One of the great perks of being a writer and tech reviewer is that, when I have some area of interest I want to explore, I can often wrap an article around it, pitch to to a publisher, and be paid for exploring and writing about it. Good gig, eh? So, when I finally decided that it was time to reorganize all of the parts, tools, and materials on my studio workbench, I figured I would research my options, draft up a plan, and share it here with Make: readers.
This post is the research phase on options for storing all of the small parts, materials, and supplies I now have in boxes, on shelves, and in a few random plastic and cardboard dump bins on my workbench. It’s become a tremendous and unworkable mess that I need to wrestle back under control. Here are some of the options that look interesting to me (including some things we’ve covered here in the past).
The Harbor Freight 20-bin Portable Parts Storage Case, only US$9 each.
If you took the link to Adam’s Sortimo video above and were drooling over his rack of T-Boxx cases, check out this thread on Tested where readers discuss the cases and building homemade rack carts to store them, like this beauty by Robotguy.
This piece on electronics parts storage, excerpted from Charles Platt’s perennially best-selling book, Make: Electronics, looks at the parts storage technology that he recommends. Here’s an excerpt about the above Darice boxes:
Darice Mini-Storage boxes are ideal for components such as resistors, capacitors, and semiconductors. The boxes can be stacked stably or stored on shelves, with their ends labeled. The brand sticker is easily removed after being warmed with a heat gun.
Charles suggests using a system of plastic bins in filing cabinets and on shelves, small parts in compartmentalized portable parts cases, and arranging your work area to keep as much as possible close at hand while seated at your desk (so plenty of overhead storage and storage around you).
One of the most common small parts solutions is, of course, the plastic parts bins, as seen here in this Harbor Freight benchtop bin rack. While these might be a solution for some, I have some of these (the interlocking stackable kind) on my bench now and I hate them.
Next to bins, the other common benchtop organizing solution is the plastic parts drawers. These are ubiquitous and you can get them for next-to-nothing. Like most makers, I have a number of these. I would recommend actually looking at them in a hardware store or otherwise trying them in person. I’ve found that super-cheap ones are so poorly made that the plastic drawers can be warped or have poor tolerances and not slide in and out of the cabinet very well. Using poorly made models can end up being a daily pain in the butt. I have a set of these badly manufactured drawers (which I paid like $4 for on sale) and I plan on replacing them with a better set. I haven’t tried these Harbor Freight drawers, but the customer reviews are positive.
I am familiar with these toolboxes with removable parts caddies from some product research we did at Make: a few years ago. This looks like the exact model we tested. I’m seriously considering getting a couple of these for storing special project parts for maker activities that I don’t do very often and store them under my workbench. So, let’s say I load one up with parts for making small robots (all these parts are currently tossed into two cardboard shelf boxes above my bench), all I have to do is move it from under the desk to my benchtop, open it up, and all of my specialty parts and supplies have joined my regular electronics tools and all of the general electronics components that live in drawers on the desk.
Russ Bryer needed a better way to store and retrieve resistors, diodes and other small components. He had a wide, shallow flat file drawer that wasn’t very useful to him, so he routed these sorting bins out of MDF to fit inside.
For really small components like surface-mount, resistors, transistors, etc, 3-ring binders with plastic pocket pages and zipper pouches inside are a solution that some people are fond of. Here’s a piece we ran in 2010 about an Instructable explaining how to set up such a system.
After watching a slew of videos, perusing catalog pages, and thinking about my particular application, I’ve decided to go with 2 or 3 of the Harbor Freight Toolbox Organizers with removable drawers for under my desk, to contain specialty-area maker supplies (art and paper craft, rubber stamping, robotics, model-making, rocketry), and maybe 8 of the Harbor Freight portable parts storage cases for the shelf above my workbench to store of my general parts, materials, and supplies. I will also probably get a couple of large plastic bins for storing things like all of my electronics equipment (soldering iron, test equipment, helping hands, etc.) for when I’m doing some other type of making on the desk and want to remove all of this gear. Most of my tools will be stored in the 5-drawer IKEA rolling cart that now sits beneath my bench. Once I get everything re-organized, I’ll do a follow-up post with photos.
So, what small parts storage solutions do you use and recommend? Tell us about them in the comments.
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