How to you guys storage and/or organize your ic's?

[jimmybjj]

I have about 75 and I never know which ones i have(I do this with transistors as well.) I always end up ordering something i already have because I didn't know i had it  Also how do you store them? In some kind of organizer? Free floating bouncing around in the organizer, stuck in some kind of foam? Thanks for any suggestions.

[deadastronaut]

yeah know the feeling, i have all my ic's in 2 drawers...

i have 2 of  those 25 drawer bits cabinets, with regards to resistors i have them in 1's 2's and 3's drawers etc, i cant imagine people have seperate drawers for 1k..1.2k..1.8k..etc..

so all my 1 series end up in 1 drawer...i'd be interested to see what others do regarding component categories/and storage too....

[lopsided]

My supplier ships larger amounts of them in a kind of a U-form plastic tubes. so I could cut the tube to needed length and write the names on them. They seam save and quite easy to find the right one. Must admit  though most of my ICs are stuck in foam, mixed in the organizer. Truth is I don't have that many and I still have a general idea of what I have an what i don't.

[Perrow]

My ICs are stuck on foam, but I have found a simple way to store resistors. I have them in transparent plastic CD envelopes marked with the two first digits. So 100R, 1k, 10k and so on in one and tje same way for all other values. Easy enough to find what I'm looking for :-)

If I ever need to store more resistors of one value than one envelope can hold I'll simply give that value a separate envelope.

[snarblinge]

I have  similar resistor system, though there are a few shoeboxes of random ones purchased in my early days when I went for quantity over ones I needed, can't bare to part with them now.. i bought a bulk lot of small brown paper bags and i tend to buy 100 at a time of values I think i may need the marker comes out and they go in the main box in order.

.. i have some small library card file drawers, one for npn one for pnp transistors, compartment cases for jacks, caps, switches, misc. washers and nuts, pots, bits and pieces, screws for unfinished project enclosures etc. ics fend for themselves in a large misc shoebox.

how I really keep track of everything is a huge spreadsheet, orders are added into "stock" at the time they turn up. freight is split across the order and exchange rates are converted. I have sheets for some of the pedals I have built a number of times, these refer back to the master stock sheet and tell me if i can build one and/or what parts I need to order.  i keep a build book of the parts I use as I build including discarded transistors, and misbehaving parts, these are then entered into the spreadsheet giving me an accurate Idea of what the thing cost me to build, individual items are then removed from the spreadsheet. and my stock is balanced.

cant wait to get my hands on some good parts drawers to put everything in. just have to get my solder station set up more permanently in the garage first so I know the space I have to play with. then I'll need a dedicated parts computer out there, with a browser for reference etc.

[defaced]

I currently use coin envelopes for resistors. I'm about ready to do my caps, transistors and ICs (on foam) like that too.  It's very space efficient, easy to re-arrange parts, and inexpensive.  500 coin envelopes are about 20 bucks.

[bluesman1218]

I use parts bins/organizers for all my components and I do have 1 value resistor per drawer and usually 2 cap values/drawer. Naturally, each drawer is labelled.

In my old Quickbooks from my business, I set up a company for components and keep inventory, as well as an "estimate' for each project with parts lists. I also have an Excel spreadsheet with my most common values for Pedals and one for tube amps. From those spreadsheets, I figured out how many drawers I needed for my "standard" inventory and made sure I had extras.

Usually Harbor Freight has the organizers at a reasonable price like this one http://www.harborfreight.com/40-bin-organizer-with-full-length-drawer-94375.html

BTW, to answer the original question, I have the ICs either in the plastic sleeve, as mentioned, or in the foam in a marked plastic envelope. Basically, however they come to me is how I store them.

[Hides-His-Eyes]

Passives I have beautifully organised but ICs are all in jiffy bags in bits of foam

[Govmnt_Lacky]

Resistors:

I was lucky enough to "salvage" an old Ohmite storage container that was specifically designed for 1/4-watt resistors. It has 20 drawers and each drawer has 8 values all marked clearly. I LOVE IT! 

Capacitors:

I have 2 Panasonic kit boxes originally from Digi-Key. They do not sell them anymore but, it has a lot of values and they are all good caps. I have one for Polypropylene and oner for Electros. I have added to it of course over the years, but I have not found anything better. Any other caps (ceramics, etc.) I just keep in a small box with the values marked on a sticky note on top.

Other stuff:

Switches, LEDs, Transistors, Jacks, Knobs, etc. I keep in some divided rugged plastic cases.

ICs:

I keep these in 2 places. First, I keep the majority in the plastic track tubes that they are shipped in. Second, I keep some of the "commonly used" ICs in some ESD pink foam for easy access.

[danielzink]

I do a couple of different things....

I get these at Walmart - in the craft section - stick the IC's on their antistatic foam:
Kinda like tic-tac boxes.






I have one of these that I got from a buddy one one of the other forums - it came from Poland.







They're available here: http://www.tme.eu/en/

Part number - FUT.KP-52 dimension 220X135X14mm

They also have smaller ones - FUT.KP-51 - 75X130X14mm

They're all are anti-static


And then I got this off eBay a couple weeks ago - I think it was labeled as an "IC storage box"








Dan

[frequencycentral]

Organise? Who has time to organise? The closest I get to organised is playing my Hammond. 

[bluesman1218]

Organise? Who has time to organise? The closest I get to organised is playing my Hammond. 

Just keep designing cool circuits, Rick. We don't need you taking time to organize

[petemoore]

  To avoid what for me was a dynamic bit of categorizing, they're
poked into the 'sponge' they were shipped in [many more can be fit on each sponge] sorted in terms of singles, duals, other.
 Since it's usually about 15 or 20 resistors and half that many caps to hook one up, finding say 741 in a bright light w/magnifier is pretty easy, using the pliers to remove and pre-install [line the pins up, obviously after prebending them].
  The sponges in the big enough bag that goes in the favorite part box, box on favorite shelf space.
  This makes it quick for me to find, ID and install the chip[s w/no bent pins and few chips dropped.

[Earthscum]

Saw this, been thinking about it... my chips are organized, in the way that I know where they all are, even though they are stuck in foam in  bags, in multi-compartments, as well as one type of IC being in several spots. My CD4049's are in 2 bags and 1 compartment, my TL07x are in 2 bags, and one left in my box. I have all my PT's on one foam now... gotta take a pic, 3 different markings. My CMOS chips, for the most part, are completely scattered... I just keep track of which one I grabbed from where.

My transistors and diodes are much nicer.

[BubbaFet]

I store my ICs as discrete transistors... usually in the mylar antistatic bags they ship in. 

[jimmybjj]

I really like this. I need to head down to walmart.

Where do you guys buy antistatic foam?

[G. Hoffman]

They are mostly in the drawer unit above the monitor, though my various PICs are in the unit directly to the left of that.  I either keep them in the anti-static bags they come with, or in anti-static foam.




Gabriel