Storage bin for class crystals...ideas?

[LittleWatchShop]

Just throwing this out...maybe somebody has a clever idea.

Here is just one box of glass crystals I recently acquired.  I am culling out the ones with chips (the pile in the back).  The rest in the picture are just fine.

But what is a clever/safe way to store them.  I stacked some up and put them in a paper tube with 3d printed caps.  But that only works for the 17xx crystals.

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by LittleWatchShop

[grsnovi]

I guess it depends on how   a n a l   you plan to get

I think the first thing that I'd do would be to sort ALL of them by size to see the extent of your new collection.

Do you plan on offering these for general consumption or limit them to personal use?

In either case you'll need a way to quickly determine if what is needed is available within your stock.

How many do you think you have? You could initially create an inventory in a spreadsheet.

I'm pretty   a n a l   and for me uniformity would be important. I just purchased 100 Plymor heavy duty plastic ziploc bags to store movements. At the moment I pretty much have these inventoried in my head but I did write on them with a Sharpie. I see that most (all?) of your crystals are already stickered - is that enough identification? If you went with a 2" x 2" or 3" x 3" bag, then you could stack them individually (standing up) in a drawer with file folder-like inserts to give you a clue as to diameter.

Depending on the geometry and volume you might also want to separate them by flat, domed, high-domed, etc...

Or (optionally) you could hang each bag on a rotating carrousel (you know, like they have at the dry cleaners) so you can quickly bring the needed crystal right to your bench.  

OK, it was just an idea I'm throwing out...

- Gary

Edited October 5, 2022 by grsnovi
restored **BLEEP**

[LittleWatchShop]

27 minutes ago, grsnovi said:

I guess it depends on how   a n a l   you plan to get

I think the first thing that I'd do would be to sort ALL of them by size to see the extent of your new collection.

Do you plan on offering these for general consumption or limit them to personal use?

In either case you'll need a way to quickly determine if what is needed is available within your stock.

How many do you think you have? You could initially create an inventory in a spreadsheet.

I'm pretty   a n a l   and for me uniformity would be important. I just purchased 100 Plymor heavy duty plastic ziploc bags to store movements. At the moment I pretty much have these inventoried in my head but I did write on them with a Sharpie. I see that most (all?) of your crystals are already stickered - is that enough identification? If you went with a 2" x 2" or 3" x 3" bag, then you could stack them individually (standing up) in a drawer with file folder-like inserts to give you a clue as to diameter.

Depending on the geometry and volume you might also want to separate them by flat, domed, high-domed, etc...

Or (optionally) you could hang each bag on a rotating carrousel (you know, like they have at the dry cleaners) so you can quickly bring the needed crystal right to your bench.  

OK, it was just an idea I'm throwing out...

- Gary

I am "somewhat" **BLEEP** about some things, but I probably have several thousand.  My plan now is to separate them by the non-franctional number, so 17 1/16 will be stored with 17 15/16...etc.  I am not going to break it down by profile except for the ones that have a graded height (1-8). 

Do I plan to sell them, or for personal use?  Personal use, for sure...that gets maybe 10 out of the inventory.  The others I will probably give away to my watchmaking buddies.  The amount of effort to put them on ebay relative to the amount of money I would make is a bit insane, really.

BUT, I want to store them in a way that keeps them from breaking, and with some order.

[dadistic]

You don't have any space in that giant cabinet of yours?

I currently use plastic parts bins similar to what you have in your picture for my acrylic crystals, but that takes up a lot of space.

I was thinking of making some cardboard storage boxes similar to a few I have. Shouldn't be too hard, just need the cardstock. 

 

[LittleWatchShop]

18 minutes ago, dadistic said:

You don't have any space in that giant cabinet of yours?

That cabinet is fully stocked with crystals already!!  GS Fancy...prolly use one or two of those before I die...lol.

Cardboard is not a bad idea.  I have plenty of old business cards that could be used as separators...something to ponder.

I guess I could remove the fancy crystals and replace them with the glass ones...something to think about.

[LittleWatchShop]

I picked this silverware storage cabinet at the flea market for $1.  Felt lined.

I think it will work.  These are not organized, just placed in to see how they fit.

Later on, I will add cardboard separators to delineate sizes.

[luiazazrambo]

I did think about these silverware boxes, but the ones I saw were a lot more expensive. They were very nice though. I made my own trays for acrylic, but planning to do them for glass too.

This is a "factory made" crystal box, probably it is not visible on the pics but it gets deeper and deeper as the diameter of the glass is increasing.

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by luiazazrambo