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Parts Boneyard

June 7, 2008 By Jason Kolb 13 Comments

I was looking for a CAT5 cable today and I had to scavenge the Parts Boneyard.  It was spread across several boxes which had turned into several solid balls of cable.  So I decided to dump everything on the floor and start working the knots apart.  Now I have this massive pile of parts–cables of all kinds, adapters, mice, goggles, headphones, etc, that I don’t know what to do with. 

Absurd

I have so many different adapters I could probably hook my iPod up to my garden hose.  I don’t even know what some of this stuff is, to be honest.  What is this thing?

What_is_this

It’s not a mouse, all it has is a single button and an LED.  I have no clue what it is.

Many of the things, like the 3D goggles I found that I forgot I had, I plan to experiment with at some point, so I don’t want to get rid of them.

Its_a_jungle

I can’t be the only geek out there with this problem.  I’m too lazy to hock all of this stuff on eBay, and I actually like having one of everything so I’m not stopped in my tracks when I’m trying to put something together.  I would actually like to figure out a way to find something when I’m looking for it.

I have a closet I can store this stuff in, but if I just throw everything in a box it’s incredibly hard to find anything.  That’s why I have 2 or 3 USB hubs :)

How do other people handle this type of problem?  I realize this is a deeply geeky problem to have :)   If the only solution is to twistie everything I suppose I will do, but there must be a better solution.

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Filed Under: Random Thoughts
  • http://craigoverend.com/ Craig Overend

    I have clear containers for pile types. Best I've come up with.

    Second pic: Looks like a garage door opener?

    Third pic: Love the shot of the army man fighting his way through the battlefield. :)

  • http://www.xmlgrrl.com/blog Eve M.

    Here's what I've begun doing (too late — we still have boxes full of tangled who-knows-what…). Everytime I buy something that comes with cables or other doodads I won't immediately be deploying, I put it in a zip-lock bag with a description of what it is. The description goes on the "back" side of post-it notes that I stick on the inside of the bag. I always have at least three sizes of zip-lock bags around – gallon freezer bags can take a lot of abuse from large unwieldy items, and snack-size bags are good for screws, PDA styli, etc.

    I suppose the next step would be keeping a manifest of all these items and storing them by category, but life's too short. :-)

  • http://blog.triplescape.com Brian Manley

    What about hanging the cables like ties on a tie-rack. Or just over a closet rod in the garage?

  • JH

    Ziploc bags, one per cable or gadget/cable/dongle combination. Write what it is on the front with a sharpie. Pile bags in a box.

  • http://www.fridgebuzz.com Vanessa Williams

    I know the problem well. to *prevent* (not solve after the fact) the "what is this thing?" dilemna, when I buy new hardware or software which comes with some dongly thing or another, I put the manuals and all the spare bits in a ziploc freezer bag. I keep plastic storage containers full of these, neatly stacked vertically. (You could get fancy and use hanging file folders–I'm too lazy.)

    As for everything else, pretty much the same deal: all USB cables in this ziploc bag, all SCSI cables (yeah, way too many of them) in this baggy, etc. Then put all computer cable baggies in one plastic storage container, all audio cables and gadgets in another, video in another, and so on. Drop the whole lot in the storage locker and forget about it (until you need something.)

    Hth.

  • http://blogs.sun.com/kevin Kevin

    Second the cables in ziploc baggies idea. They *really* help track of things and keep them from getting tangled.

  • John Russell

    Zip lock bags are for sissies. I get a new 5 gallon igloo cooler each time I buy a new USB key or similarly geeky trinket. I write up a 10 page synopsis of what it is, why I bought it, and the geopolitical state of the world at the time and put it in the cooler with the gadgets associated documentation. I then bury the cooler somewhere in my backyard picking a distance from my house that is relevant to me at the time so I'll be sure to remember it later (Today I ate woke up at 6:37. 37 paces from back portch… dig… cover… problem sovled).

    The system has never failed me as far as I know.

  • Mike Berrow

    Ziploc bags are good to avoid tangles, but I've taken to writing what the thing is on some masking tape and attaching that to the cable of it (stick excess length together) or on the thing itself if it's big enough.

  • rick
  • thrax

    I call mine the Big Ball o' Wires.

  • Mark

    I tried the ziplock approach, but then I hit on the solution, and now I am happy: I just chucked all the crap in the trash can.

  • http://www.chriscrosby.net Chris Crosby

    Dude, just went through this at my house and I was threatened that everything from hither forward needs to be "wireless" :-)

    Can you say Cisco eScrap bin?

  • http://drewthaler.blogspot.com/ Drew Thaler

    Come up with general categories. (Power. Ethernet. USB. A/V. and so on…) Put them in containers of some sort, put the containers away, and that will take care of at least half of your problem.

    Now take a look at the rest of the junk. Start by throwing most of it away. :-) Then take a new container, label it "Miscellaneous", and shovel the remaining stuff in. Here you've got a choice. (1) You could give in and file it with the other containers. (2) But if you can really be honest with yourself, throw this stuff away too. You know you'll never really get around to needing any of that crap.