Looking for storage idea for carts.

[Atari the Jedi]

I would like any ideas for displaying my 5200 cartridges other than the sandwich bags they are in. I'm not really crazy about clamshells. With my other systems; Nintendo for example, I use the clear protectors one can find on ebay. It makes them look clean and sharp, however, I've not been able to find any to fit the 5200 carts. Does anyone have any good ideas?

[AtariBrian]

The clear protectors you use for your Nintendo games ... clear box protectors for cib games ? Are your 5200 games cib ? I have a 5200 collection of cart only and each one in a clear bag . I put all of them in a 3 drawer wide storage rolling cart . I plan to put end labels on each cart so I can find a cart easily .

[Shawn]

[Atari the Jedi]

No my 5200 cartridges are loose. The plastic protectors I am referring to are the same ones that people use for cib's but they are cut for loose cartridges i.e. Nintendo, super Nintendo etc. However of the sizes that I found from the sellers nothing seems to work for the 5200.

[Rick Dangerous]

If you cut the bottom supports out of a universal game case, those work great, and you can do the 5200 art inserts from the cover project. That is how my whole collection is housed and it looks great on a shelf.

[edladdin]

I would like any ideas for displaying my 5200 cartridges other than the sandwich bags they are in. I'm not really crazy about clamshells. With my other systems; Nintendo for example, I use the clear protectors one can find on ebay. It makes them look clean and sharp, however, I've not been able to find any to fit the 5200 carts. Does anyone have any good ideas?

 

Despite the fact that I tend to mostly play the games using an AtariMax or the Harmony Cart, I really like original carts. I like to reorganize them on various themes, study the artwork, and so on. So with the arrival of the 5200 a few weeks ago I found myself with the same problem - no great way to store and play with them.

 

To my delight, the oak cases that we use for the Supreme 78 controllers were the perfect width to hold 19 carts for the 5200, with enough depth to be able to frame out an area for the manuals. (I like manuals as much as I like carts!) We had a couple from the last batch that arrived from the cabinet shop with too many flaws to be able to build them out as controllers, so I put some blue felt in the bottom of one and added the dividers for the manuals. The photos show where I am thus far - everything is cut to size, but the dividers are still not connected. I wanted to play with the whole affair for a week or two so I could make any adjustments before nailing everything down. I also need to add a few coats of poly to the dividers.

 

Because I ended up with so much space for manuals in the first organizer (photo shows manuals for all 19 games plus various hardware booklets), I'll probably build out the second without the divider, instead adding oak trim layers to narrow the inside walls to match the width of the carts. This will solve my one dissatisfaction with the box in the photos, which is that I found it extremely difficult to cut the felt exactly square, plus the main oak enclosure is not exactly square either. Of course, you can't see any of that when the carts are in the box, but it will be nice to have the oak trim to hide the imperfections.

[AtariBrian]

 

Despite the fact that I tend to mostly play the games using an AtariMax or the Harmony Cart, I really like original carts. I like to reorganize them on various themes, study the artwork, and so on. So with the arrival of the 5200 a few weeks ago I found myself with the same problem - no great way to store and play with them.

 

To my delight, the oak cases that we use for the Supreme 78 controllers were the perfect width to hold 19 carts for the 5200, with enough depth to be able to frame out an area for the manuals. (I like manuals as much as I like carts!) We had a couple from the last batch that arrived from the cabinet shop with too many flaws to be able to build them out as controllers, so I put some blue felt in the bottom of one and added the dividers for the manuals. The photos show where I am thus far - everything is cut to size, but the dividers are still not connected. I wanted to play with the whole affair for a week or two so I could make any adjustments before nailing everything down. I also need to add a few coats of poly to the dividers.

 

Because I ended up with so much space for manuals in the first organizer (photo shows manuals for all 19 games plus various hardware booklets), I'll probably build out the second without the divider, instead adding oak trim layers to narrow the inside walls to match the width of the carts. This will solve my one dissatisfaction with the box in the photos, which is that I found it extremely difficult to cut the felt exactly square, plus the main oak enclosure is not exactly square either. Of course, you can't see any of that when the carts are in the box, but it will be nice to have the oak trim to hide the imperfections.

Pretty cool , did your cat help you build those ?

[edladdin]

Pretty cool , did your cat help you build those ?

 

The cats are in charge of inspections and quality control. :-)

[BassGuitari]

I just put mine up on some track shelving.

[Zonie]

[PhoenixMoonPatrol]

Yep. Thats how I have my retro systems and games packed. Ain't fancy but my apartment is small so these are life savers.