Making Your Own LEGO Bricks

[Minifig Lecturer]

Has anybody ever tried to manufacture their own lego bricks using a metal mould and melted plastic? Or something similar.

I always wished I could do it.

Although I am too lazy to try :'-(

[xenologer]

I think MegaBlocks tried it, and proved why its a bad idea... lol :-D

Seriously though, no I haven't.

Part of what makes Lego fun for me is creative uses for the parts available. So far I haven't found myself in a situation where the bricks were inadequate.

Of course there's nothing wrong with making stuff totally from scratch...

but that takes a lot of time, the ease of use that comes with prefab lego bricks, I think gives you more time to try out lots of different ideas and actually be more creative than just carving and moulding plastic from scratch.

What were you planning on making?

[Starwars4J]

The easiest way would be a resin cast

[Minifig Lecturer]

  xenologer said:

What were you planning on making?

No, when i was younger, I never had enough money to buy the sets so i always dreamt of melting down various plastics from bottles to tubs and making my own basic bricks :-$

I guess it wouldnt be easy but it was a dream. Maybe some dude somewhere tried it.

Do you know other companies like MEGAblocks? I bought some "fake" lego sets once but now i forget what the company was called :'-(

[xwingyoda]

  xenologer said:

I think MegaBlocks tried it, and proved why its a bad idea... lol :-D

ROFL X-D And don't forget all those "cheap" and crappy ripp-offs :-D :-P

  Starwars4J said:

The easiest way would be a resin cast

Indeed ! I remember seeing on BS (at least I think it was BS) someone who did resin casts of 2x4 bricks and MFs and used those to make chocolate !! That was really cool !!

*yoda*

[WhiteHexagon]

Well I did also consider this for a while, even found a great site that has the measurements. Problem is my ruler only does inches :) not really, but it certainly doesn't handle the amount of precision involved with LEGO bricks, and that's ignoring any shrinkage problems when bricks cool. I know we complain about the quality of LEGO at times, but I think an individual would struggle to come anywhere even remotely close. Wasn't it mentioned on the Gadget show that a brick mold is worth $10,000 and kept in secure bunkers, or did I dream that.

Would be nice to have a cheaper supply of bricks though, keep thinking to try some car boot type sales to see if I can find some more bulk bricks, but I imagine they would be like my childhood LEGO with nice teeth marks :-$ but i'd rather try that than risk an ebay purchase.

Had a strange dream last night that a LEGO collector friend had got bored of his LEGO and decided to donate his entire collection to me. The catch was I could only take what I could carry because his apartment was about to be demolished. Think I'm spending to much time with the bricks :)

I guess the best solution to having a large brick collection I found so far is the game I'm working on ;) Don't have so many brick types supported yet, but it's nice to build with as many bricks as I like :))

Actually I'd like to get some feedback on some ideas for the game, but I'll start another thread later, just busy configuring two new servers to run the game :)

Peter

[JINZONINGEN73]

There was a member on other Lego fansites clled "Flintsmith".

He's quite skilled in these matters, doing both metal and plastic incarnations of parts not done in certain colors.

I got a metal Bionicle mask from him... not the greatest quality, but it may have been from a failed casting attempt (not that the abnormally thin parts of that mask didn't make it more complex).

Yet a trans-purple mask he made was 100% perfect, indistinguishable from the reral thing. I sat there studying and staring at it, finding not even the most minor flaw, anywhere.

It was a work of art.

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=102366

If you want a part in a color that it didn't originally come in, HE is the man to go to. You can probably find him on Mask of Destiny or BZ if you merely utter his name aloud.

As far as doing it to save money... no way. Casting with crude, at-home materials will never be cheaper than just buying sets.

There's overpriced resins, many a failed casting, loss of time, failed molds, air bubbles... stuff weeded out already by Lego.

Recasting is STRICTLY a thing for customized parts, like new colors, non-produced part colors and stuff like realistic guns, etc etc...

Edited October 26, 2006 by JINZONINGEN 73

[ReZourceman]

  WhiteHexagon said:

Wasn't it mentioned on the Gadget show that a brick mold is worth $10,000 and kept in secure bunkers, or did I dream that.

I think it was

[CopMike]

Hi!

Here