lazy. =]]

but again good luck doing that with anything magentic... heat sinks are cool enough that I renember what I have usually but recycled transformers (other then mains 60Hz) are a nightmare, and so are salvaged inductors. I think many people on this forum feel inductor salvage pain.

I put the smaller stuff like EMI/common mode choke into organizer boxes and just lay em out no more then 2 layers high.

Larger transformers I just throw into a bin though. things from switching power supplies are generally a fucking nusience.

[chris_leyson]

I think I reached a point about 20 years ago where I just couldn't deal with the collected crap and clutter anymore and out it went into a medium sized skip, probably 8 cubic yards. It's funny, I woke up the next day only to find it was half empty, anything with any reasonable metal content had disappeared.
Psychologists would have a field day, why do you need all of that crap anyway, you don't actually build or do anything with it do you ! If you don't need it don't buy it in the first place. Brutal but true. Keep stuff that is unobtainable because somebody might need it one day and now you're an antiques dealer.

[coppercone2]

its because you don't have time and energy to design useful or interesting projects with stuff that you store because it looks cool (magnetics for me).

Also another part of it is as you progress into the hobby you learn about what quality is and you realize alot of stuff you pull out of cheaper equipment or consumer stuff, is difficult to design in if you have high manufacturing standards or is simply older technology thats not sexy anymore.

another part of it I think is that you forget what you have or you get it faster then you can organize it then you get a confusing sprawl that causes subconscious anxiety to be around.

I had this in my basement, tons of containers filled with random shit, like a box with a few screws, a boiler part, some electrical crap, a screw driver and saw dust in it. When I sorted it all out by category I kind of got an idea of what I can do with all this stuff and it actually stored much easier.

Another thing is bags. I try not to keep bags like the ones that came with screws or any kind of store packaging in anything I buy unless its something really weird (like a replacement sink). It stores weird and is difficult to clean and it makes unpleasant noises when you move it.. don't rely on the manufacturer to figure out a good storage solution for your home.

 I kinda go for this rule;
if I feel that I need to have a 'good day', good sleep, good mood, 'stars aligned' to get the energy to clean the storage area or to retrieve a component, its done wrong.

if its a easy process that I can do even when I am sleep deprived, irritated and tired, that means the storage is implemented properly.

I swear the stupidest shit has prevented me from starting projects before, like I don't want to deal with a dusty or broken container because it might spill out, or I need to get a stool to reach something, or I need to totally remove everything from a storage box to access something I want then i need to reload it then I need to climb up with it on a shelf. Or I remember that I will need to wash my hands after i reach 'into that pile of shit'. Then its like nah, fuck this, movie.

it seems fine when you are in a good mood and everything, but I noticed that when projects go on for a while you get kinda cranky and irritable and any one thing fucking off on you leads to abandonment. On the other hand if everything is done right, you can finish that sub assembly you did not really want to do then get super excited about the bigger project which is within reach now, because you got rid of a knot in your head and got a little boost of happy chemicals from achievement.

I find its true for house work too, I get a basket and sometimes I organize all the tools, fasteners, whatever else in there, then just leave it alone in the correct area for a while, maybe a break, maybe the next day, even if it was just 5 minutes of labor, however long it takes me to get out of 'organization/acquisition' mode vs implementation mode.

[tggzzz]

Problem areas are that I might forget I have a single purpose tool because it is buried in a box (e.g. cork borers), or I might thrown out rubbish because I don't realise people will pay stupid prices for it (e.g. Mullard mustard capacitors).

That's the first crap I sold. Also anything that wasn't worth anything that had gold bits went in the "gold recovery" auction which made quite a bit of money.

The only reason for being irked that I threw out those caps was because I didn't know I could sell them to audiophools.

[bd139]

Problem areas are that I might forget I have a single purpose tool because it is buried in a box (e.g. cork borers), or I might thrown out rubbish because I don't realise people will pay stupid prices for it (e.g. Mullard mustard capacitors).

That's the first crap I sold. Also anything that wasn't worth anything that had gold bits went in the "gold recovery" auction which made quite a bit of money.

The only reason for being irked that I threw out those caps was because I didn't know I could sell them to audiophools.

Yeah they're bloody awful capacitors for sure.

I tend to grab anything like that at hamfests if I see it. Usually pays the fuel bill 

Rule 1 of throwing anything out: check sold prices on ebay first

[LaserSteve]

The worse thing is tearing down something you thought was long dead for disposal, then finding the fault during dismantling/harvesting.  This has happened to me a few times during the cleanup every two years. 

Steve

[Brumby]

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.

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.  This gave me a peace of sorts ... until the box was full, I didn't have to decide - things could just get tossed in.  It was also good for recovery.  As long as I kept my sorting consistent, I only had one box to find and search through.  I purposely made it difficult to decide to create a second box where I would split the contents.  That was the recipe for uncontrolled hoarding.

EVEN SO, in twenty years the most common retrieval was a mains power lead or other cable.  In all the electronics, I can only remember retrieving one LED which was to replace an indicator LED in an Echoplex tape echo machine.  The LED was a perfect physical match - I just had to slip off the aluminium bezel.  The owner was mightily impressed - which was an achievement in itself.  He was one of those people that would get a twitch if a replacement part looked anything but a perfect match.  OK, I admit it - it was a fluke that I had such a part - but finding it was not so big of a deal.  Containerisation of junk works well.

[beanflying]

I am a lost cause and I pity the poor person who has to sort it out when I depart this life or get sent to the loonie bin

Salvaged this Australian made cap most likely 40 years ago from an old TV aged 10'ish. Only put it back into use last year wrapped with high silver content solder. See old Electrolytic Caps are safe to use and should be saved too!

[MrMobodies]

I have got a lot old junk that I can't get rid.

One day, that junk might have something useful inside or I might need it for something.

Also some of it I think will be worth some money as one day as they are in good condition.
I got an old IBM 8595 that still works that I got down the boot sale for £4 in 2001.

With all the boxes of ecc 72 pin memory I acquired over the years none of it seems to work inside apart from the 16mb that it came with.

[Brumby]

One day, that junk might have something useful inside or I might need it for something.

Ah - that's the chorus of the Hoarder's Song!

(I know ... I've sung it for long enough!)

[MrMobodies]

One day, that junk might have something useful inside or I might need it for something.

Ah - that's the chorus of the Hoarder's Song!

(I know ... I've sung it for long enough!)

I have a found similar tune but with different lyrics obviously I found the wrong one.

What we need are bigger houses for storage where it can all be sorted out.