We use drawers for a lot of stuff, but the specific drawers matter a lot. I've been reasonably happy with these:http://www.stack-on.com/categories/drawer-cabinets/products/165
Downside: The drawers aren't wide enough for standard resistors and diodes to sit transversely, so they have to be oriented front-to-back, which makes them too long to fit the divider in the middle, so you only get a single value per drawer. For most components it's perfectly OK, but for 2-lead passives, it's inefficient use of space. Upside: A single component per drawer makes labeling simpler.
Something like the Akro 19320 would also be good:http://www.akro-mils.com/Products/Industrial/Cabinet-Systems/Steel-Plastic-Frame-Parts-Cabinets/Steel-Storage-Cabinets.aspx
These have wider drawers, which can accommodate larger components even when subdivided. They're slightly deeper, so this means you pack more total components per unit of wall space, which turns out to be the important metric. However, multiple components per drawer makes labeling tricky, especially if you're sharing the workspace with people who aren't really good about putting things back where they go, so that may be a poor tradeoff.
If I had unlimited budget, I'd just line the room with Stanley Vidmar cabinets with the little in-drawer bins, and be done with it. :)
That's all for through-hole stuff. Haven't come up with a good scheme for SMT, though the little assortments that come in binder pages are pretty sweet:http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=0603+book&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=0603+resistor+book&_sacat=0
-Nate-
bownes  wrote:
>                 Oh, most knowledgeable hive mind,
> 
> What are people using for electronic parts storage?
> We are getting a fair number of regular donation of electronic components. However, short of going out and buying a ton of bins for small components, which is pretty expensive, I don't have a good solution for storing all of these individual components.
> 
> Ideas?
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