Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Little Electronics storage ideas

oxicottin

Sep 14, 2012
30
Joined
Sep 14, 2012
Messages
30
Hello, i have been messing with small sensors and microcontrollers and am acquiring a lot of little parts and tools....

What are you guys using to store and sort your parts?
 

Alec_t

Jul 7, 2015
3,587
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Messages
3,587
Best to keep static-sensitive items in anti-static wrapping until needed.
 

dave9

Mar 5, 2017
1,188
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Mar 5, 2017
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1,188
I have some storage carts for larger items, similar to what's linked below but their past-generation model, was far cheaper than list price on sale at an office store at the time ($10 ea. in 2003 dollars). They come in various drawer heights and are modular, can mix and match different drawer sizes and # in the stack.

https://www.irisusainc.com/collecti...organizer-top-6-drawer?variant=37926191759525

For smaller parts, I have some old metal cabinet, drawer units like these, but today there are all plastic equivalents which probably work just as well for lightweight items.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nk...-53200-19255-0&campid=5338792814&toolid=10001

I label the drawers with laser printer, envelope labels. Heh, these too, were much cheaper at the time, think maybe free after rebate.

https://www.officedepot.com/ddsku.do?level=sk&id=612131

Then there's just cardboard boxes of stuff on shelves, things too large, heavy, or numerous to put in the storage carts like transformers, motors, computer components, etc.

Tools, some are in a desk drawer, some in tool boxes, and a chest, some in their own cases or bare on a shelf, and on a wall mounted pegboard, and small thin tools in a coffee can. Depends on their primary use, where they end up.
 
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hevans1944

Hop - AC8NS
Jun 21, 2012
4,878
Joined
Jun 21, 2012
Messages
4,878
What are you guys using to store and sort your parts?
What!? You want to store and sort your parts stash? Such optimism.

I just put whatever part(s) I have recently acquired in whatever is convenient to store them... empty 35mm film canisters, empty diabetic blood-sugar test-strip canisters, Mason jars, Tupperware containers, cardboard boxes (including cigar boxes), empty prescription-medicine containers, etc. I never have figured out how to sort them conveniently, but it's often more fun just looking for a part because all sorts of interesting (but forgotten) stuff will usually appear instead of what I am looking for. So, I might be looking for that single 1970s-era SCR in a high-current hockey-puck package and instead find a real gem, akin to an uncut natural diamond, but most likely really just a hockey puck, or maybe some other undistinguished hunk of hard rubber somehow mixed in with the electronic stuff... like the ovoid, hard rubber thingy that was used to grab paper from the feed tray of my discarded laser printer. This pops up ever so often, wrapped in some sort of rubber-preserving paper and packed inside an unlabeled cardboard box. Of course I have to open the box to see what is inside, but I can't bring myself to throw away the now-useless part that is (still) inside.

Perhaps the best, most organized, shop I have ever seen belongs to Moderator @(*steve*) :

upload_2021-12-23_14-48-56.jpeg

Please note the TBO (to-be-organized) space beneath the work bench.
 
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ivak245

Jun 11, 2021
107
Joined
Jun 11, 2021
Messages
107
What!? You want to store and sort your parts stash? Such optimism.

I just put whatever part(s) I have recently acquired in whatever is convenient to store them... empty 35mm film canisters, empty diabetic blood-sugar test-strip canisters, Mason jars, Tupperware containers, cardboard boxes (including cigar boxes), empty prescription-medicine containers, etc. I never have figured out how to sort them conveniently, but it's often more fun just looking for a part because all sorts of interesting (but forgotten) stuff will usually appear instead of what I am looking for. So, I might be looking for that single 1970s-era SCR in a high-current hockey-puck package and instead find a real gem, akin to an uncut natural diamond, but most likely really just a hockey puck, or maybe some other undistinguished hunk of hard rubber somehow mixed in with the electronic stuff... like the ovoid, hard rubber thingy that was used to grab paper from the feed tray of my discarded laser printer. This pops up ever so often, wrapped in some sort of rubber-preserving paper and packed inside an unlabeled cardboard box. Of course I have to open the box to see what is inside, but I can't bring myself to throw away the now-useless part that is (still) inside.

Perhaps the best, most organized, shop I have ever seen belongs to Moderator @(*steve*) :

View attachment 53656

Please note the TBO (to-be-organized) space beneath the work bench.
Wow! a floor! I haven't seen mine since the mid 80's.
 
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