Make a box to store your components (or other stuff)

I have tried many different ways to store my pile of components in an orderly way, but the thing that works best for me was to make a box for them. In this Instructable I’ll show you how to make a nice box that works very well for me. All the stuff you need is around in almost all homes, I try to make my Instructables as helpful to everyone as possible, just so nobody feels left out just because they don’t have certain things, and I have experienced it myself. Note that I haven't really made it look very good because I don't really mind.d it myself.

Step 1: Materials and tools

All you need is:
• A lot of cardboard. Boxes from markets work great, I used corrugated cardboard
• Any glue that sticks well to paper and cardboard, I used normal office glue
• Paper. It can be coloured if you like, I just used “Ultra White copy/laser paper”

Optional:
• Either some kind of cloth or some protective padding (recommended) I don’t have padding so I just used “easy dry” disposable cloth. If you don’t have those, just paper towels will work
• Components or other stuff to be contained (recommended)
• Wide tape, at least about 4cm wide. I used clear tape that worked well
• A clear plastic sheet, whatever size you want (only if you want to store SMD chips)
• Clear tape, 1cm to 2cm width (only if you want to store SMD chips)

Tools:
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun and sticks for it

That’s all you need!

Comments

[pfred2]

I've made little cardboard boxes myself for component storage. Another material I've had luck with is HDPE plastic milk jugs. I either slice them down, and use them like that, or I've cut them up, then hot glued them back together for custom sized boxes.

I've also posted an article on this site about another storage solution I have come up with for small electronic components.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Jewel-Case-Parts-Storage-Box/

[person%]

i just got an idea to put them in a something like a folder or a photo album but instead of pockets they have mini bags easily taken out.

then sort them like a dictionary! :P

[person%]

thanks for commenting

before I made anything, I tried egg cartons, but the compartments were too small so I made a shallow cardboard box with not many compartments and it didn't have a lid. so after that I made the box in this instructable, and I'm still using it.

[pfred2]

Egg cartons never worked out well for me either. I've amassed quite a collection of organizer drawer cabinets over the years. I use 6 of those plus some cash register drawers for the bulk of my electronics parts storage. As you can see in that picture I'm still not above making the occasional cardboard box to put into one of my drawers though.

That brown corrugated cardboard box in the picture on top of my cash register drawer is full of resistors on reel tapes too. There are probably about 50,000 resistors in that box. Some are cut and formed in bags.

Now I have to post an article about my latest electronics exploit here. I think I can manage to do it.

[person%]

by the way, I got my components from old electronic appliances so it was all free.

[pfred2]

I assembled electronics for a while and at one point the boss cleaned up and gave me 2 garbage bags of excess parts he had lying around. 30 gallon garbage bags. I strip a lot of parts off scrap electronics too. I still buy some parts sometimes. But I'm of the mind that a pastime shouldn't cost a whole lot in order to enjoy.

[person%]

yes, and I haven't spent a single coin on electronics yet, all from old TVs and other stuff

[person%]

I realized that some large objects cannot fit in any compartments so I made a separate box for them. it is just a one layer box, but it is quite thick. I have found that there is a TON more capacitors than any other component. in fact, they take up two of the biggest compartments in my box. one for electrolytic ones and one for non-polarized ones.

[pfred2]

I have a Sterilite 3 drawer rolling storage unit I keep some of my capacitors in. They can be a pain to store.