Part organizers?

[HaLo6]

What does everyone use to organize their parts stash?

[theAnonymous1]

Originally posted by HaLo6
What does everyone use to organize their parts stash?

Organize? You must be joking.

I find it easier to locate parts when they are layed out in various random piles around the house.

[MJL21193]

My big bank o' drawers:

[theAnonymous1]

Actually I just purchased a large amount of plastic 5.7L storage bins to organize some of the larger items. Get a decent size rack and you can fit quite a few of these on it.

They are usually only around $1 each.

[HaLo6]

Yeah ... I use those for computer parts, hard drvies, optical drives etc... I think I buy a tackle box for all the small bits

[head_spaz]

I use pill old bottles.
The printed labels from mouser and digikey fit them perfectly and they contain all the information needed for reordering.
I use polka dot labels on the tops, with the component values marked with a sharpe.
And I have a tall dresser drawer cabinet with 8 drawers to put them in.
Pill bottles are cheap, portable, and they come in various colors and sizes. They are much easier to reorganize than parts drawers, pegboards or partitioned trays when adding inbetween values to your inventory.
I use different colored bottles to define voltage / wattage / capacitance ratings. For example I use black pill bottles for 1/4 watt resistors, pF caps, etc.... The polka dots define the value, AND the type, whether they are metal film, wirewound, carbon, film caps, ceramic, or electros, etc...
I use brown bottles for high wattage resistors / high voltage caps that I use in tube amp projects.
And I use ziplock type containers for larger parts like transformers etc. They also come in handy for storing parts for a particular project. I buy them at the dollar store.
The larger pill bottles are ideal for pots, switches and the like.
Sensitive semiconductors are wrapped in aluminum foil before going into a pill bottle.
I've been doing it this way since 1974, and I still have lots of room in my dressor.
Someday I would like to incorporate bar code scanning to make it easier to track my inventory. But, you know how it goes. I spend more time building than organizing.
Now I use excel to track my inventory. Whenever I use a part, or a new part comes in, I go to my list and update it.
For me, pill bottles are easier than all of the other methods I've tried. I think the best feature is being able to re-sort as needed when adding new parts. Whereas bins and trays make that difficult, and envelopes wear out, tear, get dirty, and are hard to keep sorted.
Try it, you'll like it.

[Bonthouse]

I mostly use ziplock bags, I buy them per 100 for €2,-
And perhaps a drawer or two to store the bigger projects