I've torn town and rebuilt a 10" lathe and vertical mill; as you can imagine they have a ton of parts. What I eventually settled on was putting parts from each subassembly in an appropriately sized ziplock bag and writing the name of the assembly with marker on the bag. Keeping them in order of disassembly makes it easier to remember the order in which they go back together.
+2 I do this same thing. One handy thing is to also have a computer next to you and google and/or youtube at the ready if you forget how certain pieces fit together. Happens to me all the time. I can only remember so many things if I have been staring at one or two designs all day, I may forget something that usually isnt a problem for me and need a reminder.I've torn town and rebuilt a 10" lathe and vertical mill; as you can imagine they have a ton of parts. What I eventually settled on was putting parts from each subassembly in an appropriately sized ziplock bag and writing the name of the assembly with marker on the bag. Keeping them in order of disassembly makes it easier to remember the order in which they go back together.
+1 Nothing like recognizing right off the bat where something goes. Every so often, however, sombody will bring me something queer that isnt common and I wont know any parts except the ones that are glaringly obvious.Those baggies that all the small parts ship in. I use a lot of those.
I also have been blessed with the ability to recognize parts for each make and model of gun I have pulled apart. Now keeping them from getting lost, that's a different issue...
All of the above are great methods of storing and sorting parts. The main thing to do as you disassemble anything, firearm, auto, or computer, take plenty of photos as it comes apart. This will definitely help during reassembly. I always photo things, it comes in handy all the time to remember sizes and part numbers.
A trick I used when rebuilding an axle a while back, was to print off the "exploded" parts diagram, and then label each baggie with the corresponding number/name in the diagram. Made ordering replacement parts easy, too.