Lego Collection Sorting

[Wigglesworth2]

Hello, I am just getting back into Legos and wondering about the extent of other people's collections.

• How many Legos do people have?

• How long does it take to sort your collection?

• How do you sort your collection?

• Is there any kind of automated way to sort besides the DIY machines on Youtube?

• How much space does Lego sorting take up?

[deraven]

Hi Wigglesworth2 - welcome to EB!

Just do a quick search for sorting on the board and you'll get very lengthy threads about techniques, philosophy, etc., that will give you a lot to work with and think about!  Very briefly:

Collections vary from no physical Lego (just digital building) or a few sets to literally millions of pieces, and the sorting necessarily varies with collection size and preferences.

How long it takes to sort is also highly variable, but I think most people would say that it's a never-ending, continuous process, but an initial sort of a modest collection will take several days to a few weeks.

A truly enormous collection might be best sorted to a highly granular level, all the way down to specific colors of specific pieces.  What works best for me (with a largish collection) is simply sorting by part type.  I have around 700 small parts drawers of a few different sizes and numerous larger bins (for things like regular 1x? and 2x? bricks or larger part types) that I sort into by part type.  Some are subdivided where it makes sense to do so and all told I probably have things separated into about 1,000+ parts or categories. When a drawer is full, the spill-over just goes into a ziploc bag and those bags are put into larger bins that correspond to the individual drawer cabinets.  That way, if I'm getting low on a part in a drawer or looking for additional pieces of a specific color not in the drawer, etc., I just pull the appropriate "back stock" bin and look in the overflow bag with that part.  That way I can keep my sorting & storage layout basically the same as my collection grows (never really "outgrowing" drawers) and only need to find more bulk storage space from time to time.

As for automation, you can use things like a screen (or Lego's own Sorting Head that they made, though it's small) to roughly break down pieces by size, but otherwise you're looking at things like what you referenced (AI-driven machine sorting).  It would be fantastic if one of those devices was put out as a turn-key product (or even just open source) because I'd love to have a smaller-scale version of one of those that I could just let run for days at a time!  Right now, my kids are part of my sorting automation process.   

Not sure how to answer how much space as it again depends on the size of the collection.  For just the sorting part, I have large tubs (50-100 liter size) of unsorted Lego that I have out of the way and work through one at a time.  For each "active" sorting tub I have 8 smaller bins that I do a pre-sort into with general categories (regular bricks, modified bricks, regular plates, modified plates, Technic & related, minifigs & accessories, slopes & wedges, and other/misc).  Any time one of the smaller pre-sort bins gets full, the rest of the process pauses and that smaller bin is then sorted by piece.  I like to use the inner trays from old Lego advent calendars to put individual pieces into.  Once that's done, those parts go into drawers or overflow bags, and we keep going through that cycle.  When not spread out for active sorting, all that can be stacked into a fairly small volume (especially if you put some of the smaller pre-sorting bins inside the larger unsorted bin as it starts to get emptied out).

Hope that gives you some ideas.  Happy building (and sorting)!  

Edited July 18, 2020 by deraven

[howitzer]

9 hours ago, deraven said:

As for automation, you can use things like a screen (or Lego's own Sorting Head that they made, though it's small) to roughly break down pieces by size, but otherwise you're looking at things like what you referenced (AI-driven machine sorting).  It would be fantastic if one of those devices was put out as a turn-key product (or even just open source) because I'd love to have a smaller-scale version of one of those that I could just let run for days at a time!  Right now, my kids are part of my sorting automation process.   

There was of course this...

 

[deraven]

14 hours ago, howitzer said:

There was of course this...

I believe that's what we were both referring to, yes.  It's a wonderful machine, and it would be awesome if @sqiddster could release the the core as non-commercial-use open source or something.  Would love to set up something like a 10-bin version in my garage and just let it run through as many passes as needed to get through the rest of my sorting backlog.  

[howitzer]

12 hours ago, deraven said:

I believe that's what we were both referring to, yes.  It's a wonderful machine, and it would be awesome if @sqiddster could release the the core as non-commercial-use open source or something.  Would love to set up something like a 10-bin version in my garage and just let it run through as many passes as needed to get through the rest of my sorting backlog.  

Yeah, I'd also like to see the essential parts released in some format, as for most people it's next to impossible to replicate the image database or the recognition algorithm for their own use...

[ShaydDeGrai]

On July 18, 2020 at 4:33 PM, Wigglesworth2 said:

Hello, I am just getting back into Legos and wondering about the extent of other people's collections.

• How many Legos do people have?

• How long does it take to sort your collection?

• How do you sort your collection?

• Is there any kind of automated way to sort besides the DIY machines on Youtube?

• How much space does Lego sorting take up?

1) According to Brickset, I have about half a million pieces from unique, "new" sets.  That number doesn't include duplicate copies of sets, bulk purchases of random bricks, donations from friends whose kids have (sadly) "outgrown" Lego, Pick-a-Brick and Bricklink purchases and bulk buys of k-Boxes (single piece, single color the crates used to stock the brick wall at Lego stores). If you add in those sources, I'd estimate that I have somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million parts.

2) How long to sort?  I'll tell you when I finish.  I started half a century ago and have more "to be sorted" parts today than I probably owned in my first twenty years of collecting combined.  When I just need to chill out for a bit I'll sit down with a movie or two that I've already seen, and will spend a few hours a week sorting.  

My actual sorting process starts with a scoop of random parts, a well lit smooth sorting surface  and two dozen cups in a tray on the floor and a "reject" bin on my lap.  I'll dump a pile of parts on the table, and just start pulling out parts.  If the part aligns with one of the cups on the floor (say, Technic, MiniFigs, assorted colors, etc). I toss it in the appropriate bin, otherwise it goes into the "reject" bin to get sorted later.  I find I can keep track of about 24 categories/cups of parts "to look out for" in my head at a time so that's a practical limit as to how broadly I can filter things in a single pass. 

On a second (or third, fourth, etc.) pass, I basically repeat the process, just with a finer level of discrimination.  I first pass might have produced a cup of Technic.  A second pass would start with that cup and then pull out even length axles, odd axles, assorted pins, gears, etc. while also filling up a "reject"/random Technic bin on my lap for all the odd-ball shapes I don't know how to categorize.  It's repetitive and largely mindless/meditative activity best suited for otherwise taxing, stressful and/or frustrating days.

3) How to I sort/organize things? That depends on the nature of the piece.  For Technic pieces, I sort by shape/function.  Mini-figs and accessories get lumped together in a big bin (I don't do much with these but my daughter likes them).  For common colors, I sort by both shape and color and organize by family in easy access trays (like a tray of white clips or black 1-by-X plates) or zip-lock baggies in bins (red slopes, tan bows, etc.).  For less common colors, I usually just sort by color and throw them in a bin as I'm usually not building with them, they're just there for accents and greebling.  I think anyone who has a collection of any really size and maturity probably has some pretty strong feelings about how to organize and curate those parts, and, from my personal experience, I think the most important thing to remember is that, if someone is happy about how their collection is organized, then they are doing it "right" - but remember, what is right for them might be entirely wrong for you.  If the way you sort, organize and store your collection doesn't parallel how you actually use it to build with, then you're wasting time and energy on an illusion of organization that will break down in practice.

4) With respect to automation, from time to time I've built color sorters with Mindstorms and purely mechanical, dumb (i.e. no microcontroller) axle length sorters and vibrating beds to separate tiles and plates from brick/thick stock but these have been more "interesting exercise in mechanics" than "practical solutions" for me.  I always tell myself, if this works, maybe I'll hit the machine shop and build a real robot that does this, but I never do.  The mechanical solutions always end up being more trouble than they're worth (jams, mistakes, not granular enough for my tastes, machine takes up too much room to do too small a job, etc.)  As someone who used to teach courses in machine vision and robotics I think it's a fascinating challenge to tackle, but they really pale in comparison to simply embracing the Zen of manual Lego sorting.

5) How much space? HA!  To quote my wife "Is there any room in this house that _doesn't_ have Lego in it?" To which I reply, "well the bathroom doesn't have _very much_ Lego..."  

 

[koalayummies]

This is the main thread on EB for storage and sorting:

"OK, so recently the 5 millionth topic was opened about storage. Let's keep it all to one sub-forum and one topic.

How do you sort your LEGO?

How do you store your LEGO?

Discuss..."

[natesroom]

On 7/20/2020 at 10:48 AM, ShaydDeGrai said:

1) According to Brickset, I have about half a million pieces from unique, "new" sets.  That number doesn't include duplicate copies of sets, bulk purchases of random bricks, donations from friends whose kids have (sadly) "outgrown" Lego, Pick-a-Brick and Bricklink purchases and bulk buys of k-Boxes (single piece, single color the crates used to stock the brick wall at Lego stores). If you add in those sources, I'd estimate that I have somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million parts.

2) How long to sort?  I'll tell you when I finish.  I started half a century ago and have more "to be sorted" parts today than I probably owned in my first twenty years of collecting combined.  When I just need to chill out for a bit I'll sit down with a movie or two that I've already seen, and will spend a few hours a week sorting.  

My actual sorting process starts with a scoop of random parts, a well lit smooth sorting surface  and two dozen cups in a tray on the floor and a "reject" bin on my lap.  I'll dump a pile of parts on the table, and just start pulling out parts.  If the part aligns with one of the cups on the floor (say, Technic, MiniFigs, assorted colors, etc). I toss it in the appropriate bin, otherwise it goes into the "reject" bin to get sorted later.  I find I can keep track of about 24 categories/cups of parts "to look out for" in my head at a time so that's a practical limit as to how broadly I can filter things in a single pass. 

On a second (or third, fourth, etc.) pass, I basically repeat the process, just with a finer level of discrimination.  I first pass might have produced a cup of Technic.  A second pass would start with that cup and then pull out even length axles, odd axles, assorted pins, gears, etc. while also filling up a "reject"/random Technic bin on my lap for all the odd-ball shapes I don't know how to categorize.  It's repetitive and largely mindless/meditative activity best suited for otherwise taxing, stressful and/or frustrating days.

3) How to I sort/organize things? That depends on the nature of the piece.  For Technic pieces, I sort by shape/function.  Mini-figs and accessories get lumped together in a big bin (I don't do much with these but my daughter likes them).  For common colors, I sort by both shape and color and organize by family in easy access trays (like a tray of white clips or black 1-by-X plates) or zip-lock baggies in bins (red slopes, tan bows, etc.).  For less common colors, I usually just sort by color and throw them in a bin as I'm usually not building with them, they're just there for accents and greebling.  I think anyone who has a collection of any really size and maturity probably has some pretty strong feelings about how to organize and curate those parts, and, from my personal experience, I think the most important thing to remember is that, if someone is happy about how their collection is organized, then they are doing it "right" - but remember, what is right for them might be entirely wrong for you.  If the way you sort, organize and store your collection doesn't parallel how you actually use it to build with, then you're wasting time and energy on an illusion of organization that will break down in practice.

4) With respect to automation, from time to time I've built color sorters with Mindstorms and purely mechanical, dumb (i.e. no microcontroller) axle length sorters and vibrating beds to separate tiles and plates from brick/thick stock but these have been more "interesting exercise in mechanics" than "practical solutions" for me.  I always tell myself, if this works, maybe I'll hit the machine shop and build a real robot that does this, but I never do.  The mechanical solutions always end up being more trouble than they're worth (jams, mistakes, not granular enough for my tastes, machine takes up too much room to do too small a job, etc.)  As someone who used to teach courses in machine vision and robotics I think it's a fascinating challenge to tackle, but they really pale in comparison to simply embracing the Zen of manual Lego sorting.

5) How much space? HA!  To quote my wife "Is there any room in this house that _doesn't_ have Lego in it?" To which I reply, "well the bathroom doesn't have _very much_ Lego..."  

 

This is a very informative post in fact it continues to be a favorite of mine that I come and read through to make sure I'm doing things as efficiently as most other people are doing.I was wondering if when you're doing your initial pass do you separate out plates individually or do you put all plates regardless of whether they're one two or three wide into one bin and then sort those after. Additionally how do you store the plates that are 4x10 or 6x6 6 by 10 etc I finally take up so much space I'm not sure what to do with them I also don't have hundreds of each more like 7 to 15 of one type

 

[ShaydDeGrai]

On February 23, 2021 at 6:44 PM, natesroom said:

This is a very informative post in fact it continues to be a favorite of mine that I come and read through to make sure I'm doing things as efficiently as most other people are doing.I was wondering if when you're doing your initial pass do you separate out plates individually or do you put all plates regardless of whether they're one two or three wide into one bin and then sort those after. Additionally how do you store the plates that are 4x10 or 6x6 6 by 10 etc I finally take up so much space I'm not sure what to do with them I also don't have hundreds of each more like 7 to 15 of one type

 

My usual rule of thumb is to go for the low hanging fruit first when deciding what to pull out of an unsorted pile.  It doesn't really make sense culling through 100's of parts looking for something you might only have half a dozen of, so I try to be a bit flexible in what my initial sort will pull out.  I'll rummage a bit and take a guess, based on the part in front of me, what broad categories would best divide the pile "evenly"   Of course this also means that sometime the granularity of the sort is different even within a single pass.  I might see that a given load of unsorted parts is rich in black technic pins and want to make them their own category just to get the out of the way, while in the same pass, I think all the lime green, regardless of shape, can be lumped together.

As for big parts/plates that take up a bit of space but don't occur in large quantities, I usually just set them aside into a quasi-sorted category of their own.  They get in the way when trying to sort small parts and they are big enough that you can find what you want in a hurry in a mixed bag, bin or shoebox once you know which container to look in even if the whole bin isn't "green 6x10 plates" or whatever. 

As collections grow, I think most people come to realize that sorting is less about putting the piece you anticipate needing in a place where you know to look, and more about organizing your parts such that all the parts you know you _don't_ want at any given moment don't get in the way while your trying to create.

[natesroom]

Thanks for the Response. I feel like I must be doing this, because what you describe seems to be my method. I Currently am using sterlite shoebox sized containers for: Big plates, BURPs, and currently all my castle minifigs (took up 4 full bins). 

What about the big baseplates? Anyone have a good way to store them? I have about 50-60 (literally i have about 20 of the older 80s and 90s road baseplates that i would love to trade for other stuff) of the 32x32 and about 20 of the irregular rectangular ones, and one 48x48. 

[Generaltrons bricks]

Im busy alot so not much time but i got back into lego some 4 years ago after a solid 5 year break while traveling the states.

Anyways i spent a few hrs sorting all of what i had and took me about 2 months. Some things i still dont have fully sorted. I dont quite have the number of contaners needed for proper sorting nor the room for such containers atm, so things are very slow going i do have some old Lego boxes that i use for the sorting process.

One being the largest explorians box for the big cruiser. Another being both sides of the aquanaughts base box. Sturdy and still usefull. Those old boxes from the 90s just cant be beat imho.

Ive had alot to sort through including old megabloks stuff that i had to sort out once i decided to take a more... (Lego only) type attitude. I still like the megabloks stuff as some things have more detail.. but i decided if i cant do it with what lego has supplied then im probably not doing it right. So i am taking it as a personal challange to use only what is official lego. With no custom parts. 

I hold no ill will to any who use any custom stuff it all looks great. But i do have one pet peave.. and thats altering parts to fit in ways they couldnt. There is a lot of old parts no longer in production that are becoming more and more rare. And i just hope i get the parts i need for the things i have planned.

Im still rediscovering some old parts i had not really thought of using since i got them. Lol.