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How Do You Organize Your Gear?
truffle writes "Like many geeks, I have acquired a large amount of items and gear over time, including miscellaneous hardware, cables, and such. I have books, papers, Lego, and more. I generally store most things in roughly sorted cardboard boxes, which is neither efficient nor attractive. For the non-messy geeks out there, how do you organize and store your geek stuff? Is it possible to have a clean organized grown-up home, without throwing everything away?"
I have a cheap ass wardrobe from Ikea that works great. the top shelve is for hdds, keyboards and other weird shit, while I use the coat hanger rod for cables and other wiring. the bottom shelf works great for extra cases and small parts in shoe boxes.
this was actually given to me and has solved so many problems since I got it. it's cheap, but it's been a great solution.
Creationists are a lot like zombies. Slow, but powerful and numerous. And they all want to eat our brains.
I use two things heavily:
Sterilite storage bins, and WireTech wire shelving.
For the storage bins, I make heavy use of the clear storage drawers and bins. See this page for all storage options. Quite a few places sell Sterilite.
The other huge thing is WireTech shelving. It's very heavy-duty coated steel wire shelving in chrome, white, or black, that looks great and is very strong - each shelf can support 300 pounds. It can also be organized in nearly an unlimited number of ways. Take a look at Sensible Storage's site, click "Products", and then see Shelving Kits, Custom Shelving, and Accessories. I strongly recommend checking it out. WireTech is the only type that I have found that is like this. They work great for everything from equipment rack type setups, entertainment center towers, making really complex shelving setups, or just plain old storage.
There are a bunch of different places that sell WireTech, but there is one, and as far I can tell only one, place that sells everything online: Great Ace WireTech shelving. It's actually an Ace hardware store in Chicago, but I've ordered various WireTech things from them a couple times before and I've been happy with the results.
You'd be surprised how much the right tools help with the job, even for things like storage. Good luck.
I've taken to buying a bunch of Storage contains from target, like the 4 Gallon one. I fill each with junk until it's full and then put it into Gorilla Rack shelving in the garage.
The trick is to enter into a simple text file the location of each piece of item, taking care to fill in enough detail to search for it in the text file. Each of the containers is numbered.
If I take something out of the container, it doesn't have to go back into the same one, I just move its description from one location into another.
This saves me from the heartache of trying to sort stuff. Sure, I keep cables and stuff like that sorted, because I have so many of them. But... for those odds and sods, it makes more sense to just put them in any old box, and keep track of them with a text file.
I now have 5 rubbermade bins that are about 24x18 inches and 8 inches deep stacked up with stuff. Works good and looks clean. The trick is when you need more being able to find the same ones and the same colors. Damn wal-mart will change the lid cover or something every other week.
These bins are solid and have nice locking handle. They are slightly tinted so stuff doesn't stand out, but you can still see stuff. Then inside i have stuff in smaller bins. Down to pill jars of screws. The main reason for it all is for moving. All the crap just goes with no issue.
I think the other thing for most people is as time goes on they realize they are just hanging on a lot of crap. If you need something just buy it for a few bucks instead of storing it for years and having it be outdated when you need it. I had a bunch of computers, now i'm working towards one. There is more important things then bunches of computers. I think thats how the more adult bit comes into play, once your out of college and get married and stuff you tend to just use a computer as a computer, not mess with it all the time, hense you get rid of all the crap. Unless you got a good place for it.
and don't forget that after you've donated that stuff, get a receipt saying you donated "printer, monitor, etc.". I used to think it was a waste of time, but at the end of the year you can claim that you donated $500 in computer hardware, and that can be a tax deduction. You'll still donate the same stuff, but at the end of the year you'll give less money to the government (whether that's good or bad is debatable... I happen to enjoy not giving away so much of money to the IRS, ymmv).
BE very careful of static with plastic tupperware. YOu could very easily fry your gear.
For sure!
I use a similar no-no for non-CMOS electronic components. I have a huge stockpile of passive components - resistors, capacitors, etc - and things like tubes, bipolar transistors, etc. Over 20,000 vacuum tubes alone, according to my last inventory.
What I use is 4x8" generic ZipLock-ish baggies which I buy at the local head shop. The guy must think I'm a mega-dealer, because every few weeks I go in wearing a shirt and tie and buy 100 (or more) 4x8" baggies for $6.
I drop a piece of cardboard with a label into each baggie, then I stuff it with components. Then I put the baggie into a 4" wide cardboard parts tray (Bankers Box # 7353). The trays are then stored in cheap metal shelving units with 9" space between shelves. I have 6 shelves for vacuum tubes alone.
Unlike doing this with other methods (small drawers), I can simply insert a weird resistor value between standard values. I can drop a bag of #6-32x0.75" screws between the #6-32x0.5" and #6-32x1" screws. If I fill a baggie with 1k 1/4W resistors, I just add another baggie. Suddenly find a 12AX7A? Stick it in a new bag behind the 10 or so full of 12AX7s. I can take a group out, throw them into my toolbox and take them with me, not worrying that I'm going to spill them. It's very handy.
For static sensitive stuff, I use 4x8" antistat baggies which I purchase from Newark or DigiKey.
I can't claim that I invented or discovered this method - I first saw it while I was working for Litton, and I loved it.
Doesn't work for big stuff like transformers, stepper motors, complete assemblies. For that, I still have to use TupperWare (or the disposable resealable containers.)
Having an inventory of parts is useless if you can't find what you need when you need it. But it's even worse if you *can* find it but it doesn't work. Remember to think about static.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.