Component Sorting and Storage / General Science and Electronics / Forums

Forums

4hv.org :: Forums :: General Science and Electronics

« Previous topic | Next topic »

Component Sorting and Storage

1 2 next

Move Thread

LAN_403

Part Scavenger

Tue Mar 14 2006, 03:57AM

Registered Member #79 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:35AM
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 673

Well, I've got a five gallon bucket of semis and other components that I've pulled from random stuff. All my drawers are full too.

So, I'm going to go through them all and sort them, does anybody have this down to a science? It took me forever to figure out how I wanted to sort my capactors and stuff, here are some ideas I have:

Caps
1. Sort them first into LV/MV/HV
2. Sort according to multiplier, that will make them easier to find.

Resistors
1. Sort them LW/MW/HW
2. According to multiplier

Inductors
1. Small/med/big

Transistors
1. FET/Bipolar
2. Big/Little

Diodes
1.signal/rectifier/LED
2.small/ med/big?

IC's
no idea

Any tips? I don't want to sort all this stuff and figure out I would have liked it better sorted as voltage or something. What do you guys do with all the stuff you just have like two of but don't want to chuck that don't necessarily deserve their own box and don't really go with anything else? Then you have so many items like that, you can't just dump them all in a drawer 'cause you'll never find anything. (92.64% of my problems.)

...

Tue Mar 14 2006, 04:23AM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

I have that problem too. I ended up spending about $50 to the some resistor/cap assortments that came in really useful labeled drawers for the basic 1/4w resistors, 50v electrolytics, and ceramics.

I took all of my IC's and put them unto a divided up sheet of antistatic foam (the kind that you can stick parts into really easily) sorted by part number and then it is all recorded in an excell document. I also had the datasheet saved for a awhile, but lost a lot of them in a hard drive crash. I haven't updated it it like 2 years, but it serves its purpose of when I need a counter or a line driver or a/d or something I can just scan down the documents and find what I need.

As to caps/inductors/etc I just have them in a huge pile now :-@ I don't use the inductors very much (and if I need one I usually end up sampling it since I don't have it), but I have drawer a bid of cores. It is small enough that I can just open it up and find a suitable one. The caps are a bigger problem, I just have a huge box of them. I need to find some good divided bins (the kind that have a full width pull out drawer that is divided inside) to put them in, because right now it takes like 10 minutes to find a usable one. If I ever find things like .1ufd tants I just throw them into the divided bin of ceramics.

I also acquired about 1/3 of a complete set of 1w resistors, which was sorted into a set of pull out drawers, but someone decided to get rid of the cabinet that holds the drawers and put them in a box, but it works.

Most of the diodes I use are just strait off the 100pc roll, because it is so cheap to just buy them instead of salvage them. I have one of in4007's, one of uf4007's and about 1/3 a roll of sf1600's-and like 40 1n60s in a little bag. From there I just have a pile of them, and if I need a diode I just pull a random one out and hoe it works. I have my LED's sorted by color.

All of the stuff that doesn't deserve its own box...
I have a ton of little pull out drawers with that kind of stuff, or it just does in a bin.

Most of the bigger stuff is stored in usps boxes (to get them for free you have to order them 25 at a time, so I have a ton of them) sorted by general type, which is subdivided into 1gal ziplock bags. One for my favorite caps, one for my high power resistors, one of coilgun parts, etc. Then I have boxes devoted to a given project. Like I have a box for my coilgun that has most of it's parts, one for my tesla coil etc.

Right now I am looking for a place to store my collection of power transformers, can put them on a shelf because there is like 200lbs of them (and I sleep about 5' from my shelves

Over the summer or hopeful sooner I need to go completely through everything I have and sort it. Or maybe next year...

Things with lots of bins ore you friend...

dan

Tue Mar 14 2006, 04:29AM

Registered Member #223 Joined: Mon Feb 20 2006, 06:42PM
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 125

For I.C.'s I usually Sort the 7400 series, 4000 series, timers/osilators, op-amps, misc I.C.'s. As for resistors I simpally sort them by resistance ranges(<10 ohms, 10ohms - 100ohms, etc). I do a simmalr thing for Pots. You can generally find the wattage you want just by looking for the physical size of the resistor. Transistors I sort by BJT and FET then voltage rating. Agian phisical size will help you find a specific device.. Diodes I sort by Zener(which is then sorted by voltage), Schottky, rectifier(1n400x), Full wave, misc. As for LED's I only have a bag of 200 Blue LED's. I never really had the need for different colours and I only use them for indication purposes.. and they look cool..

As for capacitors I haven't really gotten around to sorting them by their capacitance.. I sort them by electrolitic/ceramic disk, and misc. Agian I use physical size to find a specific cap..

This system has worked for me but it sometimes takes a few minutes to find what im looking for; expecially if it is a componet I hardly use or is in the misc drawer.

I am currently in the process of inventorying[sp?] my componets in a spreadsheet so all I have to do is type in the part number and I will know where it is and how many I have in stock.

It all depends on your storage space. I only have so many parts drawers/seperators so it is impossible to have a compartment for every singe part I have. so I have to make a compramise. You just have to find what works best for you. As for sorting them all have fun. I still have a pile of resistors I haven't sorted yet. :-@

Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Tue Mar 14 2006, 04:53AM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

Tackle boxes

>>Tackle boxes?!

YESSS Tackle boxes.

Tackle boxes (the large ones) are 6 wide by 4 high

resistors will be sorted as follows into 2 boxes, 1 low values each row being multiplied by 10 so first is 1 10 100 1000, and each column being sorted to color band as follows 1 2 3 4 5&6 7&8&9 because of frequency of use.

capacitors of type or style can be sorted just about any way you like, I have a box for electrolytic starting at 1uF and under, then between 1uF and 10uF, then 10uF 22-25uF 33uF 47uF. All sorted by uF with assorted voltages in the same 'cubby'.

ceramics/mylar is similar to resistors.
top row is 100pF and lower, next down from top is 1000pF next down is 10,000pF and the one closest to you is 100,000pF in the first leftmost column, then they go as column values again 1 2 3 4 5&6 7&8&9
So .047 is 4th column 2 up. convienent.

over 60% of parts can be sorted this way, but like I say, it becomes tougher for anything other then small resistors. I have many boxes for caps.
1 electrolytic
1 ceramics/mylars
1 tube amps with orange drops and electrolytics
1 tants and multilayer ceramics/specialty caps/chips and smt's
1 wima evaluation box of caps

several boxes of caps in bags, etc.

I also sort my chips by series. This is a must. 74XX and 40XX are separated in their own box, as well as specialty. Specialty are the display drivers ICL7107, one ICM7216DIPI :P, 2 1.1Gig prescalers (never got around to building the freq. counter), sma cabling, and some other odds and ends.

I was going to sort each part number by application and use Excel and paste it on the top of the box so when its opened you see all the numbers in a convienent cross reference. But I abandoned that because it was such a waste of time.
What I do insted is sort by application. Example, cubby for OR, AND, Inverters, Adders, shift registers, octal, binary, decimal, latches, you get the idea.

but for the most part I go digging in these. :)

parts

that will give a better idea ^^

Part Scavenger

Tue Mar 14 2006, 04:55AM

Registered Member #79 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:35AM
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 673

It's the capacitor that are really getting out of hand, not to mention the microwave parts. I thought I might see if I can find an old card catalog or something next time I'm at the state dump. I've got to do something though, it's really getting away from me, and my dad's about to make me start living in the barn.

Hazmatt_(The Underdog)

Tue Mar 14 2006, 05:11AM

Registered Member #135 Joined: Sat Feb 11 2006, 12:06AM
Location: Anywhere is fine
Posts: 1735

mots and big stuff like heatsinks go on a custom made cart. This usually has a few frequency counters, my 5A 0-50V power supply not seen, caps, NST's, box of flybacks, box of tubes, and a bunch of insulators.

The cart has 2 slanted shelves and 2 level shelves, as well as wood handles and a Pomona cable rack on one side, which is never used because they don't work for me. Either the cable is too long, or its always tangled.

Steve Maurer

Tue Mar 14 2006, 06:05AM

Registered Member #133 Joined: Fri Feb 10 2006, 10:27PM
Location: Pensacola, Florida
Posts: 47

Iâ€™ve found the following to be useful:

Resistors:
1/4 and 1/2 watt resistors together - sort by value into bins.
1 watt to 20 watts - sort by value into bins.
25 watts and larger get stored in a box (inventory of these really helps).

Capacitors:
Ceramic capacitors - sort by value into bins.
Silver mica caps - sort by value into bins.
Electrolytics and tantalums together - sort by value into bins.
HV Capacitors â€“ bins or boxes, depending on size.

ICs:
Stored in blue antistatic Bug Boxes (actual registered name) or in antistatic rugs and placed into clear bins.
Stored by type â€“ digital (discrete and programmable), linear (timers, op-amps and comparators, regulators, drivers, misc.).

Transistors and thyristors:
Sort by type (FET, MOSFET, BJT, RF transistor, SCR, Triac) and package style/power handling capability.

Diodes:
Sort by type (standard recovery, fast recovery, Schottky, zener, transorb, pin).

The big stuff (transformers, relays, large electrolytic capacitors, etc.) gets stored on sturdy shelving.

Storage cabinets:
The discontinued Akro-Mils 60-bin plastic cabinets were a favorite of mine (clear bins â€“ easy to see what was contained within). The new series of Akro-Mils cabinets may be useful, but they seem more difficult to stack and the drawers are not as transparent. Does anyone know who may still sell the older version?

As far as bin labeling goes, a P-Touch label maker made by Brother has worked very well for me.

GimpyJoe

Tue Mar 14 2006, 02:41PM

Registered Member #316 Joined: Mon Mar 13 2006, 01:30PM
Location: Marietta, GA
Posts: 212

I have a couple of suggestions:
-get a few sets of plastic drawers. You can use them for medium-sized parts and label them with dry-erase markers. Then you can re-label them easily when you use a part.
-The easiest way to reduce the number of troublesome parts you have to organize is to share the wealth with other 4HV members *cough* *hint*

Part Scavenger

Tue Mar 14 2006, 02:58PM

Registered Member #79 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:35AM
Location: Arkansas
Posts: 673

Wow, you guys are great! Thanks for all the information! I'm going to see if I can find some of those sorter things cheap. There are some similar sorters that used to be at hobby lobby. They went on sale for < $1 once and my dad bought out the store. Unforutnately, we've used them all sorting my dad's bucket of screws and knobs. Tackleboxes would be a great idea. I have one of those mini-cabinents I keep all my most used stuff in and because it doesn't have a front, by siblings like to knock it over :-@ I might even have a couple in the basement.

One thing I still can't get down is wire scraps. Spools too. These are great to have as the come in many different weights, colors, and guages. But right now, I just have a big box I dig through. I have one I use for magnet wire covered items like delector coils, degauss coils and the like, and one for misc scraps. I guess that's about as good as it gets.

Thanks, you guys have been alot of help!
-Part Scavenger

Steve Conner

Tue Mar 14 2006, 03:08PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

Probably the handiest thing I have is a big fat ring binder (meant to hold photographic slides or something) with a labelled pocket for every possible resistor value from 1 ohm to 10M ohm. It was an expensive commercial resistor kit that got thrown out when my last work closed down. I kept it and just refill the pockets as they run out. It works like a phone book for resistors, you just turn to the page with the resistor value you want. It's great provided you never drop it upside down on the floor and make all the resistors shoot out of their pockets

Besides that, I have a couple of sets of those plastic drawers, and everything else just gets thrown in storage boxes and cupboards at random, I'm really not too organised

I used to have a huge collection of electronic junk but I tossed most of it out when I moved house.

1 2 next

Moderator(s): Chris Russell, Noelle, Alex, Tesladownunder, Dave Marshall, Dave Billington, Bjørn, Steve Conner, Wolfram, Kizmo, Mads Barnkob