Heyo folks,
Ok, I'm getting my hands on a bunch more bricks so I can do more building and it is good.
However, my storage medium to date has always been the classic "Bucket" format. While great fun to dig through, it gets murderously annoying when you have enough LEGO that you could fall into the bucket and never be seen again.
I see plastic tubs, storage drawers and all sorts of things in pictures and am looking to move to that kind of system.
Can anybody recommend a size/type of bin and/or a place to get them from?
Cheers,
Adrian
LEGO Storage/Sorting Tips?
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TheTurtleMoves
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LEGO Storage/Sorting Tips?
Pleased to meet you, I'm a geek of many colors - gaming, comics, LEGO, sci-fi everything, cartoons, computers and more.
I noticed some plastic tubs at the Dollar Giant on Hastings the other day. They came in about 3 colours and were 11 1/2 x 10 x 6 inches high. If you had or built some shelves that would sit these nicely it would be a decent way to sort.
So, you can start by considering how much LEGO you have, how much space you have, and how you want to sort. Everyone sorts a little differently so you will need to develop your own style that works for you. Do your eyes find shapes of colours more easily? What kind of thing to you build? If you find it hard to see different shapes in a bin of red, you may want to sort your small parts by type, not by colour. If however you really like building all red space ships, then it might make more sense to put all your special red bits in one tub, so you don't have to pull all the tubs to get building on your next ship.
Personally, I have all my bricks in big tubs sorted by colour. I can pull out the green to build a hill, or the red to build a house. I usually keep my 1x1s and 1x2s inside a little zip lock inside that tup so they don't disappear to the bottom. I sort all my other stuff but colour and rough shape. All my regular plates in Greys and black are in one tub. Classic colours are in another and earth tones in a third (and sometimes a forth for new weird colours). All my tiny parts are the same. If I have very few of something it all goes in the same place, like 1x1 bricks with 5 sided studded. Headlight bricks are right beside, but they are split into the three colour groups. Then I have special categories for crap I'm not liekly to use, like my "Space Junk" bin and "Tire" bin which holds part that I very rarely access and don't mind having all mixed up cause I can't be bothered to sort something I rarely use.
Everyone does it different, but I think a few basics would be having some trays or sorting cabinets for your small parts, medium containers for slightly bigger stuff and big tubs for bricks and boat hulls and UFO plates and such. The more variety in size, the less likely you will be to waste space on half full containers.
Canadian tire often sells sorting cabinets and trays fairly cheap. I got a 3 pack on trays (likely for sewing) that are rock solid and I with I'd bought 5 packs. They were only $10 and made in USA so the lids haven't broken off yet, as they often do on the cheap imports.
Like I was saying about the tubs at Dollar Giant (they are cheap imports, but have no lid to break off), they could work great if you had a shelf to hold them. They don't have lids so keep in mind that they will get dusty and figure out if you care.
I use a lot of LEGO set boxes to sort into. They are not pretty, but free. I built shelves that fit them perfect and one day I'll build nice wooden trays to replace the old boxes.
ok, that's a long enough rant...
So, you can start by considering how much LEGO you have, how much space you have, and how you want to sort. Everyone sorts a little differently so you will need to develop your own style that works for you. Do your eyes find shapes of colours more easily? What kind of thing to you build? If you find it hard to see different shapes in a bin of red, you may want to sort your small parts by type, not by colour. If however you really like building all red space ships, then it might make more sense to put all your special red bits in one tub, so you don't have to pull all the tubs to get building on your next ship.
Personally, I have all my bricks in big tubs sorted by colour. I can pull out the green to build a hill, or the red to build a house. I usually keep my 1x1s and 1x2s inside a little zip lock inside that tup so they don't disappear to the bottom. I sort all my other stuff but colour and rough shape. All my regular plates in Greys and black are in one tub. Classic colours are in another and earth tones in a third (and sometimes a forth for new weird colours). All my tiny parts are the same. If I have very few of something it all goes in the same place, like 1x1 bricks with 5 sided studded. Headlight bricks are right beside, but they are split into the three colour groups. Then I have special categories for crap I'm not liekly to use, like my "Space Junk" bin and "Tire" bin which holds part that I very rarely access and don't mind having all mixed up cause I can't be bothered to sort something I rarely use.
Everyone does it different, but I think a few basics would be having some trays or sorting cabinets for your small parts, medium containers for slightly bigger stuff and big tubs for bricks and boat hulls and UFO plates and such. The more variety in size, the less likely you will be to waste space on half full containers.
Canadian tire often sells sorting cabinets and trays fairly cheap. I got a 3 pack on trays (likely for sewing) that are rock solid and I with I'd bought 5 packs. They were only $10 and made in USA so the lids haven't broken off yet, as they often do on the cheap imports.
Like I was saying about the tubs at Dollar Giant (they are cheap imports, but have no lid to break off), they could work great if you had a shelf to hold them. They don't have lids so keep in mind that they will get dusty and figure out if you care.
I use a lot of LEGO set boxes to sort into. They are not pretty, but free. I built shelves that fit them perfect and one day I'll build nice wooden trays to replace the old boxes.
ok, that's a long enough rant...
David Gagnon - (AKA Daveed or Platypus)
David's homemade shelves with the grooves in the sides work well.Made out of wood and slide the IKEA trays into the slots.I beleive you ghet 5 trays for 5 bucks at IkEA.
I like using the gracious living bins found at Canadain tire and super store,they come in different heights and arrangements but are more expensive now then they used to be.I think super store had some on sale last week for 26.98 for a 6 drawer bin.you used to find them for 18 bucks on sale at cambodia tire.
gracious living or sterlite also make smaller bins for parts that you might not have much of,I use some screw and nut trays from canadian tire but they sometimes run out of space if you end up getting alot of one peice,ie.Pick a Brick cups full of 1 x 1 trans clear plate.
I think the smaller bins from gracious livig or sterilite will suit you better.Nathan used to put cereal boxes cut in half in the bottom of his bins to seperate peices,cheap alternative to help seperate colours.
I still have alot of boxes to go through and sort,for me I dont spend enough time sorting,I end up stealing parts out of sets or previous mocs and let a couple of carcasses lie around waiting to be rebuilt.
Have fun sorting,Andrew
I like using the gracious living bins found at Canadain tire and super store,they come in different heights and arrangements but are more expensive now then they used to be.I think super store had some on sale last week for 26.98 for a 6 drawer bin.you used to find them for 18 bucks on sale at cambodia tire.
gracious living or sterlite also make smaller bins for parts that you might not have much of,I use some screw and nut trays from canadian tire but they sometimes run out of space if you end up getting alot of one peice,ie.Pick a Brick cups full of 1 x 1 trans clear plate.
I think the smaller bins from gracious livig or sterilite will suit you better.Nathan used to put cereal boxes cut in half in the bottom of his bins to seperate peices,cheap alternative to help seperate colours.
I still have alot of boxes to go through and sort,for me I dont spend enough time sorting,I end up stealing parts out of sets or previous mocs and let a couple of carcasses lie around waiting to be rebuilt.
Have fun sorting,Andrew
Like Daveed said it all depends on what you are use to. I went by color for a long time as well , and it works depending on how you build and what you build .
Its also cheaper to sort by color as well . you might need 12 bins for the colors or 80+ or so for type .
here is a link to some custom shelfs I made out of MDF ,
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1651761
3/4 inch MDF is like 40$ a sheet (4x8) and each box has 2 rows each holding 12 trays which Cost a Buck each . each tray having 5 compartments which are quite large . So 5 x 12 x 2 is 120 seperate containers .
So for roughly 80 Bucks after taxes . For me I can find Any peice in my collection in under 20 seconds . and I have a very quite assesment on how many i have of that piece in color as well instead of just looking at a big tub of red ... Who knows how many 1x2 red slopes you have in there ?
But there is the problem of sorting the lego into the bins that for me has taken years . so that is something to think about as well .
Its also cheaper to sort by color as well . you might need 12 bins for the colors or 80+ or so for type .
here is a link to some custom shelfs I made out of MDF ,
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1651761
3/4 inch MDF is like 40$ a sheet (4x8) and each box has 2 rows each holding 12 trays which Cost a Buck each . each tray having 5 compartments which are quite large . So 5 x 12 x 2 is 120 seperate containers .
So for roughly 80 Bucks after taxes . For me I can find Any peice in my collection in under 20 seconds . and I have a very quite assesment on how many i have of that piece in color as well instead of just looking at a big tub of red ... Who knows how many 1x2 red slopes you have in there ?
But there is the problem of sorting the lego into the bins that for me has taken years . so that is something to think about as well .
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Dave De Gobbi
Dave De Gobbi
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TheTurtleMoves
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