snafu.ca

I bought myself a birthday present, even more parts drawers. You can see the original ones (lower set on the left) as they’re a slightly different blue, but I decided what the hell, I’ll just buy the local distributor out of the last of their stock. There were a couple of casualties in shipping (mostly the really big drawers), but only had to toss one (and deal with cracks in one other).

After much sorting, labelling, divider gluing and generally going “what the heck should I call that”, I’ve emptied all my little flip top bins, and now have well over a 100 little drawers of awesomesauce (yes it’s a word, just added to the OED).

I’m sure I’m the only person that stresses about what kind of label (Avery 02209; removable) to use, or even what font (Source Code Pro, lower case). Have to say I’m glad I hunted for the right label. They’re the right size, and as they’re the removable style, easy to peel off if you make a mistake.

What does your parts cupboard look like?

Decided I would re-purpose some drawer units I had in the garage into the electronics storage. Quite a few things I own are too big for my existing method of flat storage boxes; especially some of the nuts/bolts/screws type items which I kept in the garage anyway.

So, I relocated the drawer units in from the garage and gave them all a good wash. It’s amazing how dusty/cobwebby (is that a word?) it is in the garage. 20+ yr old labels needed cleaning off, but they seem to come off with some soaking. Some of the drawers I’ll continue to use for their original purpose (small nuts/bolts/screws/standoffs/grommits), but there are a few things that just don’t fit in my flat boxes very well (heatshrink, feet, stuff like that) that I’ll transition over.

These [Integrated Plastics Add-a-Drawer] really are the best drawer units I’ve ever come across, and I’m still kicking myself for having given away a bunch of them to the local college when I moved 12 years ago; oh well. Apparently Tenaquip still sell them even though the original company that made them is long gone; maybe I’ll buy another unit to add to what I have already, for now I’ll just keep an eye on Craigslist/Kijiji in case someone is selling some. If anyone does have any and they’re interesting in giving them up, give me a buzz…