Storage and Sorting LEGO

[kinggregus]

Over the week end, I have just finished sorting my Lego collection. I sorted most of it by color and by type. It was a 5 month process which I really enjoyed.

It was both calming and inspiring. I indeed really enjoyed imagining what my next MOC will be with a particular set of pieces. I also found amusing to remember from what sets a particular piece was coming from.

I will try to post pictures in the course of the week.

[Andy D]

Over the week end, I have just finished sorting my Lego collection. I sorted most of it by color and by type. It was a 5 month process which I really enjoyed.

It was both calming and inspiring. I indeed really enjoyed imagining what my next MOC will be with a particular set of pieces. I also found amusing to remember from what sets a particular piece was coming from.

I will try to post pictures in the course of the week.

Oh, congratulations! You mean finished for now... of course sorting LEGO is never really finished

I found some more sets that I needed to disassemble today, so...

This is what I got after 8 hours (thats’s 8 hours over three days) of presorting unsorted bricks and disassembling 5 assembled sets and presorting all those bricks.

I got 10 Glad entree food storage containers with various amounts of bricks, two 15 quart storage containers which contained 4.5 1 gallon freezer bags of bricks.

Now I figure it may take at least 3 hours per freezer bag to to a complete sort maybe 4 hours (or more) for the mixed sort bag (didn’t fit into a category).

I sorted by bricks, slopes, plates and misc which included minifig accessories, doors, door frames, hinges, special use plates, tiles and who knows what else???

Anyway does this milestone look familiar to anyone from your own sort and store process?

8 hours of presorting by MyPlasticBricks, on Flickr

Two 15 quart tubs by MyPlasticBricks, on Flickr

4 1/2 1 gallon freezer bags by MyPlasticBricks, on Flickr

Well as they say... Forever Sorting... It's "A Love Story"

Now to rest from sorting. I will sort again another day!

Andy D

Edited October 31, 2013 by Andy D

[Trent]

Does anybody have an idea on how many litres an average 'adult' set takes up?

I'm thinking of breaking up my modulars, Tower Bridge, Queen Anne's Revenge, all of my 80s Pirates collection, MMV, Joust, Lighthouse and all of the recent houses (e.g. Apple Tree House, Hillside House, Log Cabin etc).

I know they're all wildly different sizes, but does anyone know what sort of size box they'd each require?

I'm trying to decide between buying individual boxes (e.g. a 5 litre sandwich box) and putting a set loose in each, or putting all of the pieces into freezer bags and then lumping all of those bags into a huge box.

(I've always had my built Lego on display, but now I have so much all over the house and in the Lego room, I can't actually see any of the table to build on!)

Any insight would be really appreciated.

[torso]

Does anybody have an idea on how many litres an average 'adult' set takes up?

I'm thinking of breaking up my modulars, Tower Bridge, Queen Anne's Revenge, all of my 80s Pirates collection, MMV, Joust, Lighthouse and all of the recent houses (e.g. Apple Tree House, Hillside House, Log Cabin etc).

I disassembled the Tower Bridge into 3x2 L containers filled to slightly overflowing, and a small bag for the windows.

[Trent]

Fantastic - that's a huge help. :)

[Lego Otaku]

Home depot has this that seems great for sorting and storing lots of small pieces like technic pins and 1x1 plates but they are about $130 each. Anyone know of a similar storage system that isn't made of metal, readily available in USA, and costs a lot less?

[vestige81]

I use the stanley 25 compartment organizers. Right now they are 13 dollars on amazon. I really like them for my smaller parts.

[rriggs]

I have split my collection which is roughly 70,000 pieces into 260 categories. Pieces are split by type then by sub type then by colour. Smallest pieces are mixed colours. All pieces that are disassembled are boxed. Boxes all have lids. The majority (c.200) are food containers from the £1 shop where they sell 8 for £1. Larger boxes are supermarket own brand Tupperware type boxes. Finally there are two multicompartment boxes for trans pieces and for minifig accessories. All the boxes are out of direct sunlight.

I have a spreadsheet which is an index to the boxes so I can find the less common pieces. It all works very well - although sorting is a chore after disassembling large MOCs!

My built models stay fairly dust free by simply keeping the door to my LEGO room closed when I'm not in there.

Cheers

Rog

[Andy D]

I have split my collection which is roughly 70,000 pieces into 260 categories.

Cheers

Rog

260 categories! I have about as many pieces, but I may only have 10 - 20 categories. Even with a spreadsheet just thinking about 260 categories makes my head hurt.

I am glad you found a system that works for you, I hope mine works as well for me.

Andy D

[tomdobs55]

I have split my collection which is roughly 70,000 pieces into 260 categories. Pieces are split by type then by sub type then by colour. Smallest pieces are mixed colours. All pieces that are disassembled are boxed. Boxes all have lids. The majority (c.200) are food containers from the £1 shop where they sell 8 for £1. Larger boxes are supermarket own brand Tupperware type boxes. Finally there are two multicompartment boxes for trans pieces and for minifig accessories. All the boxes are out of direct sunlight.

I have a spreadsheet which is an index to the boxes so I can find the less common pieces. It all works very well - although sorting is a chore after disassembling large MOCs!

My built models stay fairly dust free by simply keeping the door to my LEGO room closed when I'm not in there.

Cheers

Rog

Do you have a picture of the spreadsheet at all that you could post? I've done one as well and I'd love to see yours.

[Andy D]

I was looking at my unassembled sets and my sorted and unsorted LEGO the other day and I just realized something very important. I may have aready outgrown my new studio and storage area / system. My unbuilt sets occupy about 35 cubic feet of space and most of my bins in my new cabinets are full. I still have one area left to organize. What am I going to do? (retoricle question)

Does anyone have any idea how many cubic feet of storage space about 150,000 assorted LEGO bricks and pieces will occupy?

I've either got to rethink my storage solution or start seling some sets, maybe both. Two years ago I never imagined I would be having this problem(?).

Andy D

Edited December 10, 2013 by Andy D

[naf]

I would say I have a moderately sized collection. According to brickset I have roughly 53,000 pieces. However, that includes my vintage 80's Lego that I keep separated by set in plastic bags, I don't use those pieces for moc'ing generally. I used these 3-drawer sterilite units, one drawer for each color - any brick or plate 2x2 or greater goes in. For colors I have fewer pieces of, like blue and red, I merge them into one drawer since the contrasting colors make it easy to find pieces even when mixed. http://www.neatlysmart.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=12483&gclid=COeBvJmsprsCFSISMwodbBoAWQ

I also have few of these smaller 3 drawer units: http://www.neatlysmart.com/catalog/item.aspx?sku=12702&gclid=CJr9r-SqprsCFYUWMgodFVUAzg

In these, I have a drawer of trans pieces, a drawer of round 1x1 studs, a drawer for all tiles, a drawer each for 1x1 and 1x2 plates, etc. I keep minifig accessories in a drawer as well.

While not the most organized, it's organized enough where I don't have too much trouble finding what I need. As my collection grows I can buy more units to further sort the pieces. As space is an issue right now, this system is great. I don't have a dedicated Lego room, so I can keep these in the closet and just pull them out whenever I want to build.

[TheLegoDr]

According to brickset, I have >120,000 pieces and I know my sorted allotment doesn't take up that much space. I wouldn't be able to guess the cubic feet area though. I have everything sorted by color, then a few smaller containers with pieces that I would tend to use more that would get lost with the larger pieces. And then I have a few boxes of random bricks that need to get sorted sometime.

Do you have yours sorted into too many categories maybe? Extra detail will add a lot of extra room being used.

[LegoPanda]

i am sorting it in tool drawers on my wall and some clear boxes, but the sorting will take forever with the little time i have, luckily vacation is almost there

[Lego Otaku]

re: sorting by colors: I wouldn't bother sorting them. I have (for example) many technic 1x4 bricks all in one compartment. No single color stand out, and if I needed a specific color it's fairly easy to find them in mess of 1x4 technic bricks. Just one compartment, about 200 total in 5 or 6 different colors.

The only time I'd sort them by color is if I have many hundred or thousands of one type in the same color. I have one compartment for 1x1 tiles that are mixed but you won't find trans-dark-blue in there because I have close to 10,000 of them in a separate compartment. With that many of one color, it can actually hinder my ability to search other colors so overly common color are given separate compartment to make the rest of the mixed color bin easier to look through.

I still have 400 pounds of mixed LEGO to deal with, spread across 8 large 10-gal totes. If the internet is mostly accurate and figuring average of 325 mixed random pieces per pound, the mixed lot I have is around 180k total, give or take a few thousand.

[Andy D]

Do you have yours sorted into too many categories maybe? Extra detail will add a lot of extra room being used.

Most of my storage is in Serelite 15 quart containers in plastic freezer bags. I try to put as many bags as possible in a container and I try to squeeze all the excess air out of the bags. I cannot see my storage for the parts taking much less space once the 35 cubic feet of sets are parted out.

I may have to reduce my purchases and convert my boxed sets storage area to parts storage. I have an enclosed space with room for 16 Serelite containers and I currently have 12 of 16 Serelite containers full. I have identified a space for 18 more containers, maybe that will keep me for awhile. I have plans to try to reduce my sets purchases to the modular of the year (1 or 2 copies), the Winter Village set, and maybe only 1 or 2 other sets and not too many duplicates.

I also need to build some shelves in my closet to store 10 or 12 built models so I will have space to rotate my display. I do not want a cluttered display. My feeling is that when too many special things are displayed, nothing is special, it just looks like clutter instead of a display and nothing will stand out. I already rotate my Halloween and Christmas displays. I start Halloween in early September. Put Halloween away in early to mid November and start Christmas which stays up until mid Janury. The rest of the year I just put out new things that I like. So 5 months out of he year I have seasonal displays and 7 months I have other displays. This means I have to store my seasonal displays. I need to store Halloween for 10 months and Christmas for 9 months. All this takes storage space. Right now Christmas takes up 5 Serelite bins and Halloween takes 3 Serelite bins. This storage space is seperate from the 16 bins of parts storage. Whew, I think the magnitude of my problem is apparent. I need more space, but my wife has already laid down the law! She said that I cannot spread into the guest room (also her sewing/hobby room).

Andy D

Edited December 11, 2013 by Andy D

[TheLegoDr]

During by color doesn't work for a lot of people, but it works for me. If I know I need a certain piece in a certain color I go straight to that spot. Plus if I can't find the pieces I need sometimes I may find another piece that can work OR I find other pieces I wasn't looking for, but can find a use for them. So I try not to stay too specific, but there are separate areas for pieces that I would need right away or if I have a lot of that one piece to avoid looking through multiple of one color just to find the other color I need.

My lego display is relegated to our large family room in the basement and our guest room. My wife didn't want it taking over the house either, so she basically picked the sets that could be displayed in the guest room. We then have books and other decór in there. But I agree too much on display takes away from the social stuff that you truly want out. I have a lot of sets built that are sitting in shelves in the basement, but I don't care to display them so I should just take them apart. I just happen to have a lot of shelves up.

[ShaydDeGrai]

Sorting by color doesn't work for a lot of people, but it works for me. (snip)

I have a pet theory (backed by a wholly unscientific handful of data points) that "sort by color" is a phase that comes and goes based on size of collection. From my own experience and that of others I've chatted with at Lego events, it seems like most people start with a sort by color mentality, but their collections are small and their MOCs aren't that ambitious.

Then they graduate to more complex MOCs requiring more and more bricks and they become "enlightened" - they re-sort everything by shape and function and often go off evangelizing the merits of "sort by shape" - some even offer snorts of derision on those "newbies" who haven't figured out what a "waste of time and space" sorting by color really is.

Then their collection reaches critical mass (symptoms include buying K boxes to get a case of just one particular type of part and/or buying multiples of kits like the Brandenburg gate (the sand green cheese wedge collection) the Taj Mahal (the white plate bulk collection) or Tower of Orthanc ( the "all things black" box)) and they realize that sort by shape works if you only have a few dozen of something but utterly fails when you're looking for a Maersk blue 1x2 in a 6 liter tub filled with a color-mixed stew of every 1x2 brick you own. All of a sudden, those "silly fools" who sorted things by color don't look so silly any more and the collection gets reorganized (again).

The exception to this cycle seems to be with Technic, where function almost always trumps color, but then, Technic tends to be drawn from a smaller palette to begin with. When color _does_ matter, Technic designers are usually rummaging through a bin with only 4 or 5 colors mixed together as opposed to standard bricks where you could easily have the same part in two dozen colors getting in your way while looking for the color you actually want.

In the end, the issue simply isn't black and white (no pun intended), you just have to find a sorting method that works for you such that spend more time building with your collection than looking for parts and maintaining your "organization". I think that's really a function of the size of your collection, the types of things you like to build, and the time and space you can devote to sorting and storing the bricks your _not_ using at the moment.

[Legogal]

Lots of great ideas floating around here. I like the one that says do whatever works for you. Shay nailed this on the head by describing above how your storing needs can change as your collection grows. What tends to work for a small collection usually does not cut it for a huge collection.

For me it is a combination of ziploc bags in many sizes and the Rubbermaid 13 gal Roughneck containers (very hard to find now). The first sort is by color. Then the next sort is by bricks, plates, slopes or anything else. These four groups go into separate ziploc bags of different sizes. Where there are a lot of misc parts in the anything else bag, those get sorted into smaller baggies. When I need a part in a specific color, this limits the chase to the bins of that color. Some of the rarer colors (pink, purple, etc.) are combined in one Roughneck, but everything is sorted by color into ziplocs.

For a few specialized parts in small quantities, I may mix colors. Ex: flagpoles, lightposts, flags, bicycles, etc., often with the same color in very small bags. If there are too few, they go in a snack or sandwich bag. All of my tiles are in one Roughneck sorted by color. And all of my son's old Technic pieces are in one or two Roughnecks because some of his sets are still built and the number of parts is manageable.

My minifigs are mostly taken apart and sorted by torso color in transparent Sterilite 1716 containers for 6.2 quarts/5.9 liters from Target. These are my favorite brand of medium sized containers because you can see what is in them, and they fit well in the Rubbermaid Roughnecks. Minifig heads are stored separately by sex and color. Sterilite makes a lot of smaller sized containers that are wonderful for expensive parts you don't want scratched up by moving around in ziplocs.

Ziplocs work well for parts because it is easy to place a lot of them on the table when you are building and you can quickly see what you have and don't have. And you can push the air out when sealing them saving lots of wasted space in a Rubbermaid Roughneck or Sterilite.

For larger parts and my Duplo collection, they tend to get built into stacks and placed directly in the Roughnecks. I bag the pieces that don't stack (vehicles, animals, etc.) The built sets such as the modulars, Architecture, and Friends are displayed on shelves. The only builds we permanently display are the Taj Mahal and my son's own MOC of Petronas Towers. He also has several aquariums containing LEGO and fish.

We now make a conscious effort to keep everything off our cherry dining table because it can't hold much weight and it looks terrible covered with anything but placemats. And I can no longer get away with LEGO containers all over the floor everywhere! The few extra boxed sets go high in the closet. All other boxes are discarded after new sets and their instructions are placed in ziploc bags.

In summary ziplocs, Sterilite containers, and Rubbermaid Roughnecks do the trick for most of our LEGO. It is so easy for LEGO to overrun your living spaces that a good storage system is a necessity, especially if you live with others who demand non-cluttered common rooms. Good luck as it takes much time and effort to create a storage system that works for you.

[DrJB]

Well ... here's my take on shape vs. color vs. function.

In my sorted/storage boxes, all parts are stored by function/shape. For example, I have one box with all technic suspension/steering elements, and each compartment holds parts such as shock absorbers, steering knuckles, F1 suspension arms ... etc. Others boxes are for e.g. lift-arms, gears, axles, pins, connectors. In general all colors are mixed together. If however for a specific part I have many gray an few mixed colors, I'd have two separate compartments, one for the large color count, other for mixed colors.

Another place were color sorting is useful, is actually 'pre-sorting' large mixed lots. We go through phases of building then disassembling and sorting at home. Because of the large amount of different parts, it's impossible to make piles for each type. I'd have the kids sort by color first, and then I do sort by function/size during a second pass. I find it much easier to focus on either shape or color when sorting. Keeping track of both is more 'work'.

Edited December 12, 2013 by DrJB

[Inzane]

and they realize that sort by shape works if you only have a few dozen of something but utterly fails when you're looking for a Maersk blue 1x2 in a 6 liter tub filled with a color-mixed stew of every 1x2 brick you own. All of a sudden, those "silly fools" who sorted things by color don't look so silly any more

Haha. Nice example.

But... I wager you'd still find that Maersk blue 1x2 brick faster in that multi-color 1x2 tub, than you would trying to find that same piece in a tub filled with nothing but "Maersk blue" bricks of various sizes (1x1, 1x3, 1x4, etc.).

I think it's a sound theory that your brain would perceive a color difference faster than a shape difference, all else being equal.

Edited December 12, 2013 by Inzane

[Andy D]

Like most of you I quickly found that the "sort by color" doesn't really do it for me. I sort by function first, then if there are enough of the same color I break it down by color. For example I have a bin of plates from 3x3 to 8 x16 sorted in zip lock bags by size, then if there is enough to warrent it, by color, but brocken down by size first. I have several other bins filled with bricks of different sizes, sorted similarly to the plates, first by size, then by color, each size in their own bag and a bin of slopes and a bin for doors and windows. I don't have a handle on minifigs yet, I just have them in their own bin. For smalls, I have them in Akron mills cabinets and Glad Entre size food storage containers, the food storage containers are stacked inside each other without lids to save space. So I have two stacks (about 10 high) of tiles, a couple of stacks 1x1 and 1x2 of various function. Some containers by mixed function, but constant by size.

I think my collection outgrew my available time to build and sort. Now I need to play catch-up on both building and sorting before it outgrows my available space. I do refuse to allow clutter to creep out of my cabinets and closet into my build and display space. I have too much time, effort and $$'s invested in the space to allow it to look cluttered.

Andy D

Edited December 12, 2013 by Andy D

[Inzane]

_{My biggest dilemma with space is the boxes. I've kept most of my set boxes, particularly for licensed themed sets (SW, Ferrari, etc.), unsure whether I'd ever want/need to sell some of them.}

_{I could regain so much more space in my "lego room" if I could just let go of some boxes.}

[ShaydDeGrai]

But... I wager you'd still find that Maersk blue 1x2 brick faster in that multi-color 1x2 tub, than you would trying to find that same piece in a tub filled with nothing but "Maersk blue" bricks of various sizes (1x1, 1x3, 1x4, etc.).

Actually, in my case, I'd be looking for the ZipLock snack bag of 1x2s inside the box of Maersk blue in the bookcase labelled "blues" on the wall for "cool" color tones - but that's just me, I can get a bit OCD with that stuff sometimes.

Personally, I rarely rely on just one level of sorting except with parts in colors so rare they all fit in one baggie - but even then, it's a two level sort once by "odd-ball accents" and once by color. Even my Technic, though not sorted by color, has three levels of sorting in the collection over-all: At the highest level the Technic (and technic-like (e.g. Bionicle)) parts are in a separate section, then they're broken out in to storage cases such that, for example, one box is just axles, then within each tray axles of various lengths are separated. I do the same thing for gears, lift arms, etc.

The question of baggies vs. trays/parts boxes is usually decided based on volume of parts involved. Storage trays can be a waste of space if the bins aren't really full so usually I only migrate a particular part to a parts box if I _KNOW_ I have a lot of them. For example, my user name is actually a good reflection of my collection, I have a LOT of shades of gray (Black, White, Dark Bley, Light Bley, Old light gray, etc.) so for me it's worth it to break those guys out into separate bins. For example I have a tray that is nothing but 1x2 modified plates in black (clips, half slopes, hinge bits, etc.) another tray is nothing but black inverted slopes, another is all light bley tile is every shape they make. Now if I sorted my ENTIRE collection to this level (by family, by color, by shape, each into a separate parts bin) the combined wasted space in all of the bins would more than fill my office beyond capacity. For a lot colors, like olive green, sorting into zip lock baggies is enough.

I think in the early days (well, not the _very_ early days, back then everything fit on one toy box and I never sorted anything) my first sorting methods were focused on trying to help me find the part I was looking for as easily as possible. As my collection grew, the the focus changed slightly; now I think my system is optimized for getting the parts I KNOW I don't need at the moment out of the way so I can focus on the ones I actually want. If I had to unpack my entire collection every time I built a MOC, I'd never finish one. I just don't have the room to open every case simultaneously, let alone lay out every baggie and parts bin in an orderly fashion. I've been known to Bricklink parts I know I own because it was easier than unpacking the closet...

I think it's a sound theory that your brain would perceive a color difference faster than a shape difference, all else being equal.

True, but I think it also depends on _how_ you work. For parts I use often and have a lot of, I don't bother looking at the piece, I keep my eyes on my model and find the pieces by touch (i.e. "1x2 plate with vertical clip at one end, 2nd row, 3rd bin from the left) You do this stuff long enough, your fingers start to do things you're used to relying on your eyes for. I'm sure I'm not the only one here who can tell (blind) a 1x3 brick from a 1x4 without counting the studs. Yes, we're very visual creatures and plucking a lone purple brick out of a sea of yellow is easy, but color can be tricky. Lighting conditions, context, reflectivity and personal perception can all confound the process. Earth Blue is a great color, but try picking it out of a bin of black of of identical shape by the yellow light of a lone incandescent bulb.

Any system is going to have strengths and failures. Despite my own OCD-ish-ness about sorting, I also keep a bin of throughly unsorted parts (technically waiting to be sorted but who am I kidding…) just because sometimes you need to play to get your creative juices flowing and all these wonderful schemes we come up with to help us be time or space efficient get in the way of just being inventive.

I gave up looking for a one-size-fits-all solution years ago, I'm not even sure I've managed to optimized the one-size-fits-me one yet, but I'm trying. What else can one do?

Edited December 12, 2013 by ShaydDeGrai

[antp]

But... I wager you'd still find that Maersk blue 1x2 brick faster in that multi-color 1x2 tub, than you would trying to find that same piece in a tub filled with nothing but "Maersk blue" bricks of various sizes (1x1, 1x3, 1x4, etc.).

I have some doubts.

See the white parts in the bottom-right of the picture?

http://antp.be/temp/lego/P1090981.jpg

There is one container for the 1x2, one for the 1x4, and the large one of the 1x6 and longer.

Similar case for the blue, red and yellow. I can't imagine finding a marsk-blue 1x2 in the middle of all these 1x1 rather than in one on the few small drawers containing all my maersk-blue parts mixed :D (visible at the top of the picture)

And if I have a whole tub of maersk-blue parts, I would split them by type like I did for white parts (and other common colors)

Edited December 12, 2013 by antp