Electronics Lab/Inventorizing Parts

When your hackerspace collects parts, you need to organize them somehow in order to find them again.

Structured Ordering

This seems to be the most popular ordering method and it's easy for beginners.

Group your parts in boxes or drawers (like http://www.treston.com/index.php?article_id=1826&__from_id__=3072&product_group=5110), ordered by type/value.

Advantages

• Very quick retrieval
• It's obvious what's inside the box/drawer

Disadvantages

• If you get a new type/value, you need to re-order. E.g. if you have one row of drawers containing resistors 10Ω, 27Ω, 33Ω, 47Ω and you need to insert 22Ω resistors, you need to shift your whole drawers by one.

Chaotic Ordering

Example of chaotic ordering. Each box contains random parts

This is a bit more advanced and usually requires computer aid. You simply put parts where you have space, and retrieve parts by looking them up in the database. Drawers are numbered with a system (e.g. first drawer is A0001, second drawer is A0002).

You can use a software like PartKeepr to manage the inventory.

Advantages

• Best way to store components without wasting too much space
• No need to re-order drawers (unless one drawer is full and you need to put the parts into a new, bigger drawer)

Disadvantages

• More time needed for retrieval, because parts need to be looked up