How do you organize and track your components?

RetiredUnit1 said:
These are about 55 bucks at lowes, free shipping. I have three more of these out in my shop full of 1 to 5 watt resistors, and 500v caps and such for amps. I just bought the one behind the one in the front and printed more labels. I put the part number at the bottom when possible (I have a lot of stuff I bought 2 decades ago I have no idea where they came from). But, HEY I'M RETIRED and that's what old guys do, right? lmao...
View attachment 36476
Click to expand...
I use cabinets (I'm currently using 4 just received 2 more) like these with everything labeled and when a value gets low, I order more
 
I do a lot of what's already being done above.

Alas that means some things are in small plastic organiser-drawers and others are in nested bags, boxes, tins...

What sort of saves me is I write everything that's incoming on a simple text document. *I hate spreadsheets...

I've got documents for most components, but not pots, caps and resistors 'cause they're usually ordered in bulk:
"My Diodes"
"My Chips & ICs"
"My Transistors"

I type in what it is, a few other brief descriptors such as hFE range for transistors etc and then quantity and then any miscellaneous notes like why I ordered it in the first place if it's an uncommon item, ie which build it might be for.

I also have a master shopping doc, that tells me what things I need to order next for either dwindling supplies or new PCBs and other upcoming builds.
Black = Needed, when I order it I change the colour...
Pink = Ordered, when I receive the order the colour gets changed again:
Green = Received
and then it gets deleted when entered into one of the "My *whatever*" doc, so I don't have an endless shopping-doc of things I need to look through.

Sort of works.
Just today I needed to send out some transistors but couldn't find the damn things 'cause I re-organised and hadn't finished so everything is a mess and some transistors were here in drawers, some over there in a bulk-drawer, some in bags in a brown envelope, and yet many more little baggies of them in a box ...
BUT I KNEW I HAD THEM 'CAUSE THEY'RE LISTED IN "MY TRANSISTORS.txt" doc! Says I had 10 of 'em. Could I find 'em?
I nearly ordered some more online to send to the recipient-in-need. Finally found 'em... mailed 'm. Today's Crisis averted...


Now where did that THAT4301 go?
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
I'm frankly pretty terrible at this, but I'll try to help a bit.

For resistors, I organize them by value range, so...
100r, 1k, 10k, 100k, 1m all together, 47r, 470r, 4k7, 47k, 470k, all together, etc. Probably an easy way to get mixed up with parts a full decade or more off spec, but I've not had problems yet. Transistors sorta go by type and series, with my drawers in one parts organizer being labeled:
BC108MISC NPNJ2012N5457J113
MPSA18PN2907BC549BC550
2N39042N3906PN2222
NOS/VOS PNPNOS/VOS NPN2N50872N50882N5089

I'm interested to see what others have to say, bc I have a ton of drawers. that are labeled misc 1, misc 2, etc, and they're just complete nonsense
Click to expand...
Sorry to revive a zombie thread, but I was wondering what to do with PN2907 of which I found a few…
 
Fuzz Wizard said:
Lately my collection of comonents and projects has been expanding rapidly, and I’ve found myself running out of drawers for everything. I’ve also had to order components I’ve forgotten more than once. How do you all store your compants, and keep track of what you have?
Click to expand...
I started the hobby by keeping inventory but quickly figured out it would constantly be a battle for that one part I didn't have and it didn't take long to receive feedback about the storage crisis I was creating within my home.

fast forward to today and I order parts by the project and store them together like they're a kit until it is time to build. leftovers get stored in a pair of little tabletop three drawer walmart storage bins. I'll shop that first before placing an order so I can save a little money on the project and not have to figure out the storage crisis issue.

some of you are reading this and thinking "but what if I need X right now" or "but the shipping costs" and to that I'd say I'm not running a business and I'm not in a hurry. if I can't afford the shipping, I can't afford the hobby. If I can't afford to wait, then I've got problems that my hobby isn't going to fix.
 
I'm in the bag of bags camp. All clear and in a big clear bin. It's so much more space efficient and portable. I tried an inventory spreadsheet but its just too much work and not really necessary for me.
 
I HAVE to keep organized, despite my workbench always being a mess, everything has its place and I know what I have in stock.

For tracking parts, I have a massive spreadsheet. It has formulas to track how many I have. For example, I have 15 footswitches on hand, zero on order and with the projects I have lined up, I have 2 left available and it is red because it is below my threshold. I use google sheets so I can work on it anywhere, especially nice at work. It's a spreadsheet, looks like I am doing important business things.

Also having the "on order" line is a great way to check in new stuff when it comes in. I have an order I got yesterday that I need to check in and can compare it to what I actually got. You can see, I added 2 projects that I decided on after my latest order so will need to add those when I order next.

1737751279642.png For

My actual storage I naturally have an overkill setup.

I have 3 akro mills storage units like this, 2 of them have larger bins on the bottom. They have resistors, capacitors, transistors, LEDs, diodes, transistors, Stomp switches, random parts, power jacks and 1/4inch jacks.

1737749831804.png



Have all my pots separated in a case like this

1737749788525.png


Since I have started buying ICs from Mouser that come in GIANT packaging, I have been using these for them on top of the bins.
1737749973354.png

For pedals I am working on or need repair, I keep them in these from Ikea.
1737750079346.png

For my PCBs I use a three ring binder with plastic sheets that hold the PCB and the drill template. I don't print the rest of the build documents since I have been building quickly. I probably should do that though.


Without the these systems, my workbench would look like a warzone.
 
Last edited:
Spreadsheets have their place IF and only IF you keep up with them. I tried that route for a little while and I spent too much time in excel/google sheets to the point that I almost didn't want to build simply because that meant I'd have to update the spreadsheet. Now I just order extras of everything. Your board needs 2 TL072s? Order 5. Sooner or later you'll get a "free" build. Then I just realized I should just get 20 of every capacitor/resistor on tayda and I haven't looked back.

Also, my job is 90% excel so I try to avoid it during my "me" time.
 
Last edited:
BuddytheReow said:
Spreadsheets have their place IF and only IF you keep up with them. I tried that route for a little while and I spent too much time in excel/google sheets to the point that I almost didn't want to build simply because that meant I'd have to update the spreadsheet. Now I just order extras of everything. Your board needs 2 TL072s? Order 5. Sooner or later you'll get a "free" build. Then I just realized I should just get 20 of every capacitor/resistor on tayda and I haven't looked back.

Also, my job is 90% excel so I try to avoid it during my "me" time.
Click to expand...
I get it, I work with spreadsheets as well but have to keep organized. I am of the ilk where I need to finish a project and missing 1 part KILLS me. One of the earliest projects I spent WAY too much to get knobs for a project to finish it.

Like you I have been buying in bulk, more than I need so when I do have to order it is much smaller and have free builds (They are free if you have the parts already, right?) I have got the point of buying resistors 100 at a time for the most common value.
 
CheapSuitG said:
I am of the ilk where I need to finish a project and missing 1 part KILLS me.
Click to expand...
I'm exactly the same. The fear of getting stuck somehow overwhelms the pain of having to maintain a spreadsheet.
giovanni said:
Sorry to revive a zombie thread, but I was wondering what to do with PN2907 of which I found a few…
Click to expand...
I think a few of the Devi Ever circuits call for these.
 
I just updated my spreadsheet today after having a couple dozen parts from numerous orders just laying around waiting to be inventoried the past couple of weeks. Did I mention I'm a master procrastinator? Anyway, I dreaded it, it was a pain in the ass and I loved every second of it. Excel is love, Excel is life.
 
giovanni said:
Sorry to revive a zombie thread, but I was wondering what to do with PN2907 of which I found a few…
Click to expand...
🚨🚨🚨☣️🚨🚨🚨

Hazardous waste ☢️⚠️, so you can't just chuck'm 🚯;
I have the ability to safely dispose of them 👨‍🔬 and through my compliance and safety programme, you won't even have to pay for shipping them to me.



  • Vox AC30 SIM by Stephen Möller
  • Buncha Devi Ever: Disaster, Krackle ...
  • EasyFace — 9volt Nirvana aka Joe Gagan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top