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If you like making things, you probably have hundreds or even thousands of little parts - nuts, bolts, screws, electronic parts, etc. This is one of the cheapest, most compact, flexible, portable and simple ways of storing them - in folders you can put on a bookshelf! This is an embarrassingly simple instructable, but one that has revolutionised the organisation of my parts - read on to find out how I did it.
Over the years, I have struggled to find sensible ways of storing my collection of thousands of small parts in an organised way. If you are like me, you have a huge collection of boxes, parts drawers and plastic containers to store your parts in. Not only are they quite expensive, but they suffer from other problems - parts drawers can tip over and either lose or mix up components, and plastic divider boxes are no better - both of these take up a lot of space as well and as soon as you add a few new components when you have filled up all dividers in the box, or trays in the component bin, you have to work out how to resort your entire collection again!
This method uses ordinary ring binders, zip wallets, and grip-seal bags and allows you to create a hierarchical storage system, where you can easily add or remove new categories (folders), sub-categories (zip wallets), and components (grip seal bags).
Over the years, I have struggled to find sensible ways of storing my collection of thousands of small parts in an organised way. If you are like me, you have a huge collection of boxes, parts drawers and plastic containers to store your parts in. Not only are they quite expensive, but they suffer from other problems - parts drawers can tip over and either lose or mix up components, and plastic divider boxes are no better - both of these take up a lot of space as well and as soon as you add a few new components when you have filled up all dividers in the box, or trays in the component bin, you have to work out how to resort your entire collection again!
This method uses ordinary ring binders, zip wallets, and grip-seal bags and allows you to create a hierarchical storage system, where you can easily add or remove new categories (folders), sub-categories (zip wallets), and components (grip seal bags).
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There are three items you will need for this filing system. Firstly you need a ring binder - usually A4 size in Europe, and Letter in the US. I tend to buy a lot on ebay, so would suggest trying that first for the best price. Better to have a 3 or 4 ring version - in Europe, the 4 ring 'D' shape is great, as it holds pages very securely. I also like the ones with clear plastic pockets all around, as you can then customise the spine and front cover (and back as well if you like). The ones I bought were 1.65 pounds each (US $3.34). In Europe, here is an option from ebay, and here is one from viking direct. In the USA, these people have a good price (US $2.13), if you are happy to buy boxes of 12.
The pages I use in the files are a "Zip Punched Pocket" from Rexel - again, I got these on ebay from here as they worked out at only 16 pence (US $0.33) each. In the US, try something like this.
The final item is a pile of 'zip lock' or 'grip seal' bags - again ebay was where I got mine from, but they are also available from packaging stores, like this one in the US. The 3 inch by 2.25 inch size I find great for small parts, as it is the perfect size for electronic items like strips of resistors, but you might also want some larger ones as well.
If you shop around, you can buy a handful of folders, 50 punched pockets, and 1000 zip lock bags for under 25 pounds (US $50.00) - this will be enough to completely organise thousands of small parts!
The pages I use in the files are a "Zip Punched Pocket" from Rexel - again, I got these on ebay from here as they worked out at only 16 pence (US $0.33) each. In the US, try something like this.
The final item is a pile of 'zip lock' or 'grip seal' bags - again ebay was where I got mine from, but they are also available from packaging stores, like this one in the US. The 3 inch by 2.25 inch size I find great for small parts, as it is the perfect size for electronic items like strips of resistors, but you might also want some larger ones as well.
If you shop around, you can buy a handful of folders, 50 punched pockets, and 1000 zip lock bags for under 25 pounds (US $50.00) - this will be enough to completely organise thousands of small parts!
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I would move to this system myself, but my quantity of parts is just too large. I would have a whole bookshelf of 5 and 6 inch binders!
Envelopes. I get 50 for $1. Lots of space to write. then you can put your little zip/static bags inside. if you *really* need to see inside you can get envelopes with BIG windows on them :D
An added bonus is that it's easy to store LOTS of them in a perfectly sized plastic container with a lid and a desiccant inside to keep them from oxidizing over time.
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Plenty of other online vendors carry the zipper pockets. Google "viny ring binder zipper pockets" or "Sparco SPR01607" specifically.
For bulky items such as connectors and through hole parts, the zipper pockets with zip-locks are a nice method. My current method is sorting the bags the parts are shipped in into card-file drawers or plastic shoe boxes. That may or may not be better than a bundle of zip-locks in a zipper bag.
For surface mount parts, vendors sell binders full of samples in small pockets open at the top. They do not slip out, but if the binder should fall to the floor at the wrong angle, it could be a mess. Binder pages for coin collecting will work nicely for surface mount parts that come on "cut tape", like resistors, caps, diodes, and LEDs.
I'd pencil the values onto the cut tape in any case. 10 SMT caps look just like 10 SMT resistors, whether they get mixed in an accidental drop, or while laid out carefully on your workbench during assembly.
But I have to see if I can find pockets with a zip-closure here in Belgium. Didn't pay attention untill now. Will be hunting them from today.
To avoid a mess (and added thickness when they collect at the bottom), it would indeed be advisable to store them horizontally, but a pile of these binders could also damage the items through the weight pressing on them.
Have you found that to not be a problem, or have you found a way to work around it?
Even though these pages do not have closures, I just tape the pocket shut. For items that are unique, that may you not use for a long time, or strange things you just scavenged and wanted to keep, taped closures are not a problem. You won't go in/out of the pocket enough to warrant a zip closure.
Nunavutnewsrules asked if baseball card holders would work (previous posting). I'd say yes, but not for high-traffic components (resistors ...) A huge advantage of little pockets is the organization that the page adds to the whole system.
wb0ncp mentioned the ESD hazard and I agree with Grey_Wolfe's response- keep sensitive parts in original packaging. When I buy a special IC for a future project, I just keep the part in the bubble pack. Photo-sleeve pages work great for storing these IC's. Plus, you want the card back's schematics for the IC anyway, so the packaging is important.
Furthermore, the pockets are smaller than I expected. They fit the 3-ring binders I have but they're rather shallow. The dimensions say "6 inches" but that includes the zipper and the part that fits in the binder, leaving you with less than 5 inches of usable space behind the zipper. These are not like the ones the author used in the instructable and are pictured above.
I've not yet found a comparable vendor for similar pockets in the US.
I plan to order some of these 10"x8" pockets in greater quantity from the same vendor.