So I have been building pedals off and on for going on 6 years. Over that amount of time I have gathered tons of parts. I use bins from harbor freight to store most of my components and it has always worked well for me. There is of course one exception, resistors. Since there are so many values it makes it hard to store them in bins. I get maybe the common ones (4.7k, 10k etc..) but there are a lot of others that also get used. Lets not even mention that I use 1/8 and 1/4 watt depending on the builds, lol. My question is how do you guys organize yours? I dont want to have countless storage bins simply for resistors so I am curious to see your solutions. I attached a pic of some of my bins to to show what I have. I currently use 6 of them.
Storage Questions
- Thread starter Audandash
- Start date
Synchrony Pedalworks
Well-known member
I stole this idea from another forum member…..I use baseball card sleeves for a notebook. I place the resistors baggies from Tayda in slots and keep them in order.
Betty Wont
Well-known member
In order from lowest to highest value.
Erik S
Well-known member
I have a bunch of those little drawer-bins too. I’ve got all my 1/4w resistors in those, but I have all my 1/8w stuff in one of these hardware drawers. Like Betty I’ve got them standing up and sorted by value. It’s surprisingly fast to access them like that.
Attachments
RetiredUnit1
Well-known member
Unfortunately virtual storage only exists in computers, us corporal beings have to use physical devices.... I'm up to seven, and this, it's *huge*. I keep my heavier items like amplifier transformers in this, but also some of the items I have bought in bulk. And I have several LARGE boxes full of bulk resistors, capacitors and tubes......
PunchySunshine
Well-known member
In order to make finding easy
Recipe card boxes for resistors by ohms.
Individual 2-3 inch 3 ring binders loaded with baseball card (9slot) and some other taller card(6 slot) holder pages for most other passives. Have an individual binder for elctros, films and carbon, diodes, transistors and an oversized one for ICs. I could fit all my passives in a 2x2 box. Though if someone were to invert that box and shake it, I'd probably quit the hobby. Drawers for hardware. Divided boxes for pots.
I'll also anotate thing like transistor pinout and hfe and Vf for diodes.
I find most things rather quickly, and it's all within arms reach while not eating up a ton of my workbench top, I do that myself.
It doesn't look as cool as 1700 drawers, but I don't have to leave my seat for anything and it costs a hell of a lot less.
Individual 2-3 inch 3 ring binders loaded with baseball card (9slot) and some other taller card(6 slot) holder pages for most other passives. Have an individual binder for elctros, films and carbon, diodes, transistors and an oversized one for ICs. I could fit all my passives in a 2x2 box. Though if someone were to invert that box and shake it, I'd probably quit the hobby. Drawers for hardware. Divided boxes for pots.
I'll also anotate thing like transistor pinout and hfe and Vf for diodes.
I find most things rather quickly, and it's all within arms reach while not eating up a ton of my workbench top, I do that myself.
It doesn't look as cool as 1700 drawers, but I don't have to leave my seat for anything and it costs a hell of a lot less.
I agree 1000%
brightlight
Active member
I bought these tackle boxes in sporting goods at Walmart. They're under $6 a piece. Might be hard to see but I had to use some painters tape to seal off the bottom of the dividers because components legs kept sliding over to their neighboring compartments. Great, cheap, and small solution perfect for apartments with no garage/shop area.
The stuff kept on the pink tayda bags is mostly stuff I don't use often like resistors under 1k, some select transistors, trim pots, zener diodes, etc. The charts inside the lids are quick reference guides from I believe GuitarPCB for a quick "I don't always trust Tayda to put the right label on a bag" check as I sort parts.
Here is my PCB/enclosure/finished pedals storage in a cube organizer that is also my bedroom entertainment stand.
The stuff kept on the pink tayda bags is mostly stuff I don't use often like resistors under 1k, some select transistors, trim pots, zener diodes, etc. The charts inside the lids are quick reference guides from I believe GuitarPCB for a quick "I don't always trust Tayda to put the right label on a bag" check as I sort parts.
Here is my PCB/enclosure/finished pedals storage in a cube organizer that is also my bedroom entertainment stand.
brightlight
Active member
I've had one on the floor and accidentally kicked it, which is when I realized I needed to tape down the dividers. Took a good hour to sort using the handy dandy charts taped to the lid lol.
I'm not sure what the cardholder sleeves with 6 pockets are called or used for but they work well. I have gotten to where I add a staple at the top of each heat seam to ensure longevity. I bought a bulk amount on eBay that worked out to around 25 cents each iirc.
The other plus to this method is in keeping things organized, if you get new parts, it's quick to insert a new sheet and bump a couple of things around vs. shuffling drawers around.
I usually leave at least one spot per sheet open for this as well.
The recipe boxes work well for resistors, be them on tape or mouser bags. The bags mouser uses for resistors are almost exactly the size of a recipe card. I use the included dividers to help find what I need quickly and have my 1/4 watts split between 2 boxes. I use AliExpress for them as I can get 1billion 1% resistors of every value for $10.
I have to get a box for my 1/8 watts from mouser though. I think these boxes were a couple of bucks each.
The other plus to this method is in keeping things organized, if you get new parts, it's quick to insert a new sheet and bump a couple of things around vs. shuffling drawers around.
I usually leave at least one spot per sheet open for this as well.
The recipe boxes work well for resistors, be them on tape or mouser bags. The bags mouser uses for resistors are almost exactly the size of a recipe card. I use the included dividers to help find what I need quickly and have my 1/4 watts split between 2 boxes. I use AliExpress for them as I can get 1billion 1% resistors of every value for $10.
I have to get a box for my 1/8 watts from mouser though. I think these boxes were a couple of bucks each.
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Hot glue. Firm but removable if needed.
Joben Magooch
Well-known member
I use a similar tackle box type thing and hot glued the dividers in as I was having trouble with parts slipping under the divider into neighboring bins.
That said I DID drop and spill it once… at which point I said, eh, resistors are cheap enough… I’m just trashing these and starting over
That said I DID drop and spill it once… at which point I said, eh, resistors are cheap enough… I’m just trashing these and starting over
RetiredUnit1
Well-known member
You should have seen my house after the 1994 Northridge earthquake..... o...m...g...I use a similar tackle box type thing and hot glued the dividers in as I was having trouble with parts slipping under the divider into neighboring bins.
That said I DID drop and spill it once… at which point I said, eh, resistors are cheap enough… I’m just trashing these and starting over
