Recommended Posts

Okay, so I got my Raaco 250 storage drawers, but the drawers, while they remain in the closet itself, flop to a 15 degree angle when they open, which makes them impractical for usage. I'm planning to return them, but does anyone know whether the Raaco 150 or the Akro-Mills lines have this design flaw?

Edited by DraikNova

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Okay, so I got my Raaco 250 storage drawers, but the drawers, while they remain in the closet itself, flop to a 15 degree angle when they open, which makes them impractical for usage. I'm planning to return them, but does anyone know whether the Raaco 150 or the Akro-Mills lines have this design flaw?

I use the Akro-Mills cabinets. I am not sure this is a design flaw. The Akro-Mills drawers also "flop" to an angle (I did not measure, but is probably at least 15 degrees). I typically only have one drawer open at a time, so it doesn't bother me. I usually just remove the drawer I am using to better access the parts.

So yes, the Akro-Mills drawers also do as you said (not sure I would say flop), but they do not just maintain a level aspect when open.

IHTH

Andy D

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Mostly it's just that I fear that pieces will fall out when I open the drawer. I'm going to have to test this first though with a full drawer.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When I take apart sets, I usually put them in zipclose bags, after counting every part of them, and write the set number on it, then put in a box.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You know those Lego base pieces?

Those containers they come in?

.. Yeah.

But these days i'm getting more and more huge sets, I either need more base containers (sort by color) or use actual drawers, but I can't see myself using those.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Sorting bricks is deep problem that not only AFOLs face. Libraries and the Tree Of Life require an organizational structure. I got fascinated by the topic on how we organize our environment and ended up writing a book about it: The Ideal Order. The book walks you through the whole procedure. I hope you find it useful.

lego-pattern-single-432-648.png

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

When I came out of my dark ages and took all my Lego out of the attic, I first started using those Sterilite drawers. Now about a year later, I noticed that they are not nearly as sturdy or durable as I would like. I currently use them to hold my bulk Lego bricks, but I have other plans for them later on. I'll post pictures when I redo that area. I was using smaller drawers to store my plates; for example, drawer 1 held all my 1x2 plates, drawer 2 held all my 1x4 plates, etc etc - not organized by color, which I learned was a terrible mistake as I began MOCing. So now I'm slowly beginning to organize all my plates into fishing tackle boxes, BY COLOR :). As you can see in the below picture, my goal is to build up to having one full section each devoted to a single color. I plan on doing the same for smaller parts like the 1x1 cheese slopes. I think the brand name of this box is Flambeau, found at Walmart in the fishing section. I also have a Plano box of similar size. Both brands work well, I just find the latches on the Flambeau boxes much easier to open and close. I feel like I'm going to rip my fingernails off with the Plano. I love these boxes because of the dividers.

6f2fe2e1-adae-4aff-b6cf-759349989831.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Until I come up with a final solution, I've moved to extremely inexpensive sandwich bags of various sizes. I then throw related bags into boxes. Once everything is sorted in a working system, I'll find something more permanent. This way I don't get locked into anything.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Organized by piece type into inexpensive Ziploc bags, which are then thrown in buckets. Maybe some day I'll split up the pieces according to color as well, but till then I'm too lazy and content with the way things are.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Something like that, yes. I don't think I can get these in The Netherlands, alas.

Ikea has nice containers that stack and come in 2 sizes. I use a few of those.

Then there are stores like Marskramer or Action that sell hard plastic but still a bit flexible seethrough boxes, about 20-25 cm long. Ideal for bigger lots

Then there are also the chinese takeaway boxes that you can buy at Makro (maybe Sligro), which are on the small side but still easy to use.

Praxis or any other diy store has those tacklebox like containers.

Good luck!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My technic is sorted by

Beams and bricks

Small pieces such as connectors

Bushes and pins

Axels

Rc and battery boxes,

And old motors/wind up motors

Way to much space needed to do by size and colour

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Right now I only have a handful of sets so when I take them down I plan on storing each set in a large labeled ziploc bag. Miscellaneous bricks will go into storage bins, and once my collection grows they may be sorted by part and/or color.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My ideal solution would be a combination of the wide, stackable sterilite drawers & those tackle boxes with the removable dividers. Basically like giant tackle boxes that slide in and out just like the sterilite drawers do (but with no annoying lid to remove). I have tried putting sub-containers in the sterilite drawers but i havent found any brands that fit very well.

Edited by yg33

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

OMG!!! some of the guys have problems (OCD and legomania) :wacko:. I really think sorting and storage take up more time than building. Having read through all 52 pages there are some amazing ideas out there, from storage solutions to lego rooms. I think for me personally, I will keep sets together in a medium sized plastic container with the instructions and several smaller boxes for the smaller bits inside. and storage drawers for the loose stuff organised some how. Need to clear out a room yet, but have a rough idea on how this will work.

Thank you guys for the ideas you have, it makes it easier for the rest of us :sweet:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Like most of the people here I’m having serious problems/doubts in Sorting Lego.

I've been reading this post for some days and there are really incredible ideas, amazing Lego rooms and stunning Lego collections.

For someone who have tree children, sort Lego does not make much sense mostly for my young builders. But when its necessary to find "that peculiar part" they realize how important is that task. Mostly because patience in small heads doesn't last more than one minute.

My collection its far away from some I’ve saw here but is around 32,000 bricks. I believe the best way to keep Lego stored is to keep it assembled and shown, but at the other way the more you build the more you buy.

But when its necessary to find "that peculiar part" they realize how important is that task. Mostly because patience in small heads doesn't last more than one minute.

Speaking by myself, and since i work with AutoCad everyday i don’t work with any Lego Designer Program. I just start building some project saved in my mind (missing a lot of times the beautiful undo command) picking up bricks in a kind of aleatory way so bricks I’ll need are not previously separated. So for me it’s very important the storage and I believe that if I get an efficient storage method I will spend more time building and less time sorting and preparing my building place.

MY STORAGE AREA

At this moment I have a typical amount of sorting boxes from Leroy Merlin and Ikea, packed in a nice peace of old furniture with a very high WAF, in my Livingroom.

MY DISPLAYNG AREA

Ikea shelves on the hall so every time I’m walking around I can appreciate our buildings.

MY BUILDING AREA

Livingroom table.

My big problem is that to start building I must to clear the table, take out the boxes put a great part of them in the table what leaves me less space to build…

To keep things organized at home (or when we have some family dinner or lunch must to put everything on its place to get the table free.

As you all can imagine with so many tasks to do before and after playing sometimes Lego just stay on is boxes and the hobby a kind of prisoner of himself.

My intention its to design a compact workbench combined with folded cabinets with drawers, some kind of furniture that once its closed it keeps everything out of view but when you open you can start building in a minute. Book dedicated shelves and also I’ll try to keep the big boxes I have to store big quantity pieces.

At this moment im just deciding between cabinets with drawers from Akro-Mills, Allitt and Racco. And here I need some short and sharp advice.

When I start this project I will post some WIP pics.

Thanks for all the good stuff one afol can find here.

Mike

(tryed to post some fotos but without luck..)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Like most of the people here I’m having serious problems/doubts in Sorting Lego.

I've been reading this post for some days and there are really incredible ideas, amazing Lego rooms and stunning Lego collections.

For someone who have tree children, sort Lego does not make much sense mostly for my young builders. But when its necessary to find "that peculiar part" they realize how important is that task. Mostly because patience in small heads doesn't last more than one minute.

Sharing with kids is definitely a challenge, luckily i only have one girl and now she's 11 and getting a little (very little) more patient.

I started out by sorting by color and a few types, like this...

CpqcTZsh.jpg

"Smooth Bricks" are tiles, I did that set up before I found the wonderful world of Bricklink and learned the standard taxonomy of LEGO parts.

i would say the big advantage to that set up is that sorting by color and a few types is very easy and pretty fast so clean up and resorting isn't too painful. I think it's a really good method for smaller (not huge) collections and since sorting isn't as painful it's not too bad to keep up with and it not hard for the kids to do. what surprised me was that as soon as i did this, my daughters builds got more complex and elaborate since she wasn't spending so much time looking for parts (and she would complete bigger builds instead of giving up halfway). Along with an unsorted bin for quick clean up, i'd suggest doing what i did in my current set up where i have a few bins for work in progress projects, or for you case, maybe just make WIP bins for each kid?

If I were to do a color/type hybrid sort again, I would at least break up plates and bricks to make finding parts easier. So I'd have "Red Bricks" then "Red Plates" etc. I would also do a type bin for modified plates, since they always seemed to be hard to find in a color bin.

Once we built out a Lego room I went for a mostly pure type sort, I found the disadvantage to the color sort was that I was designing builds in LDD for some photo projects and it was easier for me to just buy all new bricks for them because I didn't have a quick way to find all the part I needed for my builds. Now that it's type sorted, when I need to order bricks for a build I designed in LDD it's easy for me to inventory what I have. That said, if you're not using LDD, then this might not be a big problem for you. The disadvantage to a type sort (when kids are in the mix) is that it's really hard to get them to help sorting. I've pretty much resigned myself to doing all the sorting. My current set up looks like this...

PPATDH2h.png

you can see more details in my room thread here... http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=107992

anyway, that's my 2 cents, I hope it helps.

Edited by droomangroup

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

With pieces sorted by type in open-top bins, an idea I have, is sort also by color in plastic freezer zipper bags. Sandwich bags will work, but they're not as durable. No diggin' for the right color, and the pieces stay dust-free. Kill 2 stones w/ 1 bird! Colors in low quantities can be lumped in 1 bag. Or lump complimentary colors e.g. blue and yellow in 1 bag, green and pink in another bag.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Phewwwww, I just finished another day of sorting, storing and doing a full inventory on rebrickable....thats about 20 hours in 2 days. over 10k pieces logged so far. only have minifigs/accesories, cheeseslopes, and special pieces to go.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just spent the past several hours sorting through an entire box of about 6 cubic feet full of Lego. It was full of broken and half-complete sets from my younger Lego days. It must have had at least a few thousand pieces and dozens and dozens of individual parts. I bought two Stack-On 60 drawer storage cabinets a while ago and I'm quickly filling them all up with all these parts. Scary part is....I have 9 more boxes to go with some twice the size. I have absolutely no plans in play for MOCing after I complete all my sorting. I think I'm just dealing with some Lego sorting compulsion...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Hmm this is a great topic.

I have a little teabox where I but in my clear pieces (stands) and small plates that I use for display purposes.

Small parts that usually come as extra pieces I have in small plastic plates and bigger ones in a plastic box.

When it comes to storing actual sets I like to have closed display stands from Ikea (the glass ones) as they reduce dust. Sadly I am running out of space and have some sets in the open like my death star and some ninjago sets until I can get more closed cabinets.

I make sure to de dust my room daily with swiffers though :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.