Subject:
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Re: How to use Lego bricks...
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.general
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Date:
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Thu, 17 Oct 2002 01:44:48 GMT
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> Mind you, one thing they used to have in the sets of long ago was
> instructions on how to overlap the bricks to get a strong wall, instead of
> stacking them in piles.
Well, having learnt this as a kid in the 60s, I now find myself as an adult
having to un-learn it.
Being thoroughly trained in the overlapping brick technique, I build large
(1000+ piece) structures in the overlapping style out of habit. Then I decide
"oooh, maybe I'd like a bigger window" or something in the middle of the
structure, or I finally get the parts I was waiting on from a bricklink seller
and need to incorporate them. So then I find myself unpulling almost the entire
structure (thanks to the overlapping) to get to the section I need to change
and then rebuilding the whole thing again. Then I decide to change something
else and the whole process repeats. All very inefficient.
Given that my training in IT teaches me the benefits of modularisation and
loose coupling etc, it is strange that it has taken me so long to realise that
I can modify a Lego structure much more easily if I don't do as much
overlapping in the first place. Given that a large structure is rarely built
right the first time (and rarely do you have exactly the right parts to being
with), inevitably any large structure will be modified many times.
So therefore I now try to NOT build long overlapping walls. Instead I built
wall segments (which are overlapped internally) but are not connected directly
to adjacent wall segments. Instead I rely on the floor/roof to sandwich the
wall segments together. If I know I have used the wrong parts (pending a
bricklink order), then I do sometimes resort to just stacking bricks on top of
one another as I know I am going to have to modify this section when the order
arrives, and removing stacked bricks to get to the problem area is a cinch in
comparison to removing overlapped bricks. The aim is always to build sections
and then use overlapping to connect the sections, but not overlap at the level
of every brick.
Of course, building by this technique is not as structurally rigid as the fully
overlapped technique, but it is still fairly rigid (e.g. can survive transport
as a built model), so I theorise that the fully overlapped approach is in fact
over-engineering in many circumstances.
One area were overlapping is more important is building roofs or other large
sloping structures, as the downward forces are not evenly distributed over the
whole brick as they are in a wall. So I was initially unable to apply the
modular approach to roofs etc. However, thanks to observing Dan Siskind's
guarded church, I have learnt that the trick to building a large roof in
sections is to reinforce each section with inverse slopes on the underside. Of
course this uses a large amount of inverse slopes, so the poor man's solution
is just to reinforce parts of each section, particularly the section ends.
Of course, the other practical benefit to modularisation is that if there are a
number of identical modules, then it makes life simpler if you are using LDRAW
(or similar) and/or producing instructions.
So for big structures, DON'T automatically overlap!
Kerry
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Message has 3 Replies:
 | | Re: How to use Lego bricks...
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| (...) Ah yes, this is what I refer to as "surgery". In fact I've always used that word as if it were a trade-term for AFOLs, but just now realized that I haven't shared it much here on Lugnet. Maybe me writing this will inspire the new usage of (...) (22 years ago, 17-Oct-02, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: How to use Lego bricks...
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| Kerry Raymond wrote in message ... (...) directly (...) of (...) order (...) in (...) sections (...) level (...) fully (...) transport (...) fact (...) Interesting - I hadn't really thought about it from this point of view but you are right. I often (...) (22 years ago, 17-Oct-02, to lugnet.general)
| | | Re: How to use Lego bricks...
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| "Kerry Raymond" <kerry@dstc.edu.au> wrote in message news:H43rIu.AvC@lugnet.com... (...) adult (...) decide (...) seller (...) entire (...) change (...) something (...) that (...) built (...) being (...) Ya know, I kinda went through that same thing (...) (22 years ago, 18-Oct-02, to lugnet.general)
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