Lego Quality is Slipping

[baby]

These are the LEGO sets that I have found which have some components made in China:

7661 Jedi Starfighter with Hyperdrive Booster Ring

7906 Fire Boat

7993 Service Station

7579 Blossom Fairy

8135 Bridge Chase

7090 Crossbow Attack

10156 LEGO Truck

how you know these sets have parts that are made in China?

Hello all,

I am a tool and die maker by trade. The company I work for utilizes injection molders and extruders as a part of our production line, so maybe I can shed some light on a couple things.

The texture on the sloped bricks is most likely produced via plunge EDM (Electrical discharge machining). I am pretty sure that all of the Lego logos and part numbers are applied to the molds via some kind of EDM machining. Depending on where the mold is made, this "pattern" can vary greatly depending on who makes the mold. If the molds are being made all over the world, there could definitely be some kind of disparity between the patterning in the individual molds themselves. The variables would be the machine itself, the tool material used to etch the pattern and even the parameters used to "burn" the pattern into the mold. Different rates of electrical discharge will produce different results.

As for the molds wearing out, this is another feasible conclusion. Plastic is actually extremely abrasive when being forced with several thousand PSI of force into a small cavity (like a brick mold). Molds wear a lot quicker then one would generally think when certain plastics are being used. A couple thousandths of an inch of wear will mean the difference between the blocks fitting and not fitting. For those of you that do not have a good idea what a thousandth of an inch is, 3 thousandths is equal to roughly the width of an average human hair. So rip a hair out of your head and then cut it lengthwise into 3 equal pieces...that a thousandth (.001") X-D

Things I have noticed on bricks recently:

Large sprue marks on the bricks...they use to be nearly undetectable.

The LEGO logo's are a lot less neat.

Gaps between butt-joints with bricks. There never use to be a gap between bricks when attached to each other.

If you have any more questions about machining or injection molding, please let me know...if I do not have the answer, I can get the answer through my contacts at work.

Why some parts comes with a smooth surface & a rusty (am i right? i mean got a little dot that make it looks rough) surface? Parts like the brick to make the house roof.

[LEGO Maniac JEM]

how you know these sets have parts that are made in China?

I go to the Lego section in the shops which sell Lego, pick up each box and look at the part of the box which has written "Components made in".

[baby]

I go to the Lego section in the shops which sell Lego, pick up each box and look at the part of the box which has written "Components made in".

i have seen my crossbow attack also. I saw the China word & Hungary

[shunlabs]

Keep us updated on that please. I'm interested to see what you end up with.

For those still interested, I received replacement parts for my faultry "Viking horns" (actually all from Castle line's Skeleton Tower set) today. *sweet*

All nicely placed in a lego service bag, together with a friendly letter in Dutch (hopefully I can read it *sad* )

I still have to try them this evening, in order to ensure no replacement part has to be ... replaced :-D

Now they may have production issues, but the service is trully *y*

Quality Control ON !!

[john cleese]

I remember when I bought the viking fortress 2 years ago, I said what the hell?! There were two noticable discrepancies. Firstly all my modified 1x2 plates were a shade between red and dark red. Second, all the 2x2x3 sloped bricks had smooth surfaces. I knew something was amiss. Strangely enough, I havent really had any other problems with the quality of pieces. I did notice in my brother's spongbob and plankton adventures set, there were atleast 215 shades of yellow (and that's exactly how many yellow pieces there are in the set.) I just thought I would bring up my encounters with deformed pieces too.

[shunlabs]

Thanks, very nice, LEGO Maniac JEM! *y*

Now we have to find out what these sets