How are you guys storing/organising your stuff?

[lightsoundgeometry]

very cool thread, I always like to see how others work and think, great inspiration

here is my stuff ..I have come a long way since last december, one year and a month ..no hammer or 1000 volt caps lol ( joke from the DIY forums when I posted my work bench about 10 months ago  ) I wish I still had a picture of my buffer with oversized caps  which my very first circuit lol it had the 600 volt orange drops!

[jtaormina]

I have a corner in the basement. I use an old desk from way back when. Up until a couple weeks ago ( it's been 4 yrs now) did I buy a drawer organization type thing from menards. I filled it up in about two hours of sorting. I found stuff I didn't know I had! Prior it was all in boxes/baggies all over. I got sick of knowing I had something but not being able to find it.

[Drew Hallenbeck]

Here's my setup. Each small drawer has a divider in it so there are two values per drawer. Bigger parts and "WIP" boards in the large drawers.
It's a bit of a pain in the ass sorting and putting away parts when orders come in but its worth it to have everything well organized.

[raulduke]

My setup is very much like the above, but with a lot more sh*t strewn around the place 

Bought a load of these for SMD storage:


I would also highly recommend the Raaco range (and clones) if space is at a premium:

[thesmokingman]

how am I storing/organizing? very poorly. I expect that to change before I get back to building on the regular. I've been letting things slip for 6+ months now and it shows.

[m-Kresol]

I've seen some guys come up with some pretty cool ways to organize things, including separate parts drawers for every little thing and maintaining spreadsheets for inventory.  It's an appealing thought, but I know myself, and even if I managed to get everything perfectly organized, I'd NEVER keep things in that state for long.

I'm one of those spreadsheet guys. It usually works, if I'm not too lazy to actually remove the parts I took from my storage. Also, it took me 1.5h on Sunday just to sort through all the resistors and to recount them to get the sheet updated.

[dont-tase-me-bro]

I keep everything with a specific value (i.e. not a jack or a bezel) in a spreadsheet.  I came up with a crude way to enter each BOM, delete from the master number, and add in restock without messing it up.  It's also good for identifying what I use most, and therefore buy in bulk for the price break.

[lightsoundgeometry]

I have a corner in the basement. I use an old desk from way back when. Up until a couple weeks ago ( it's been 4 yrs now) did I buy a drawer organization type thing from menards. I filled it up in about two hours of sorting. I found stuff I didn't know I had! Prior it was all in boxes/baggies all over. I got sick of knowing I had something but not being able to find it.

Hey , Johnny!

[lightsoundgeometry]

I do not build enough pedals to keep inventory lol. this is purely my hobby for love of music, keeping busy, never ending search for the perfect tone and it gives me something to feel good about ! I am also in my 2nd semester out at the college as an electrical engineering tech student with an overall general interest in the sciences particularly physics.

Only thing I am missing here, and which i want to complete my lab ,  is an O scope and a function generator. Hopefully soon, I will build my own function generator good enough for small hobbyist and diy projects.

where the magic happens 

[jtaormina]

I do not build enough pedals to keep inventory lol. this is purely my hobby for love of music, keeping busy, never ending search for the perfect tone and it gives me something to feel good about ! I am also in my 2nd semester out at the college as an electrical engineering tech student with an overall general interest in the sciences particularly physics.

Only thing I am missing here, and which i want to complete my lab ,  is an O scope and a function generator. Hopefully soon, I will build my own function generator good enough for small hobbyist and diy projects.

where the magic happens 

Hey hey! My eBay buddy! Welcome man! Nice work bench. I'll have to post a picture of my work area, it's kind of a mess. But I do have my first set of drawers for parts! Yeah!

[Jabulani Jonny]

Mine's a slightly different take on the envelope theme.  I find that it keeps everything compact, but within reach and easy to find. 

First off I store my tools and various sundries in a tacklebox.  I pretty much just keep pots labeled by value in ziplock bags in the main compartment, along with wire, etc.  I keep sockets and smaller generic parts in the two little trays. 

Sorry for the upside down pic, no matter what I do Postimg will not display it correctly.



I use small 2.5x3 inch clear bags.  These:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZZYAIA?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00

and 9 pocket/page baseball card holders.  This:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LPURVRE?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00

I label everything with a sharpie and it makes it super easy to store a bunch of stuff in a single three ring binder.  I have a section for resistors, in order of course, caps, trannies, leds, diodes, etc.





For trannies and anything sensitive to static, I just trim down the little static bags from Smallbear or Mouser and slide those into the baggie as well. 

This system works really well for me and helps me keep my stock in order.  Speaking of keeping stock, attached is a spreadsheet I use for keeping up with ordering for projects.  I have a list of all the parts going down the left, usually with source and part name (although may be dated now), then I put a column for the project and fill in the needed parts.  The column on the far right calculates what I need based on my current inventory.  Admittedly you have to update that column's formula if you insert a bunch of project columns, but it's not too bad. 

Hope someone can find some use out of it! 

[ColorfulWeapon]

Just using the small parts cabinets. Resitors and caps are stored in decade values. IC's I just keep in a few trays because I actually just don't have that many, same with transistors. I use some small and medium stackable bins to hold cable connectors, 1/4", XLR, MIDI etc. Underneath the bench is my Ryobi drill press and Workhorse shop vac for cleanup. My only real problems are what to do with various test leads and all the components I use on the breadboard. Those components I just keep in a cereal bowl for easy reach but it's not the best.

[alanp]

I'm not posting pics of mine -- too messy.

Plus it gets annoying, looking for stuff.

[mrclean77]

Still need to post pics ---- I do like everyone sharing pictures so we can all see what ideas we may like to steal and/or what we've considered in the past and after seeing them, maybe wanna avoid.

I keep a fairly basic spreadsheet: capacitors on one tab, pots on one tab and transistors/diodes/ICs/misc bits (3PDT, DC jacks, 1/4" jacks, etc) on another tab. I (do my best to) keep it updated --- I double-check it before I begin a project to ensure accuracy in case I need to make an order, then when finished, I just take the BOM and subtract manually on the spreadsheet ---I could greatly improve this, but the biggest issue is just making sure I do my part to keep it updated on a regular basis.

[madbean]

I need about twice as much space/storage that I actually have but I've accepted that this is all I'm gonna get!