Short Note on Organization

April/May 2016.
It's probably fairly easy to appreciate that disassembly is not all that difficult.  Whether days, weeks or months from disassembly, however, one would be challenged to figure out which bolt goes with which assembly and in what order without some organization and system.

For small to medium parts I added a shelf with labeled bins and boxes as above.  For small items including nuts and bolts I've often used a low-tech egg carton as below.  It helps both identify the origin of the part and can be used to recall the order of disassembly as well (work backwards through the numbers to reassemble).  This is best used as a relatively short term approach, however, since one small tip-over can obviously mess up the whole system!  I am also using ziplock bags marked with a Sharpie for other small to mid-sized parts.

In addition to parts organization, I use Excel spreadsheets to track and record necessary and pending jobs, categorized by location or function.  The spreadsheet(s) also allows me to keep track of costs and time spent as well as reference for part source, part number or other detail (see 'Parts and Ideas' post at right for detail on these).