Storage and Sorting LEGO

[knotian]

This may not suit your needs but over the years I have arranged my parts based on the old warehouse rule that 20% of the items get used 80% of the time. I basically only use one color for external (showing) parts and 1-2 other as internal parts. Therefor I keep the three colors, most used 20%, at my desk and the remainder in wall bins. There is an additional type,slopes, that I very seldom use and they are stored, bagged by color in a closet.

[dtoerien]

Thank you, that will help me once I have sorted out the bulk storage.

[Leonardo da Bricki]

Hello, dtoerien. I have a small collection, so I use Plano storage bins for all my parts, carefully organized and sorted by type. For the most part...

Bins 1

The bins here are sorted into (on the left) axles according to length and type, and pins and conectors, according to size, type, and in a few cases, color.

Bins 2

Here are some more connectors,and a few miscellaneous parts. Also, all my gears and bushings and some other parts. And pneumatics.

Bins 3

This bin is a bunch of beams, some large pieces, i.e. turntables and wheel hubs, and then some half beams.

I also have another bin with other liftarms, frames. A bin of tires and wheels. And bags of 2L and 3L pins and one bag of panels. Hope that helps!

[dtoerien]

Thank you, it does - it is very helpful to be able to see how you have organised your elements. Thank you also for taking the trouble to post photographs.

[Leonardo da Bricki]

No problem. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? And they are bad photos anyway, no trouble at all.

[dtoerien]

In your case, a thousand well-chosen words. 

[Captainowie]

Hi Darryl

That is a difficult question to answer. I've been pondering it on and off for a while, and while I haven't sat down and proved it for Technic, I suspect that the logical grouping would require more than three dimensions.

To illustrate, with normal LEGO bricks, you'd need a three-dimensional storage system - one each for length, width, and colour. For example, you could have a chest of drawers, with red bricks in the top drawer, blue bricks in the second drawer, yellow bricks in the third drawer etc. In each drawer you'd have an array of containers, with 1xn bricks in the first row, 2xn bricks in the second row, in general, kxn bricks in the kth row. In each row, you'd have kxk bricks in the first container, kx(k+1) in the second container, and so forth. If you add sloped bricks into your collection, that makes for a fourth dimension that you need to logically group your parts.

With Technic, consider the set of axles. You'd have one dimension for length, another for colour (gone are the days when they were all black. Gone too are the days when even lengths were black and odd lengths were grey), and another for whether or not the axle has a stop or collar.

Now consider the set of pins. You've got one dimension for length, one for whether or not it's got friction ridges, and one for whether or not it's an axle pin. That was before the advent of the 3L pin with axle, and the 3L axle with pin. Clearly in the logical system the 2L axle needs to be adjacent to the axle pin, which means that the whole axle family needs to be orthogonal to the pin family.

And then you have the pin-with-pinhole part, which clearly needs to be adjacent to the 1L beam, and adjacent to something in the 2L pin family, which means that the whole beam family needs to be orthogonal to the whole axle/pin mess.

In the end, you're limited to the space you have, and only three dimensions, so how you choose to proceed will be determined largely by which constraints you choose to ignore. There are many things discussed in the how-do-you-sort-lego thread that you may find useful (and which this thread is destined to be moved to, if people keep posting "here's how I sort my LEGO").

As for the names of the elements, that's not much easier. There's the internal LEGO name, part number. There's the LDraw name and part number. There's the Bricklink name and part number. There's the Brickset name and part number. Some of these names and numbers are even the same between datasets!

Good luck. If you manage to find a general solution, please let us know!

Owen.

[Erik Leppen]

I have thought about this a lot. And one of my conclusions is that whatever categorization you settle for, there are always pieces that defy categorization. There is a continuum going from one type to another type and it's hard to say where the line is. For example, the new pin joiner 1L is simply a bush with a round hole. So I categorize it as "bush". MLCad calls it "Technic Beam 1". I don't know why, because it's not a beam, but apparently someone there decided it was. Yet others call it a "pin joiner round 1L" because it looks exactly like half the pin joiner round 2L we have known for years. But ironically, it doesn't join pins. Same goes for the pin with pin hole - people classify it as a pin. But there's also a version with axle instead of pin. And there's a version with two axles (both angled and straight), but that's called "Hub with 2 axles". The axle pin is classified as a pin. But is the new black 3L axle pin with 2L axle and 1L pin, a pin? It's more axle than pin. There are axles with stops, but there's also a tan 4L axle with a "stop" that only stops axleholes, but that goes prefectly through a pinhole. Is that a "stop"? We have gears, but is a knob wheel a gear? It doesn't mesh with them, but it has the same function, so what to do?

As you see, every classification brings up questions. (And every new part can challenge your categorization) I think if you want to sort your elements, it's better to make it useful to you, than to make it logical. ()Believe me, I have tried to make it logical many times, and every time, there are parts that stop you in your tracks). Because in the end, you'll be using it to find stuff, right?

Here's some tips. Tomorrow when there's daylight I can shoot some pictures of how I do it now.

• Put elements you use often, close by
• Put elements you use rarely, far away
• Don't put large and small elements in the same bin. The small elements will sink to the bottom.
• Don't put elements you use often and elements you use rarely in the same bin. The elements you use rarely will lie in the way.
• Wide bins work better for finding stuff, but take more horizontal space. Tall bins use little space, but are harder to sift through. Find the balance of bin width/height that works for you
• If you put elements you use very often together with elements you use rarely, the elements you use rarely will lie in the way of those you use often. Put items you use often, together
• Putting too many elements together mans you can't find your stuff.
• Putting too few elements together (using too many bins) means sorting takes forever

To give a practical example of that last point, I see pictures here above me where all axles and pins are sorted. I hate sorting axles and pins; sorting axles and pins takes forever. I don;t have them sorted, and I can find them right away (they're color coded, remember? :wink: ). So sorting them doesn't make any sense.

• If a part is very rare but you use it very often, find a way to prevent it from getting lost in the heap (for example, a new type of pin)
• For elements you use often, it's most important you can find them fast
• For elements you use rarely, it's most important that it's stored efficiently. (Personal example: all my wheels are thrown together. I have to search for wheels only at the beginning of a model. I don't mind having to search for a while; it's only one time. So I packed them so they use the least total space.)
• Put elements you use together, together. (For example, if you use worm gears, you always also use gears. So I put worm gears with other gears. However, gear racks are apart, because they are larger and I use them less, so they would lie in the way.)

Try to sort elements by "how you use them" rather than "how they look". For example, I use the technic tooth 1x3 for bodywork, similar to panels. So I decided "this is like a small panel" so I put it with panels. Also, I use panels by color, so panels are sorted by color. I use gears by function, so gears are together.

As you see, a lot can be said.

[BusterHaus]

I've been doing a lot of building in LDCad for the past few months and the part tree - particularly the Technic one - is extremely logical (with a few outliers).

What's even more useful is the Favorite Parts virtual bin, where I put in my most used connectors, beams, axles and gears.  The remaining parts are always in the back of my mind, but are only accessed through the official virtual bins when I need them. I am planning to eventually organize my parts the same way - stuff that gets used most often will be close, other parts will be hidden much deeper in drawers or bins. 

I imagine each builder will have a different Favorite Parts list. I don't use flex axles or pneumatics very much for example, but there are others who will need those parts in their Favorites list. 

 

[mocbuild101]

I generally sort parts by type, how many I have, and by how often I use them - for example, my pins and axles are sorted completely by type - not a single part is grouped with another - because I use them in everything I build, and I have heaps of them. But something like panels are put together in one container - because I don't use them much, and I don't have many.

But there are some exceptions to this, such as pneumatics and liner actuators - which are put together just because they both do the same job I my MOCs.

[JonathanM]

First off, I tend to build mainly off instructions, rather than design my own MOCs at this stage, so my main thing is grabbing out all the bits I need for a project from a list. That's quite different from designing+building, where you'll want a range of common parts at hand most of the time. Still, I think that basic principle still holds for my case as well, though the categorisation might be a bit different - usually I'm pulling parts off a rebrickable list, so sorting someone close to how that does (which is a not really consistent aside from broad categories) works best for me.

I initially sorted very granularly. All axles separate by size (and in a few instances, colour), pins separate, and pretty much every other main part (connectors/liftarms etc) sorted on their own by type (all colours combined). I used the tray with bins similar to Leonardo da Brick above. I find them too small generally - each little box is too small to get my fingers down into easily to pry out the bit I want, and particularly for some things like 1/2 lift arms, they get stuck next to each other on the bottom of the bin and it's hard to pry them out. It might work better for those with smaller hands maybe! Plus, you typically end up with hundreds/thousands of some parts (connectors/liftarms/pins/smaller axles) and few of others, which can mean unbalanced bins.

Now I've started mixing stuff together into larger bins - I use sistema storage containers (common brand in NZ), with sizes from 1.7L up to 28L. Mostly I use the 1.7L and 3.8L ones - two of the 1.7's fit in the same space as a 3.8, and same for the larger bins. They come with white bin trays, but usually I don't use them for storage, though they are useful for sorting while tearing down. I then just group a bunch of parts together in them. Sometimes it'll be just one part (e.g. all 7L liftarms) others it'll be a selection (a bunch of large panels) though I'm thinking of doing panels by colour, as that tends to be how they're used. 2L and 3L perpendicular connectors together in one, black 2L and blue 3L pins mixed together in another. I still have a bunch of smaller trays, but find I much prefer the larger boxes with a mix of items, still roughly grouped by type.

As Erik Leppen says above - group common stuff with common stuff - don't mix in rarely used things, as you'll constantly be moving them out of the way.

[1963maniac]

My Technic collection has grown enormously over the last Decade. I too use Plano cases. You can see into them easily. When I need more storage I buy more cases They have been around and will be around for a long time. I use the 3700 size. there are quite a few different styles which makes them versatile. I got a wire stacking unit that is sold on ebay called "Organized Fishing", also comes in several styles. These two items help keep my collection in a compact space, leaving more room at my table for builidng and designing. I now have 20-24 of the cases. I organize by type mainly then color. Color mainly only matters for beams, liftarms, and panels. My cases are organized by axles, beams, liftarms, gears, steering, pneumatic, electric, panels, connectors, pins, 1/2 beams, crossblocks, and Miscellaneous. I'm able to find or put back my parts easily and quickly. I really hate to spend too much time doing this. My philosophy is get and keep things organized  and you'll use less time.

[Milan]

I know this is interesting topic for all of us, but we can't have too much of them in every forum. I will move this to Storage and sorting. I believe you will find lots of good info there.

[dtoerien]

Thank you to all of you who gave me such helpful advice, and to Milan for relocating me. As it is turning out to be rather busy weekend, it will take me a couple of days to respond thoughtfully.

Regards, Darryl

[Erik Leppen]

Another point I forgot to mention and that actulaly I only discovered quite recently, is: you don't have to put all of the same part in the same bin. For exapmle, I have collected quite some Technic sets over the years, and one part that is used a lot in almost all sets is the black 2x4 L-shaped liftarm. I have over 200 of those. I never need that much. I decided that about 40 is all I need in almost all cases, so the other 160+ are "overflow", so to say, and are stored further away. I do the same thing with all parts I have many more than I need (almost all black, gray, red and yellow thick Technic beam, all common pins and axles). The idea is that if it's, say, 5 years from now. and there are still parts I haven't used all that time, I may decide to sell them.

 

[antp]

That's indeed the technique I've started to use (and should apply to still many of my parts bin) to keep most possible different useful parts reachable easily in small drawers, and keep the larger amounts of some parts as stock in "less accessible" boxes.

Edited July 23, 2017 by antp

[JDL1967]

Since a few weeks, i have my own lego/hobby room. I have tried a few differend boxes, but the system i have now works for me. Not completely done with the labels, but i am getting there. Afther sorting out all of my parts, i didend know that i allready have a nice collection of ( mostly new ) parts. 

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by JDL1967

[davesonmaui]

So what do you group together?   What do you use most often?  What do you rarely touch?

I realize this varies depending on what/how you build.   I recently came back from a 25 year break and came into about 75 pounds of bricks.  I want to sort them to make sets from Instructions and custom creations.

Anyone willing to list their specific groupings would be greatly appreciated.  

Mahalo

[Foxw]

56 minutes ago, davesonmaui said:

So what do you group together?   What do you use most often?  What do you rarely touch?

I realize this varies depending on what/how you build.   I recently came back from a 25 year break and came into about 75 pounds of bricks.  I want to sort them to make sets from Instructions and custom creations.

Anyone willing to list their specific groupings would be greatly appreciated.  

Mahalo

Well, Mahalo.

ATM It's sorted by part type (non color specific unless i have ALOT of one color IE LBG 1xn tiles)

Far as grouping atm it's mostly by family type.  1 drawer cabinet (DC) has plates, 1 has bricks (1x1 n up, organized by color with no more then 2 types per bin), 2 organizers one for plant stuff and one for clip/bars and the current last DC is my "MIX" group unit, which has all my constant go to things i'm always using, (in my case, tiles, mixel joints LBG and DBG 1x bricks etc)

 

how ever you set it up, try to be consistent and personally, if your going to go with drawer cabinets, make sure the draw is removable as over time, you'll find some parts you'll use more then others and those should be located as close to you to minimize "reach time" while building..  OH and LABEL the drawers, else you WILL go insane.

[AlexM]

Hi all,

I just signed up and found this thread.

I'm another adult (35) who has dug out his old Lego Technic from the storage room. I was fortunate enough to be given a lot of the big flagship sets as christmas gifts back in the day, so I have goodies such as the Control Center I, Supercar, the pneumatic/electric Claw Truck, Space Shuttle, and more. With my 5-year-old son coming of age, I'm suddenly super excited about jumping back into lego building, even though he's still a bit young for the advanced Technic stuff :). I am in the process of cleaning every single piece of dust (with soap and water, works great), obtaining major missing pieces such as motors for the Control Center, and I completely disassembled and thoroughly cleaned the Control Center control pad, and it powers up and works perfectly. So much fun. I think I will dive into GBC as well, starting out small.

I was wondering about sorting. When I have 4-5 flagship sets, and a bunch of smaller sets, and am actively looking for good deals on more modern sets, do you think it would be wise to "dump" every single piece into one combined sorting solution, rather than keep the pieces organized by set (as they are now, in plastic bags)? I'm leaning towards the former (sorting all pieces I have together), since it would also be much better for doing MOCs, and thinking about it, I can't see any downside to it when building from instructions either?

Thanks!

[Foxw]

12 hours ago, AlexM said:

I was wondering about sorting. When I have 4-5 flagship sets, and a bunch of smaller sets, and am actively looking for good deals on more modern sets, do you think it would be wise to "dump" every single piece into one combined sorting solution, rather than keep the pieces organized by set (as they are now, in plastic bags)? I'm leaning towards the former (sorting all pieces I have together), since it would also be much better for doing MOCs, and thinking about it, I can't see any downside to it when building from instructions either?

Thanks!

Frankly, if your ultimate goal is mega organized, which your comment points to, then best just take the plunge sooner then later, and figure out HOW minute you are willing to sort. I know for me i started with with bins like "pins" in 1 draw, liftarms in another etc, not separated by subtype or pin, but be conscious of fact that it can quickly fill and instead of looking for that one friction pin or 4L liftarm for 5 seconds can turn into 5min.  so either you start out at every part id has it's own bin, or accept the fact that in time you WILL have to reorganize to separate out by design ID (ie friction pin, regardless of color), then eventually Design ID, further sorted by part id (IE "Friction pin/ split by color")

at times i wish i'd just started at the last stage, cuz reorganizing it all takes awhile.

 

as to HOW you store, that really is a matter of personal preference and room.  For those lucky AFOLS who can dedicate a room/space to our building, Drawer cabinet's seem to be the most popular.  which point all i can suggest is find a type you like and can hold a fair amount PER bin (aka drawer) then stick to one type/brand as will make organizing your cabinets easier (god i wish i'd had that pointed out to me long ago).  Obviously at some point you'll wind up with "overflow", a surplus of a certain part thqt you'll just not likely use immediately, and cheap bins from dollar stores are a good option there.

 

 

And for any one who's noticed how often i comment in this thread, YES i will be posting pics of my setup, just sorta in stage of converting from types atm and not content with it atm to take pics, But i swear i will once i'm happy, or prolly before as i rarely seem to be happy with it.

[Fabulandlover]

On 4-8-2017 at 10:55 AM, AlexM said:

I was wondering about sorting. When I have 4-5 flagship sets, and a bunch of smaller sets, and am actively looking for good deals on more modern sets, do you think it would be wise to "dump" every single piece into one combined sorting solution, rather than keep the pieces organized by set (as they are now, in plastic bags)? I'm leaning towards the former (sorting all pieces I have together), since it would also be much better for doing MOCs, and thinking about it, I can't see any downside to it when building from instructions either?

Thanks!

Funny, I have the same question. I have five or six very smalls sets from the 90´s (Legoland theme), five modulars and a few of those seasonal vignettes. Oh, and the pizza van (I keep my Fabuland and Belville sets separate).

Currently erverything is stored per set (easy for rebuilding or checking for missing pieces). On the other hand I would like the get more creative and build small scene´s on my own. Perhaps even give a go on building a small house or something. For that it would be great to to store ALL the pieces together, organized by type. But if I want to build something, that would mean I would have to break down a modular and/or those vignettes. Not sure if I want to do that.

Of course I could buy windows and doors in a variety of colours to get my creative streak on. But I don´t have many loose bricks (I have a old box with a lot of 2x4, 2x4, 2x8 in the standard Lego colours and a recent medium creative box with all sorts of parts and colours), so I would need to buy bricks in a variety of colours and sizes as well. And while I like Lego as a hobby, I don´t want a shitload of bricks/storageboxes in my home.

What do you all recommend?

Edited September 25, 2017 by Fabulandlover

[AlexM]

Just now, Fabulandlover said:

Funny, I have the same question. I have five or six very smalls sets from the 90´s (Legoland theme), five modulars and a few of those seasonal vignettes. Oh, and the pizza van (I keep my Fabuland and Belville sets separate).

Currently erverything is stored per set (easy for rebuilding or checking for missing pieces). On the other hand I would like the get more creative and build small scene´s on my own. Perhaps even give a go on building a small house or something. For that it would be great to to store ALL the pieces together, organized by type. But if I want to build something, that would mean I would have to break down a modular and/or those vignettes. Not sure if I want to do that.

Of course I could buy windows and doors in a variety of colours to get my creative streak on. But I don´t have many loose bricks (I have a old box with a lot of 2x4, 2x4, 2x8 in the standard Lego colours and a recent medium creative box with all sorts of parts and colours), so I would need to buy bricks in a variety of colours and sizes as well. And while I like Lego as a hobby, I don´t want a shitload of bricks/storageboxes in my home.

What do you all recommend?

Hi,

After toying around with my Lego sets for a few months, I've kept them sorted by set (one big plastic bag per set). I will eventually assemble all the big sets over the next coming months, and this one-bag-per-set of course makes it easier to do. Every time I begin the assembly of a set, I sort all the pieces - I sort the big pieces such as wheels, bricks/beams, plates, and such on white tea towels on my dining table, and sort all the tiny bits (bushings, studs, axles, gears) in asssortment boxes - I found some nice transparent ones from "Lunar Box" on amazon.co.uk. I enjoy organizing and sorting, so I don't mind doing this for every build.

One thing I've noticed is that Lego from the 90's isn't quite the same as new Lego. For example, many of the old grey Technic pieces such as bushings and gears were blank / shiny, but most of the newly produced are matte. Old Lego also seems more "tight" to assemble, I think this is due to the ABS plastic becoming harder and ultimately more stiff and brittle. I can REALLY feel this with my old basic Lego from the late 80's - it's so hard and stiff to put together and even worse to pull apart. I do seem to recall that it was fairly stiff when I was a child/teen also, so I think they have "softened" Lego in the last decade or so, making it more flexible. Another issue is yellowing of old bricks. All in all, I think it would be a shame to mix 90's Lego with 2010's Lego, because some things will be mismatched, so I will continue sorting per-set.

I haven't dived into MOC yet, so that's another issue.

[Foxw]

8 hours ago, Fabulandlover said:

What do you all recommend?

 

8 hours ago, AlexM said:

I haven't dived into MOC yet, so that's another issue.

Okay, first off, if you want to go MOC, it's basically an addiction, minute you cross that threshold from set sheep to imagination unleashed mode it's hard to go back.  at which point you'll find going with a properly itemized system will be best.

plus side if you feel like putting a set back together you can just pick the parts.

 

Fabulanndlover, if your going to stock up i would suggest 1xN from 1x1 through to 1x6 as you'll find especially in buildings, the most useful, as well as stocking up on SNOT pieces.  can never have enough 1x snot parts.

[Fabulandlover]

Thanks everyone!

Has anyone experience with the storage boxes from Lego themselves? How many bricks/pieces can a 8 stud storage brick hold? Would you recommend them?