knotian

Quality Control issue? Or something I don't know.

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I was building a long wall out of 1x2 bricks offsetting each row (running bond). I was building it on a baseplate (Tan 32x32, which I hope is immaterial). As I built the wall I noticed the baseplate curling up. All the bricks had been in the same place in the room so there was no temperature differential. I finished out the wall to 32 studs long. Very noticeable curve. I removed the wall and placed it vertically on a flat (tested) surface The wall was straight and level. I then laid the wall on its side and carefully aligned the leftmost brick stud with the leftmost stud on the baseplate. The rightmost studs were VISIBLY NOT in alignment. Not quite 1/2 stud off, with the wall studs being 1/2 studs shorter than the baseplate. Each side was the same.

Does anyone know what is going on? I had been wondering why I could not get large structures to fit correctly on the baseplate.

Thanks,

Ed Bardet

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Sounds like a mis-alignment along the baseplate (studs) length.
I've gotta say I seen some baseplates with partially flatened/damaged studs more than mismolded bricks.

Maybe you could post a pic of it here & find out if more people have this issue. If so, it could be past on further up the chain by the Lego Ambassadors or something in that order.
 

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I think its definitely the base plate, too. Large, thin pieces are more likely to deform during production than regular bricks, which can cool down much more homogeneously and quickly and are more rigid and compact.

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Here is the left side The right side is aligned. I can't up load the two pictures. Any smaller and detail would be lost.

100_0663.jpg

Edited by knotian

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If you're building the wall completely out of 1x2's, then the difference is due to an accumulation of tolerances.

Each brick is actually a fraction of a hair narrower at the edge than the brick's nominal size. This is intentional, so that it is easy to place two bricks side-by-side without them being sandwiched together so tight you can never move them or that they damage each other. Its why you can rotate 1x1s a little even if they are built in a straight line.

Each brick has the same tolerance at the edge, regardless of size or proportion--a 1x2 has the same reduction as a 1x12.

What this means is that if you are spanning a long distance with smaller pieces, you are introducing more of those reductions than if you used fewer longer pieces. Over a long enough distance, that tiny gap that was imperceptible on a single brick gets more noticeable, and the more bricks you have, the shorter the overall length (real vs nominal).

It's a reality in any manufacturing setting, not a defect or a flaw specific to Lego. Try using longer bricks and the difference will vanish.

Edited by rodiziorobs

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2 minutes ago, knotian said:

Thanks for the explanation but it still makes it hard to build long walls out of textured bricks.

You could use a series of smaller plates instead of baseplates, to more closely approximate the tolerances from wall to base. I believe plates 8-long or 10-long could do the trick. It makes it hard if you're trying to match it to a larger display, though.

If the wall isn't one unbroken string it will also eliminate the issue--you could break up the wall with another element in the middle, like a larger decorative bit or something.

Edited by rodiziorobs

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