on the storage of tapes of resistors...

Coin envelopes.

John

I like using ziploc bags. They are available in all sorts of sizes. You can look on eBay, or try a jewelry-making supply business (e.g., Fire Mountain Gems).

You can write on the bags with a Sharpie, or to make things clearer, use adhesive labels from your favorite office supply store.

Little ziploc bags can be put into larger ones (from the grocery store) for 2-levels of organization.

I've found this method simple, easy to implement and use, and inexpensive. I can find any part in my design kit in just seconds.

Jay Ts

Some 20 years ago, I had a carpenter make me a compact wooden chest of shallow drawers for just that purpose. There are five drawers, each about an inch high internally and divided into 16 open compartments about 3.5x2.5 in. That gives me 80 separate compartments in a compact enclosure.

I understand that labour is expensive in advanced countries and it may not be practicable to engage a skilled carpenter like I did (I think I spent about the equivalent of $12 US then). OTOH you probably have a range of similar containers in plastic to choose from.

Find a manufacturer of plastic pill bottles

Once the tape is off, a variety of plastic drawers in sets and vials, and coin envelopes, and ziploc baggies will work.

But, how to get that darned gummy tape off without leaving the gunk on the leads?

I would keep them on the tapes, and bag those in a zip lock with a small gel pack in each bag.. Some tapes have a dry adhesive that will last for years, holding the resistors. To use one, you just snip the leads right where it enters the adhesive tape strips. For the versions that get nasty and gooey, I would carefully snip each resistor out, sacrificing the lead segment within the strips.

As for keeping track, you can tag your bags or your drawer faces with these:

Some are gooey, and some used a good adhesive formula on their tape strips which dries as it ages.

I use a flush cut snip, and I *still* inspect the lead before insertion for goo remnants. For storage, cutting and then an en-of-lead wipe with a Chemwipe and IPA before placing them into a 'clean pile'.

Cut the tape off with the lead, rather than pull the component from the tape.

Grant.

I use the bags they come in (Ziploc?) and store them in plastic containers cut from bottom of three litre milk bottles, see photo:

The bags are about 4" x 6", will hold two or three hundred resistors, or one hundred 3A diodes. I may merge up to four or five values in a bag depending on quantities.

In the past I used pill bottles, but haven't found a cheap source of them where I live. Loose components go into bags as well, then into the larger plastic containers. It's working fairly well for me.

Grant.

"Scott" kirjoitti viestissä: snipped-for-privacy@v32g2000prd.googlegroups.com...

I store them in plastic drawers like this:

Most often needed values (like 1k, 10k, etc) I store in their original 1000 pcs carton box.

-ek

Yes, large scissors do it quickly if you're storing in pill jars.

Or

I keep 121 values of E24 series 1% in five decades of single value bags stapled together at the moment -- 10R to 1M, the 1M is last on the 100k decade. The extra (low, special or common used values) resistors are separate as in a photo posted upthread.

Finding the right decade and flipping through the sequence is quite easy. Back when I setup pill jars at a workplace, I drilled a large panel out for the jars, wrote the value on the lid and put stored them in sequence.

Grant.

Froogle "small parts cab>

There are plenty out there that are of the ESD dissipative variety as well.

Pretty nice. Double over-priced. USA made. That is important.

Pull the tape off while you still can. If you store all the decades in the same drawer (1.2,12,120,1200 etc.) it takes a LOT fewer drawers. It's not hard to find when you're just looking for one decade color...and you KNOW it's in that drawer.

Ah, didn't think of that one, I got 121 E24 values in bags, stapled together in decades, waiting for a better solution.

I suppose I'll move on to one of those SMD all-value resistor packs one day.

Grant.