How to keep track of your parts?

The little stuff, especially surface mount, stores nicely in coin envelopes. You can write all kinds of stuff on them and store lots of them in small cardboard or plastic parts-shelf bins. Coin envelopes only cost a couple of cents each.

John

I took an entire wall and covered it with 40-drawer cabinets, plus a few of the identical-sized cabinets with fewer/larger drawers.

There are many, many such programs. The software is trivial - a bunch of 3x5 cards can do most of what the software does. The hard part is classifying everything and putting it where it belongs.

(Did I put those zip-lock bags under E - enclosure, transparent, sealed, or under fastener, P - plastic interleaved, bag attached? Ah! here they are under S - sandwich protection devices, polyethylene!)

--
Guy Macon

I reach down and grab them from time to time to make sure they're still attached.

I just got a bunch of those organizers with the little drawers and a label machine. I broke down my parts collection based on: how many drawers I had, component types (caps. resistors, CMOS, etc.), and component subtypes (tantalum, vs electrolytic caps, for example). Some components that are difficult to differentiate (SMD stuff that takes a microscope to examine) I put into old film cans. Office supply outfits also have little paper envelopes that fit neatly into the little drawers for a neat little filing system.

Since this is just my hobby, I can afford to wait for an order if I'm planning a project and end up short a few parts.

I don't know if this is really worth the effort of doing all the db input.

--
Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
Applying information technology is simply finding the right wrench
to pound in the correct screw.

The coin envelopes *are* the cards!

John

I have a number of those plastic-drawer cabinets, with each drawer having two dividers (thus 3 compartments per drawer).

I numbered them, row and column and compartment:

A1a A1b A1c A2a A2b A2c...

B1a B1b B1c...

Dump parts into compartments, pretty much at random as I emptied envelopes, bags, etc.

But I built a text-file database:

A1a 2N2222 A1b 2N3906 | | etc.

Then, in an editor, I sorted by column 9.

Voila, alphabetic listing of my junk box... look up a part and then go to that compartment.

...Jim Thompson

--
|  James E.Thompson, P.E.                           |    mens     |
|  Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
|  Analog/Mixed-Signal ASIC's and Discrete Systems  |    manus    |
|  Phoenix, Arizona            Voice:(480)460-2350  |             |
|  E-mail Address at Website     Fax:(480)460-2142  |  Brass Rat  |
|       http://www.analog-innovations.com           |    1962     |
             
I love to cook with wine.      Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Hi Dmitri,

As for databases, your PC most likely already has one. MS-Works contains a database. I use it for most everything. But first you have to learn it (well worth the time) and then take a piece of paper and decide on a sorting and categorizing scheme.

It makes sense to label every location where you store parts, detailed anough so you can avoid unloading a whole shelf to find that lone edge connector or a BNC plug.

I bet that after learning how to use that or another database you'll see how to organize other stuff as well.

Regards, Joerg

Physical sorting for SMT:

Keep them in the clear 1"x4" plastic baggies the suppliers ship them in, that have a label attached with the part number & specs (at least Digi-Key does this, and it's handy)

Clip similar groups together with a jumbo "binder clip", sorted by value

Throw the lot in a gallon-sized freezer bag (clear, heavy gauge), or whatever suits you for bulk storage.

For tracking parts in general:

Keep a complete parts list in an Excel spreadsheet and update inventory either as you consume a significant number of a part, or across-the-board before re-stocking. (This isn't really for tracking quantity on-hand - it's mostly about making cost estimates and re-ordering quick & easy.)

• Store mfr name & part#, supplier name & part #, price each, on-hand qty, to-order qty (with cell notes for price breakpoints and MOQ). Can also store hyperlinks to PDFs, order pages, etc.

• Easy to sort the sheet by supplier + part number to place orders

• Add a column for qty required per project, so you can easily calc the exact parts cost for a project

I have to say, I like the idea of using the 35mm clear storage pages to store / sort SMT parts.

If anyone's interested, I'll post an example XLS on a.b.s.e

Regards, Richard

Hi Rene,

Interesting. Can that web page sort? For example, if you wanted to know which different types of Schmitt trigger chips you have on hand, or what kinds of FETs in SOT23 package, could it list that for you?

Regards, Joerg

This is exactly the point, thank you Rene! I have no problem storing stuff away in nice and neat transparent plastic boxes and Petri dishes for SMD, but I have a problem of mentally embracing the boundaries of that collection, so to speak. I just find it frustrating to look through all the (relevant) boxes only to realize that I never had this component. If there would have been a database with my parts, I would look it up and know in a second that I don't have what I'm looking for, and it has to be ordered. Hours saved in the course of one year!

Anyways, I keep looking for a database application for that, and will appreciate and suggestions before I dive into designing my own.

--
Dmitri Abaimov, RCDD
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Lots and lots and lots of little drawers. The components naturally fall into similar groups so can be near each other. Reading the other replies I'm now a bit worried as to my sanity, cos I remember near every part I have and where it's stored. Can lay my hands on stuff I haven't used for years. It's like owning an art collection. If you need a database to tell you where the works of art are stored away, then why bother buying 'em in the first place :-) regards john

Organizing them into trays and drawers is one thing, listing them on a paper or datafile is another. A part which you forgot to have is rather useless. As to the file, I made a webpage (not to be released) where I can view the list of parts, with links to the sorted datasheets.

Rene

-- Ing.Buero R.Tschaggelar -

& commercial newsgroups -

Dmitri(Cabl> How do you guys keep track of your parts?

Thank you for the suggestion, John. Surface mount components are especially difficult to store properly. I think I will take your suggestion and will keep different the little parts of the tapes in small envelopes so if anything comes loose, it does not fly away or get inhaled by somebody.

Still, my major problem is not storing - it's recalling ;-)! I do have general idea about where my resistors, caps and so forth are, but I seem to spend frustratingly much time on verifying if I have a particular value resistor or cap or else. This is where I think some kind of software database might be a big help.

I keep looking.

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You could try putting strips of SMD parts in the plastic holders they use for keeping photographic negatives in folders. You can flip through these as fast as a book, and no booting your PC.

Film canisters are good for bits with wires that won't appreciate endless bending.

I try to avoid the problem by only ordering components when I have a project that needs them.

I tell myself I can't buy stuff until I have a fully designed circuit to use them.

I have thus avoided having lots of half-done none-working projects and wasted money.

However, since I got into FPGA/CPLD/Flash, I do have quite a lot of TTL/LSI chips I do not need. Z80 CPU/CTC/DART, 4164, 41256, 62256, EPROMs etc.

Perhaps I should make a dozen replica ZX81/Spectrums and give them as gifts? :-)

I use a spread sheet with the parts listed by description, part number, cost, and number available, with a code or notes for location.

That way I can always find the part without looking through the parts closet. (A walk in stock room.)

Great minds think alike! ;-) I was just looking for a supplier of a Spektrum (alike) PCB that I can populate with the discrete logic I have laying around. Just to show my sun (if I can get some attention in between his X-Box Live shootouts) what his dad had to play back then! ;-)

Anyways, do you think someone's still selling those PCBs and the firmware?

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Great minds think alike! ;-) I was just looking for a supplier of a Spektrum (alike) PCB that I can populate with the discrete logic I have laying around. Just to show my sun (if I can get some attention in between his X-Box Live shootouts) what his dad had to play back then! ;-)

Anyways, do you think someone's still selling those PCBs and the firmware?

--
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premises cabling users and pros
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I'm not Rene (but I think that's a dang good idea).

What could be done would be to use a setup like MySQL or PostreSQL for the database and use PHP as the glue between the query language and the web page creation.

--
Rich Webb   Norfolk, VA

Hi Dmitri,

Besides a database like the one in MS-Works or MS-Office you can also do that on paper. Not as good but it works.

A few flat 'rolodex' registers plus a stack of blank cards work well. The trick is to keep the cards in an order that makes sense to you and then to strictly adhere to that. I had that a long, long time ago before computers became small and cheap enough. Cards would contain part number, housing, mfg, qty available (marked down as used), and most importantly "location". Then they were sorted numbers first (74HC00,

74HC04,...) and after that alphabetically (BSS84, BSS123, ...). No exceptions. This system also works if, for example, you kept a few of a certain part in a little rack drawer and then a whole lot more in an overflow storage outside the lab because it was from a minimum quantity purchase. Then they just get two cards that are identical except for location.

On the back of the cards I sometimes wrote down where to get new stuff if it wasn't easy to obtain. You can do that in a database, too, but things become quite large then. A downside with physical cards is ambiguity. For example, you may think that you are short of 2N2907 because the card says there are two left but your prototype needs five. Then, way at the other end of the rolodex there is a card showing dozens of PMBT2907. Same thing, different manufacturer. A database would find those.

Regards, Joerg

Exactly what I did for things like resistors when I was a hobbyist.

If you get your parts supplied in nice small self-seal polythene bags - you can also fit them into a plastic 'tote bin' type thing in value order with home-made cardboard separators for the decades. Ot you can buy the polythene bags too.

Look for special offers at the diy store on multi drawer cabinets for larger objects.

Graham