styrene/scratch building organization

[guitarsam326]

Hey guys, i'm slowly getting into the whole scratch building world and I definitely love it, but i'm having a hard time finding a good way to organize all of my evergreen rod, tubing, angle, channel, and all that good stuff. right now, I have it all still in their respective bags hogging up the left side of my drawer and its to say the least irritating. are there any suggestions out there? and thanks in advance!

[Mark]

Look for some cardboard tubes (poster mailers, wrapping paper tubes) or long boxes. If you decide you like the "tube" storage method, you could buy some cheap PVC pipe to make a fixture to hold everything. I keep mine in the packages, and have a couple of long boxes to keep them in so they stay straight. I think the boxes I have were from packaged breakfast items (cinnamon rolls, Danish, or something like that). I've got a few cartons from my mom's nutritional drink that are probably long enough to use for this too. Look for boxes or tubes that you can pick up for free, as opposed to buying/building something. You might change your mind later about what is suitable, so don't tie up any money in it for now.

[southpier]

these work pretty good for a while:

but either plastruct or evergreen comes in 15" & 24" lengths and then you need something for that. and for the cut-offs to big to toss but too small for the regular stash box. then you'll get so much that you'll be spending time digging for the piece at the bottom.

Edited November 9, 2014 by southpier

[Gothicz House Of Kustomz]

simple man, use pringle potato chip tubes, they come in 2 sizes, once painted look rather kewl, second go to the dollar store near you, and look where they have plastic storage, i put all my projects in 6 qt shoe boxes, my flat plastic in a 3 drawer set, and I use a smaller tub for all my scrap, total cost, with pringles, all from the family dollar? less the 25.00, simple easy and keeps it neat

[bpletcher55]

HAY SAM , I to do a lot of scratch building , what works for me is little jars [ cat treats ] for small pieces and larger ones for bigger pieces that i use the most of the rest is hanging on a cork board , I also use a old paper divider to keep my flat stock in .it helps keeping the pieces in the small jars on the bench so I can just grab them if I need a small piece.

[afx]

I hang my on hooks as well. I group them by shapes; tubes, rods, strips, angles etc. I would recommend that you leave them in the original package or mark the container you put them in so that you know the size. A friend of mine has a nice square upright divider rack he found decades ago. Wish I could find something like his.

Edited November 9, 2014 by afx

[bobthehobbyguy]

Another suggestion is tto bundle each type in the original packing. That way you only have to find the size you want.

[Aaronw]

This is what I use. I put left over bits back in the original package with the uncut stuff, so I know what it is.

Six tubes made from 3" ABS pipe, and 4 made from 2" ABS pipe. The base and dividers for the sheets are made from 1" pine shelving. I divided everything into like types, rod, round tube, square tube etc. The 4 smaller tubes (behind the 3" tubes) are for metal wire, rod and tubing. Behind it all is a slot for extra long material.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Aaronw

[guitarsam326]

Thanks for the response guys, a lot of helpful ideas here!