One for old and not so old component collectors.

[BrianAllen]

I just can't bear to throw away old components that I have replaced, so my question is, how do you store or display your old and maybe not so old components.

Any pics of how you have stored or displayed will be most welcome.

Brian

[crackle]

I store them in the round file under the bench.
Mike

[Wellington]

Originally Posted by BrianAllen

I just can't bear to throw away old components…

I sympathise, Brian. It seems a shame to bin something, however humble, that has survived for so long and 'feels' historical - even it was mass-produced and is now broken.

However, I resist the impulse to do hold onto these items and into the bin they go - otherwise I'd just have too much stuff. Even now, I've noticed a build-up of household clutter that is preventing me from finding a flat surface on which to do any jobs A clear-out is required soon (with the help of Marie Kondo)!

Plenty of previous posts on this forum about collecting behaviours, if you want to hear others experiences…

[Radio Wrangler]

Moved. Good suggestion, W. More people will see it here.

David

[BrianAllen]

Having only had an interest in vintage radio for just over a year, I haven't accumulated very much at all.

With what I do have, I would just like to make a small display area of components used past and present, just for comparison.

[BrianAllen]

Thanks for moving.

Brian

[Sideband]

Standard components like resistors, capacitors (especially the old waxy ones), burned out transformers and the like are just binned....no point in keeping leaky old capacitors and faulty resistors etc. The exception is when I decide to re-stuff old capacitors in which case the original outer is retained and a new component put inside. Some very old valves have also been retained for historical interest....one such is a pre-war Philips PM24M balloon type which has been replaced with a post-war version. It is 87 years old so I decided to display it since it had survived and worked until just a year ago when one of the heater elements failed.

[G6Tanuki]

If it's broken/failed/out-of-tolerance/doesn't-work I have no qualms at all about lobbing it into the bin and so rightfully consigning its uselessness to oblivion.

I just don't have the space, or the time, to store junk: would you keep burned-out light-bulb, shoes with holes in the soles, cracked plates, or moth-eaten clothes?

Junk is junk. Chuck it out! If you don't, the people who have to deal with your estate when you snuff it will surely do so, while muttering derogatory comments about your 'undiagnosed mental illness which reflected itself in hoarding behaviour' as they do so.

[Diabolical Artificer]

A nail blown trannys to the shelf in my workshop, the big ones anyway. Used to have the odd valve on the shelves but got fed up with them falling over. As others have said I bin most components but keep the odd cap for use in prototyping especially if they're an odd value. Come to think of I store old 1% resistors too and any big resistors, but most are deliberate pulls off old PCB's.

Andy.

[Electronpusher0]

Agreed about clearly faulty resistors and capacitors but I would offer anything more unusual on here first. I was gifted a box of junk a few weeks back, I did not want any of it but there was a quantity of old 405 TV knobs scattered in among it. I offered them on here and they went to new home.

One mans junk etc.


Peter

[BrianAllen]

I wasn't talking about hoarding loads of junk, just some examples to show family, friends, children, grandchildren, how we used to build radios in the past.

[radioman]

I keep them - and take pictures of them as well !
Useful to show folk what old components looked like plus how they've shrunk in size over the years.
For example, I gave a talk about capacitors to our local radio amateur group and was able to show them examples - this wouldn't have been as easy if I had binned all the old faulty ones... I was also able to demonstrate how to test a capacitor for leakage.
When I worked as an electronics tech. at a college, lecturers would often ask for old, damaged/faulty components for the students to see and test, so I had drawers full of duff transistors/IC's, caps etc.


Andy

[BrianAllen]

Thank you for your post Andy. This is what I was trying to say but obviously it wasn't clear in my initial post.

Maybe I shouldn't mention what I have seen being thrown away at our local recycling centres!!!

[ronbryan]

I keep removed parts and faulty components in those green Marks and Spencer's "Curiously Strong Mints" tins, one per set repaired, mostly labelled with the set name. They are then a good fit in shoe boxes, which will accommodate dozens. There are occasions when this is useful, particularly if an uncompleted set has been put on one side for a while, or as evidence, but mostly it is just a waste of space.

Ron

[David Simpson]

The larger Ferrero Rocher clear plastic boxes are ideal. Approx. 10" sq. & very robust. Sadly, one is forced to eat the contents to make way for components etc.
Really, only those wonderful components from the 1920's, with their plated terminals, are worth saving. Later BTS or banded resistors, waxies, hunts, dubilier capacitors - bin them.

Regards, David

[tritone]

Hello forum,

I have a humungus large box of vintage carbon composition resistors that all have drifted out of spec as they are old.

I was thinking maybe, I measure ones that I could use with my meter and re-paint the actual resistance color band codes with acrylic art paint?

They have all drifted up the way and out of spec, what do you reckon ?

Yes/No?

[Station X]

They'll carry on drifting. Often the resistance changes significantly as they warm up. I've been caught out by that when calculating current by applying Ohms Law to the voltage across a resistor.

[tritone]

Thank You Graham,

Not a good idea then.

To the city re-cycle depot they go, and hopefully I don't go into the dumpster with them !

Cheers !

[Sideband]

The only exception to keeping a failed transformer or something similar was if I was seeking a replacement and needed to check size, mounting etc. I have enough scrap chassis for most hardware. I certainly don't and never have kept duff resistors and capacitors....even for historical reasons. If they are duff, they are duff and serve no purpose....well that's my feeling anyway. Perhaps being in the trade for over 40 years is the reason but as Graham says, resistors will keep drifting in value, paper capacitors will get even more leaky so they are of no use.

[factory]

I've kept a few capacitors from a couple of completed projects, since my main interest has drifted towards vintage test equipment including those that measure LCR, those failed capacitors get used to find how well the various repaired equipment works.

Was it wrong to use the original capacitors from this LCR bridge to test it's own leakage function?


David