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graemevw

How do you organise your spares?

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My spares situation is getting out of hand. Loads of flimsy boxes and open tubs all over the house with random selections of stuff in them.

All different cars, spares for cars i dont even own, new stuff, used stuff etc.

I REALLY need to sort it out and organise it a bit.

How does everyone else sort it? I have small parts boxes etc, but do you keep everything separated by models, or by part type?

Part of me want to store it all by car, but then im going through every box to find a spare screw etc.

I am leaning towards having screw boxes, shock parts, plastic parts etc and organising by part type. But concerned ill loose model specific items.

Any bright ideas?

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How about a series of small zip-loc bags?

It's a good idea to group types of parts together in boxes/containers - like you say, small hardware, suspension parts, steering parts, transmission parts etc. - but any specific model variants can be put in bags and labelled so they are easier to sort though?

Jx

 

 

 

 

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Up till now, I open the door of the supply cabinet that houses the spares, thow in the spare parts, and close the door. Which generally results in not being able to find anything again when I actually need it! :wacko:

I did buy a big plastic container with seperated compartments, its about 50 by 40 by 8 centimeters. It now holds all the screws and servo bits, and that works well. Still need to organise the rest of the cabinet.....

I also keep specific bits from cars that are completed in seperate boxes or containers depending on size of parts.  that also works ok.

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I store all of the screws and fiddly bits in small divided up containers and things like gears and shock parts in Chinese plastic boxes. I try to keep parts for each model separate but if parts interchange I will put them together. For the large parts and parts trees I use reseal able  plastic bags with labels of what model they belong to or what sort of parts are in there. I made a spares book so I know what parts I have for what model, under categories eg chassis.

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Boxes, for the big stuff, zip- lock bags for anything up to about chassis plate size & all the small stuff in compartment boxes. To add an extra bit of OCD each type of part has its own box/compartment setup, i.e. electrics, suspension parts, screws & fittings etc. I’ve found it helps me find the part I need faster.

As an example...

45365422635_87efa8f81d_b.jpg

 

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Like max69vk I have a couple of those plastic divider containers for hardware and then the kit boxes have specific items from the model. I can see how after a time I wouldn’t know which goes with what if I wasn’t careful. I’ve got my Bush Devil stripped down (since it went in the sea) and everything is bagged waiting for me to buy a sonic cleaner. 

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I bought several clear plastic storage tubs from our local home improvement store (Home Depot), and started organizing parts along a few lines of thought:

  • There are a few tubs with tools in them; these include all the hand tools, soldering tools, measurement/setup tools, inspection tools, specialty tools, etc.
  • There are some tubs with groups of related generic parts.  For example, all the buggy tires and wheels are in a few tubs.  All the on-road rubber tires and wheels are in other tubs.  On-road foams are in another tub.  1/8 scale buggy and truggy wheels and tires are in other tubs.  I have a tub or two of dampers, oils, springs, and bumpers.  There's a tub of generic parts, like fasteners, O-rings, bearings, pinions, etc.
  • I have tubs specifically for brushed speed controls and motors, brushless speed controls and motors, wiring and connectors, and receivers/servos.
  • There are some tubs reserved for specific chassis, such as TRF201, DB01, TA05, TB03, non-Tamiya, and 1/8 scale.  These tubs include chassis, spares, and hopups.

I guess in general most of the chaos falls into three categories -- tools/supplies/paints, generic parts for any model, and model-specific parts.  The clear tubs make it easy to see what's inside and it kind of jogs my memory when I'm looking for things.  I do have a tool box for my most commonly used tools, and a tool bag for taking things to a field or parking lot.

IMG_4061.JPG

 

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I seem to have done a mix of all the above.

Been at it a few hours with the GF's help, only 2 more kit boxes of mixed used parts to go through now!

 

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Congratulations to those of you who are organized!

Organization of my parts has always been a hassle. There are tubs full of shock oil. Tubs with cans of paint. Tubs with bottles of paint. Boxes and boxes of parts trees. Tubs of shocks. Pill organizers with steel shims, aluminum spacers, all sorts of hardware, bearings, e clips, etc. Boxes of batteries. Bodies stacked on shelves. Drawers of unopened parts. Chassis on shelves, my bench, the floor. NIB kits in the closet.

I can't find my program cards, and I never can find 3x8 screws. I am not organized at all.

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I tried to keep things together by car. So I’d try to have all the parts to make a complete car in one box.

That’s totally gone out the window over the years.

I’ve tried getting hold of the original box for each car and storing related parts in those.

But in some cases I’m using IKEA red and green storage boxes as well. I’m never going to buy a Toyota Hilux box.

I have got all my screws and small parts in divided plastic containers.

Still trying to a find a system that works.

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My organisational skills are zero, and actually make things worse when I try and sort things out (should I run for prime minister? 🙄😂)!! 

Schumacher tyre bags seem to hold up well, so some spares for my race cars are in those,  either in my race hauler, the box the car came in or in a carrier bag in the garage, kitchen or boot of my car.

I did have a bit of a sort out not so long ago, where my 2" wheels and tyres went in one carrier bag, the Indoor race 2.2" went in one and the outdoor went in another with a plan to have their own clear boxes.

I can now only find the outdoor wheels/tyres bag and the 2" 😳

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What i did was , i bought a load of chinees-food boxes ( the white one's, with the clear lids )

I numbered those, and in a pc file,  i wrote down what was in the numbered box..

So searching could go 2 ways,   the part.. or whats in the box..

Downside, after a break-in they stole the drive with on that.. yep.. the file what was in the boxes ...

So ended up with about 8 big cardboard boxes.. filled with numbered boxes.. what ment nothing !


Fast forward years further ( last month ) .. it might break your hart,  it turned out that those 8 boxes , after sorting, fitted in 2 huge "big waist" bags..

And off it went.. to the recycle center.

 

Ended up with 1 cardboard box with stuff i still knew what it was for , or was still new in the pack. 

 

I just could not see myself sorting out that insane pile of unsorted parts.     Sometimes, you just got to restart stuff .

 

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I use these 

Faithfull 24 Plastic Storage Bins with Metal Wall Panel https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004UR2GHY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_QlRbDbF32M065

Lidl often sell them v cheap

then I dyno print a label for what they are 

it’s mainly for small parts and I’ve grouped them into models

if I get more parts I may group them into types of parts 

I do also have a tools pot, electrical

pot, and general tamiya parts pot

JJ

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I have a small fishing tackle box. It has 4 removable trays with compartments plus almost enough room to store tools and ESC programmers. It goes everywhere the cars go and has all the screws, bolts, bearings, pinion gears etc for the currently used cars.

Somewhat less organised is the 6 large containers of gear I just tend to dump stuff into. Have been thinking about getting some smaller containers and sorting it by chassis/ type for the parts trees etc. Then another one for electronics and lastly a large one for wheels and tyres. Just need to stop thinking about it and start doing something about it :lol:

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My trouble is that I have all the little divider boxes and plastic tubs and drawers and whatnot, but I still can't manage to get things organized. What usually happens is I start sorting things into their little cubbyholes, start to get bored, re-discover some cool little doodad that I was going to use for a build but never did, start looking specifically for parts that go with that doodad, get involved with that project, and completely lose the momentum of organizing.

Repeat several times over the course of the past 15 years and three homes, and you have my current mess: half a dozen partial attempts at organization, all sort of living symbiotically off each other in a big disorganized pile. I'm working on it. Maybe I'll have all this organized by the time we decide to move again...

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I’m much the same as @markbt73

I start well and aim high ... but the reality can drift.

I’ve 2 of these boxes for each common chassis - so, early 934 / 935, SRB, Sand Rover / HB, 3 Speed etc.

They’re a Stanley organiser and £7, delivered in the UK.

The first box holds all the vintage / NOS nuts, bolts, washers, screws etc sub-divided by size.

The second holds larger original piece parts - subdivided by chassis / body section.

Trouble is there was a fair bit of commonality across models back then - and I’ve often worked on more than one car at a time so ...

And, like Mark, moving house plays badword with everything - because even the little plastic subdividers can’t keep things separate when removal guys take a more robust approach to your stuff than you’d like ...

I’ve then got separate Stanley tool boxes for electronics bits / tools and all my paint / masking stuff.

Not that the latter does me any good - I’m frankly useless at bodywork 🙄

26C7D32D-F358-477E-943D-1A00653CDB34.jpeg

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I have a large drawer for spares, its kind of full, so when more spares show up i cram it down a bit further. I have a few other small drawers for specific stuff like pinions, clips, etc

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