Lego Building Process and Feedback

[Paul B Technic]

I am doing a survey on the Lego building process, some responses would be great.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/SB5VSBL

[legolijntje]

I did, but why would you know it?

[davee123]

I've experienced every problem on the list at one point or another. But what's missing from the survey is how many LEGO products I've actually built or bought, or how many different sets I've actually built.

- Problem due to instructions (steps wrong or not clear enough)

That's likely the rarest problem. I've had it happen once or twice with Technic instructions, where I had to align a gear in a certain way and didn't realize it. Probably has only happened 1-5 times out of maybe 1300 builds.

- Problem due to instructions (Not following them)

This is also pretty rare, but sometimes I'll jump the gun and try to build something's mirror image, expecting it to be the next step, only to find out that it's not really right. Probably 1-10 times, again out of about 1300 builds.

- Problem due to parts (faulty or missing from new)

I've had that happen about 21 times out of roughly 2500 new sets purchased between 1981-present:

2 sets with deformed elements

1 set with a broken element

11 sets with missing element(s)

7 sets with swapped elements (correct element, incorrect printing)

- Problem due to parts (broken during use)

Pretty rare, but it's happened sometimes-- mostly due to misuse (like accidentally building Xmas lights into my model and melting a bunch of plates):

- At least 12 pieces I've broken due to being flimsy (like a super-battle-droid leg that broke too easily when attaching to the body, or a faulty motor breaking unexpectedly)

- Roughly 44 that I've broken thanks to misuse

And that's out of maybe 600,000 elements.

- Problem due to parts (not suitable for design, breaking due to weakness)

This might be talking about the above, I'm not sure. I would say about 8 of the above 12 element breaks were due to element design being flimsy. The other 4 were unknown flaws, like a light bulb in a light element not working, or (as stated) a motor breaking for unknown reasons.

- Problem due to design (Not designed / tested enough)

Again, difficult to say. Some sets' features aren't well implemented, like the Indiana Jones Temple of Doom, where the cart doesn't slide down the rails very well. Also the Carousel, where axles would work themselves out of the holders after extended periods of running. This sort of thing doesn't happen very often, but I'd guess maybe 2-10 sets that I've had a problem with, out of about 1300.

- Problem due to process (steps were in wrong order or parts hard to add due to design)

This happened a lot with the Harry Potter sets, where they were floors on top of pillars, and the pillars would collapse when adding a roof to them. There have been some similar instances, but nothing terribly major. Maybe 10-20 sets out of 1300?

DaveE

[Lego Otaku]

I'll add my feedback (already voted)

I've had problem with manual but it's rare. Back (and still an issue at present) when Lego had black and dark grey, sometimes they are hard to tell apart in the manual and I've used the wrong one or spent the last 10 minutes looking for it only to realize it's the other color. Just black and dark grey.

Manual is usually easy to follow but like someone said, technic manual can be tricky if it doesn't point out specific alignment at all. One good example are the wheel alignment in Emerald Night set, if someone doesn't notice that one wheel has to be 90 degree off the other wheel, the result is bumpy and jerking movement with the wheel and piston arm. There's a long thread on this specific issue somewhere.

I've had a few missing elements (Lego always replaced them) and only 2 deformed piece: technic 1x3 beam that was squished half the normal thickness as if it came out of the mold a little hot and got caught in the rollers somewhere, and a red 4x6 plate that's missing a few studs like not enough plastic was injected or had air pocket inside. I still have these deformed pieces. The only gripe with the missing or damaged pieces are the few weeks of waiting for replacement to arrive.

I have not experienced this but there are numerous complaint about bricks cracking after just a few months, particularly the white cheese slopes. So a bit of quality issue here, possibly too small pieces and too tight fitting?

Overall I would say the biggest problem is the black and dark grey in manual can be hard to tell apart.