For small quantities of ICs (and everything else) I've got a wall of little drawer assemblies -- and I only put 1 IC type/drawer (no drawer subdivisions) so if I rearrange I don't have to relabel. I've still got lots of tubes -- I just label those and try and keep them all in the same place. And hope to hell my memory is better then it actually is. I've got 15 of those 6x10 (60) drawer sets mounted on a wall, with a few more sitting in front. The trick is to get in the habit of always putting the parts in drawers (and labelling!) when you get them. Not just piling them up. I also try and arrange by categories -- one drawer set for caps, one for resistors, one for SMT caps/resistors, etc. That of course is a wonderful plan. In reality, well, use big lettering on your labels so you can find things easier.. :) I use a sharpie and stick on mailing labels (which has the added bonus of peeling off if I change things.. After a while you find that you don't have too many duplicate drawers.. :) Kurt
Okay, we've all got ICs all over the place. How do you store/catergorize & organize your ICs?
I prefer to keep mine in tubes but then I've got 100s of tubes.
I use some of the small drawers for smaller quantities & smaller chips but once I set up a label for each drawer I find a need to change things (additons).
I've seen one tech work bench where he took the Wico catalog & lableled everything with drawer numbers. Handy but not intuiative.
Thanks, Kev