Every time I buy resistors, I buy more than I need (Mouser bulk pricing usually means 10 cost less than ~4). So, I have a ton of extra resistors, in a wide variety of values. So far I haven't found a way of storing them that is a significant improvement from "toss them all in a bag". What do you guys do?
There are many variations on cabinets like this.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Akro-Mils-64-Compartment-Small-Parts-Organizer-Cabinet-10164/203538935
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Akro-Mils-64-Compartment-Small-Parts-Organizer-Cabinet-10164/203538935
Store the 1s and 10s together, the 2.2s and 22s together, and so forth. Maybe even three orders of magnitude per drawer if they will fit. That way you don’t need 100 drawers.
Digikey puts them in a bag with a label. I just toss the bag in order of resistance into a cardboard box. I started with drawers but as ejp mentioned, you quickly need a very large number of drawers. I've still not figured out how the big suppliers like Digi/Mouser do it. It must be completely automated to get a couple parts in a bag that is labelled for less than a dollar.
I put them in a smallish zip type U-Line bag.
I put a sticky label on the bag with all the data.
I put the resistors bags in order in stacking plastic boxes that came from Dollar General.
Most important: I put each bag with resistor data in a WORD Document and show what box that bag it is in. It is easy to add a line to the in stock resistor list.
Those large cabinets with lots of drawers take up too much space, as in too many slots with only a few resistors and if you get new resistors you have to make a new space in the cabinet by moving all the bins over a slot.
I put a sticky label on the bag with all the data.
I put the resistors bags in order in stacking plastic boxes that came from Dollar General.
Most important: I put each bag with resistor data in a WORD Document and show what box that bag it is in. It is easy to add a line to the in stock resistor list.
Those large cabinets with lots of drawers take up too much space, as in too many slots with only a few resistors and if you get new resistors you have to make a new space in the cabinet by moving all the bins over a slot.
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That is accurate davym! I am at least, slowly, accumulating enough diversity that I can make little projects go without needing to order anything, which is nice.
I tend to use lots of the same values like 220k or 220 ohm etc. and buy them 10 at a time. I use small zip lock bags that I write on. I then group under 1kin one larger bag, 1k to 100k in another etc. I have a multi value assortment for odd values in labeled bags too. I only use 1 watt resistors to ensure they will handle the voltages. The bags ensure they don’t corrode or get mixed up. There are prettier ways to do it but this takes up less space and it’s easy to find values right on the bags. I think storing caps is more difficult because of size and shape. I tend to store less of them due to the price and I don’t need as many. Every once in a while I look and say “wow, I have a lot of stuff!”
I keep them in zip bags with the part number labels, just as they arrive from Digikey/Mouser. This way I can look up the datasheet. I also write any distinguishing info on the label, ie, 0.1%, 25ppm, manual matched pairs etc. It’s a compact way of keeping some inventory.
I keep them in a small organiser cabinet (like the Home Depot one earlier). I sort them by value in small batches - '1-10, 11-20' etc.
The higher power ones go at the end '1W, 2W, etc' as there are less.
I also have a set of small organisers for electrolytics, ceramics, transistors, diodes etc.
I did try to have a stock list running at one point but it was difficult to keep it up to date.
The Mouser/Farnell/Digikey stickers will fade after time and heat by the way..
The higher power ones go at the end '1W, 2W, etc' as there are less.
I also have a set of small organisers for electrolytics, ceramics, transistors, diodes etc.
I did try to have a stock list running at one point but it was difficult to keep it up to date.
The Mouser/Farnell/Digikey stickers will fade after time and heat by the way..
That is pretty much what I do too. It still is a lot of part though. There is a shoe box that has overflow of values that commonly use as backup. Same with bolts, nuts screws. If they are #6, I still keep them in separate boxes. They come in small boxes anyway, and FWIW, I use a buttload of 1/4" #6, so that accounts for a larger portion of my stock. I do not like Phillips screws and change oy to the Allen heads mentioned above.
One small Mouser cardboard box can hold a lot of parts. I use the boxes for inventory and assembly kits. One box for low wattage resistors, still kept in the original bags, sorted by value. You can also put the smaller bags in a bigger bag too.
I do not use those plastic drawers anymore, for one the ones I have are already filled up and no more room, there are way too many e96,e12 resistor values let alone the plastic drawers are not very safe for sensitive semis that should be kept in static free packaging. Yes you could put static bags in the drawers but they eat up a lot of room.
Happy organizing
I do not use those plastic drawers anymore, for one the ones I have are already filled up and no more room, there are way too many e96,e12 resistor values let alone the plastic drawers are not very safe for sensitive semis that should be kept in static free packaging. Yes you could put static bags in the drawers but they eat up a lot of room.
Happy organizing
I used to store resistors and caps by decade in those little plastic drawers. Black band, red band, brown… And by wattage 1/4, 1/2, 1+. Miscellaneous values still get stored that way. But the inventory is now huge, with preferred values that are intentionally designed in stored in their own and bought by 100’s. Same for semiconductors. Preferred ”A” stock gets stored individually. “B” stock with large enough quantity gets its own, and I try to keep A and B in separate cabinets. “B” stock didn’t come from authorized distributors, but most is tested in some way unless it was very obvious that it couldn’t be fake (Pulls from equipment, 70’s date codes).
I have a stash of empty zip locks from earlier orders and relabel them using easy peel labels (I wish they were what mouser et. al used). Those bags are in larger bags that group stuff either by value, type or function.
I store resistors and other small stuff in custom made drawers in a service bench. Every other bin is marked with a value, that way oddball values can also have a home. Besides the parts drawer there is a notebook with foam strips on a manila page divider that holds sorted transistors. For humor the stool is made from the cutouts of an 18" woofer box.
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I avoid storing "almost same colour" values together.
It is very very easy to mix and confuse, say, 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 ohm resistors, some colours such as brown orange and red or blue and green look similar under poor light, old eyes 😫, hurry situations.
Doubly so if background changes a lot: beige, light blue or green, etc.
Results can be catastrophic.
One famous Guitar distortion pedal design , the RAT, was created when designer mistakenly plugged 470 ohm in his Protoboard instead of proper 4k7
Instead and to avoid both such confusion and the "100 drawer syndrome" I store "close value ones" together.
Say, 8k2, 10k and 12k together.
Or 1k8 2k2 2k7 and so on.
2 advantages:
* Impossible to confuse one for the other, very different "country flags"
* If one value is missing, often its neighbours can be used in a pinch.
Bonus advantage: they can be stored in sequence, easier to organize your stash.
Try that with 1000000 to one "same beginning" values 😄
It is very very easy to mix and confuse, say, 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 ohm resistors, some colours such as brown orange and red or blue and green look similar under poor light, old eyes 😫, hurry situations.
Doubly so if background changes a lot: beige, light blue or green, etc.
Results can be catastrophic.
One famous Guitar distortion pedal design , the RAT, was created when designer mistakenly plugged 470 ohm in his Protoboard instead of proper 4k7
Instead and to avoid both such confusion and the "100 drawer syndrome" I store "close value ones" together.
Say, 8k2, 10k and 12k together.
Or 1k8 2k2 2k7 and so on.
2 advantages:
* Impossible to confuse one for the other, very different "country flags"
* If one value is missing, often its neighbours can be used in a pinch.
Bonus advantage: they can be stored in sequence, easier to organize your stash.
Try that with 1000000 to one "same beginning" values 😄