Similar to what has been discussed...won't let go of it until it is pried from my cold dead hand. ;<)
Recognizing that many saved items are never used and storage space has value, I try to keep what is 1) hard to impossible to replace, 2) useful in the near term and 3) expected to be used in the mid term future.
One of the harder things to accept is that I don't have the multiple lifetimes needed to do all the projects I want to...so I have to be realistic when keeping some items...I will never get around to the project.
I also note that some projects that were high priority in the past have fallen by the wayside.....and the equipment/materials for said projects is either repurposed or recycled.
Ironically computer equipment is the most recycled stuff while the basic nuts/bolt stuff like wire, metal chassis, power cords, etc. live long after the fact being reused in ongoing projects while the high tech gee whiz stuff is recycled.
Tools are almost never gotten rid of but rather kept until replaced by bigger and better tools ...if they exist...some of my tools are over a hundred years...where hand techniques allowed one to build anything via foundry work or sheet metal fabrication.
Test equipment also is almost never gotten rid of until replaced by the faster and better...faster oscilloscopes/logic analyzers with more memory...but again much of the analog equipment has its specific place on the bench.
I will note that the older test equipment has a very good performance/cost sweet spot that an experimenter can and should use to their advantage.
I don't toss anything. I still have my TRS-80 computer and General Instruments PIC databooks. But I'm sorely tempted to dispose of the orange (as in fruit, not the color) conveyor that's taking up precious floor space in my shop. I pity whomever inherits this stuff when I'm gone! I'm thinking maybe a Viking funeral: pile my corpse and all my stuff in the shop and set it ablaze. Problem solved!
Comments
Thanks for the responses so far.
Any more hints?
What's your procedure?
Similar to what has been discussed...won't let go of it until it is pried from my cold dead hand. ;<)
Recognizing that many saved items are never used and storage space has value, I try to keep what is 1) hard to impossible to replace, 2) useful in the near term and 3) expected to be used in the mid term future.
One of the harder things to accept is that I don't have the multiple lifetimes needed to do all the projects I want to...so I have to be realistic when keeping some items...I will never get around to the project.
I also note that some projects that were high priority in the past have fallen by the wayside.....and the equipment/materials for said projects is either repurposed or recycled.
Ironically computer equipment is the most recycled stuff while the basic nuts/bolt stuff like wire, metal chassis, power cords, etc. live long after the fact being reused in ongoing projects while the high tech gee whiz stuff is recycled.
Tools are almost never gotten rid of but rather kept until replaced by bigger and better tools ...if they exist...some of my tools are over a hundred years...where hand techniques allowed one to build anything via foundry work or sheet metal fabrication.
Test equipment also is almost never gotten rid of until replaced by the faster and better...faster oscilloscopes/logic analyzers with more memory...but again much of the analog equipment has its specific place on the bench.
I will note that the older test equipment has a very good performance/cost sweet spot that an experimenter can and should use to their advantage.
-Phil
Some may be of interest to colletors...
I donated all mine to a local center for battered women. They refurb and hand out for emergencies.