 | | | | | |
How to organize your Lego bricks for efficient building, from the Evil
Mad Scientist Labs
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/efficientlego
Stacking pieces into large objects with overlap to allow separation.
-Rob A>
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Rob Antonishen wrote:
> http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/efficientlego
>
> Stacking pieces into large objects with overlap to allow separation.
While neat, this may actually cause your bricks to warp slightly over time! How
much, how badly, and in what ways depend on many things, but all in all, I think
it's probably better to store your bricks separately. I find that this is more
of an issue for newer parts than older ones (older mixtures of ABS seem more
brittle and less prone to warping, perhaps?), and typically the problem isn't
terribly noticeable-- you'll just lose some clutch power.
The most noticeable instances of this are from old sets that you might buy on
Ebay or the like. Often you can tell that certain pieces have been stuck
together for years because the clutch power has gone WAY down (not to mention
that models on display often discolor differently).
One instance where this hit me was in my model AT-AT, which used those 4x4 1/4
round plates in stacks with other plates. The head of the model was held up
purely by the clutch power of these elements. When first constructed in 2000, it
worked great! Several years later in 2003 (the neck stayed assembled for the
duration), it wouldn't hold the head up consistantly at all. Apparently the
elements lost JUST enough clutch power to make the model no longer useable.
DaveE
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| |
|
In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, David Eaton wrote:
> In lugnet.org.ca.rtltoronto, Rob Antonishen wrote:
> > http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/efficientlego
> >
> > Stacking pieces into large objects with overlap to allow separation.
>
> While neat, this may actually cause your bricks to warp slightly over time! How
> much, how badly, and in what ways depend on many things, but all in all, I think
> it's probably better to store your bricks separately. I find that this is more
> of an issue for newer parts than older ones (older mixtures of ABS seem more
> brittle and less prone to warping, perhaps?), and typically the problem isn't
> terribly noticeable-- you'll just lose some clutch power.
>
> The most noticeable instances of this are from old sets that you might buy on
> Ebay or the like. Often you can tell that certain pieces have been stuck
> together for years because the clutch power has gone WAY down (not to mention
> that models on display often discolor differently).
>
> One instance where this hit me was in my model AT-AT, which used those 4x4 1/4
> round plates in stacks with other plates. The head of the model was held up
> purely by the clutch power of these elements. When first constructed in 2000, it
> worked great! Several years later in 2003 (the neck stayed assembled for the
> duration), it wouldn't hold the head up consistantly at all. Apparently the
> elements lost JUST enough clutch power to make the model no longer useable.
>
> DaveE
You are very correct. At first I did build the bricks into stacks of 10 each.
Over the years I saw them fall apart and when I went to put them back together
where they fell apart, they would not stay together very well and would fall
apart again. I noticed this mostly in the bricks and did not try it with
plates, however paltes might not do this in that they have just 1/3 or less
wiggle room. I would recommend always storing any lego element not assembled.
John P
| | | | | | |
