Storage Questions

[KR Sound]

I currently use about 4 or 5 of these for small components:

Plano® ProLatch® StowAway® 15-Compartment Extra-Deep Adjustable Small Parts Organizer

This 3" deep ProLatch® StowAway® features 4 to 15 adjustable compartments.

www.menards.com

But I want to get something like this for resistors and caps so I don’t have to search the little baggies every single time:

40 Bin Organizer with Full Length Drawer

Amazing deals on this 40 Bin Organizer With Full Length Drawer at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

 

[mkstewartesq]

Geez, you all are so organized. I feel a bit ashamed.

I keep all of my pedal building supplies in these three stacked drawer containers I got from Walmart, (except for some tools I keep my soldering station). From top to bottom, it basically follows the general flow of a build, with resistors, capacitors, etc. and ICs near the top, then, as you go down, audio and power jacks and pots and switches and LEDs, then enclosures, then finally various tools for finishing the enclosure.



As far as storing resistors, I thought about getting various compartment boxes but I realize that I would want to label them and since every single build I try introduces a new resistor value I didn’t have before, I figured that would be a nightmare re-ordering everything. So I take the ultimate dirtbag approach and keep my resistors in a large Ziploc bag, but at least rubberband them into three groups – 0 ohm to 9.9K, 10K to 99.9K, and 100K and above so it’s at least a little easier to find a specific value without having to go through the whole bag of resistors.



Mike

 

[Audandash]

I currently use about 4 or 5 of these for small components:

Plano® ProLatch® StowAway® 15-Compartment Extra-Deep Adjustable Small Parts Organizer

This 3" deep ProLatch® StowAway® features 4 to 15 adjustable compartments.

www.menards.com

But I want to get something like this for resistors and caps so I don’t have to search the little baggies every single time:

40 Bin Organizer with Full Length Drawer

Amazing deals on this 40 Bin Organizer With Full Length Drawer at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I use those exact bins for most parts, just not resistors. I may start using them though. Who needs space, lol.

 

[Barry]

I use some of most of the suggestions here, drawers, tackle boxes, trays, sleeves, etc. Finished pedals that don't go to my board get boxed up.

 

[RetiredUnit1]

I keep them in boxes, stored small to large by first digit. I have cards I cut labeled 1, 2, 3, etc. to divide them. So if I need 200k I flip to 2 and go up to 200, etc.

View attachment 53977

Can you hear the Borg saying impedance is reactive

 

[Feral Feline]

I've got small-parts drawer-organisers for things such as diodes and transistors, but for resistors I'm in the bag-boat with mkstewertesq.

The small bags that the 1/4w resistors come in are sorted into their ratings:

All the Ohms up to 910Ω go in order into one larger ziplock bag.
Then 1k through 91k into another large ziplock...
100k through 910k
1M on up.

1/8 Resistors are all in one big ziplock of their own.

All the bags are stuffed into a small plastic bin with clip-lock lid.

As I go through a build, I look at the BOM and take out what I need one bag at a time and stick the resistors (and other components) in a piece of foam with masking tape to label what's what. The decade bags get put back in order within the ziplock bag and everything stays organised for the most part.



I like the recipe-card drawer idea, so I may try that next.

 

[phantom]

I am moving my resistors to single sided baseball card sleeves. I write what they are on the stuff they come attached to and then put them in a sleeve. I tried the plastic containers and they just took up too much space. The hot glue tip is dream, I have dropped a plastic storage thing with butt splices and fuses and hated life fixing that. It's a definite head slap moment. I will be doing that Friday when I finally get back to work.

 

[phantom]

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

It would not let me like this tip enough. Wow, duh, holy crap, ingenious

 

[phantom]

I am moving my resistors to single sided baseball card sleeves. I write what they are on the stuff they come attached to and then put them in a sleeve. I tried the plastic containers and they just took up too much space. The hot glue tip is dream, I have dropped a plastic storage thing with butt splices and fuses and hated life fixing that. It's a definite head slap moment. I will be doing that Friday when I finally get back to work.

 

[phantom]

Amazon.com

 

[phantom]

View attachment 81651

Amazon.com

I do use them to store cards that I will be listing for sale.

 

[darwin999]

I use larger ziploc bags, sorted into decades (<100, 100-1k, 1-10k, 10-100k, 100k-1M, >1M) much like @mkstewartesq and @Feral Feline.
I do like the pictures here of 3x5 index card files, although 5" seems overly wide for typical resistor packs (e.g., pink Tayda bags).
If only there was some organizer maybe 3-4" wide - no wait... Crap!
Now the packrat in me wishes that I had kept a few floppy disk organizer boxes...
LOL!

 

[derevaun]

I use this bin from the dollar store:



I'm trying out the card binder thing, with empty spaces for the E24 values I haven't needed to order yet. It's a matter of time.... Still, I think I prefer the long slim box method, even if it's a little harder to put away.

 

[jcpst]

I sort mine standing up in a box like several people do on here. I just reuse the boxes that the stuff came in.

 

[fontoponto]

I stopped using a "project box" and "maybe later box" and all the single resistor bags.
Finaly I found time to get some card protector sheets and put all the resistors in a ring binder.
It's also nice for diodes. This is so relieving....
Caps are in 3d printed boxes. ICs, Transistors and all the mechanical stuff in JLCPCB boxes...

Edit: don't let the binder fall on the ground.... It would be better to get one of those binders with a zip-up!!

 

[swelchy]

I keep my resistors in the big box to the left with values going from smallest to largest and I write the range of values on the small boxes for quick access

 

[RICHB555]

Here’s my bench. It’s my respite from work stress, worry about aging parents, and hiding place when I have more important things I should be doing.

One tip I have to help avoid the high cost of storage: scour garage sales for drawer boxes!