How do you store your plans?

[Matthew Lau]

Dear MIMF,

I'm gonna try to clean up my garage/workshop.
Currently, it's very hard to move around in.

One thing I've neglected is organizing my instrument plans.
I have them in some protective plastic tubes, some in cardboard mailers, and some in an oversized art folio.

How do you organize/store your instrument plans?

[Barry Daniels]

When I worked as a civil engineer, we had two methods of plan storage. Flat files were the premium method but they take a lot of room and are fairly expensive. A smaller footprint option is hanging blueprint racks. Here is what I am talking about:

Hanging Blueprint Rack

[JC Whitney]

I'm entering my fourth decade as an architect - certainly doesn't make me an expert, but I've tried to learn from my mistakes along the way.

Flat files are great both in terms of the protection they offer and keeping things flat, but Barry is right on the money regarding re: their drawbacks.

Tube storage is compact and offers good protection, especially if you get plastic caps. Label them on the caps if storing in racking end-out, label sides of the tube if storing parallell to the wall. Lots of debate over whether to roll drawings/prints with linework facing in or out, but they'll be less likely to roll themselves back up on your workbench if stored in tubes with the linework facing out.

If you're going to access the drawings often, racks are fantastic aside from taking up a fair amount of room. A cheap shop-built approach to racking is two long thin slats (say 3/16" x 1" x 8" longer than your drawings' smallest dimension) that sandwich your drawing set, bolted together with binding screw posts that pass thru both slats and at least three holes punched along the left side of the drawing. Slats extend past the drawing 4" either end, allowing them to be hung within a rack or brackets off the wall... kind of like hanging file folders, but instead of folders you've got lovely instrument plans.

Keep in mind that if hung in a spot that gets a lot of sun you're likely to get prints fading over time - although much less than back in the day when we used diazo (photosensitive) blueprint paper.

[Jim McConkey]

Space and other considerations prevent me from storing plans flat, so I opt for rolled in shipping tubes. Since most plans were mailed to me, I have a number of triangular shaped shipping tubes that stack nicely on top of one another, alternating directions, if you have something to tie them all together. You could probably do the same thing with round tubes, they are just not as stable.

[Paul Dzatko]

I'm not doing it at the moment but pinned to the back of a door works well.
I've seen them under a sheet of plexiglass on a desktop. Right now I have a couple out of their mailing tubes and stuck on a metal cabinet with magnets.

[Dave Rickard]

I hang mine on the wall in a poster Frame, not sure where got the frame kits it's been a few years ago

[Matthew Lau]

Thanks for the tips!

Currently, I'm putting mind rolled up in plastic art tubes.
I don't trust my garage to be moisture controlled or rat free.

[Teresa Wiggins]

Count me as another who uses art tubes. I then use my label maker to print out what's in each tube.

[Jarno Verhoeven]

I think tubes are an excellent option, but I was going to suggest finding a flat plan filing cabinet, given that the industry moves to CAD, you sometimes see these for little money. The do take up a lot of space though.