ASK HERE How to clean your LEGO sets/parts?

[Big Cam]

How do I get rid of the yellowish discolor on the "white" bike scout trooper minifigure torsos?

There is lots of info in the thread if you read it, multiple suggestions and links.

[Rinconstar]

I just used powder bleach on an old scout trooper and it came out white as my clone wars clone troopers.

Edited April 17, 2010 by Rinconstar

[LazerBlade]

Would liquid bleach work?

[Rinconstar]

Would liquid bleach work?

Maybe but probably not because the powder stuff scrubs the pieces. You just put some bleach on add some water, cover the whole thing and let it sit for five mins. Then you rub with a paper towel and rinse.

Edited April 25, 2010 by Rinconstar

[lj73]

Hi everyone I'm a new member so not sure if this is in the right place there are so many sections!!!!!

How do you all clean your lego? We have lots of old lego and some newer stuff and it could all do with a clean (2 boys with grubby hands), I read somewhere that it can be put in the dishwasher, if you do what would you put in in?

Thanks.

[The Yellow Brick]

Here is a topic about polishing bricks -

Polishing your Bricks - Condor

I think there are some more around in the General Discussion and News forum

Edited November 30, 2010 by The Red Brick

[lj73]

Thanks, will take a look around and try to find the best way.

[def]

I use an old toothbrush.

[lj73]

I use an old toothbrush.

Thats what I thought I might have to do. Was just be lazy and hoping for a quicker way to clean lots!!!!!

[def]

Thats what I thought I might have to do. Was just be lazy and hoping for a quicker way to clean lots!!!!!

I don't think there is an easy way. The toothbrush is a little slow, but Lego being the way it is, it's really hard to get between studs. The toothbrush has been my only effective way.

[LuxorV]

As said, a number of discussion on this theme already exist. Anyway, in the hope of getting new input, and to avoid resurretting to many old topics, I'll leave this one open and just move it to the General Discussion and News forum.

[Captain Becker]

I just take a large bin or box, where i put some water. Nothing else. Then i just throw my Legos over there and let them soak a bit. Then i just pic them up and put them in our Sauna into several big towels and let them dry about 24 hours. And they are ready! The water comes extremly black during washing, because of all the dust. And i can say at washing them up isnt a happy job, the wet dust and hairs just wont let off on my hands wn i have to pic my legos up of the water, so i have to wash them after that like 4 or 5 times before i can put my Legos to dry I wash them like once in a year or less so..

Captain Becker

EDIT: Forgot to mention at ofcourse i dont put the fabric lego part in the water. because the water just ruins them.

Edited November 30, 2010 by Captain Becker

[exon_from_youtube]

LOL I dont... I just put them on the bottom of the spares and forget about them...

Some day I will throw them in the dishwasher on medium heat and clean a huge lot of them in a screen from a window to hold them all in place

[Condor]

Aside from polishing bricks (see link that The Red Brick posted), I've soaked them in a bucket with a water/dishwashing liquid mix. After letting them soak for a day or so, I scrubbed each piece with a toothbrush and dropped it in another bucket of clean water to rinse the soap. This process takes forever though and I only did it because the lot I bought was very dirty.

[Captain Blockbeard]

I just use a tub of soapy water to perform a basic cleaning of dusty/dirty bricks, especially those I get from the Lego Store's pick-a-brick wall since they always tend to have a grimmy feel to them. After reading that thread linked above, I may have to try some hydrogen peroxide on my old, yellowing white bricks to improve their condition a little.

[XimenaPaulina]

I use a specially-designed horsehair brush to dust-off my Lego models. In cases where there are hard-to-brush dirt, I use cotton balls dabbed with common isopropyl alcohol to wipe the dirt on non-printed Lego pieces.

[Big Cam]

I don't think there is an easy way. The toothbrush is a little slow, but Lego being the way it is, it's really hard to get between studs. The toothbrush has been my only effective way.

You kow, I feel like a fool for not thinking of this. When I decided to take apart my Black Seas Barracuda set after 20 years, I cleaned each piece with a rag and hot soapy water, I carefully got the rag ends through each stud. Took me days.

[estephano (DE)]

I actually asked my mum about it a few weeks ago since she used to clean my Lego when I was a kid. She said she had used a lingerie wash bag, stuffed the Lego pieces inside and washed them in the washing machine at 40° Celsius. According to her it worked perfectly fine. I haven't tried yet, but will indeed once it's becoming necessary.

As for larger pieces and plates I used to put them in my dishwasher at 55° Celsius and this worked fine for me.

[vexorian]

I have to deal with second hand LEGO constantly, I had plenty of room to make mistakes and I did. I don't believe in short cuts.

There is one thing. When LEGO catalogs themselves tell you to use water at 40 Celsius and mild dish cleaning liquid. They are right about it. The Dish wash is specially good because it is a chemical designed to remove bacteria and nastiness out of dish (on which we eat, thus we do put a lot of confidence on it) without causing discoloration and other stuff. What I do is just pick a small tupper ware. Select a set of the most notable pieces yet to be washed (I have so much second hand LEGO right now that I actually have to give priorities. Fill the tupper with pieces to the half. Then put the pieces temporarily elsewhere. Warm water until it gets to 40C or slightly less. Fill the tupper to the half with that water. Put some dish wash liquid (about a 'line') and then throw the bricks in there. Then I put the cap of the tupper. And cause some movement inside the tupper to create bubbles. Finally, I eventually try to get rid of as much water as possible, then take the tupper with the moist LEGO to an open space in which I have placed some reusable paper towels. I spread the pieces on the paper and leave them for a while until they dry. DO NOT USE THE SUN TO DRY. The sun is actually poison for LEGO and plastic in general thanks to ultra violet rays.

I noted that such process is actually good for even printed pieces and correctly put stickers. In fact, I even did it with chromed pieces and I could not see any side effects. But I recommend you that if the piece is very special and it is painted with shiny paint or chromed, you do something more mild.

It works great for dust and mild nastiness. But of course, that's not the only thing you'll find. There are other things that can happen:

* Scratches/Byte marks. When you can see those at a distance without making any effort, just throw the piece. Unless you are into using custom pieces, you could try cutting the corrupted part out of the better one if possible and make a custom piece from it.

* Paint, hard stains, "micro" scratches, mild pressure marks : Most paint and stains go away with Brasso. Micro scratches are those small scratches that can be seen under certain light conditions or if you make some good effort, Brasso can improve them as well. I use a cutip to spread Brasso on the piece and then do rotating movements with the cutip for a good while. At first it doesn't seem to work, but after a while it will work.

* Brasso remains: Brasso is great to handle those things, but it can leave residual material that is ugly. So I use one of those products that are sold to clean up computers and glass in general. It is made to work in plastic. I also use a cutip with that liquid... In fact, I have gotten into the habit of using a cutip and that liquid to clean up some pieces that are very relevant, makes them shine... (ie: minifigs)

* Oh, Brasso removes printing, chroming and good paint, so you should really avoid using Brasso on printed parts... But something I am yet to try is to put a layer of tape on top of the printed area before applying brasso to a printed piece that really needs it. I've seen in some sites that tape can work to protect certain areas from Brasso. But this should be only in case of a printed piece that really needs it...

But of course, you won't have time to use Brasso on every piece that has micro scratches. Because micro scratches are everywhere. Those things seem to appear magically after use. So, unlike other things (nastiness, stains, byte marks), you won't have to be getting the pieces from a very irresponsible person to find them.

* Acrylic paint: This does not go away with Brasso, at least not easily. Instead, use that stuff girls use to remove paint from their nails. You will need a lot of patience, though, and it is going to be very hard if the piece is too irregular in shape, and it might decolorate your piece as well.

[lj73]

I have to deal with second hand LEGO constantly, I had plenty of room to make mistakes and I did. I don't believe in short cuts.

There is one thing. When LEGO catalogs themselves tell you to use water at 40 Celsius and mild dish cleaning liquid. They are right about it. The Dish wash is specially good because it is a chemical designed to remove bacteria and nastiness out of dish (on which we eat, thus we do put a lot of confidence on it) without causing discoloration and other stuff. What I do is just pick a small tupper ware. Select a set of the most notable pieces yet to be washed (I have so much second hand LEGO right now that I actually have to give priorities. Fill the tupper with pieces to the half. Then put the pieces temporarily elsewhere. Warm water until it gets to 40C or slightly less. Fill the tupper to the half with that water. Put some dish wash liquid (about a 'line') and then throw the bricks in there. Then I put the cap of the tupper. And cause some movement inside the tupper to create bubbles. Finally, I eventually try to get rid of as much water as possible, then take the tupper with the moist LEGO to an open space in which I have placed some reusable paper towels. I spread the pieces on the paper and leave them for a while until they dry. DO NOT USE THE SUN TO DRY. The sun is actually poison for LEGO and plastic in general thanks to ultra violet rays.

I noted that such process is actually good for even printed pieces and correctly put stickers. In fact, I even did it with chromed pieces and I could not see any side effects. But I recommend you that if the piece is very special and it is painted with shiny paint or chromed, you do something more mild.

It works great for dust and mild nastiness. But of course, that's not the only thing you'll find. There are other things that can happen:

* Scratches/Byte marks. When you can see those at a distance without making any effort, just throw the piece. Unless you are into using custom pieces, you could try cutting the corrupted part out of the better one if possible and make a custom piece from it.

* Paint, hard stains, "micro" scratches, mild pressure marks : Most paint and stains go away with Brasso. Micro scratches are those small scratches that can be seen under certain light conditions or if you make some good effort, Brasso can improve them as well. I use a cutip to spread Brasso on the piece and then do rotating movements with the cutip for a good while. At first it doesn't seem to work, but after a while it will work.

* Brasso remains: Brasso is great to handle those things, but it can leave residual material that is ugly. So I use one of those products that are sold to clean up computers and glass in general. It is made to work in plastic. I also use a cutip with that liquid... In fact, I have gotten into the habit of using a cutip and that liquid to clean up some pieces that are very relevant, makes them shine... (ie: minifigs)

* Oh, Brasso removes printing, chroming and good paint, so you should really avoid using Brasso on printed parts... But something I am yet to try is to put a layer of tape on top of the printed area before applying brasso to a printed piece that really needs it. I've seen in some sites that tape can work to protect certain areas from Brasso. But this should be only in case of a printed piece that really needs it...

But of course, you won't have time to use Brasso on every piece that has micro scratches. Because micro scratches are everywhere. Those things seem to appear magically after use. So, unlike other things (nastiness, stains, byte marks), you won't have to be getting the pieces from a very irresponsible person to find them.

* Acrylic paint: This does not go away with Brasso, at least not easily. Instead, use that stuff girls use to remove paint from their nails. You will need a lot of patience, though, and it is going to be very hard if the piece is too irregular in shape, and it might decolorate your piece as well.

Thanks for all the tips, going to give mine a go and freshen it up.

[benhead]

Cleaning lego?

I wipe off the dust with my fingers.I never take them outside.

[CP5670]

For cleaning dust, Swiffer dusters are by far the best product I have used. Anything else either takes too long (requires disassembling the model) or does not do a clean job. Although even these aren't that good at cleaning dust inside hollow studs (such as those on Technic bricks), for which I've never found a good solution.

[Zorbas]

The toothbrush is a little slow, but Lego being the way it is, it's really hard to get between studs. The toothbrush has been my only effective way.

Same here. I started the use of the toothbrush on my Black Seas Barracuda back in 1991 because I didn't have the luxury of disassembling it due to the fact that I had lost the instruction booklet. Since it was a set that had many areas and corners that weren't easily accessible with a regular cloth or towel, the toothbrush was the best solution.

I also use liquid hand soap with the toothbrush. When I brought my childhood collection to surface some pieces were pretty dirty, so I just applied two or three drops on a wet toothbrush and the pieces became new again.

[NovaStar]

*snip*

Was there any need to reply to ALL threads relating to cleaning LEGO?

Edited December 31, 2010 by Dragonator
Spambot quote removed

[AndyC]

Was there any need to reply to ALL threads relating to cleaning LEGO?

Had it been a single reply, I might have been intruiged enough to check it out. As it is, it's blatant advertising for his product via spam, which puts me right off ever even considering it.