HumanPackMule Posted June 19, 2010 Posted June 19, 2010 Should I keep the boxes from sets, or should I throw them out? I've seen pictures of other people's Lego setups and many keep the boxes. Quote
Follows Closely Posted June 20, 2010 Posted June 20, 2010 I collapse one box for each set and store in the attic. If you have the space, why not? Quote
Plastic Nurak Posted June 22, 2010 Posted June 22, 2010 (edited) I've tried a kind of vintage pieces storage : What do you think ? What do you remember ? Edited June 22, 2010 by Plastic Nurak Quote
Peppermint_M Posted June 25, 2010 Posted June 25, 2010 I am in sorting hell. I started sorting when I can, and it is taking a long long time. I am going to go for ziplock bags in larger boxes for "big" parts like bricks and slopes. Then screw sorters/DIY draws for the "fiddly" bits. My minifigs are mostly sorted, but I am going to get some more Ikea PLAS boxes to further subdevide the types. I am 80% through with my earlier sorted by colour parts, but the big box is still full... I am not buying more lego or MOCing until all is sorted, thus I have to do it Quote
Legononymous Posted June 25, 2010 Posted June 25, 2010 They aren't real good for storage but I started buying the actual LEGO storage containers. I paid $6.07 and they came with a free base plate. So That I felt was worth it. Plus they have either a minifig head on the front or a scene. Quote
Follows Closely Posted June 25, 2010 Posted June 25, 2010 (edited) I am in sorting hell... ...I am not buying more lego or MOCing until all is sorted, thus I have to do it Good for you! I have four 3'X3'X2.5' boxes full of garage sale finds to sort thought. I need only 20-30 hours and some more 3 Drawer Clearview Storage Units. I have around 20 storage units now, I have room for another 20, then I need to stop buying LEGO! I very much like the 3 Drawer Clearview Storage Units. They are transparent enough to see the LEOG, they cloudy enough to not scratch or show dirt. The drawers also come out easily without tipping the drawers and spilling blocks. EDIT: I need intervention, I just bought more. Edited June 25, 2010 by Follows Closely Quote
Peppermint_M Posted June 25, 2010 Posted June 25, 2010 I am half way through sorting by sort (slope, brick, plate etc) once that is done, each of the "sort" boxes will be sorted by type. I realised I was 50% done when I filled my sorting box (The large shallow Samla box from IKEA) sorted every single part, then filled it a second time... I have my work cut out, but it took under a week to sort the first lot, so I should be done with stage one in another week. Quote
Asterios Posted June 25, 2010 Posted June 25, 2010 well should be moving into my new house in a couple of weeks will take a pic of my new LEGO room before and after my storage system is up. Quote
Peppermint_M Posted July 4, 2010 Posted July 4, 2010 I am nearing the end of this sorting! I have to finish sorting slopes, plates and random small/odd parts. However I do need to buy more ziplock bags and screw sorters. I ran out my count stands at 50 "small" size 40 mid sized and about 6 large ones. I will re-supply and soon finish! Quote
Lego_Hero Posted July 5, 2010 Posted July 5, 2010 Well, I've been a sorting fool these past few weeks! Outside of about fifteen Bionicle figs, I have taken apart and sorted ALL of my sets and loose pieces. It was a chore (that I really enjoyed), but nothing compared to what I'm hearing in this thread. I have one three-drawer standup (roughly the shape of a half-sized file cabinet) and three "stackable" cabinets, each with assorted small and large drawers. I also have two hobby boxes (like small tackle boxes) that contain minifig accessories and body parts. My whole minifigs are stored in a three-drawer box about one foot wide and 1 1/2 feet deep (each drawer containing a faction in my Protectors Universe). I have a question about storage. Is it okay to store lego brick put together (as in all of my 2x4 thick bricks stuck together)? They take up less space than if they are piled loose, but I'm sure I heard somewhere that it could cause the brick to fit loosely over time. Is that true? Quote
Raphy Posted July 9, 2010 Posted July 9, 2010 Big plastic transparent bin and a couple of other smaller boxes. Sorting is for wussies. ;) Quote
Follows Closely Posted July 20, 2010 Posted July 20, 2010 It has been one year since I got my LEGO out of storage. As you can see we, the kids and I, have sorted and used plastic drawers. Our strategy is still evolving but we started by sorting by color. We are now moving to sorting by piece where it makes since. 1x1, 1x2-1x4 tiles are all mixed in one drawer, all colors. The 1x6-1x8 tiles are also in one drawer. Same goes for plates, all the 1x1-1x4 are mixed and the 1x6 and larger are in another drawer. I have plans to build some shelving to hold all the plastic storage bins. Hopefully I can get to that this summer. As you can see on the bottom, my kids love building towns, and I love bragging about them. And yes, they are clouds above the green high rise. Quote
Adam the Ant Posted July 21, 2010 Posted July 21, 2010 So after being a complete newb and posting a whole new topic I'm now posting in the correct place. So the idea originally was to buy quite a few of these and some larger containers for bricks and large plates. But then I spotted THIS so I guess need to go out to actually see some of these items, so I get an idea of what I need, but I will look through this thread and see if there is anything better. Quote
Follows Closely Posted July 21, 2010 Posted July 21, 2010 So after being a complete newb and posting a whole new topic I'm now posting in the correct place. So the idea originally was to buy quite a few of these and some larger containers for bricks and large plates. But then I spotted THIS so I guess need to go out to actually see some of these items, so I get an idea of what I need, but I will look through this thread and see if there is anything better. I have around 200K bricks. I have little need for the above two containers you posted. I have a couple to hold minifig items, and technic pins, other than that they are just too small and cumbersome. They may work for smaller collections, but either way, those containers will not scale as your collection grows. Quote
Adam the Ant Posted July 21, 2010 Posted July 21, 2010 I have around 200K bricks. I have little need for the above two containers you posted. I have a couple to hold minifig items, and technic pins, other than that they are just too small and cumbersome. They may work for smaller collections, but either way, those containers will not scale as your collection grows. What sort of size would you recommend? At the moment I guess I have around 30-35k pieces, but I don't have a lot of space for storage. Quote
Aanchir Posted July 21, 2010 Posted July 21, 2010 My family uses storage containers similar to these. Parts are sorted by shape, but for parts that take up very little space (for instance, exhaust pipes, which we don't have too many of, or certain types of minifig accessories, which are very small), we put dividers in the drawers so there's more than one shape in each drawer. For parts that take up a lot of space (basic bricks), we use the bigger drawers and split them up by color (one drawer has red/gray/blue 1x1 bricks, another has yellow and black 1x1 bricks, and another has white and all the colors which we have fewer of). To make the pieces fit better in the drawers, we stack them whenever possible. For our 1x1 plates, for instance, the small drawers we have can fit four layers of six stacks each, using stacks that are around 13 bricks tall. For the 1x1 bricks, the large drawers fit around six layers of thirteen stacks each (again, 13 bricks to a stack). For a lot of bricks, like 2x4 bricks, we have way more than would ever fit in the drawers (and they're large parts to begin with). So for those, we put any "overflow" in large, rectangular plastic storage tubs which we keep underneath our building table. We used to use plastic storage tubs for all our parts, sorted by color, but the stirring-to-find-the-piece-you-need was bothersome to say the least. So now the tubs are used only to store "overflow" of extremely common bricks, as well as awkwardly-shaped pieces like windshields. Until recently we also used the tubs for storing instructions-- BAD IDEA. The instructions got ripped often, and again "digging" was a problem. The instructions are now in file folders, sorted by theme (for BIONICLE, the theme my brothers and I have been collecting most thoroughly for the longest time, there are three or four different folders with a few years of sets in each one). Quote
Adam the Ant Posted July 21, 2010 Posted July 21, 2010 Well I'm off out tomorrow to look around the DIY stores, hopefully it should give me some idea of what I need Quote
Follows Closely Posted July 22, 2010 Posted July 22, 2010 What sort of size would you recommend? At the moment I guess I have around 30-35k pieces, but I don't have a lot of space for storage. I have found this to be the perfect size for out needs. If you have limited space you will find that too many of these will complicate things. I have a few for technic and people accessories, but other than that I try to keep parts in the plastic drawers with baggies to separate smaller parts where necessary. Quote
benhead Posted July 28, 2010 Posted July 28, 2010 Well when I was younger they were all thrown in one big rubbermaid under-the-bed storage box,after years of spending days trying to get one model finished I had enough and tried using different size boxes at first but boxes like to get knocked over,crushed,take up too much space when layed out.4 years ago I started using the rubbermaid 3 drawer plastic dressers.They are cheap and can be stacked up. The top drawer has mostly technic parts since I don`t have alot of them left after building. The middle drawer is tiny pieces and special elements,alot of the one of a kind pieces go here. The bottom drawer is filled with bricks only. It was this way untill the last couple years when I started buying alot of the newer sets and hit the 1 million lego pieces mark!Now organization is dead,sorting I don`t even know where to start!Ended up just buying a 50 gallon rubbermaid(bathtub) and just started putting in whole sets with the loose stuff!The lid is on and covered with space police 3,a few bionicle vehicles(that huge red ship that shoots the plastic marbles)and the blue bionicle space ship(no not the ugly green one). Recently purchased 2 5ft by 3ft folding tables that are covered in lego sets and moc`s!Built a shelf under the window to hold a few more sets and creations. When I can no longer get in this room I`ll probably get around to sorting again. Quote
EpicXDFail Posted July 30, 2010 Posted July 30, 2010 I have a weird question - is there anybody who was crazy enough to keep inventory of the pieces they have? Quote
Marckeyh Posted July 30, 2010 Posted July 30, 2010 I have a weird question - is there anybody who was crazy enough to keep inventory of the pieces they have? Probably just people who sell their pieces on bricklink :) Quote
Walter Kovacs Posted July 30, 2010 Posted July 30, 2010 I have a weird question - is there anybody who was crazy enough to keep inventory of the pieces they have? I keep a very accurate accounting of my collection in an Excel spreadsheet (Access is better suited, but I don't own or have access to the program). I've even split it up into pieces that are part of official sets and general MOCing parts. Right now I am trying to associate an average BL price to every part in the table. This is a very slow process, so I'm not even close to finishing it yet. You might be wondering why. Well, I do all of my MOCing as a MLCad model first, and I don't bother to check whether I have the actual piece (or the correct color) when designing. So when I'm done, I can generate a parts list, drop it into my spreadsheet, do a little Exel magic and poof: It will tell me how many pieces I already own, how many I am going to have to steal from my system sets and, when I get my price info added, about how much it is going to cost me to buy the missing parts off of BL. Quote
Ogre Posted August 1, 2010 Posted August 1, 2010 I keep a very accurate accounting of my collection in an Excel spreadsheet (Access is better suited, but I don't own or have access to the program). I've even split it up into pieces that are part of official sets and general MOCing parts. Right now I am trying to associate an average BL price to every part in the table. This is a very slow process, so I'm not even close to finishing it yet. You might be wondering why. Well, I do all of my MOCing as a MLCad model first, and I don't bother to check whether I have the actual piece (or the correct color) when designing. So when I'm done, I can generate a parts list, drop it into my spreadsheet, do a little Exel magic and poof: It will tell me how many pieces I already own, how many I am going to have to steal from my system sets and, when I get my price info added, about how much it is going to cost me to buy the missing parts off of BL. Yanno, I know folks who would PAY to be that organized! LOL Seriously...sounds like a lot of work but, it also sounds pretty freakin' awesome! Quote
mdoupe Posted August 2, 2010 Posted August 2, 2010 I've just recently come out of my dark age and luckily my parents kept all my Lego, so I had a nice start! All of my bricks were sorted into margarine dishes and shoe boxes but they were all pretty bent and battered. I got some clear plastic containers about the size of a shoebox from the dollar store and they stack very nicely, even when there's stuff in them. For now my collection needs to be semi-mobile, as we're in an apartment and my fiance uses the living room for work purposes once or twice per week. All of the boxes stack up well with each other into a large cardboard box that gets hidden away. Soon we will have a house, and I will have a basement to do what I want with! Here are a couple pics. The first is where I do my building. it's not the most efficient, and I've dropped a few pieces that are probably under the couch now. :) The second spreads straight out from my computer desk, so that I'm no more than a few steps away from any given part. Quote
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