Storage solution for resistors needed

[moffy]

Does anyone bother to sort and store their PTH, non surface mount, resistors? If you do I would be interested in your solution, please post a pic, as now I store all of my non surface mount resistors in an old cake tin. Interested in whether you even think it's worth while.

[Haenk]

I have them all in (LIDL) small parts magazines, with a sticker on the drawer.

[zapta]

I store them in their original case.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804747550699.html

[Someone]

Keep them in the ammo packs (Tape & Box) line them up in a drawer or on a shelf. What's your time worth ordering, sorting, and handling resistors?

[moffy]

I have them all in (LIDL) small parts magazines, with a sticker on the drawer.

I have a set of those for my non surface mount ICs, not sure I would have the space for all the resistor values, but thanks. Maybe yours are smaller than I have?

[moffy]

I store them in their original case.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804747550699.html

That looks like a great idea, I could order the relevant sets and just dispose of the loose values I have.

[moffy]

Keep them in the ammo packs (Tape & Box) line them up in a drawer or on a shelf. What's your time worth ordering, sorting, and handling resistors?

I guess you use what you have, which I unfortunately don't. With regards to time and value that's my thought also, it's only come about because I found a neat solution for small parts and surface mount, but not quite suitable for the resistors. So I am in the middle of reorganizing all my components and storage, it's quite a mess at present but I am trying to group things in a semi logical fashion. 

[RoGeorge]

I've tried many methods, the best for me in the last 30 years was to use paper-mail envelopes.  First glue/seal the envelope then cut it in half, and put them all in a tray/box.

The envelopes in the picture were bought in bulk (1000 pcs, glued and cut in half to get 2000 pcs - good for small capacitors, and for low power transistor, too).  You can use as well envelopes from mailed paper invoices or other spam paper-letters in your mailbox, as long as the envelopes are the same size.


Image from https://hackaday.io/project/6261-new-a-free-lab-organizer

The merit is that it takes very little space, very easy to look for values (browse them like it were a Rolodex with addresses, the value of the resistor is written on the outside of the envelope).  Keep the envelopes sorted from the smallest value to the biggest.  Very practical for small amounts of TH resistors for prototyping or repairing something.  Not good for storing many hundreds or thousands of resistors of the same value, not for large quantities.


NOTE the 1k1 envelope is halfway-out of the tray.  That is not for the picture's esthetics.  That is a bookmark, because I've extracted the 1k envelope for use at the workbench (in the picture sited above the rest of the envelopes).  Later, the 1k1 bookmark is used to easily place back the 1k envelope right in front of the 1k1 bookmark, without wasting time to search between which envelopes should the 1k be placed back.

[moffy]

@RoGeorge, that is an excellent suggestion.

[Victorman222]

I use an organizer from matchboxes for small resistors, its quite convenient since matchboxes are just a bit longer than the resistors and they fit well lengthwise. It could be improved by matching the divisions values to E6 or E12 series.

For bigger resistors, I use stackable round boxes, which are divided into 4 sections inside. The boxes have each decade divided by two, as in one box for 100R-500R and one box for 500R-1000R. This is suboptimal since there are more resistor values in the 100-500 range than in the 500-1000 range.

[jpanhalt]

I use envelopes like RoGeorge shows, except I use coin envelopes, which are thicker paper and have the flap across the narrow end.

[pcprogrammer]

I have mine in a storage solution bought long ago from the "Hema" a Dutch department store.

Still have to add the labels with the values though. Now it is counting to twelve to find the next decade. 

It holds the E12 range from 0 to 10M Ohm.

[moffy]

@ Victorman222, I love the matchboxes.

[moffy]

@jpanhalt, envelopes are more versatile than I realised.

[moffy]

@pcprogrammer, I've gone to stores with less professional looking storage than you have, very nice.

[David Hess]

I have many old Akro-Mils parts cabinets with the wider drawers which can hold long leaded parts along their width.  Currently this is the only one they still make:

https://www.akro-mils.com/Products/Types/Portable-Small-Parts-Storage/Plastic-Cabinets/10124.html

[BennoG]

for the quick grab small boxes. To refill from the big assortment box. The small boxes are probably 40 years old.
The big box you can buy for about 8 euro over here in the netherlands.

[hli]

One of these for each decade: https://www.conrad.de/de/p/tru-components-sortimentskasten-l-x-b-x-h-250-x-180-x-24-mm-anzahl-faecher-20-feste-unterteilung-inhalt-1-st-1564901.html . They fit each of the E12 series, and then you have some room left for other values. And they hold 100 pieces of each value (depending on their size).

[IDEngineer]

When I got serious about having a wide selection of discretes around, I started with the kits offered by DigiKey. They put all of a given value in a small plastic bag, then group those bags in sets of 5-10 in larger bags. Works so well that I've stuck with it and just order replacements as the parts are consumed. Specific values are easy to find, stay sorted nicely, and consume very little storage volume.

[CaptDon]

Mine are in the plastic drawers in the metal cabinets. Two drawers per decade arranged like 1 to 4.99 then 5 to 9.99 followed by 10 to 49.9 then 50 to 99.9 and so on. Also I have this sort of doubled as there are the drawers for 1/2 watt and smaller and an identical set for 1 to 5 watt. The much bigger resistors are in a larger drawer in plastic bags by decades and on the other side of the divider in that big drawer are my 100 and 225 watt resistors. Some of the big guys are N.I. marked non-inductive. I use those for audio amp testing and R.F. below 10MHz. My inventory is huge mostly built up when companies I worked for decided to no longer store 'through-hole' components. It is a treasure for my friends who still build stuff and I give most of it away.

[moffy]

@DavidHess, great storage and so neat.

@BennoG, those orange boxes look very practical and interesting.

@hli, those purpose made boxes like BennoG look very interesting.

@IDEngineer, Digikey is one of my prefered suppliers thanks for the tip.

@CaptDon, that is quite a collection and the larger resistors can be very bulky but it sure saves on having to buy them.

[johnboxall]

I have four stages for resistors.
1) a resistor book with 140 values. When I notice a value is running out, I put it on the shopping list and order another pack from Altronics/etc.
2) drawers with values more commonly used. I have about 120 of those.
3) for values I use a lot - 330R, 560R, 1K, 10K, etc., I get the 1000 packs from Altronics so never run out.
4) surplus box - it has a few of those assorted resistor packs from Altronics/Jaycar, and any surplus packs that don't fit in the drawers from stage 2.
Being an OCD logistics nut from wayback, all my parts are in excel and can be easily located and restocked.

[moffy]

@johnboxall, buying resistors in 1000 for a single value, you must build a lot! OCD has its uses.

[shabaz]

If your resistors are on ammo tape, then storing in long (ideally thick, heavy-duty) ziplock bags, or envelopes, could be an attractive option.

I purchased a kit of resistors from Farnell/Newark, and they came in such bags (10x25 cm) in a cardboard box, and all labeled with a sticker. I like it, they are easy to sort in order, and take up little space.

I think 50 or 100 resistors on tape all fit with the tape folded once, in a 25 cm long bag. I don't take out the entire tape, I just pull off a resistor from within the bag.

Screenshot of example bags that might be suitable (I've not tried those) are attached.

For SMD resistors, I have some ready-made book kits, but have a DIY solution set too, which was the small florist envelopes/coin envelopes similar to the ones shown by @jpanhalt which can easily house a few hundred resistors on their tape (cut into lengths of about 15-20 resistors). They all go into a 'record card' storage box (which has more than twice the width of the envelope, but I stuffed a piece of card or thin wood in the center, to have two columns of envelopes to thumb through.

[moffy]

@shabaz, I am surprised at how diverse and creative the solutions are.