Help with SMD component identification

[paul.baynton]

Hi Maker Pro 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 retrieve 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.

I also have an SMD tester with the 2 gold probes but this is a very long tiresome process (having to carefully touch both sides of components to get a good reading.


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

 

[Harald Kapp]

I'm afraid unless you build an automated feeder - measurement - sorter machine you will be up to tedious manual sorting.

 

[kellys_eye]

Been there, done that - including the not-to-be-mentioned 'chuck them in the bin'.

If you assess your actual need for these parts on a "I'm not acting all OCD about it" basis (nothing wrong with OCD - I suffer to a small extent myself and if you saw my workshop you'd agree with the diagnosis - you would discover that you hardly ever use any of them and would (perhaps) be better off purchasing small quantities as-and-when to fulfil a particular purpose.

Not what you want to hear, I know, but to illustrate my point I've been buying parts on an as-and-when basis for the many projects I feel a need to achieve BUT still haven't got round to doing any of them for one reason or another! So the actual purchased parts sit in their respective bags, all labelled up for their intended use until such time as I (finally) get around to using them. Sound familiar?

I've long since given up 'collecting' SMD parts for the reason you amply illustrate. I used to use a hot air gun to heat up boards (then tap them on the desk to see a 'cloud' of parts fall off) and salvage all the more interesting stuff (mainly the ICs) for reuse. The resistors/capacitors simply aren't worth it. I found it was best to just leave the boards as-is and search them for any part I find I really need. You can get quite adept at learning which board has which type of part and quickly locate it if you try.

Then there's the content of my workshop......................

heeeeeelp!

 

[paul.baynton]

Been there, done that - including the not-to-be-mentioned 'chuck them in the bin'.

If you assess your actual need for these parts on a "I'm not acting all OCD about it" basis (nothing wrong with OCD - I suffer to a small extent myself and if you saw my workshop you'd agree with the diagnosis - you would discover that you hardly ever use any of them and would (perhaps) be better off purchasing small quantities as-and-when to fulfil a particular purpose.

Not what you want to hear, I know, but to illustrate my point I've been buying parts on an as-and-when basis for the many projects I feel a need to achieve BUT still haven't got round to doing any of them for one reason or another! So the actual purchased parts sit in their respective bags, all labelled up for their intended use until such time as I (finally) get around to using them. Sound familiar?

I've long since given up 'collecting' SMD parts for the reason you amply illustrate. I used to use a hot air gun to heat up boards (then tap them on the desk to see a 'cloud' of parts fall off) and salvage all the more interesting stuff (mainly the ICs) for reuse. The resistors/capacitors simply aren't worth it. I found it was best to just leave the boards as-is and search them for any part I find I really need. You can get quite adept at learning which board has which type of part and quickly locate it if you try.

Then there's the content of my workshop......................

heeeeeelp!

Thanks Kelly's eye...
But if wanted to measure such values for Ceramic Capacitors or Resistor of this size (0201) for example what would you use to measure them.. just for argument sake.

Yeah nothing wrong with OCD.. although if you saw my workshop you would definitely agree that I definitely do not suffer with OCD in the slightest... #whatamess #wheredidIputthatitem haha

 

[kellys_eye]

Measuring them is straightforward enough - there are tools to do it as you already have and know about. It's lining the little buggers up that's the problem and short of a proper SMD pick'n'place machine the best (potential) way is to cover a piece of card in double-sided sticky tape and toss the bits onto it. They should stick well enough to get a quick reading with the 'tweezer-like' test tool and you could even pick them up as they are measured and deposit them into the right container.

 

[dragon]

I think all cheap resistors and capacitors are useful, they do cost 1c each, but eventually it does add up.
So next time you have 5c on the ground, go hey, thats actually 5 whole capacitors there if I get a good price, worth picking it up.