FAQ

General

Why would I want a database to keep track of my electronic parts?

There are probably as many methods of parts management as people doing it. Many people and hackerspaces don't have a database at all, they just have labeled drawers and put in spare parts. If some part isn't in stock, they order it. However, there are some disadvantages in doing so:

• You can't keep track of a minimum stock for commonly used parts.
• If you only have a small amount of different parts, you can probably find them easily. However, if your amount of different parts grow, you will spend more and more time looking for them - especially if you mix similar parts in one box (e.g. you have a box which contains unsorted resistors - you would need to pick up each of them and look at their color code to eventually find the one you need)
• If you are a hackerspace, your members most probably have many duplicate parts in enormous quantities (think of a 100kΩ resistor - if you have 10 members who are electronic activists, it can easily happen that you have 1000s of 100kΩ resistors overall. Of course, you could ask around for specific parts, but that only works if all members are attentand.
• If you order the parts when you need them, you have much waiting time until the package arrives. Of course, this is valid for special parts, but for common parts, this really sucks.

Okay, what are the benefits I gain using a part database?

• You can easily look up if you have a specific part available, including the quantities and where the item can be found
• You can search for similar parts, e.g. if you need a 220kΩ resistor, but only have a 270kΩ resistor available
• You can keep a minimum stock level for certain parts. For example, it's a good idea to have resistors of the E6 series (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preferred_number#E_series) in stock. If you re-order them, you would also always order them in large quantities due to the pricing. For example, in germany you can buy 100 resistors for 1.20 Eur where an individual resistor would cost 0.1 Eur or 0.03 Eur for 10.
• If you want to build a project, you can put parts into a shopping cart and then print out all parts and their required quantities you need, including their storage location. That makes it easy to find out if you have all required parts available, or if you need to order some of them.
• You aren't limited to electronic parts - at RaumZeitLabor, we are using the database to keep track of screws, bolts and other mechanical parts. We usually don't reorder them if they run out of stock, but that makes it easy to see if we have them - previously, or members decided to buy mechanical parts in the local DIY store no matter if we had them, because they were hard to find.
• Since the system is running on the web and supports user authentication, people can look from anywhere they are if parts are available.

Storage Locations

General advices on storage locations

In general, you will want to use storage locations where you don't waste much space - that applies also if you don't wish to use any software to manage your parts. Since if you have only 2 or 3 huge boxes and put everything into them, you'll be lost soon and PartKeepr can't help you much.

Sources for great boxes

Germany

We recommend the H1 or H2 boxes from Pollin - they are available with different subdivisions. We use the H1 boxes, because we need lots of them, and they are cheaper than the H2 boxes but have a bit less space).

An alternative would be a drawer box like this one or one.

The Shackspace has built a very nice system, take a look at the gallery.

Other locations

Feel free to add.

Storage Location Naming and Organizing

PartKeepr does not restrict how you name or organize your storage locations. However, there are a few hints which can make your life easier:

• Label your storage locations with a specific system. Use a prefix and numbers for them. For example, you can use Axxxx, where A is a specific kind of containers and xxxx a number for all boxes. You can see how we do this at RaumZeitLabor [here](http://raumzeitlabor.de/wiki/Datei:E_Ecke_158_Kisten.jpg)
• Avoid putting similar parts into the same box. This might sound strange, but the more "chaos" you have in a box, the easier it is to find parts. PartKeepr tells you in which box the part is in - so imagine you have a box which has 5 types of resistors; you would need to pick up each of them and read them. On the other hand, if you have a box which only has one resistor type, one pot type and some other parts, it's easy to identify which one you are looking for.
• Avoid labeling a box with their actual contents. If you do that, you will eventually skip the database for retrieving parts, and forget about updating the stock levels. However, printing an inlay for the box is OK, because the inlay will only be visible if you actually pick up the box, which will only happen if you looked up the box in the database.

Stock Levels

Help, my stock levels in the database don't match with the actual stock levels!

Over time, the database stock levels will differ from the actual stock levels - probably sooner as you'd expect. But on the other hand, an approximate stock level is better than no stock level at all.

If you update the stock levels every time you notice that they don't match, you gain a "self-healing" stock level. However, it would be a good idea to update the stock levels in certain intervals (maybe once or twice a year) - but this isn't necessary. The aim in using the system is not to be perfect or accurate, but to aid with parts management.

In hackerspaces, do I need to have someone responsible for the database?

You don't need to have one specific person responsible - but it helps if you do. The system is designed to be easy to work with. Users should always use the database to find parts, they are only one click away from updating the stock level.