OT: card storage

Order the right size box for several cards to lay in without having to show horn them in. The real key is uniform size boxes so they all stak and play well with each other.

Similar to these:

Then start labeling the boxes. NIC, Modem, VGA, etc.

Jeff

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That's been the problem! With the exception of "duplicates" of individual cards, it seems like every card is a different size (and even *shape*!). Couple that with the differences in component heights/placement, heatsinks, coolers, etc. and things just don't want to stack nicely. :<

Most of the memory sticks are reasonably well behaved (though there are some exceptions -- like metal clad RAMBUS memory, etc.). PCMCIA cards tend to be annoyances (often due to accommodations for connectors, etc.)

That's why I feel it's probably not worth "fighting" with them and just bag them and let them fall where they will in an oversized box :-(

Or, cut some slots in a 1x4 and try to *stand* them in a suitably dimensioned box...

Find a 'bin' box wide enough for the largest one. Use the bags as you have mentioned and 'stand' them on edge in the bin box, perhaps alpabetically front to back. Or make a cheat sheet - possibly label/number the bags. ???

If they all have edge connectors, you could put 1/16" slots in a couple of square dowels mounted on a flat board, and store the cards erect, connectors stuck into the slots, with a piece of paper with a description next to each card.

--
John

Hi!

I put mine in anti-static bags and store the often used ones in a metal file cabinet drawer. The less often used stuff goes into copy paper boxes. It works well for ISA, PCI, and MCA. It should be EISA compatible as well.

A few end up stacked around The Lab, waiting to be knocked over, but I didn't say that. ;-)

William

They don't like to stand :< I've tried standing them with "connector down" as well as "connector up". They just don't like either of those orientations "unassisted". That's why I was thinking of just letting them "slosh around" (the bags acting as the "lubricant") -- as long as they don't damage each other.

I'm not *that* anal retentive! :> If I can see the card inside the bag, then I'm all set. E.g., "this box contains network interface cards" (so I know everything in it will be a NIC). I can dig through a dozen or two cards to find what I want once it's narrowed down like that.

Yes, I've thought of a "slotted board" (run a 1x4 over a table saw with blade set at 1/4" or so) without the "dowels" atop. I'm just not thrilled that even *that* will keep them from conspiring to topple once they're out of sight (i.e., box closed)

I guess its a lot easier if you have cards that are the same size, etc. as you can support them (reliably) in more than one place.

Yes, I am more and more convinced that this is the way to go. I use smaller boxes (think of a 10 read copy paper box sliced so it is half as deep) to cut down how much "digging" I need to do. I tend not to be very patient when looking for a card that I *know* I have so having too many boards in a box is a Rx for *something* getting busted! :>

Yes, but only those certified to be Windows compatible! Else the green electrons intermingle with the *blue* ones and all hell breaks loose!

Better than me -- mine end up on the floor waiting to be *stepped* on! :-/ (OTOH, this is an excellent deterrent to walking around barefoot!)

That's exactly what I do. I saved and bought a mess of antistatic bags of varying sizes. I'm partial to the pink plastic variety so I can sorta see what's inside the bag. Each board goes in a bag and then vertically into a cardboard box. For boards with projecting pins and connectors the need extra protection where I drop a block of pink foam or pink peanuts into the bag. I've learned not to over stuff the cardboard box as overstuffing will tend to break pins and components when I have to search for a specific board. That means one layer of cards maximum, which also means cutting down the liquor store cardboard box to a lower height. The outside of the box gets a post-it note with a rough inventory of the contents. Valuable boards that have software and accessories included usually get the retail packaging treatment.

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That idea of slots in a board sounds ideal..you "plug in" the board; slot spacing same as connector spacing in a PC MB.

If you have some old unused passive backplane computers, which usually have a lot of ISA and PCI slots, just plug in the cards into these empty slots :-)

I worked for many years at a small company making such cards and we were always very careful with them, helped by them being high value and low volumes. I recently joined a much bigger company with 10 software, 5 firmware and 3 hardware guys on this project. The system has mezzanine cards of various sizes and everyone seems to have piles of them that they just rummage through to find what they need.

In three years one board has been damaged whilst not in its anti- static bag.

Bag em, chuck them in a box and don't shake the box.

Colin

In message , Paul Keinanen writes

Get some old dead motherboards, hacksaw the PCI/ISA socket areas out then screw them down to a piece of blockboard or similar sized to fit the bottom of your storage box. Give the slots a spray of contact cleaner before you stick the cards in to keep the edge connectors shiny.

I use 16"-20" plastic toolboxes to store my assorted ISA/PCI cards as well as other general hardware such as CPUs, video cards, cables etc.; they're cheap, rigid, stack nicely and they can be sealed with some shrink-wrap film around the lids to prevent moisture getting in if they spend any time in an unheated storage space.

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I'm aware of a repair shop where they had strung steel wire near the ceiling of the store, tensioned with turn-buckles (otherwise unused space). Then a plastic curtain hook hot-melt glued to corner of each board, on a weekly basis, then strung up. Timewise order to the boards , so could be cross-referenced to repair job log so no logging of the boards as such

=46or a quick help from what you are doing, sort the cards into boxes by type and LABEL the boxes. Only one kind in a box. Put the boxes in storage racks and label the racks. =20 If you really want to protect the cards build card board separation racks, include space for matching specialty cables and driver software. This eats up more space but keeps important combinations of things together. =20 One of the smartest things i ever did was to package all the driver software with each PC i have. I actually placed it inside the case.

Since every case designer seems to have their own bright ideas about how to mount hard drives etc. it's not a bad idea to bag up all the extra hardware in a 4 mil poly bag and store it inside the case. Then you won't find yourself looking for an extra-long metric screw and silicone grommet, or thin snap-in rails etc. Another possible place is the mombo box- a dozen or two of them fit nicely on a high shelf.

You can buy boxes in various form factors from places like Uline. If it isn't worth a 50-cent box to store neatly, maybe it should be tossed?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

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I sotred mine in a dead PC shell

I create a directory containing all of the software installed on a particular machine along with a text file documenting the order in which the software was installed (so, if there is a problem, I can figure out *why*; if not, I now have *one* way of installing everything that is 'known' to work). I burn this onto a set of DVD's so I can reinstall as needed.

(I also image the drive so I can restore it to its initial configuration relatively easily without having to reinstall all of the software *again*...)

I don't save cases. If it's not running (i.e., "in service"), it goes in the recycle bin.

I tried that route. You end up with *lots* of "wasted volume". :< Just pilling boards into four "large" boxes resulted in about

4 cubic feet of "boards". I suspect that would double if each board was packed in something akin to retail packaging.

E.g., I store my "spare" keyboards in "keyboard boxes" and they easily take up twice their minimal volume.

I suspect most boards are such commodity items that a 50c box would be a huge (relative) investment -- in cardboard. :>

(OTOH, if you just toss those commodity cards out, the cost of acquiring a new one WHEN YOU NEED IT is ridiculously expensive -- travel time, opportunity costs, etc.)

I'll see how the "sort into four categories" approach works. If I can find boxes that are ~30% smaller, then I can, perhaps, toss 30% of the boards (and *hope* I toss the ones that I won't need NEXT WEEK! :> )

I use "Totino's Frozen Pizza" boxes to store keyboards. You can stand about eight in each box. I pick them up at the grocery store for free. Some of the other frozen food and packaged lunchmeat boxes are great for storing PC boards & spare drives. The boxes for three, one gallon bottles of water is good for CD & DVD drives, or other 5.25" drives.

Empty 55 gallon steel drums are great for all those extra hard drive cables, and other cables from dead PCs. When you get tired of digging through them, they are already ready to haul to the recyclers. ;-)

I don't throw out any good boards. You never know when you'll need one you can't replace. A few years ago I repaired a prototype IBM PC for a retired IBM EE. The old man was in tears when he discovered that I not only had a FDC board, but it was a genuine IBM board.

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