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Bricky Joe

Other uses for LEGO beyond building

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So I've previously mentioned elsewhere on these forums that I used to use LEGO bricks for doing stage design because I am bad at drawing so it's a better way of me visually displaying what's in my head to designers. It got me thinking, does anyone here have any fun uses for their bricks beyond the obvious intended uses of them?

I'm thinking like these ideas I found on how to teach science and maths with LEGO: 

https://www.twinkl.co.za/resource/tp-sc-135-planit-science-year-1-scientists-and-inventors-lesson-1-lego-lesson-pack

https://www.twinkl.co.za/resource/t-n-1275-lego-addition-and-subtraction-board-game

Or anything in this article about LEGO 'life hacks':

https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/24-incredibly-creative-and-practical-uses-for-lego.html

But mostly I'm interested to find out if anyone in here has some cool stories about how they've use the humble brick.

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Two examples, one useful and one a miserable failure:

I made a phone holder with technic parts several years ago...it comes in handy for propping up my phone to watch videos.

I also got the bright idea once to try firing a Lego cannon. I drilled a touch-hole for a fuse and tried to launch a lead pellet with a small charge of gunpowder. Unfortunately, when I finally got the gunpowder to ignite (Winchester 760, if anyone cares), it just melted/burned the cannon instead of shooting. And thus ended my embarrassing experiment as a Lego ballistician!

Edited by Pdaitabird
Kant spel

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If you like to make silicone/other molds to cast resin figurines (or even custom minifig head sculpts :wink:) you can build a vessel in which to pour the silicone out of LEGO bricks. Can of course customize to all shapes and sizes. Pretty handy if you're into that sort of thing.

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I forgot the obvious most useful piece for other uses, the brick separator. Show horn, nail cleaner, doorstop, it does it all.

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I've also built a photography stand for phone and used it with success.

I also had an idea of building a Lego whip or flogger to be used in BDSM activities but that still at just an idea stage.

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The braille bricks are one super application of LEGO. 

Jelle, creator of the Marble League and Marbula 1 marble run videos also uses lots of duplo as track, track support and other competition constructs in the marble contests. 

Those are the two I could immediately think of.

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If you screw brick separators into a strip of wood, they make good coat hooks.

l glued a few tiles onto the bottom of a kitchen table leg to stop the table wobbling. Perfect thickness.

 

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I know of a case where someone used white 2x4 bricks (with screws through them) to hang a curtain rail on the ceiling but that was decades ago.

Edited by TeriXeri

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I used 2x2 bricks to hold up my car's fender liners after the metal clips rusted away.

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A long time ago I tried to combine a turntable and a mindstorms motor to make a rotating stand, like the kind you see used in fancy promotional videos for 360 shots of a product. It didn't turn out very good, but I still have it sitting on a shelf somewhere.

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Lot more of the life-hack types here. 1x3 brick as a makeshift thimble (using anti-stud side for needle capture). Brick separator as automotive trim panel pry tool. And any Lego plate sharp edge to scratch mosquito bites.

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On 9/4/2020 at 4:28 PM, Bricky Joe said:

Show horn, nail cleaner, doorstop, it does it all.

Indeed! I like to use them to pop open plastic snap cases like on computers etc.

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I once was installing some drapery hangers and needed some spacers for the screws. 1x1 Technic bricks with holes worked great. 

I redid my front porch many years ago and built the design in lego first so I could better visualize it, but I guess that’s building so not really answering the question.

 

 

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This one's fictional, but I could relate to where they got the inspiration.

I recall watching a show (don't remember if it was a movie or a series) where this guy jumps off a boat and swims ashore with the intent of a attacking his wife/girlfriend/random co-ed who is sunbathing on a dock.  She sees him climbing up the ladder holding a knife in his teeth. She screams, runs inside.  He follows, soaking wet and barefoot. Inside the lake house, the girl tips over a giant bin of Lego which the guy, in his fury, promptly steps on and stumbles over, going down in pain just before the girl clocks him upside the head with a frying pan.

So, yeah, Lego caltrops, just in case you find yourself in a teen slasher movie with a barefoot attacker.

On a more grounded note, I've used technic narrow bushings as spacers when installing electrical outlets, light switches and switch plates.  They are thicker than washers, non-conductive and do a great job of taking the wobble out of everything when electrical boxes have been installed too deeply into a plaster wall. 

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I have a very... 2020 application for LEGO pieces: using two 2566 parts, held together by a 3L bar through their central holes, I made a clip to hold the ear loops of a face mask behind my neck, which helps pull the mask tighter against my face and also prevents chafing behind my ears.

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On 9/18/2020 at 12:18 PM, tafkatb said:

I have a very... 2020 application for LEGO pieces: using two 2566 parts, held together by a 3L bar through their central holes, I made a clip to hold the ear loops of a face mask behind my neck, which helps pull the mask tighter against my face and also prevents chafing behind my ears.

That's pretty ingenious, NGL.

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Earlier this summer when getting my car inspected, they found that the headlights didn't auto adjust their level due to a broken level sensor at the rear axle. Of course this had to be fixed, with a new inspection within a months time.

Back home I could see that it was just a plastic link with a ball joint at each end that was broken, not the sensor itself. Contacted Mercedes to get a new plastic part. I was not surprised when they told me that the plastic link couldn't be bought as a spare part, but it was included if I got a new sensor for somewhere between €250-300. Ridiculous.

I started looking around for used ones, no luck there. Then I searched the local hardware stores for parts, figuring that two ball joint heads with a threaded metal shaft between them should do the trick. Again, no luck. Eventually I found ball joint heads online, but delivery got messed up so bad that I was at the very last days before I had to get the car inspected again and still had no parts.

In my desperation, I got a 92013 brick and tried it on the ball joint on the sensor. And it fit! The biggest problem was that I couldn't build a complete replacement part that was sturdy enough and at the same time make it fit in the limited space between the rear axle and the sensor/sensor holder. Bummer!

Eventually, I got the parts I ordered the day before the last possible inspection date, and the new part I put together will for sure never break. But I really wish I could've seen the car inspection guy's reaction if he'd found Lego pieces there instead :)

 

Edited by BeO

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