The what am I thread!

Ok the purpose of this thread is to help me organize! I am attempting to clear 1 bench tonight and label 2 storage bins, some of the components and other bits like sockets etc I dont know the correct name of, so I am going to post pics here as I go and see if anyone knows the real name instead of my squished socket 9 pins name I normally give things . The ultimate goal is to do some every night for 2-3 weeks until i am organized (ish) . Then the grand finalae with pictures .

Sort them as you see them and then you will know where they are.

Mike.

The problem is I can see them everywhere! I might post the worlds most embarrassing picture later! I have stuff everywhere! But its time to sort it out :S. I have run out of bench space!! Shame it got this bad as I have a great room for a lab.

Little Ghostman said:

<snip> I have stuff everywhere! <snip> I have run out of bench space!! <snip>

Click to expand...

So did Bob Pease.

first bench to do is the easy one

then the harder one


I darnt take a pic of the third!
Then around 450 reels of smd stuff, after that everything else!!

Eek!
What is that wallpaper pattern?

And to think that you were worried about curtains in the shed!

JimB

I am trying to cover the walls in storage racks

Very nice bins ! But those are not work benches. You are misusing them as shelves, dumping whatever in them. Set up shelves/cartons for that and never toss anything to a work bench.
Same thing happens with kitchen counters, typically people populates them with so much crap that there is no place left to prepare food and it is done then on a dining table.

Differentiate a shelf from a work space and everything will run smooth. Label a box as "to be classified". In kitchens; blenders, mixers, coffee makers, spices, utensils and groceries are left on counters instead of setting them aside in cabinets for the laziness of it.
Or you end stepping on your own balls...

The problem I had was a mum tidy! So all my stuff that was in her sewing room got shoved into my room before it was ready!! now I cant move in it! That and I am erm lazy!! I am slowly getting there, dreading putting labels of the bins .

I use a system of small cardboard boxes I save from stuff that comes in boxes. I have dump boxes for stuff I need to sort out, because the boxes are small there can be categories of stuff and they don't take up too much room. So eg I have new stuff I haven't put away yet, old stuff I need to dismantle, stuff I'm supposedly working on but got distracted, stuff to repair, stuff to figure out how it works, stuff I simply haven't got anywhere to put, and wires of various sorts. As time goes on the boxes get emptied or replaced by bigger ones or re-purposed.
I have a similar thing, it's a called a wife tidy. Now that I've been trained though I automatically just dump everything in the shed, which at the moment is looking like a walk in dump box. I feel for you LG, I really do.

Why are you dreading putting labels on the bins? It will encourage you to identify the things you need to put in them when you realise you had a bin for something you'd forgotten you had a bin for. (note to self: write labels for bins in shed...)

I always approach the problem by starting with the big stuff and getting it out of the way, so I can get to the other stuff, and working my way downscale. I always end up with a few small bits I don't have anywhere to put, so that starts off the next round of mess-accumulation.

Its just sitting down and doing the labels thats a pain, as soon as my bench is clear i will be wanting to use it lol, I am different in the lab though. My lab is spotless and organized so I dont know why the difference.

throbscottle said:

I have a similar thing, it's a called a wife tidy.

Click to expand...

In my world it's a Boss Tidy and, yes, it works by exactly the same rules.

I work like Bob Pease a bit. I perfectly happy with chronological. Somehow I can associate things bought together.
Project boxes come next. i.e. the stuff necessary to do x project. Then you might have fasteners etc. I have a toolbox labeled plumbing. It would have pipe wrenches in them and large plyers and maybe a large cresent wrench. I have electrical stuff (household electrical), so you would find wirenuts there. I have network stuff and telephone stuff and then a common bag of tools for networking/telephony. Mostly smaller stuff like coax cutters, network cable strippers, RJ crimpers, a few RJ connectors. It would have right angle F connectors etc.
I have a "small tool bag" too,

The most powerfull organizer happens to be zipper zip lock bags and 3"x4" zip lock bags. the last batch I bought has a white labeling area and hanging holes. My marker is the fine point Staedtler pen with methanol as the eraser.

In order to organize, concentrate on grouping.
e.g.
tools
projects
components (resistors, variable resistors, inductors etc)

Once you get more organized, you could have referral notes. e.g. in your resistor bins, you could have say, have a reel of 1K 1W resistors and they would be stored with the "component reels".

Looks like my office, my benches and my garage.

When I can no longer find anything (takes about 6 to 12 months) and my bins are like yours (empty), I set up a pair of sawhorses, flop a 4X8 (or 4X4) sheet of plywood on it and start sorting all the pieces parts in piles on it and by what ever categories develop. When that particular bench (whatever) is clear, I sort out the stuff back into the bins, zip-locks, 5 gallon buckets - whatever suits...

Now (and this is imperative), mark the bins! The other stuff you can see into. Take the time to do it because if you don't do it now, you'll never do it (am I wrong??). Once a bin is marked (PITA, for sure, but...) and has something in it, it will forever after be a designated depository (Suppository?? I get the two confused) for that/those items. You know this already (I can tell) but you gotta do it. Did I say you gotta do it??...

Trust me, you'll thank me for the rest of your life. Maybe even longer.

Then move on to the next disaster.

Oh, and the reels of SMD stuff? As a senior fellow hoarder, I suggest you give'em to Good Will (or whatever they're called in Scotland). Be honest - they're about as likely as you are to make use of them. Only now, they have to store them .

I also use the small and large post-it tape widths for labels.

The bins look empty but most are not, they do need sorting out though, I could do with twice as many bins but not enough wall space to put any more . I will have it sorted next week so I can finish this hex copter off. Sil labs have a new version of lep gecko with the radio card on the board, shame they didnt do this before!
Having said that I have the advantage of spreading the weight. Tried the generator thing and its ok but not great, I am hunting around to see if I can find some better motors for generators, I might give steppers a go. Shedding weight has been a nightmare!

I need to get some more mill bits for the CNC, I want to try and redesign the struts and motor mounts. Grrr time is ticking and I can see some long days ahead getting it finished, I opted for a Cortex M4 for the flight stuff but despite the maths processor its actually slower than the cortex M3 I was using. Its more likely the poor code

I wish I had the money and the wall space for that many bins.
Empty vitamin tablet (or whatever) pots are quite good
Why not flog the components on the SMD reels. As cowboybob says, you are not likely to use them - or at least, not that many anyway. You could cut off strips or 5 or 10 or whatever, sell those. People like me buy them.
I'm looking forward to 300 centrifuge tubes arriving soon, so I can strip and store the boards of smd stuff I've accumulated. The plan is to get some foam board, make lots of holes in it and plug the tubes in. Really tiny bins.

Cowboybob - I definitely would not store anything in a suppository that I did not want to put in my (or anyone else's) body!

Yeah I am going to sort through and sell them, I have a fair few I want to sell. Although alot are really small