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What is your solution for keeping and tracking parts?

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fourfathom:
for cheap passives (0603 1K 1%: reel of 5000 for $3) I just buy the reel and store those in a simple home-made wooden reel-holder.  Otherwise I cut non-reel tapes into shorter lengths and store those in an ACRO-Mils type drawer cabinet.  If I plan to use the parts in my pick/place machine I obviously keep the tapes un-cut.

SiliconWizard:

--- Quote from: Siwastaja on July 10, 2022, 06:47:00 am ---I have realized that lowest-effort system I can manage is:

* Just order enough parts and some excess for a project. Can sneak in some interesting parts not related to the project
* Keep parts as packaged in original cardboard box it was shipped in. Write date or project name on the box. I remember I did project X in year Y.
* Have vague remembrance "oh, related to this project, I bought this". My brain works this way: when parts relate to a project, I remember well how I designed it and why, and can reuse the same parts for a similar project.
* Log in to Digikey/Mouser and look at order history
* Find the exact part number
* Find the right box
* Build the prototype with the old excess parts - order more parts if needed.

This isn't the best possible system, but it's near zero effort. My attempts to build a well planned database or spreadsheet of my parts always fails because I lack the long time focus.

--- End quote ---

Pretty much what I've been doing too.
To find parts, either I'll remember a specific part I've used in a given past project, or I'll usually look it up across BOMs of past projects (through a local indexing search tool) rather than bother to look it up on websites in past orders. I have the BOMs, and they are linked to projects, so I see no need to add a database on top of that.

Having a well organized stock in lab looks great but it isn't that useful in practice compared to the above.

snarkysparky:
Excel sheet with a zillion tabs works well for me.  For instance if I want to use a NPN transistor there is a tab for that in my spreadsheet.  So open the tab and all my NPN in stock are there for perusing.

PlainName:

--- Quote from: sami_testarossa on November 24, 2022, 05:18:52 am ---...
Software:
Partsbox.com
...
Machine readable code for Manufacture Part Number. Code format: Data Matrix.[/li][/list]
Text for Manufacture Part Number.[/li][/list]
Text for Part Description.[/li][/list]
...

--- End quote ---

I may be biased but I would strongly suggest that if you're buying the software you go with something that has a perpetual license. Partsbox may be great, but you can never stop paying for it - hit hard times, or Partsbox dies or just increases prices because they want to, and your inventory is toast.

Next, I would strongly suggest you use your own part number. Manufacturers are important but should be considered similar to other descriptive fields (colour, price, etc). Use your own part number scheme and you will always know what the format is, never have duplicates, etc.

For storage, if you are using an parts inventory system then your storage should be numbered in a way that makes sense for the numbering. For example, I have a rotary drawers tower and the individual draws are number with the tower, cabinet, column, row: RD0104, for example. If the drawer has dividers it could  RD010402. You unique part number then maps to the location number and there's your thing. Works with any storage (I also use pill boxes, folders, shelves, etc).

And... if you're serious and expect to use this for a long time, forget about putting, say, all resistors next to each other, never mind in value order, all capacitors next to each other, etc. It just doesn't cope with expansion - sooner or later you will use up all the spare spaces you reserved for whatever values, and you'll have loads of empty spaces in the wrong section. Instead, just plonk new parts in the next available suitable container (but still label them with what they are). To find something, you use the inventory system to identify the location, and there it is. An advantage of this approach is that it is hard to pick the wrong part - if you have resistors next to resistors you can easily pick from the adjacent tray by mistake, but if you're going for a resistor and you pick a capacitor it is quickly clear you got the wrong tray.

EPAIII:
Keeping and Tracking Parts

That is an important concept. In business, time is money. And if you can't find it, you don't have it. I worked in TV stations and there were many parts. Some were "generic" parts like resistors, capacitors, transistors, ICs, screws, nuts, etc. Others were OEM parts that were only available from one or just a very small number of sources (like two). Some were dirt cheap and others were so expensive that the bean counters questioned if we really needed them, at least at that price.

Most of the places where I worked had parts storage schemes which were only partially implemented and often poorly at that. Or they were implemented without thought to the next item to come in. An example would be a bin for a 100 uF capacitor followed by a bin for a 500 uF one with no extra bin(s) between them. So a 250 uF arrives and has to be placed out of sequence. Things like this often lead to some kind of filing system where the locations are not in order and one must consult with the system to find them. Computers are often used for this but they were preceded by manual systems where something like library cards were used. It is a lot easier to insert a card between two existing cards than it is to move inventory from one bin to another. Especially when one must move dozens or even hundreds of items from bin to bin. And computers just move the records electronically.

But the places where I worked did not have the man-hours needed to set up and maintain and operate a system like that. And, as for computers, TV station owners back then did have a few words for them, but I won't repeat them here. Believe it or not, it was a struggle getting computers into TV stations. At least until the news department wanted them and couldn't live without them, but that is another story. Strangely enough I was introduced to computerized inventory control in the US Army before my TV career. I actually had a maintenance parts facility in Vietnam and it was computer based. Even had an officer in charge of just that computer. And it worked - usually.

But back to civilian jobs: no, I was never at a civilian job where our thousands and thousands of parts were inventoried by computer. For better or worse, I had to use manual systems and did not ever have the man-power for even a card based system. So what did I do?

The first thing was to make the decision that the physical storage system had to also be the filing system. You had to know where to look by the physical system itself. And it had to be easy and intuitive to use. It had to make provision for new parts to be added BETWEEN the existing ones with only a minimum amount of effort. And, of course, the space was always limited. I will list the major methods that I used below. Keep in mind that some of these methods overlap. So divisions by generic vs. OEM and by small, and large will overlap producing four different storage areas. This was not a big problem because the person putting a part into stock or finding one he needed there usually knew which of these divisions it fell into.

Division by GENERIC and OEM parts:

These are two major distinctions and it is very useful to store them separately. So generic parts were stored by their physical values. An area for 1/4W, 5% resistors can easily be set up to contain all 5% values and there will be no need for new bins between values. And 1/10W, 5% resistors can take up where the 1/4W ones end. Etc. But OEM parts almost always have a part number. This is because the OEMs will have a computerized system and these parts are identified with those numbers. A 1% resistor that was a special order when originally purchased is best identified by that OEM part number. I organized OEM parts alpha-numerically by COMPANY NAME and then by the PART NUMBER within each name. So all the OEM parts for Apex machines were before those for Beamer machines. Etc.

Division by the SIZES of the parts:

An overall concept here is MODULAR storage. The storage locations are either identical or have compatible dimensions. This allows the most efficient use of the available space.

Many parts we use are quite small. Resistors, many capacitors, transistors, screws, nuts, washers: all of these are usually small enough to be stored in a small plastic draw. Often several sizes can be stored in one small draw with dividers. So the first area that I set up is for small parts. The common plastic drawers (about 2" wide x 1" high x 4" deep) are installed in multiple and IDENTICAL size cabinets. This provides many storage locations at an affordable price. And to keep things modular, those cabinets with the plastic drawers are themselves placed on modular shelving.

A second size group can be established with standard bins on standard shelving. Both cardboard and plastic bins are available in multiples of 2" widths and either 12" or 16" depth. These can occupy 12" or 16", standard shelves which are vertically spaced at a standard distance. In my garage shop I am using cardboard bins with widths from 2" to 12" on wall mounted shelves that are at about 8" intervals. This keeps wasted space to a minimum. You can get dividers for these bins to make internal divisions. To further increase the range of items that can be stored, I use cardboard "mini bins" inside the larger cardboard bins. They are a little under 2" wide and a little under 4" front to back so three will fit in a row. I have used both of these types of cardboard bins at a number of my employer's storage systems. In my own, garage shop I also divide the cardboard bins using Rx pill bottles. I cut the "child proof" lock off and many small parts can fit in them. They come in various sizes. I use round labels that I print with my computer on the lids to ID the contents. Modular, modular, MODULAR!

For items too large to fit in the cardboard bins, I just use shelf storage. But again, I use the same modular shelving that is used for the smaller parts. This is where the system breaks down somewhat, but I did not ever have a lot of really large parts and most of the people on this board probably will not.

Adding New Parts // Easy Movement of Parts From One Location to Another AND Part ID Labels

This is where almost every system that I have encountered fell down. What am I talking about and why is it important. If a new part arrives and there is no place for it, no one wants to move dozens or even hundreds of parts to make room. And that would be a big waste of time. So the system should make provisions for this. Adding a new part should be both easy and intuitive. And the modular nature of the above ideas are a big part of the answer here.

The first thing I have always done was to leave empty locations in every drawer, in every bin, and on every shelf. So when putting parts in plastic drawers I would divide the drawers into three or four sections and always leave one section empty. But sooner or later those empty sections would fill up, so I did more than just that. For the plastic draw sections I used a piece of card stock (index cards trimmed to fit) which was bent into an L shape. It covered the bottom and the back of the section. The part ID information was (computer) printed on the vertical part at the rear. This not only IDed the part, but it made moving the part to a new drawer easy. Just pick up the cardboard with the parts on it and place it in the new drawer. Both the part and it's ID were moved. I avoided adhesive labels here and on the fronts of the drawers where I used slide in labels. Using this system, moving parts to make space for new ones was easy. Of course, whole drawers could also be moved and their parts ID labels would also move with them.

With the cardboard bins similar card stock labels could be printed and used inside the compartments but larger sizes of the card stock was needed. Mini-bins and the Rx bottles can also be easily be moved with their contents and labels to make space for new arrivals.


My present garage shop is struggling with storage. I have an electronic bench there but also have wood and machining tools and stocks. Things like wood and metal stock can be very challenging to store in an efficient manner. It is a work in progress.

I know this was long, but I hope it helps someone.

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