On 23/12/10 14:37, Mike Harrison wrote: > However these are only good for 8mm wide tape, and only lengths long enou= gh not to get lost down the > long cavities. Iin the past I've also used film negative and baseball car= d binders. At the moment, I cut these into either mini-spools of 50 or 100 parts,=20 or strips of 5, 10 or 20, then bag them in small zip-seal bags (Maplin=20 P/N JK77). These small bags then go inside Raaco A45, A46 or A32 assorter boxes. I also have several Tesco plastic shoe boxes and Poundstretcher (erm,=20 inStore) 40-litre "under-bed" boxes. You can get two or three of the=20 Tesco shoe-boxes inside a single Poundstretcher 40l box, which makes for=20 nice subdivisions for parts which are too large to put in zip-seal bags,=20 but too small to have in a box on their own. The icing on the cake is my stock-management database, ISIS. This helps=20 me keep track of the parts I have in stock at a given point in time, and=20 what they are. Datasheet storage and price-paid information are on the=20 "to-do" list. Axial through-hole parts on paper tapes are stored in Maplin SF05=20 Component Storage Boxes. These boxes have movable dividers, and when=20 split into a 3x6 array can store 18 different values/types of part. The=20 compartments in this configuration are perfectly sized for T/H resistors=20 and similar. > Over the years, I've distilled the storage criteria down as follows : > 1) You want to store them by type/function per box (e.g. RS232 drivers, v= oltage regulators, 74HC > CMOS, opamps etc.), not by individual part numbers as there are too many = different types. Agreed. I categorise stuff by function: SEMDIO =3D Semiconductors, Diodes. SEMDIOZNR =3D Semiconductors, Diodes, Zener. ICLIN =3D Integrated circuits, linear ICAMP =3D Integrated circuits, opamps and other amplifiers ICPLD =3D Integrated circuits, Programmable Logic ICMCU =3D ICs, Microcontrollers and Support ICs RTH =3D Thru-hole resistors RSM =3D Surface mount resistors Each box is labelled on all four sides and the top -- I can look down=20 the stack and figure out at a glance which categories of box I should=20 look inside, based on the type of part I want. If I want a specific=20 part, I search ISIS. > 6) Cheap - I need at least 40-50 of them to cover the range of parts I wa= nt to store. This is the problem I've had -- component boxes are NOT CHEAP. The Raaco=20 ones are about =A38 a piece, the SF05s are =A35-=A36. The under-bed boxes and shoe-boxes are VERY cheap though. The Tesco=20 plastic shoe-boxes were about =A33 each and 3-for-2 last time I checked,=20 and the local Instore was trying to shift the 40l boxes at =A34.99 each or= =20 two for =A38. > 4 and 5 preclude boxes full of poly bags - too fiddly& just ends up as a= mess. Depends on the type of part IME. > I recently stumbled upon these, which are pretty much perfect : > http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-x-PEEL-OFF-STICKER-BOXES-PLASTIC-STORAGE-CONTAINE= RS-/390229081229?pt=3DUK_Crafts_StickersScraps_Decoupage_SM B..eh...ebbeh.... I bought half a dozen of those (or something VERY similar) from the=20 Farnell trade counter as EOL items a bit ago. They're great for storing=20 assembled and unassembled PCBs, or you can line the bottom with ESD foam=20 and use them to store through-hole ICs. I've yet to find a good way of storing small quantities of SMD ICs=20 though. Farnell seem to like taking ICs out of manufacturer's tape and=20 reel packaging and stuffing them into hard plastic trays. Which is=20 great... until someone in the warehouse forgets to shake the tray before=20 putting the top on. End result is that you end up with a batch of chips=20 with bent pins. Reason #1 why I've been buying PICs and Altera FPGAs from DigiKey... I=20 can either spend two weeks trying to get broken parts replaced, or I can=20 wait a couple of days for the parts, get them cheaper, and get them=20 shipped in manufacturer's packaging or something so close to it that the=20 difference is an entirely academic point... --=20 Phil. piclist@philpem.me.uk http://www.philpem.me.uk/ --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .