In this video we're going to have a chat about the storage of electronics and
other bits. Make sure you stick around, and if you like what you see make sure
you hit subscribe below so you don't miss out on future videos.
Hi I'm Will from Will Surridge Tech, and today we're going to have a discussion
about the storage of my electronic components and other DIY things that I
have in the house. Now I wouldn't say I have the best storage solutions out
there, in fact the reason I'm choosing to do this video is because I realised over
the last few weeks how bad some of my storage is, but I'm doing it so you can
see how I store things and that might give you ideas as to how you might want
to store your things. Storage is such a personal thing. It
depends on how much you have, where you want to store it, and how often you need
to access it. This is just how I do it and it works for me. I've been doing
electronics projects for about 10 years now on and off and over that time I've
collected a lot of things from transistors, to resistors, from switches
to circuit boards, and up until my latest upgrade I was storing them in little
compartmentalised plastic boxes and a lot of overflowing IKEA Scubb boxes. Now
on a side note the Scubb boxes are great to act as dividers, if you have a Pelican
case, a Peli 1510 to be precise. They fit in there, they're only £6, and they
divide the space up really nicely. I have however just bought some component
storage drawers from Raaco, I've left a link in the description below if you
want to check them out. Now I thought, as I'm now doing a few more projects, I want
to stock up a little bit on my components - make sure I've got enough of things, and
I want it much more easy to access and organise so I can find things much more
quickly; hence the new investment. So I thought now they've arrived I'll give
you a little unboxing and review of them and let you know what I think out of the
box. It feels great, it's really sturdy. If you're going to get something like this,
make sure you get a steel version and not a plastic version as you'll notice a
severe lack of rigidity in a plastic equivalent. The drawers are plastic and
they've got a little catch on the back to stop them falling out all the way,
however I lent the unit forwards and all the drawers fell out all the way. So I've
decided to modify the unit a little bit. I'm going to turn it upside down. This
means when the drawers are in fully they sit behind the lip so can't move at all.
You have to lift them up sightly to pull them out. Some of the drawers don't quite
fit behind the for some reason, but it's okay because
they're angled slightly backwards because they're resting on the lip so
unless like it's fall out anyway. I test it by tilting it forward and they
didn't fall out at all. The drawers do have slots in them so you can add
dividers in each drawer but it didn't actually come with any dividers you can
buy them separately but for now I'm just going to leave the drawers whole. I
should have enough drawers for everything I need to do. This is a 40
drawer unit - it has 36 small drawers, three medium drawers, and then one full
width drawer at the top. I have to say it would have been nicer if there are a few
more medium-size drawers some of my components are quite big so you can't
fit many of them in a small drawer. With a lot of sorting out I can start
labelling. The drawers do have slots in the front of them for cardboard labels,
but for now I'm just going to use tape. I'm sure that my storage solution is
going to evolve over time so I want a bit of flexibility while I'm starting
out and getting used to where things belong. Anyway that's my component
storage - I'm going to keep one of my old plastic boxes for any miscellaneous
components and any circuit boards that I've already made but aren't currently
using, and then I've got another box for my soldering kit. If you want a really
cool solution for your component storage then check out from the FindyBot
3000. It's a really clever way of implementing LEDs and an SQL database so
you can use a voice assistant to tell you where your things are I don't quite
have enough products for this yet so I can't quite justify the cost, but it
would be really cool. I don't just want to talk about my electronic storage, so I'm
going to mention some other things - how I store my cables, my tools, my DIY fixings,
power supplies, all that kind of thing. Most of my tools I keep in my Peli case.
This is a Pelican 1510 - great case, really durable and waterproof, as I said before
I've got Ikea boxes to divide it up, I've also got a lid organiser to keep
some smaller things like knives and batteries. In here I've got things like: a
small hammer; some pliers; some wire cutters; a voltage indicator; an
interchangeable Wera screwdriver (which is great by the way);
some multimeters; and some knives; and some other little bits and pieces. Most
of the work I do is electrics based so I've got everything I need for that in
here. Storage is quite limited in this house so most of the rest of the storage
is under the bed or under the stairs. Under my bed I have two boxes. In one of
these boxes I have cables. I like to have pretty much any cable for any purpose.
I've got things like video, audio, data, power, you name it. In my other box I've
got miscellaneous fixings - random bits that are very specific to a specific product.
I also got a few cable drums in here and some other fixing bits. My last
storage is under the stairs - in here I keep a few of my bigger power tools, and
two Stanley Sortmaster boxes. I like these boxes because they've got
nice dividers, and you can clearly see what's missing and what you're running
though of in terms of stock. In one of my boxes I've got screws and hardware
fixings, like hinges and pins, and that kind of thing. And in the other box I've
got more electrical base things, things like crimped connectors, cable clips and
wagos. Anyway that's my storage. I'd be interested to know how you sort out your
components. Do you prefer using drawers or keeping your components in separate
little boxes? Let me know in the comments below. Make sure you hit subscribe to
find out more about my tech and how you can build yourself the ultimate smart
home!