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Ask HN: How do you organize your electronic components?

29 points by Acetylcholine ↗ HN
Capacitors, resistors, micro-controllers, oh my!... god it's a mess. I keep finding spare parts between my toes and under pillows. "Open-Air Desk-top" storage is no longer an option.

What types of storage do you use? Are you subscribed to an organizational philosophy? Do you sort your resistors by resistance?

Please and thank you ~

34 comments

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JohnFen
I 3D print stackable drawer-based organizers for these components, mounted on the wall. I'm using this system: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3125601

I've tried many different strategies over the years, but this one fits me better than any other because it's the most flexible and extendable. I have half of a wall in my lab covered with them now.

I color-code the drawers to indicate general type (capacitor, resistor, inductor, IC, etc.), and sort them in the drawers according to value (for passive components) and part # (for active ones).

For large parts, I use commercial parts drawers in a similar fashion.

xtrapol8
Separate container system for every specialization. These should stack and bundle in sets of ~3 whenever possible.

This system does require more cubic space than alternatives. Often groups that fit together in tool bags, crates, or better concealed boxes.

I have dremmeled out repurposed power tool boxes (nice clasps.) this go well for kits (sic., soldering kit, circuit building kit)

ofalkaed
Years ago I found myself in your situation, I put most of it in a big box and sold in on craigslist and started over because organizing it all just demoralized me. Bought a bunch of resistor and capacitor kits from mouser or digikey that came with in their own storage, small parts cabinets of drawers. The drawers are all larger than needed and come with dividers so I was able to consolidate a few and have some cabinets for the parts I kept and ICs. The electronics distributors all sell these cabinets as well.
brudgers
Declaring bankruptcy is often the best way forward.
brudgers
Are you subscribed to an organizational philosophy?

My default organizational philosophy for all things is YAGNI. Search is often more efficient than developing, enforcing and maintaining a taxonomy because documentation.

If that doesn't work, I organize a little at a time as I go along and usually a little differently every time. The things I use more often become more organized -- the things I merely hoard not so much.

Caveat, my organization is personal not shared. Shared organization is a different animal...it must be negotiated.

hulitu
I sort the components by size from small to big.
ynoxinul
For though-hole components which I use with my breadboard and for small bolts, nuts and washers I have glued together a few dozen matchboxes and inscribed them with component description. For SMD resistors/capacitors I use an organizer box. Components within a certain range go into the same compartment together. For example, I have three compartments for resistors: ≤1k, 1k..≤10k, >10k. SMD ICs are all in one box, each type in its own plastic bag, inscribed.

I also have a registry of everything I have. When I buy or use something, I update the registry.

mikewarot
My friend Jim's been fixing stuff since the 1950s. He's got a lot of boxes for specific Radio types, etc... a few "Collins" boxes, etc.

For fixing IFR stuff[1,2], he's got a few dedicated under the desk roll out clear plastic drawers with all the spares, etc.

All the Tubes are in boxes in trays in the closet, in random order.

Resistors, are sorted, in drawers by value, clearly marked.

Capacitors are separated by type and voltage. He's got a few boxes of 450 volt electrolytics for all the tube gear.

All the semiconductors are in a few drawers with the IFR parts.

Then there's the shelving with parts radios, etc.

[1] https://www.bytecollector.com/ifr1200s.htm

[2] https://jmtest.com/i/ifr-refurbished-am-fm-500-500a/

kuon
I keep eveverything in the digikey/supplier bag and I put a label on it with a box number and an item number. Then I put about 50 bags in the transparent IKEA boxes. And I label the box. Bags in boxes are sorted BH item number.
mkj
The usual little drawers. Then each each individual drawer gets a textfile {box}{row}{column} desc.md that can describe the contents, and it's searchable in sublime text. Sync the whole directory structure to my phone/other computers with syncthing.

  ├── C drawers
  │   ├── C11.md
  │   ├── C12 empty.md
  │   ├── C13 dev interface.md
  │   ├── C14 wifi boards.md
  │   ├── C21 switches.md
https://www.fischerplastics.com.au/drawer-organiser
simne
I working in electronics 20 years, and all I see are some sort of cash box for coins.

Could be different size, or some non-standard shape, but idea of cash box is in all cases.

Very big components packed in transparent plastic bag, each have qr-code and id of component placed in database in some ERP system.

simne
BTW, few things from professional exp:

1. Cheap components (most probably you will use such in 99% cases) are +-5% from claimed parameters (sometimes appear batches with more than +-10% difference). Also, unfortunately, cheap components parameters changed very large with temperature and when high voltage applied (100V is enough). And yes, I all time have ready measurement tool near, and always first check component parameters when something not working.

2. Experienced developers when considering batches, trying to make designs, which tolerate more than 10% difference of parameters, and just buy few reels with near to magnitudes numbers which fit in all circuit. For example, 1KOhm, 5KOhm, 10KOkm, 100KOhm, 500KOhm.

3. Just few times in my whole life, I seen very expensive precision components, like 0.5Ohm 5W for high-end audio. This one resistor costs somewhere about 5$, but it is only one in whole circuit.

craftit
I opted for sorting by project. We live in a world where you can get most things the next day. Then, I keep a few part-sample books for common components like capacitors and resistors for modding. Even if I need a specialist component, I know what projects I have used it in before
wildekek
Sortimo T-Boxx (or similar). I have rack with a stack of 12 of them labeled by component type.

The nice things about these is that you can see what is inside them before you have to open them.

I love to grab a few of them (eg: 'Soldering', 'MCU's', 'Resistors'), bring them to my workbench and start doing stuff while the components stay neatly sorted within the organizer instead of spreading around my bench. When done, close the lid, shove them back in the rack and I'm done.

f1shy
I started some time ago to do as Matthias Wandel, he just uses Yogurt cups, and other food containers that he uses anyway. Cost is 0, and good for the environment. For very specific things, I buy standard cheap containers. All the expensive things "with system" are just crap.

Used food containers may not be so sexy, but not all has to be a 1Mio. Dollar Youtube boutique.

jpm_sd
You don't have to keep everything. Decide which parts are too cheap and easily replaceable to bother with, and throw them out.

Pre made resistor and capacitor kits are a nice way to keep a selection on hand that's pre-organized for you.

Lots of people are suggesting 3D printed bins but I'd recommend something anti-static, for example:

https://www.techni-tool.com/product/429BE9038-554-4ESD?srslt...

readingnews
I ran a company building electronic devices, so I had a lot of parts (LCR, transformers, chassis, screws, wires, connectors, misc)

    What types of storage do you use?
I used to use those plastic bins that you see a lot of. I sorted by both resistor, and resistance series. So one bin would be bins of metal film, sorted by series with printable cards on the front drawers of each. Another bin would be carbon composition, another wire wound, etc. One bin had kind of misc (diodes, bridges, transistors), another small screws, another large screws, etc.

     Are you subscribed to an organizational philosophy?
The thing that lets me grab the part the fastest. I purchased my bins explicitly so I could get my round nose pliers into them easily and grab a resistor, as I always seemed to have round nose pliers in my right hand, and opened the drawers with my left.

    Do you sort your resistors by resistance?
See above comment. I will note that I had a short list of power resistors, and at first they were just bunched in with the regular resistors, but as they were larger (same with metal film and carbons, they are different sizes) it was slower to have them in one bin.

I will say this, however, after several moves an the economic crashes we went through, it became not my first source of income, and I slowed down a lot, to the point that it is more of a hobby. At this point, I had no room for the bins, and so now I have the following: I purchased a bazillion ziploc bags, perhaps 2"x3" with a white writable area on the outside. I put the resistors in them in the same way as I describe above (e.g. start at 47ohms and move up with metal film, then carbon comp, then power) and I put them standing up in cardboard boxes that allow two of the bags to sit side by side. This has saved a ton of room, although obviously it is slower.

On the "keep finding spare parts between my toes and under pillows", yeah, if you want to get rid of that, you need to have iron-clad will power to find that one you dropped just a moment ago.

buescher
Pare parts stock down to a minimum. You are going to have to order parts for nontrivial projects anyway. Keep the leftover parts from a project in the labeled Mylar bags they came in, in one of the cardboard shipping boxes. Label the box with the name of the project if you won’t remember what’s in it. Throw them out after a while.

I have a couple of drawer boxes with a resistor assortment and some other parts. I really should consolidate them down to one. Maybe none - I don’t do much (i.e. any) tinkering or through-hole rough prototyping anymore. You need very few actual resistor values in each decade for typical tinkering and straightforward design. I could probably live with 1.0, 1.50, 2.21, 3.31, 4.64, and 6.81; and not even all of those in every decade. Other values, if for example you’re designing a filter or something, order them as needed.

For typical microcontroller and similar digital stuff you will want to have a stock of 10K resistors and 0.1 uF capacitors.

Don’t stock electrolytics if your time has value - they have a shelf life of about ten years Spools of wire I keep in shoebox-sized plastic boxes from Rubbermaid or Sterilite.

Ridiculously cheap Arduino doodads I keep in the compartment boxes they came in.

Harbor freight has a lot of things like plastic drawer boxes and compartment boxes for good prices.

A good label maker is nice to have, or you can print on Avery label sheets.

upofadown
Resealable plastic bags stapled to tabbed 2x5 inch index cards. Names written on the tabs. The index cards go into index card boxes. A different box for each category of part.
hagbard_c
Remember those old-time electronic components shops with a bazillion of small drawers from which they extracted that BC547C you happened to need to repair that garage door opener? I use more or less the same, racks with small drawers where parts of a feather flock together. Some are quite organised - resistors in order of value, one multiplier colour band per drawer - while others are more haphazardly distributed. I have loads of parts which I took from deceased equipment meant to be used to repair other things, some of those parts going back to when I was in high school and scrounged broken television sets from the curb side to repair or raid for parts. I also use a stack of wooden boxes containing tin cans containing larger parts - ESP boards, sensor boards, patch cables etc. All in all this fills a few cubic metres of space, mostly in and around my work area but some of it in the barn. I have a good memory and tend to remember where I put something so I'm not using much of a philosophy when organising things.

I read some reactions in the style of 'toss most of it and buy it when you need it' but those strike me as odd; one of the big advantages of having a comprehensive parts supply is that you can repair most equipment when needed without being dependent on external suppliers. The mere fact that parts are 'cheap' does not make them 'worthless', the cheap transistor in your drawer is worth a lot more than the one in the warehouse when you need it.

muthas
I've found a mixed approach works best, given the dev inventory I run:

- a good supply of passive SMT books from the usual suppliers (mainly the "notebook" style ones with cut tape in the pages)

- various larger SMT & PTH parts, connectors, switches, etc in modular parts boxes (Eclipse Tools #900-041 mainly; larger in #900-039). These boxes stack nicely, are adjustable, are pretty cheap, and can be found at Microcenter (though ordering direct from Eclipse Tools is cheaper in quantity). I keep things in them in ESD or small zip bags, with those labeled as they get allocated. I try to keep each box assigned to a type of component then label the front of them ("Toggle Switches", "Motor+Stepper Ctrl", "Gaskets & O-Rings").

- even larger parts end up in plastic boxes from IRIS or IKEA, in 3 standardized sizes.

Key to this plan was buying bins in bulk (qty 10 or 20 pcs minimum) since they store well empty, can be used as replacements when lids/bases break, and inventory always tends to grow. Plus, wire shelving is easy when everything is standardized... "buy once, cry once" and you can't count on the same cheap bin being available in 10 years when current extras are out.

Starting to look into setting up a database tool to keep track of stock - partsbox, inventree, google form+sheet, ??? - but not there yet.