[sdiy] Labeling Your Hoard of Stuff

brianw brianw at audiobanshee.com
Thu Jun 9 00:32:06 CEST 2022


I buy nearly everything through Mouser, so I keep parts in their labeled bags. Each project is saved in its own box, and the assembly shop usually labels that box with the project name, so I just keep using the same box. Re-orders of the same project start by rummaging through the box to see how many parts are left. Using Mouser means that new projects can easily borrow from old projects, since I have every project saved on Mouser.

For a while, I kept a text file on my computer where each line is the remaining parts from a particular project build. This is the most time-consuming step, but searching the text file is easy (so long as I use consistent designations. You might be surprised how many distributers aren't exactly consistent in parts' designations. The text file is somewhat organized by project, but mostly by part type, in increasing values so I can find what I have that is *close* to a desired value when there isn't an exact match.

I have considered consolidating the parts into fewer boxes - especially when the box for the PCB stack is much bigger than the space required for the leftover parts. That consolidation has yet to happen, although I do have stackable drawers from The Container Store where a lot of unboxed spare parts have ended up.

The few items that I buy somewhere other than Mouser are usually bulk orders that take up enough space that it's obvious where they ended up in the lab.

Brian


On Jun 8, 2022, at 6:34 AM, Roman Sowa <modular at go2.pl> wrote:
> My way is simple, but I haven't yet reached the point where buying portable label printer like that is even considered.
> 
> Parts are stored in various boxes in various places in a few rooms. In their original bags, and also in small drawers (mostly connectors). I never throw out original label from distributor until the last part is out. The label also holds hand written notes of various kinds like price and date of purchase, sometimes important electrical specs. And most importantly it gets registered in my excell sheet with all important info and obviously - name of the storage box where it's located.
> When some parts are all out, the line is moved to another sheet, listing all the parts used so far.
> 
> The excell sheet of in-stock items at the moment has 1684 lines.
> 
> Roman
> 
> W dniu 2022-06-08 o 01:34, Terry Bowman via Synth-diy pisze:
>> My collection of parts, Nixie and magic eye tubes, and everything else you can name has grown to the point where I need to get serious about storage. One aspect of this is labelling things. I'm tired of writing on boxes with a Sharpie.
>> I really like the capabilities of this Epson series:
>> https://www.amazon.com/LABELWORKS-LW-PX300-Industrial-Label-Maker/dp/B08JQMFZ6F <https://www.amazon.com/LABELWORKS-LW-PX300-Industrial-Label-Maker/dp/B08JQMFZ6F>
>> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08JQMJ7RD
>> I know there's cheaper stuff out there and the profit is in selling tape cartridges (à la printer ink) but this thing does heat-shrink tubing. Joy.
>> So what are you guys using?
>> Terry Bowman, KA4HJH




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