Parts inventory - personal collections

Bosstone100 · June 2014

How does everyone inventory their parts. I know some people create a dummy selling account on Bricklink but I'm weary of anything online that can be shut down without notice.

I had started to use Brickstore but the more parts you add, the slower it gets. What'd like to do, is create a database in Access 2010 (I'd started one a while back) and be able to add parts in there.

Ideally, I'd be able to get the little brick pictures, like they have in Brickstore to go along with it. I'd like to be able to take a .bsx set file, and add an entire set's inventory at once.

Too ambitious? Maybe.

Anyone have any ideas or even alternatives?

Thanks,

Mike

CupIsHalfEmpty · June 2014

I don't have a meticulous inventory, but I do try and keep on top of things. I've been using Rebrickable. It has many import/export functions that you could use to keep a local copy of your inventory in case rebrickable ever ceased to exist. You can keep parts from a set either as a complete set, or break it down into your loose parts. Plus if you use Brickset to keep an inventory of your sets, the transfer over to rebrickable is seemless.

Bosstone100 · June 2014

Thanks. I'll check it out.

Huw · June 2014

^^ Better still, it should now keep Rebrickable in sync automatically as you add/remove sets once you've transferred your collection over once.

Pippa · April 2016

I am recently out of my Dark Ages but between my son, my husband and myself, we are quickly acquiring way too much Lego, both in terms of sets and loose pieces, for me to keep track of in my head. (Particularly now that DH has his own BL account.) Not such a big deal with what we consider the more basic building bricks and even some plates or tiles in readily available colors - if I place second order for a similar bunch of 1x2, 1x3,1x4, 1x6 bricks etc., so long as they were reasonably priced, oh well. But for some parts I really need to inventory - i.e. arches.

Before I put a lot more time into getting all our sets into Brickset and figuring out Rebrickable I wanted to check if this works well for others maintaining personal collections (as opposed to sellers) or if there are other options I should consider.

I really like Brickset so far (so easy and user friendly!) but am a little intimidated by Rebrickable particularly the whole import/export/transfer/sync'ing.)

(I apologize if this is not the most relevant/recent thread - just know I did try search ing and reviewing many, many older threads and threads focused on sellers.)

madforLEGO · April 2016

I think I would lose my sanity if I tried to account for every part I have at this point.

gmonkey76 · April 2016

I keep a general idea in my head of what I have. I make custom fire trucks/engines off of official lego sets so I print of the bricklink inventory make my notes on my changes to the design. Then I print of a spreadsheet of all the parts and keep an inventory on them, and use it when I make a bricklink order to see if the store has them at a good price or to meet the minimum purchase requirement. If I tried to keep track of everything I'd go nuts. I just purchased over 20 of the fire car polybag on clearance for $1 for the minifigures and parts. I have them as sets in my brickset inventory. If I tried to keep updating every time I opened one for parts it would take a little enjoyment out of it. When do you stop owning a set and when do they become just parts(let's not get into that because there have been numerous fights here on that subject)

Pippa · April 2016

I can see the insanity in trying to inventory parts but on the other hand I would love to be able to keep track of how many _____ bricks I have for shopping purposes :)

Part of the problem is that they could be in so many places between the 3 of our various creations, the general bins and my stash of loose pieces.

Thanks.

Venunder · April 2016

With all three of you making MOC's rather than keeping an inventory of parts, it is probably just easier to buy what you want when you want it.

bandit778 · April 2016

Like @CupIsHalfEmpty I use Rebrickable a lot.
When buying parts for certain builds off Bricklink and Brickowl I have found it to be invaluable, especially when using certain parts across multiple builds, to keep track of everything.
It isn't so bad when adding only 1 order at a time and is always there for future reference when wanting to have a go at another set, as you can then find out what parts you need and upload them to Bricklink and Brickowl as wish lists.
As I don't buy parts to make sets to keep, only to build, display for a while, then dismantle and move on to the next build this keeps parts to a minimum with maximum building.

Pippa · April 2016

Venunder said:

With all three of you making MOC's rather than keeping an inventory of parts, it is probably just easier to buy what you want when you want it.

I hesitate to call them all MOCs ;) - I tend to be modifying set (when I'm not sorting parts. And DS builds lots of marvelous structures with vary colorful floors and tons of special bits but they generally require explanation and have very fluid design plans. And I can't afford to just by what I want when I want.

(Of course, you may have been being sarcastic, but if so why? I said I wanted to keep an inventory of parts purchased to help avoid duplicate purchases and was just asking what sites others use? I don't get what's wrong with that.)

Pippa · April 2016

bandit778 said:

Like @CupIsHalfEmpty I use Rebrickable a lot.
When buying parts for certain builds off Bricklink and Brickowl I have found it to be invaluable, especially when using certain parts across multiple builds, to keep track of everything.
It isn't so bad when adding only 1 order at a time and is always there for future reference when wanting to have a go at another set, as you can then find out what parts you need and upload them to Bricklink and Brickowl as wish lists.
As I don't buy parts to make sets to keep, only to build, display for a while, then dismantle and move on to the next build this keeps parts to a minimum with maximum building.

Thanks - I just was wondering if it was the best option for my purposes setting up an account. The site explains it's purpose as figuring out if you can build a given set based on the parts you already have and I so I wasn't sure if it worked well just for maintaining an inventory. I'm probably overthinking this. Maybe what I should have asked is it as cumbersome to use as BrickLink :)

bandit778 · April 2016

@Pippa
No it's not like Bricklink at all, although like Bricklink, and any other website really, it does have it's quirks that become second nature the more you use It.
When I first got back into Lego, it was purely to build #10221 (Super Star Destroyer) as I loved the ship and wanted to build the model. At first I made some rookie errors using Brickowl and Bricklink and the first few orders probably cost more in shipping than they should have. Then with using the features on Rebrickable, (Parts owned, parts needed, alternative parts etc.), and uploading to both BL & BO with wish lists made the whole process a lot easier once I got used to it and it probably saved me a fair bit in shipping in the process.

CupIsHalfEmpty · April 2016

Pippa said:
Thanks - I just was wondering if it was the best option for my purposes setting up an account. The site explains it's purpose as figuring out if you can build a given set based on the parts you already have and I so I wasn't sure if it worked well just for maintaining an inventory. I'm probably overthinking this. Maybe what I should have asked is it as cumbersome to use as BrickLink :)

I'll do a follow up post. Since my first comment was from 2014! :)

Yes Rebrickable works fantastic at maintaining an inventory. Here's how I have used Rebrickable to maintain my inventory to an acceptable accuracy.

Step 1: Go through Brickset (right here) and mark "owned" beside every set you own. Whether it's sealed, built, or dumped into a parts bin.

Step 2: Set up a Rebrickable account and set up sync between brickset and rebrickable.

At this point you can search for any part on rebrickable and it will tell you how many you own and which set they are in. And also what other colors you have.

Step 3: Create a couple different set lists on rebrickable and chose whether to include in builds or not. I have three lists,
a) Keep Complete: Do not include these in build calculations, these are my biggest sets that I don't plan on stealing from
b) "My first set list: Include in build calculations. This is the default list all sets go into from brickset and contains all the sets I have that are stored as a set but I will scavange parts from if required.
c) Parted out: These are sets that have been completely parted out into my parts inventory. (but I haven't used the part out function of rebrickable yet)

Step 4a: (Optional) Create 2 parts lists. One for parted out sets and one for bricklink/owl purchases
Step 4b: use the part out feature of Rebrickable to part out all the sets you've already parted out to you parts lists

Step 5: Import any bricklink orders you have made to your bricklink parts list.

At this point rebrickable maintains a pretty accurate inventory of what parts you have. You can find out which individual parts you have, you can find out how much of an official set or MOC you have. etc.

It's then up to you if you want to go further and inventory bulk lots you've purchased or pick a brick cups from the Lego Store. I tend to inventory my pick a brick cups, which has significantly changed the way I pack them in stores, no more some of this some of that x30, it's more 700 of just those...

There is a computer program called BrickStock that can inventory Lego, I will use it to inventory my PAB cup, and then import into rebrickable as I find it easier to use for individual parts.

When it comes to bulk lots of used Lego I've purchased, I'm not crazy enough to inventory individual bricks. So I will mark as "owned" any sets I know are in the lot on brickset and then part them out on rebrickable taking the risk that they might not be complete.

Last Step: Enjoy it! I probably have more fun talking about Lego and inventory/storage management then I do playing with the stuff these days. But to each their own right!

Billy

Pippa · April 2016

Billy,

Thank you so much!!!!

That is so helpful - it does sound like it would be good for my purposes and I really appreciate your explaining your system in detail. I now have a much better understanding of what I can do.

And I'm so excited that I can import not just the sets owned from here but also by parts orders from BrickLink.

Now I really do think I can get a decent inventory going - up our first trip to the Lego store after this past Christmas we've only bought/received sets and I can make an accurate list of those from our instructions file. Combining those lists with my BL orders will give me a great start. Hopefully I can also import my husband's orders too.

I will try not to think about the PAB cups that have been added to the mix (and random Lego I've found in Playmobil lots over many years)...but may try and inventory future ones. I do want to inventory all my purchased from S&H and eBay (sadly, way too many from before I discovered BrinkLink - I cringe at some of the prices I paid.)

Now I'm eager to get started!!!

Thanks again,

Pippa

Parts inventory - personal collections

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