| General > General Technical Chat |
| Organizing Digi-Key and Mouser bags of components |
| << < (3/3) |
| Doctorandus_P:
It was already mentioned to put them in boxes, drawers, whatever, in a way such that you have individual access to the bags. Then number your storage units and give each individual bags also a serial number, and maintain a dictionary with part numbers, descriptions and the locations of the parts in your PC. I've written a simple C program to maintain my parts and it also has links to datasheets. My C program is quite simplistic. I do not want to put too much effort in writing it, and have no experience with real databases. A good side of this simplicity is that it is very flexible. It's just some arrays with data and a few lines of code that dresses it up with some html to generate a web page, and I use a browser to link to the pdf datasheets. If I had to redo it, I would put a more thorough description of the locations of the parts in it. Source code attached, I'm curious to know if anybody finds this useful. |
| rcbuck:
I have 5 of those 40 drawer cabinets similar to what Harbor Freight sells. I bought them back in the 80s so their frames are metal. They are sitting on a shelf in my closet. Each cabinet is somewhat categorized. For example, one holds the most common value resistors and capacitors. I sometimes use the dividers to put 2 values in a single drawer. The drawers hold through hole parts and SMD parts. For example, if I order 100 SMD 100 nF caps from Mouser I take them out of the bag, cut them into strips of 20, and put them in the drawer with the 100 nF through hole parts. Another cabinet holds the most common semiconductors. I put SMD parts in the same drawer as through hold parts, ex: 2N3904 and MMBT3904 are in the same drawer. For the less common parts I have twelve 10 x 8 x 6 cardboard boxes that I put the Mouser and DK bags in. Again, they are somewhat categorized, resistors in one box, caps in another, semiconductors another, etc. Everything in the cardboard boxes is in Excel spreadsheets. The boxes are subdivided with large bags. As an example, through hole caps are in one large bag in numerical order and SMD caps are in a different large bag. The spreadsheet location column tells where the parts are. Through hole caps are in 2-1 and SMD caps are in 2-2. The first digit is the box number and the second digit is the bag number. Since I have so many parts, some items like semiconductors are in 2 boxes as 1 box will not hold them all. There are 9 separate spreadsheets, resistors, caps, semiconductors, inductors, etc. When I order parts it is because I am either low on stock or need them for a current project. When they come in if they are for low stock, they immediately go into either the cabinets or boxes. If they are put in the boxes, I update the spreadsheet with the new quantity. If they are for a current project, they remain in the shipping box until the project is finished. They are then put in either the cabinets or boxes. The cabinet parts are not in the spreadsheet as those drawers have remained pretty consistent over the last 40 years. I have more or less memorized in which cabinet those ~250 parts are in. If a current project uses common value parts I always check the cabinets to see how many I currently have. If more are needed I just add them to the current project order. I did not keep spreadsheets for my inventory until about 20 years ago. I found I was frequently ordering parts that I already had on hand in the boxes. After that happened a few dozen times I implemented the spreadsheets. They are all in one folder on my computer and I am diligent about keeping them up to date. The spreadsheet shows all relevant data, i.e. Vendor part number, Manufacturer part number (especially important for DK orders), Description, Size (package), Wattage, Quantity, Location, Purchase Date, etc. Obviously different parts require different column headings. This system has worked well for all these many years. I have told my wife if something happens to me, who to call to come get everything. She also knows that they need the spreadsheets to help identify where everything is. Sorry this is so long but I wanted to explain it in detail. |
| msr:
Shane, you might want to give BOMIST another look as it was recently rewritten from scratch: https://bomist.com In case you find it useful, support for barcodes (printing and reading) is coming later this month / earlier next one. (Mário here, BOMIST's developer) |
| whalphen:
Most are stored in stackable plastic bins which can each hold a single row of 6"X4" plastic zipper bags. An index card is inserted into each bag as a label and to maintain the shape of the bag. The bags are kept in the bins like files in a filing cabinet. Each bin is labeled: through hole resistors, transistors, etc. When I receive a bag of parts from Digi-Key, I trim the Digi-Key bag to fit in the storage bag and put it right into the storage bag -- along with its Digi-Key label. All are logged into PartsBox web based (free) inventory management software -- which is excellent and easy to use. SMD caps, SMD resistors, SMD inductors, etc. are kept on a shelf in 'sample books' from AliExpress. Larger parts, such as connectors, switches, etc. are kept in Stanley small parts organizers that come with removable trays. These are slid into homemade wooden racks that stack them like a chest of drawers. Odd sized parts, enclosures, etc. are kept in labeled cardboard boxes on shelves. I also have a 'receiving box' and will sometimes temporarily log parts into it until I have time to store them in their permanent locations. The real key is to label all the bins and log them into the PartsBox software which then can be used to find the correct bin/ box for any part. I maintain an electronic parts inventory of tens of thousands of components this way and it works well. Did I mention that the PartsBox software is excellent? It really is. I've been using it for years. It's all online so you can check your inventory from anywhere -- even on your phone. No database system software to manage. It's very easy to use. It's regularly improved. It does what you need for tracking your inventory. And it's free. I highly recommend it. |
| Zero999:
--- Quote from: shanekent on January 05, 2021, 11:59:09 pm ---Those are nice little boxes! Where did you get those from? -S --- End quote --- They were going to be thrown out, where I use to work, along with a load of components, including many resistors. There was too much to keep so I kept a selection to fill up the compartments, plus some extra of the more common values. |
| Navigation |
| Message Index |
| Previous page |