Kind of like Life Hacks, but pertaining to our beloved hobby, I thought a thread for simple but useful tricks would be cool.  I'll start:

Make your own mini "space saver" bags with a ziploc and a straw.  Put the pieces into the bag, zip it up with the straw barely inside the bag.  Then, suck all of the air out of the bag.  Quickly remove the straw and zip up that last bit in the same motion.  Now, you have a super-skinny airless bag that won't rattle at all when shipped.

Then, suck all of the air out of the bag.  Quickly remove the straw and zip up that last bit in the same motion.  Now, you have a super-skinny airless bag that won't rattle at all when shipped.

​This is how I swallowed a flower piece.

like the idea behind this thread. only thing I can think of is taking advantage of peoples ocd habits has saved me days of sorting.

buy anything Lego related in bulk

I like ordering tiny ziplocks for minifigures I sell, looks professional

buy anything Lego related in bulk

I like ordering tiny ziplocks for minifigures I sell, looks professional

​you mean like these?

​you mean like these?

​I get mine at the dollar store, a little longer than those ones.

No no no, you Fogel to buy in bulk, $7 for 500

Zombie Thread

Anyway, I recently found the plastic containers used to package the Costco apples to be excellent sorting trays for LEGO.

I've tried all kinds (in my recent project of putting together a used UCS MILF. The biggest issue is edging...most of the compartment containers have straight up walls so trying to pick out a small piece w/ "Man hands" can be at best annoying..at worse, scrape against a hang nail.

These apple containers are cheap (garbage) so re-use is eco friendly...they are also clear all around w/ minimal apple labeling...and the best is that they are rounded.  Some may find the midway curve between the "bowls" negative, but I see them as a net positive as it offers like-pieces to be grouped.  Some even have a large "bowl" in the middle for extra large pieces.

They take up a bit more room then the conventional trays...but there's the benefit of them stacking.

[update on year old MILF project: we are on page 350-ish and have about a third of the top outer panels placed.  A very regretful project and ofcourse I would never again purchase a used set over 3k pieces.  The greebling is the worse where it takes 30 minutes of piece searching to finish 1-2 pages of directions. And because there's so many different pieces, I am walking around back bent w/ a flash light over a sea of trays and ziplock bags...IMO; THIS is what LEGO was NEVER mean to to be. And it's a bit of a curse in that my boy and I can't "enjoy" LEGO building of other sets until we get this one done...it's a marathon (we started last May...package came May the 4th: which I thought was Auspicious..but in hindsite...it's the deathstar 2...never finished and doomed Palpatine) 

Zombie Thread
Anyway, I recently found the plastic containers used to package the Costco apples to be excellent sorting trays for LEGO.
I've tried all kinds (in my recent project of putting together a used UCS MILF. The biggest issue is edging...most of the compartment containers have straight up walls so trying to pick out a small piece w/ "Man hands" can be at best annoying..at worse, scrape against a hang nail.
These apple containers are cheap (garbage) so re-use is eco friendly...they are also clear all around w/ minimal apple labeling...and the best is that they are rounded.  Some may find the midway curve between the "bowls" negative, but I see them as a net positive as it offers like-pieces to be grouped.  Some even have a large "bowl" in the middle for extra large pieces.
They take up a bit more room then the conventional trays...but there's the benefit of them stacking.
[update on year old MILF project: we are on page 350-ish and have about a third of the top outer panels placed.  A very regretful project and ofcourse I would never again purchase a used set over 3k pieces.  The greebling is the worse where it takes 30 minutes of piece searching to finish 1-2 pages of directions. And because there's so many different pieces, I am walking around back bent w/ a flash light over a sea of trays and ziplock bags...IMO; THIS is what LEGO was NEVER mean to to be. And it's a bit of a curse in that my boy and I can't "enjoy" LEGO building of other sets until we get this one done...it's a marathon (we started last May...package came May the 4th: which I thought was Auspicious..but in hindsite...it's the deathstar 2...never finished and doomed Palpatine) 

I had a similar problem building a used UCS ISD. Finally after what seemed to be taking a eternity and getting no where fast, I went out and bought a lot more small plastic containers. I then spent a couple hours sorting each of the gray piece types into their own container. This cut down hugely on time in the long run and made the entire building experience much more enjoyable than it was before. Although I have learned that sets with a lot of repetitive greebling building are not for me.

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5 hours ago, Shortbus311 said:

I had a similar problem building a used UCS ISD. Finally after what seemed to be taking a eternity and getting no where fast, I went out and bought a lot more small plastic containers. I then spent a couple hours sorting each of the gray piece types into their own container. This cut down hugely on time in the long run and made the entire building experience much more enjoyable than it was before. Although I have learned that sets with a lot of repetitive greebling building are not for me.

Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk
 

thanks

My main issue is space; there's so many different pieces that a container for each will take up the whole living room floor; I think "to do it right" some sort of tiered tray system...I am picturing like 5 fishing tackle boxes that butterfly open.  I know many here have those 40 ct mini tray boxes from hardware stores w/ the clear front...but that would work best on a table...w/ this project I am roving over a sea of trays w/ a flashlight hunched over walking between obstacles.

2 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

thanks

My main issue is space; there's so many different pieces that a container for each will take up the whole living room floor; I think "to do it right" some sort of tiered tray system...I am picturing like 5 fishing tackle boxes that butterfly open.  I know many here have those 40 ct mini tray boxes from hardware stores w/ the clear front...but that would work best on a table...w/ this project I am roving over a sea of trays w/ a flashlight hunched over walking between obstacles.

I had to move a couple of years ago and disassembled a bunch of my UCS sets (SSD, ISD, MF...). I really want to build them but your issue above is what has kept me from doing it so far. Even some of the smaller ones like the Snowspeeder and X-Wing have been annoying to put together.

2 minutes ago, Fcbarcelona101 said:

I had to move a couple of years ago and disassembled a bunch of my UCS sets (SSD, ISD, MF...). I really want to build them but your issue above is what has kept me from doing it so far. Even some of the smaller ones like the Snowspeeder and X-Wing have been annoying to put together.

4sure...I got some big used sets recently (kwikimart, ninjago city, minecraft mountain mine) and the kid repacked to original bag numbers...WOW.  KNowing what I know now...I would have easily paid 30% more for the service.

I had tried doing that w/ JOker Mansion I had for sale...and gave up.  It's hard to be THAT diligent.  The guy who bought it complained of missing pieces and i told him that it's prob in another bag since I wasn't able to be so diligent.  It takes as special kind of person

2 minutes ago, $20 on joe vs dan said:

I had tried doing that w/ JOker Mansion I had for sale...and gave up.  It's hard to be THAT diligent.  The guy who bought it complained of missing pieces and i told him that it's prob in another bag since I wasn't able to be so diligent.  It takes as special kind of person

For just that reason I never advertise used sets as guaranteed 100% complete — even if I have accounted for them.  I’ll note that I did go through the process, found it to be complete, but given the nature of the product there is no guarantee.  Has never appeared to affect the price either.

1 hour ago, gmpirate said:

For just that reason I never advertise used sets as guaranteed 100% complete — even if I have accounted for them.  I’ll note that I did go through the process, found it to be complete, but given the nature of the product there is no guarantee.  Has never appeared to affect the price either.

as a buyer, I always assume a used set will have missing pieces...I typically just confirm MFs and then throw on the pile of backlog