Lego Sorting
Jan. 31st, 2011 03:34 amAbout a month ago, I mentioned that I wanted to sort my collection of Lego parts, so that I'd be able to actually do some custom building in the future. Since then, I've been working on this project for a couple hours a day every day or so (that's about all I can handle of standing in my bedroom and fishing through parts bins), and the scope is a little overwhelming, but I've finally reached a major milestone.
Since I started with three large plastic containers of completely unsorted parts, and the number of different parts is beyond overwhelming, I'm doing this in a series of stages. First comes the "rough sort", going through the Bins of Chaos and breaking everything into major groups: bricks, plates, Technic, and other elements. Since the last group is the most random, and consists of the smallest and most tedious to sort pieces, I also sorted them into precise categories during the rough sort.
The big milestone is that I finished the rough sort today. I no longer have bins of completely random Legos, I've split everything into categories. I have large boxes/bins containing bricks, plates, Technic (which are already partially sorted), windows and doors, and wheels. Additionally, I have an entire table covered with little containers, each holding pieces I've already sorted. I have over 100 element types that are already finished, including lights, flags, antennas, 1x1 plates, jet engines, cannons, vertical wings/fins, steering wheels, money/coins, plants, animals, and so on. It's really quite something, here's a picture if you're interested.
My next step will be to tackle the categories one at a time. Technic pieces will probably be my next target, since it's one of the smaller boxes, but also has a lot of variation and a lot of tiny parts.
The big question is how to store all these once they're sorted. Based on similar projects in the past, and feedback from others who've tried sorting their legos, I decided to sort first and store later, once I have a better idea of how many compartments I need and how large they need to be. My initial idea was to use plastic parts-storage drawers, and I intend to use them to an extent, but since I'm just getting started and have already filled two of them, I don't think that'll be an option for the entire collection. I'll be exploring a number of options, but the cheapest idea is to put my least-frequently-used parts in individual ziploc bags and stick them in a plastic bin or something. For example, I rarely use things like jet engines, castle balconies, sharks, or ship rigging, so there's no real need to keep them in easy-access organizational drawers next to things I use frequently, like lights, clips, and hinges.
Anyway, that's my Lego fun recently. It seems like a lot of time put into a relatively trivial project, but as I said before, the only thing keeping me from building custom designs like I used to is lacking the patience to sort through the giant, chaotic tubs looking for specific pieces. It was frustrating 10 years ago, and time has only made matters worse, especially since I can't spend several solid days just playing with legos anymore. So, this way I'll be able to really enjoy my legos for many years to come; once they're sorted, I don't need to repeat this process :-)
Since I started with three large plastic containers of completely unsorted parts, and the number of different parts is beyond overwhelming, I'm doing this in a series of stages. First comes the "rough sort", going through the Bins of Chaos and breaking everything into major groups: bricks, plates, Technic, and other elements. Since the last group is the most random, and consists of the smallest and most tedious to sort pieces, I also sorted them into precise categories during the rough sort.
The big milestone is that I finished the rough sort today. I no longer have bins of completely random Legos, I've split everything into categories. I have large boxes/bins containing bricks, plates, Technic (which are already partially sorted), windows and doors, and wheels. Additionally, I have an entire table covered with little containers, each holding pieces I've already sorted. I have over 100 element types that are already finished, including lights, flags, antennas, 1x1 plates, jet engines, cannons, vertical wings/fins, steering wheels, money/coins, plants, animals, and so on. It's really quite something, here's a picture if you're interested.
My next step will be to tackle the categories one at a time. Technic pieces will probably be my next target, since it's one of the smaller boxes, but also has a lot of variation and a lot of tiny parts.
The big question is how to store all these once they're sorted. Based on similar projects in the past, and feedback from others who've tried sorting their legos, I decided to sort first and store later, once I have a better idea of how many compartments I need and how large they need to be. My initial idea was to use plastic parts-storage drawers, and I intend to use them to an extent, but since I'm just getting started and have already filled two of them, I don't think that'll be an option for the entire collection. I'll be exploring a number of options, but the cheapest idea is to put my least-frequently-used parts in individual ziploc bags and stick them in a plastic bin or something. For example, I rarely use things like jet engines, castle balconies, sharks, or ship rigging, so there's no real need to keep them in easy-access organizational drawers next to things I use frequently, like lights, clips, and hinges.
Anyway, that's my Lego fun recently. It seems like a lot of time put into a relatively trivial project, but as I said before, the only thing keeping me from building custom designs like I used to is lacking the patience to sort through the giant, chaotic tubs looking for specific pieces. It was frustrating 10 years ago, and time has only made matters worse, especially since I can't spend several solid days just playing with legos anymore. So, this way I'll be able to really enjoy my legos for many years to come; once they're sorted, I don't need to repeat this process :-)