Ask HN: How do you organize your electronic components?

For though-hole components which I use with my breadboard and for small bolts, nuts and washers I have glued together a few dozen matchboxes and inscribed them with component description. For SMD resistors/capacitors I use an organizer box. Components within a certain range go into the same compartment together. For example, I have three compartments for resistors: ≤1k, 1k..≤10k, >10k. SMD ICs are all in one box, each type in its own plastic bag, inscribed.

I also have a registry of everything I have. When I buy or use something, I update the registry.

My friend Jim's been fixing stuff since the 1950s. He's got a lot of boxes for specific Radio types, etc... a few "Collins" boxes, etc.

For fixing IFR stuff[1,2], he's got a few dedicated under the desk roll out clear plastic drawers with all the spares, etc.

All the Tubes are in boxes in trays in the closet, in random order.

Resistors, are sorted, in drawers by value, clearly marked.

Capacitors are separated by type and voltage. He's got a few boxes of 450 volt electrolytics for all the tube gear.

All the semiconductors are in a few drawers with the IFR parts.

Then there's the shelving with parts radios, etc.

[1] https://www.bytecollector.com/ifr1200s.htm

[2] https://jmtest.com/i/ifr-refurbished-am-fm-500-500a/

Looks nice but requires a LOT of printer time.

I working in electronics 20 years, and all I see are some sort of cash box for coins.

Could be different size, or some non-standard shape, but idea of cash box is in all cases.

Very big components packed in transparent plastic bag, each have qr-code and id of component placed in database in some ERP system.

Sortimo T-Boxx (or similar). I have rack with a stack of 12 of them labeled by component type.

The nice things about these is that you can see what is inside them before you have to open them.

I love to grab a few of them (eg: 'Soldering', 'MCU's', 'Resistors'), bring them to my workbench and start doing stuff while the components stay neatly sorted within the organizer instead of spreading around my bench. When done, close the lid, shove them back in the rack and I'm done.