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Vintage Engr · 11th Jan 2022, 11:36 am

Sounds like a good idea, but like so many others, I have vast amounts of stuff collected over more that 60 years, so although I really fancy cataloguing it all, it would definitely take more than my projected lifespan!
I might just try doing the component drawers, but even that's a huge job.
I started off way back in the '60's with some of the Radiospares cardboard drawers, & then added the square plastic ones a little later. Everything started out being labelled, but then there was a change in the drawer interlocking dimensions, which meant I couldn't fit all the drawers together, so they got moved to a different place. What finally finished the 'tidiness exercise', was both a blessing & a curse..
The company I was working for took over another similar organisation. I was looking for more of the square plastic drawers, & a luck would have it, I was shown a huge wall-mounted section of exactly the type I needed. The only problem was, they were full of components, all semiconductors. They had been catalogued, each drawer just having a letter & number sequence. D= Diode Z= zener & etc. However we didn't have the catalogue listing, no problem, or so I thought.

I was told 'you can have them, as long as you take them now, & with all the components'.
I was absolutely amazed, I was just expecting empty drawers. The storeman said he would dismantle the lot & put it in the back of my car.

When I drove home that day, I really felt as though I could start a new system based on the one used with these drawers. It wasn't until I unloaded all the drawers (They had been kept upright, in sections with cardboard front & back) that I discovered the whole lot had been tipped over in the stores and all the components had fallen out. Thus each drawer contained a lucky-dip assortment. That was over 20 years ago. I've labelled some drawers, as I discover each item.
They're now on my workshop wall, a conundrum waiting to be sorted.

I'm thinking of giving the job to one of my grandchildren, I think they could do a better job than I.

David.

11th Jan 2022, 11:36 am	#17
Vintage Engr Heptode Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK. Posts: 843	Re: Parts database program Sounds like a good idea, but like so many others, I have vast amounts of stuff collected over more that 60 years, so although I really fancy cataloguing it all, it would definitely take more than my projected lifespan! I might just try doing the component drawers, but even that's a huge job. I started off way back in the '60's with some of the Radiospares cardboard drawers, & then added the square plastic ones a little later. Everything started out being labelled, but then there was a change in the drawer interlocking dimensions, which meant I couldn't fit all the drawers together, so they got moved to a different place. What finally finished the 'tidiness exercise', was both a blessing & a curse.. The company I was working for took over another similar organisation. I was looking for more of the square plastic drawers, & a luck would have it, I was shown a huge wall-mounted section of exactly the type I needed. The only problem was, they were full of components, all semiconductors. They had been catalogued, each drawer just having a letter & number sequence. D= Diode Z= zener & etc. However we didn't have the catalogue listing, no problem, or so I thought. I was told 'you can have them, as long as you take them now, & with all the components'. I was absolutely amazed, I was just expecting empty drawers. The storeman said he would dismantle the lot & put it in the back of my car. When I drove home that day, I really felt as though I could start a new system based on the one used with these drawers. It wasn't until I unloaded all the drawers (They had been kept upright, in sections with cardboard front & back) that I discovered the whole lot had been tipped over in the stores and all the components had fallen out. Thus each drawer contained a lucky-dip assortment. That was over 20 years ago. I've labelled some drawers, as I discover each item. They're now on my workshop wall, a conundrum waiting to be sorted. I'm thinking of giving the job to one of my grandchildren, I think they could do a better job than I. David.