The (almost) Perfect Rack Organizer for Electronic Components and Other Tiny Things...

In my home electronics lab I needed a good system to store and organize electronic components. All the spare components from some projects, general purpose components from old stocks, nuts and bolts, ready to use modules and dev boards and so on...

But this solution could be useful for everyone needs to organize small parts, of course!

There are different solutions out there and probably the most used are the small drawers organizers, like the one in the image with the red X.

The problem with this solution is that you need a lot of space on your wall (or on your desk) to organize a limited amount of different parts. You can't take advantage of the depth of your space (on a shelf or on a free wall), because you can't put one of this organizer in front of another.

The best idea I found, in my opinion, is from the Adam Savage's Cave! Here you can see his organizers:

https://youtu.be/l9AqYaSRjw0?t=924

Basically he use "horizontal" organizers with internal separators in different sizes, stacked in a big rack with rails, so you can easily access to one organizer in the stack. And you can store really a lot of different parts without the need of a huge wall full of drawers!

There was only one problem...the price! Adam uses Sortimo T-Boxx, wich is very expensive, especially if you need a lot of boxes.

So, I search for a similar solution, with large organizer with the same type of modular inserts, not thin wall separators, because they usually yeld easily, letting very small parts spread to nearby spaces.

I found a nice product, with similar functionality, but with considerably lower price. The organizers I use are the Allit AG EuroPlus Flex, distributed in some European online store, but I think there are also other alternatives out there, compatible with the same concept.

All you need is a way to build a rack, to stack and easily pull each organizers without move all the others.

Supplies

• Organizer boxes (e.g. Allit AG EuroPlus Flex)
• Custom inserts (optional)
• 1mm plastic sheet (for optional dividers)
• Hot glue (for optional dividers)
• 10x10mm aluminum L profile
• 15mm plywood
• 10mm plywood
• 3x30mm screws
• Paint (optional)
• Dymo label printer (or similar)

Step 1: Choose Your Boxes

These organizers are really modular, so you can buy one full of smaller inserts, bigger inserts or with mixed ones. Or you can even buy empty organizers and separated inserts, to optimize your contents.

With this brand, for example, you can find 4 different sizes of inserts (with different colors):

• 54x54mm - Red
• 54x108mm - Yellow
• 108x108mm - Blue
• 108x162mm - Green

All the inserts has the same height, 45mm.

In addition you also have an irregular shaped insert in the front side of the organizer (the grey one), useful for spares or temporary storage, in my opinion.

I think this 4 sizes is enough for a lot of parts, but in some cases you could store very small parts, so even the smaller insert is too big. In these cases I optimized the space with custom made "sub-separators".

You can also need to store parts with uncompatible form factor. An example are through hole resistors: tiny, but with long leads, so you can't easily put them in the smaller insert, but if you use the yellow one you waste a lot of space and you need a lot of boxes to store a reasonable set of values! So, you can pick a bigger insert and arrange it with custom dividers. Let's see later how we can do this...

Step 2: Plan You Content

It is difficult to improvise the arrangement of a lot of small parts, especially if you have to buy a certain amount of inserts with different sizes.

So, I preferred to plan the parts arrangements with an excel sheet. This file helps me to organize the component while I fill the organizers, but also in the future, to easily find the parts I need or even know what parts I have available. Like a simple warehouse database.

Let's assume that the small red insert is the smallest unit.

You can fill one organizers with 4 rows and 6 columns. And you consider the other inserts as 1x2, 2x2 and 2x3 sizes.

On Excel you can use one cell for the smallest insert and merge cells for bigger inserts.

If you split your inserts with divider, you can use for example 2 cells for the red insert and merge the cells where you don't use dividers, of course.

I attach a sample template to simplify this process:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhbgkpp605vqn8u/LAB_drawers_template.xlsx?dl=0

Step 3: Make Your (optional) Dividers

I use 1mm plastic sheet to make some dividers for red inserts:

• cut 48x48mm piece for base (with rounded corners)
• cut 48x40mm piece for wall
• glue them together with hot glue

You can help yourself with a template: put some paper tape on the desk around the base and draw the center position. Then, you can place every time the base near the tape and glue the wall in the same position (see the first photo, in the bottom).

Step 4: Make the Rack(s)

You can make one or more racks, taking into account these information:

• the depth of each organizer is 290mm, so the internal depth of the box should be at least 290mm
• the external width of the organizer is 366mm, so the minimum internal width of the box should be 366mm, plus some millimeters of tolerance
• the width of the narrow part of the organizer is 353mm, so the maximum internal width of the box should be 353mm, plus 2 times the width of your guides, minus some millimeters of tolerance
• the height of each organizer is 55mm, so you need an internal height of your box equal to 60mm multiplied by the number of organizers

I chose to make 4 racks, each with 6 organizers, to better distribute the weight, but also to have the future possibility to reconfigure my lab in different spaces: I can put them in an horizontal row, in a single column or in a 2x2 configuration. Or even add more boxes to expand my storage.

I cut these plywood panels and screw them together, to make the basic boxes:

• 376x300x15mm - 2 pieces (base and top)
• 390x300x15mm - 2 pieces (sides)
• 376x360x10mm - 1 piece (back panel)

I chose to paint with black the external sides and leave natural the internal sides and front frame.

Then, I cut the guides from a 10x10mm aluminum L-shaped profile, each one with 2 holes (3.5mm diameter) to fit the screws.

I measure and draw the position for the guides (32mm from the base).

Then I tested the first couple of guides with an empty organizer and a couple of dummy weights: success!

So, I complete the box with all the guides.

(not so) hidden message for the Organization Contest: I still need to complete the guides for the other 3 racks, so a nice prize could be very useful to buy a miter saw and cut a lot of guides easier than an handsaw! :)

Step 5: Fill Your Warehouse!

Now the the main part: fill your cool rack with all your small parts, following your plan.

And of course, you can adapt your plan and reiterate if you find ways to optimize while you fill your organizers...

Personally, I'm trying to separate the parts assigning one category to each organizer (or a couple of them, when I need more).

For passive components, for example, I mainly consider complete series (E12 for resistors, E6 for capacitors), filling the boxes with available components and leave empty spaces for missing ones, to keep the same order when I will add them.

Step 6: Label It!

...and my favorite part!

You (probably) need to label all your small boxes (and the front of your organizers) to easily find your parts, especially when you can't immediately recognize them by their package, colors or codes!

So...pick your Dymo and label all your small warehouse!

Enjoy your project and...I forgot to mention one important thing in the supplies list: a lot of PATIENCE!!!