Cheap small component bags

[M. Hamed]

Would something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Self-Locking-Bag-2MIL-2in/dp/B002EDINF0

work for storing electronic components such as transistors, caps, and small ICs. My component box is running out of little drawers.

Or would static be a problem?

If I recall correctly, electrostatic is mostly a problem with digital CMOS ICs. So I'd think with NPN/PNP transistors and passive components it would not be a big issue.

Anti-static bags that are advertised as such are much more expensive in term of dollar/bag. Hard to compare with this bargain.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

 

[[email protected]]

Would something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Self-Locking-Bag-2MIL-2in/dp/B002EDINF0

work for storing electronic components such as transistors, caps, and small ICs. My component box is running out of little drawers.

Or would static be a problem?

If I recall correctly, electrostatic is mostly a problem with digital CMOS ICs. So I'd think with NPN/PNP transistors and passive components it would not be a big issue.

Anti-static bags that are advertised as such are much more expensive in term of dollar/bag. Hard to compare with this bargain.

Any recommendations?

If you're not going to spring for anti-static bags don't even think
about using plastic bags. Yes, even bipolar transistors are static
sensitive. You might try paper coin envelopes for passives.

 

[Baron]

M. Hamed Inscribed thus:

Would something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Self-Locking-Bag-2MIL-2in/dp/B002EDINF0

work for storing electronic components such as transistors, caps, and
small ICs. My component box is running out of little drawers.

Or would static be a problem?

If I recall correctly, electrostatic is mostly a problem with digital
CMOS ICs. So I'd think with NPN/PNP transistors and passive components
it would not be a big issue.

Anti-static bags that are advertised as such are much more expensive
in term of dollar/bag. Hard to compare with this bargain.

Any recommendations?

Thanks.

I buy large A3 size metalized bags and cut them to the size I need.
Then I use a heat sealer to seal the two or three open edges. I
currently am paying about ten cents for them.

 

[[email protected]]

A shoebox full of coin envelopes can hold a *lot* of different parts.

I'm not great at keeping bags organized, so I use a combination of
Lista/Vidmar drawer trays for larger stuff and plastic pages holding cut
tapes for SMT stuff. Newark sells these:

http://tinyurl.com/co4clb3

which are a bit expensive (about $3 per sheet) but are very sturdy and
hold 24 strips of about 50 parts each, per 8-1/2 x 11 inch page.

The resistor and capacitor manufacturers give us notebooks with the
more common values in the various sizes but these would be really nice
to store cut tapes of each of the parts in the BOM for test/repair. I
hadn't seen them for sale before. Thanks!

They're made from a very low surface energy platic (polyethylene or
something like that), so Sharpie doesn't stick very well--a strip of
clear packing tape along the bottom makes a good surface for writing on.

I usually just write on the (back of the) cut tapes themselves.

Scribbling both on the page and on the tape of parts makes it easy to
keep straight, and the binders sit neatly on the shelf above my workbench.

Yes, that is handy. I keep all the datasheets and schematic
variations the same way (binders above the bench/desk).

 

[M. Hamed]

I really like paper coin envelopes.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/53724080/Parts/Parts_1.JPG

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/53724080/Parts/Parts_2.JPG

You can take notes on them, scribble schematics, tape Digikey labels on the
back, whatever. They are just right for scooping small parts up, too.
Most static sensitive parts are already in antistat tape packaging. Nowadays,
most parts are pretty well static hardened anyhow.

I liked this idea very much so I ran off to Staples got me a pack of 100 envelopes and I'll put them to use very soon. Thanks John.

I buy large A3 size metalized bags and cut them to the size I need.
Then I use a heat sealer to seal the two or three open edges. I
currently am paying about ten cents for them.

I see this could also come handy.

 

[P E Schoen]

"asdf" wrote in message

You can get pretty decent and cheap anti static ones on ebay. Just get a
100+ pack to save some bucks. I use them on all static sentitive stuff
(mainly cmos chips and mosfets) where using normal bags would be like
asking for troubles. Yes, those parts are sensitive: I fried a 2n7000 by
just touching it with bare hands a few months ago.

I also use those transparent Ikea stackable plastic boxes to contain
stuff that doesn't fit into small drawers (big parts, boards etc.).

Office adhesive labels then help marking box/bags contents and are easily
removable.

I also use coin envelopes, as well as little "pill bags" I get at the dollar
store in bags of 50 for $1. They have a writeable area for dosage and time,
but I print out labels (especially for kits), and I put the labels inside
the bags. Most of the parts are not static sensitive and those that are
usually are in their own anti-static bags, which I sometimes cut down for
small quantities.

I have some old card files which have an adjustable stop which can be used
to keep the bags upright and easy to arrange and find. I have also made some
cardboard dividers that help.

I use a parts numbering system which begins with a reference designator
"Q_", "U_", "R_", etc. Then I add the part number or value, and the last
item is the part decal "SO16", "0805", "TO220", etc. I use the same system
for my schematic and PCB library.

Paul

 

[Michael Black]

You can get pretty decent and cheap anti static ones on ebay. Just get a
100+ pack to save some bucks. I use them on all static sentitive stuff
(mainly cmos chips and mosfets) where using normal bags would be like
asking for troubles. Yes, those parts are sensitive: I fried a 2n7000 by
just touching it with bare hands a few months ago.

That's hardly a good example, since it is a MOSFET which were the devices
most sensitive. Their high input resistenace means there's nothing much
to dissipate any static voltage, and thus the verg high static voltage
hits them hard. I'm not sure if they have clamping diodes. The earliest
MOSFETs certainly sounded fussy, all kinds of schemes to ensure they
wouldn't be static damaged, but they didn't have the clamp diodes like the
later ones.

CMOS, at least after the earliest issues had passed, tend to have those
clamp diodes, offering some protection.

One is foolhardy to not do something to ensure CMOS and MOS devices are
protected from static.

Anyone who doesnt' have endless parts hasnt' been in the hobby for long.
The reality is, no one system works for everything. Try to keep the
'special parts" handy, and you end up having to sort through a lot to find
the specific special part. There'll be lots of things that don't work in
the same system as smaller parts, all those knobs and transformers.
Sometimes you accumulate too many of the same sort of part, I seem to have
stripepd endless crystal oscillators off scrap boards.

Michael