Storage and Sorting LEGO

[Oakey]

They're 155mm deep, 255mm wide and 395mm long. Where I order them from (Ryman.co.uk) they come with two of those trays inside stacked on top of each other.

I also have one of these for small pieces and plan to order some more

If you have plenty of space they also make this

Amazon sell them, they're called Really Useful Boxes. I'm in the UK so availability may vary elsewhere

Edited April 26, 2014 by Oakey

[antp]

I started sorting my old bricks out today using Really Useful Boxes, so far each colour has it's own box with each brick type in each compartment. There aren't enough compartments for each brick type so I might need to rethink how I'm going to sort some of the bricks.

[/img]

You can regroup in one compartment low quantities of similar bricks; it is not hard to find them when mixed in small compartments like that if they are in about equal quantities.

[TheLegoDr]

Thanks!

I looked into their website and didn't care for the navigation. They also didn't look like they were too cheap, but maybe it depends on where you go. I'll have to look at some stores they are available at here in the States and see which size I'd want. But those trays look really useful and organized. I think it would work really well for what I want to do.

[paul_delahaye]

My 5 and 7 year old sons and I have been sorting by color for a couple of years but we have so much now it's time to sort piece by piece. We went with the Akro Mills system and I'm printing my own labels. It's going well so far and they are enjoying it.

Hi cmartin911,

Thanks a really nice job you've done there, I've been thinking of doing the same, on your labels, where did you get the little drawings of the different bricks from? or have you hand drawn them using a graphics package?

Alternatively, don't suppose you would like to share the label file so others could use it?

Paul

[legoninga123]

Looking at how all the people here have sorted and organized their Lego collections so well I feel jealous because I can’t even attempt to get my collection a fraction of how organized that the people here’s collections are. I have tried to organize my Lego collection but I don’t have boxes or time to do that and even if I could there is no place to put the boxes. Also I don’t know how many pieces I have because I got a lot of the Lego I have from friends and family that was just lots of mixed sets and stuff. My Lego is currently in these stair storage sets from IKEA (2 of them lowest steps side by side). I have the two big blue boxes full of Lego + 2 medium sided white ones and a few of the small whit ones full of Lego also there is a little bin with a lid that would fit in one of the medium sized boxes from IKEA full of Lego. The Lego in the bins is just lots of Lego pieces all mixed together.

Edited April 27, 2014 by legoninga123

[InvincibleEagle]

Me, I just have one big tub full of them. It's very inconvenient, but it's all I really have room for.

[tedbeard]

My son uses one of these for most of his LEGO storage. One suggestion I will make is to replace the bigger bins so that all of the bins but one are the smallest bins possible. It is nearly pointless to try and find anything in the larger bins - except baseplates and BURPs, hence the single larger bin.

An oddly connected hint: We also got him (when very much younger) an IKEA carpet with roads woven into the pattern to play with cars. Now it is used a a place to dump the contents of a bin to search for a part. When the part(s) are found we can pick up the whole carpet, hold the sides up to make a half-tube, and then dump the lot back into the bin. Keeps things very tidy with hardly any effort and the carpet keeps the parts from moving too much while searching.

Edited April 28, 2014 by tedbeard

[legoman19892]

I go this guy at SEARS

$21.99

Edited April 30, 2014 by legoman19892

[lorax]

They're 155mm deep, 255mm wide and 395mm long. Where I order them from (Ryman.co.uk) they come with two of those trays inside stacked on top of each other.

I also have one of these for small pieces and plan to order some more

Amazon sell them, they're called Really Useful Boxes. I'm in the UK so availability may vary elsewhere

In Australia you can buy them at Masters. I bought clear ones the other day ($22). I am using them to store minifigures (they fit about 25 figures in each box). I need quite a few more still though.

We also use the back tray it comes with for sorting Lego.

I like the quality of them, and I hope they will be useful when we do displays and need certain types of minifigures (minimises how much we have to take).

[Paul B Technic]

I have just started using some plastic containers with dividers which I found at Kmart. $9 each.

[eileenkeeney]

I have used so many methods over the years.

I like these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052POMAM/ref=ox_sc_act_image_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I then use a combination of the Lego PAB containers, and plastic bags, in each section.

I like that I can have a few of these surrounding me while I am building, and reach several different pieces from one sitting location.

But the bulk of my stock is in large plastic bins on shelves, and each bin has bags of pieces in it.

I have tried drawers, I don't like them.

However, when I had more limited space, and I stored pieces in the same area as I displayed MOCs, I wanted nice looking drawers.

Really I wanted Lego to make drawers, that also integrated together as large pieces, and used Duplo (or Lego) scale bumps and holes for the connections. Then one could work the storage into the landscape. I have a design for these in my head. No one understands it when I try to describe it.

[Fritzy]

I like these:

http://www.amazon.co...d=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Looks great, and I imagine it makes sorting a breeze with that many compartments.

[Dooftastic]

Does anyone on the forums store their sets complete, not separated out? I do this so I can build official sets easily. When going into storage, each set is taken apart and put into a ziploc bag along with its instructions. Like this, I can instantly identify a set by the images on the instructions and have all the pieces required right away.

I'd really like to hear from others who keep their set pieces together. I'm concerned that my bag method warps the instructions of the larger(1000+ piece) sets.

[Mikeysee]

Does anyone on the forums store their sets complete, not separated out? I do this so I can build official sets easily. When going into storage, each set is taken apart and put into a ziploc bag along with its instructions. Like this, I can instantly identify a set by the images on the instructions and have all the pieces required right away.

I'd really like to hear from others who keep their set pieces together. I'm concerned that my bag method warps the instructions of the larger(1000+ piece) sets.

I put sets into ziploc bags that I label with a sharpie and masking tape (super fancy). I keep instructions separate stored flat in a large Lego box. They're easy enough to find that way and it keeps them from getting damaged. It's simple and has worked well for me.

[Dooftastic]

I keep instructions separate stored flat in a large Lego box. They're easy enough to find that way and it keeps them from getting damaged. It's simple and has worked well for me.

So all the instructions are in a stack? How do you find specific booklets without pulling them all out and looking at each one-by-one? How do you account for the huge disparity in booklet sizes? I would think instructions like the single-page ones in poly bag sets would be a challenge to find.

Edited May 14, 2014 by Dooftastic

[TheLegoDr]

That's how I store my instructions too. But if I didn't build the set right away then I don't need the instructions. They just go in a stack. But I only have a few official sets together. Most aren't built. I just use the pieces for other things.

[Bob De Quatre]

I'll need to change my way of sorting bricks since I'm getting more of them. I've collected lots of boxes like this one:

:

Since the boxes will be stacked, I need to find labels to show what is inside each box.

[legoman19892]

Since the boxes will be stacked, I need to find labels to show what is inside each box.

If you are storing the same shape/color brick in one container why not use packaging tape and tape that brick to the outside of the box?

Edited May 15, 2014 by legoman19892

[-Horizon-]

Since the boxes will be stacked, I need to find labels to show what is inside each box.

Hey Bob, I have some labels made. If you want them I can PM them to you.

Edited May 24, 2014 by lego3364

[militaryfreak]

I had all of mine organized about a year ago, after I moved their just sorta in 2 big crates now. I do however pick out "valuable" pieces that I use a lot and put those into a few separate bins.

.

[emilstorm]

I'll need to change my way of sorting bricks since I'm getting more of them. I've collected lots of boxes like this one:

:

Since the boxes will be stacked, I need to find labels to show what is inside each box.

I am changing to the same kind of storage. I used to have my bricks and plates in clear bags sorted in sizes, and special parts in some of those metal things with little plastic drawers. Now they just dont fit anymore so i have acquired a bunch of clear plastic take-away food boxes. They are really cheap, have a good size and if you are not to hard on them they hold up pretty well. Bricks and plates are still in bags, just bigger ones

As for sorting i do it by parts. Just because it is easier to find a red 1x1 brick in a buch of 1x1 than in a bunch of red bricks For special parts i store some of them together, like a bunch of different kind of modified plates in one box. I just sort it to a degree where it is easy enough to find what you need.

[Admiral Goblet]

I sort my lego by:

Regular, less important parts & bricks

Minifigs & small weapons, like a gun

Animals & and big weapons, like a cannon

and really important parts

I'm a huge Lego Pirates! fan, but I like the 1990s version better. Especially dem conquistadors bebbe

[Bookworm]

This topic is so inspirational! I have been trying to organize my Lego collection for a while now, and I think one of those big storage units with all the drawers is the way to go. I have one question that I've been wondering about. Do you all prefer to sort by type of piece (tiles, headlight bricks, etc) or by color? I'm not sure which to do; I'm probably going to end up with a mixture of both.

[splatman]

(snip) Do you all prefer to sort by type of piece (tiles, headlight bricks, etc) or by color?

It depends mainly on how many in each color you have. If you have 4 dozen headlight bricks, but no more than a few in any one color, putting them all in one container would work out fine. If half of your headlight brick population is of a single color, putting those in a separate container would make sense. Maybe set a threshold: More than X in a single color; put in a separate container. Less than X, put in same container with others colors numbering less than X.

You'll probably have pieces that are so few in qty., that it would be best to lump them together in a single container. For example: 2x Tile 1x8, 6x Flames, 1x Technic Brick 1x6, 3x Slopes 18° 2x4, etc., instead of putting these in separate containers. In that case, If anything, sort only by category (brick, slope, Technic, minifig accessories, etc.)

[fred67]

It depends mainly on how many in each color you have.

Yeah... it's an art, not a science; although I've done it the way you suggest, I also don't like sorting things differently (having some of a part sorted one way, another sorted another).

I'm falling back to sorting by color AND part for parts I subjectively consider "building bricks." That would include things like headlight bricks, because when you want one you want one of a specific color. I've decided, for those bricks, even if I only have one, it will somehow be sorted separately. If that means a larger container/bin/whatever with invidividually sealed pieces, then so be it... but when you build, you generally say "my building will be <this> color," and it's nice to have all that color together.

I've been pulling everthing from my usual storage (mainly Akro-Mills and Stanely "suit case" style storage) and sorting them into plastic bins by color - each type being sorted into a ziplock bag (I bought a bunch of various sizes on Amazon). Right now I have 10 bins - 6 shoebox size and 4 larger sterilite boxes, all pretty full, plus a couple extra for mixed colors where I didn't have a lot. In addition, one of my Akro-Mills bins was already sorted by color (less common colors, like sky blue, lime, purple colors). If I put more than one kind of piece in a drawer, it's in a separate little ziplock.

Now I don't know how I'll put them back... but I think I'll be favoring the Stanley organizers, as I think they are safer when being moved, or bumped, or whatever. Then I can grab a "suitcase" of <some color> and get to building without going from bin to bin.

But... like I said, I don't know how well this will work. It's more of an art, and frankly, I don't think there's a way that solves every problem efficiently; there'll always be something wrong with the method you choose.