4 ms·

It can't be taken apart because you'll need something like a sewing needle to pry an axle out of a Technic piece? That seems trivially surmountable. I've had mu

by avar 5y ago

It can't be taken apart because you'll need something like a sewing needle to pry an axle out of a Technic piece? That seems trivially surmountable. I've had much larger problems just prying two small 1x2's apart.

colanderman 5y ago
Agreed -- once you've stacked two 1x2 plates... might as well just treat them as a single part from then on. With two pairs of pliers of the correct shape, you might be able to get them apart.
- JorgeGT 5y ago
  There is a LEGO separator tool for this: https://www.lego.com/es-es/product/brick-separator-630 https://www.lego.com/es-es/product/brick-separator-630
  - kemayo 5y ago
    Those do work for most pieces, but the stacked-plates issue is tricky even with one. Stacked 1x2 or 1x1 is the worst because it's almost impossible to even bring leverage into it.
    - colanderman 5y ago
      Stacked 1x1s are trivial -- rotate them 45 degrees! A 1x1 in the middle of a large plate though can be a challenge though. While the remover tool works for e.g. 1x2s, 1x1s don't quite have enough surface area, so the tool often slips off. 2x plates I find tend not to give as much trouble, if only because they require more force to have been pushed together perfectly flush in the first place. (My context is teaching Lego professionally to middle-school children for a few summers. You get given all sorts of fun things to take apart, and having a pocket knife around isn't a good idea. My other takeaway from that experience is that the LabView-based Mindstorms software is/was total shit.)
  - colanderman 5y ago
    Yes, I'm well aware of these (and the older, chunkier, grey version from the 90s). It does not help in the case of 1x2 plates. Beside using a knife, the only trick I've found to work for these is to stack longer 1x plates on either side of the pair, which give you more leverage on the center pair, while themselves being easier to take apart.
    - genocidicbunny 5y ago
      Two brick separators also do the trick. If you've bought any of the bigger sets, you probably have a handful lying around.
    - Someone1234 5y ago
      > It does not help in the case of 1x2 plates. This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLqi7F0QWoI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLqi7F0QWoI
      - sigjuice 5y ago
        Looks complicated. Just stack the 2x1 sandwich on a larger place. Pop off the topmost 2x1 with the brick separator tool. Then pop the second one off the larger plate. My 5-year old just showed me :)
rtkwe 5y ago
Brick separators can get 2x1 flats apart where this will require you to damage the 4l axel which to me seems like a notable difference.
- colanderman 5y ago
  I've never had such luck, with either the new or old separators. What's the trick?
  - Fricken 5y ago
    Attaching the stuck pieces to a base plate before separating them often works. When it doesn't I reach for the pliers.
- avar 5y ago
  It really won't require damaging anything, you just gently stick a sewing needle into the small gap and leverage the axel out. Annoying? Yes. But "can't be taken apart" seems rather overblown. I've got a 42043, Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3245[1] here which allowed me to reproduce this. If you look on page 322 (step #59) of the instructions at [1] it requires the same 4l axel to attach the bucket to its boom, and is held in place by a "bush" piece[2]. That one's trivial to take apart "correctly", but I just tried (without cheating!) by tightly showing the 4l axel in and gently prying it out with a sewing needle. It took around 10-15 seconds, there's a tiny bit of external visible damage the size of the sewing needle head on the piece the 4l goes into, but I being careful. Otherwise it's no worse for wear. I also tried it with a wooden toothpick, but the gap is too small for that. I'd put that into the "annoying" category, rather than Lego having produced a "display-only" set. For comparison on the Arocs I had to spend 5-10 minutes gently trying to get a gear into the engine once with a chopstick without disassembling the whole front of the car after it fell off. 1. https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/42043 https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/4204... 2. https://www.toypro.com/en/product/968/technic-bush/light-bluish-gray https://www.toypro.com/en/product/968/technic-bush/light-blu...
  - rtkwe 5y ago

by avar 5y ago

colanderman 5y ago

Agreed -- once you've stacked two 1x2 plates... might as well just treat them as a single part from then on. With two pairs of pliers of the correct shape, you might be able to get them apart.

JorgeGT 5y ago
There is a LEGO separator tool for this: https://www.lego.com/es-es/product/brick-separator-630 https://www.lego.com/es-es/product/brick-separator-630
- kemayo 5y ago
  Those do work for most pieces, but the stacked-plates issue is tricky even with one. Stacked 1x2 or 1x1 is the worst because it's almost impossible to even bring leverage into it.
  - colanderman 5y ago
    Stacked 1x1s are trivial -- rotate them 45 degrees! A 1x1 in the middle of a large plate though can be a challenge though. While the remover tool works for e.g. 1x2s, 1x1s don't quite have enough surface area, so the tool often slips off. 2x plates I find tend not to give as much trouble, if only because they require more force to have been pushed together perfectly flush in the first place. (My context is teaching Lego professionally to middle-school children for a few summers. You get given all sorts of fun things to take apart, and having a pocket knife around isn't a good idea. My other takeaway from that experience is that the LabView-based Mindstorms software is/was total shit.)
- colanderman 5y ago
  Yes, I'm well aware of these (and the older, chunkier, grey version from the 90s). It does not help in the case of 1x2 plates. Beside using a knife, the only trick I've found to work for these is to stack longer 1x plates on either side of the pair, which give you more leverage on the center pair, while themselves being easier to take apart.
  - genocidicbunny 5y ago
    Two brick separators also do the trick. If you've bought any of the bigger sets, you probably have a handful lying around.
  - Someone1234 5y ago
    > It does not help in the case of 1x2 plates. This: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLqi7F0QWoI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLqi7F0QWoI
    - sigjuice 5y ago
      Looks complicated. Just stack the 2x1 sandwich on a larger place. Pop off the topmost 2x1 with the brick separator tool. Then pop the second one off the larger plate. My 5-year old just showed me :)

rtkwe 5y ago

Brick separators can get 2x1 flats apart where this will require you to damage the 4l axel which to me seems like a notable difference.

colanderman 5y ago
I've never had such luck, with either the new or old separators. What's the trick?
- Fricken 5y ago
  Attaching the stuck pieces to a base plate before separating them often works. When it doesn't I reach for the pliers.
avar 5y ago
It really won't require damaging anything, you just gently stick a sewing needle into the small gap and leverage the axel out. Annoying? Yes. But "can't be taken apart" seems rather overblown. I've got a 42043, Mercedes-Benz Arocs 3245[1] here which allowed me to reproduce this. If you look on page 322 (step #59) of the instructions at [1] it requires the same 4l axel to attach the bucket to its boom, and is held in place by a "bush" piece[2]. That one's trivial to take apart "correctly", but I just tried (without cheating!) by tightly showing the 4l axel in and gently prying it out with a sewing needle. It took around 10-15 seconds, there's a tiny bit of external visible damage the size of the sewing needle head on the piece the 4l goes into, but I being careful. Otherwise it's no worse for wear. I also tried it with a wooden toothpick, but the gap is too small for that. I'd put that into the "annoying" category, rather than Lego having produced a "display-only" set. For comparison on the Arocs I had to spend 5-10 minutes gently trying to get a gear into the engine once with a chopstick without disassembling the whole front of the car after it fell off. 1. https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/42043 https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions/4204... 2. https://www.toypro.com/en/product/968/technic-bush/light-bluish-gray https://www.toypro.com/en/product/968/technic-bush/light-blu...
- rtkwe 5y ago