Dimensions of Lego elements?

[Peppermint_M]

I have a rather large project in hand and I wish to plan the entire thing using CAD LT. Now, I have your basic single stud brick dimensions and plate widths. I have worked out a method of drawing the bricks of all shapes and plates of all types at 1:1 scale.

However: I cannot find the diameter of a stud, the position and diameter of the holes in technic bricks or the sizes of pegs and pins. Can anyone point me in the right direction? If it's in mm it'll be even better.

Everything else is easy enough, as minifigs don't matter at the moment (I am working on 5 Bricks stacked = Minifig and headroom).

My idea is to create each layer of construction as a 1:1 scale on a sheet of paper, then I can check what I need to buy and then lie each layer out over the diagram for assembly. Some parts are going to be elevations, some are going to be exploded diagrams and others simple floor plans. I finished drawing the layer I am working off (down and up) today and its 960mm long! (96cm) Now there are quite a few steps to go and design desicions to make which involve more complicated parts than simple bricks and plates.

This project is a great way for me to keep in practice with CAD, and a great saver of time for such a large project.

So, if anyone knows of links, or has a list of dimensions I would owe them big time!

[Commander Flash]

One stud's diameter is 4.8mm. This is based of http://www.ldraw.org/Article218.html

Dimensions of a 1X1X1 brick:

Height: 9.6mm

Plate height: 3.2mm

width: 8mm

Still searching for more information

heres more stuff on technic

http://nicjasno.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=653

Edited July 2, 2009 by Commander Flash

[Peppermint_M]

Thanks, I'll take a look at the link.

I need to get some calipers or something to measure some of my elements too...

I have been planning the project for about three months now and only just resigned myself to drawing it all on AutoCADt. It's surprisingly easy, apart from having to switch between mm and studs when figuring things out!

[Commander Flash]

Ok. Good luck with your project. I have used AutoCAD before, but never knew you could do lego in it.

[Peppermint_M]

Well, it is very basic. I use the dimensions of the bricks to draw the parts in 2D, then I made my "point of refrence" parts, the elements of the MOC that I am building from to work it all around. In this case they were the 12x6 wings and the 16 x 8 tiles. I have placed the line drawings of them to create a floor plan.

If I had more time to spend drawing my own things and we had more lisences for the full AutoCAD 3D I would model it in 3D too.

Drawing each element is time consuming but better than trial and error in building and buying parts.

[Captain Green Hair]

Why don't you use MLcad if i may ask? That has all the parts and shuld work the same and saves time i think.

I also don't get the fact that you can work with this complicated software, but can't take up a liniar and measure bricks?

I remember you were talking about a project some time ago.

Is this the same project?

[Brickthing]

I wouldn't bother modelling the parts in another 3D program, because Ldraw or LDD already have the parts and are made for MOCing. Also, modelling a MOC as it is to the brick in a 3D Program results in a very large scene that takes ages to render. Trust me, I've tried that.

Personally I would sketch it up on paper, and MOC sections without regard to colour for the more detailed parts. Unless you're presenting the plans to another builder to build, there's no need to make it look that great.

[Peppermint_M]

Why don't you use MLcad if i may ask? That has all the parts and shuld work the same and saves time i think.

I also don't get the fact that you can work with this complicated software, but can't take up a liniar and measure bricks?

I remember you were talking about a project some time ago.

Is this the same project?

1. I use CAD in work during my lunch break, MLcad is too much for my laptop to handle and I can't download software to office PCs.

2. I haven't got the space or tools to make accurate measurements at home, I could tray taking some of the more complicated elements to work... I don't have a desk at home (my Lego barely fits as is..) I also find CAD a whole lot easier than using a ruler and a pencil, I always doubt any data I record without mechanical assistance (mild dyslexia related issue, can't read anologue clocks or dials to save my life and rulers can get really tricky).

3. The one project hit a wall in the design stage, I need more refrence images (which the Blu-Ray release should take care of, at the end of the month)and to make some final decisions on how I really want it to look.

This is a newer project that is much easier for me to persue in terms of space, parts and building techniques. As it stood, I needed to get a lot more experience in building modular houses/buildings before I started. This new project will be extrapolated from my years of experience and practice in making Lego space ships and planes. As for space, although it will be long, it wont be anywhere near as tall as my older project.

I hope to get MLCAD once I have my own PC, which at the moment means getting my own place and therefore more space... So all my issues would be solved by moving out, but then things would be too much money...

[Johnny 5]

I need to know the proportions of a 2x4 regular brick. For example if I was making a grooms cake for 30-50 people and I wanted to make it proportional to the actual brick what are the dimensions I need to do the math?

[prateek]

h=9.58mm

l=32mm

w=16mm

[Aanchir]

h=9.58mm

l=32mm

w=16mm

If you're more accustomed to inches, good estimates are:

h=.375" (3/8")

l=1.25" (1 1/4")

w=.75" (3/4")

I use inches because there are no unfriendly decimal values. A 1x1 brick is six sixteenths of an inch tall, and five sixteenths of an inch wide. But both inch and millimeter estimates are about the same accuracy-- inches just (for me, anyway) make it easier to measure height and width on the same scale without rounding.

[davee123]

h=9.58mm

Where did you find that measurement? The vertical stud spacing is supposed to be 9.6mm for a brick height, and 3.2mm for a plate height. The ACTUAL measurement of a 2x4 brick has a small bit "chopped off" from each direction so that there's room for the bricks to easily go on and off, but I don't know what that measurement is. At first I thought maybe you were accounting for that, giving 0.02mm for the vertical allowance, but then why wouldn't you have done the same thing for the horizontal allowances with 15.98mm and 31.98mm?

Anyway, for some more detail on studs and so forth:

width: 16mm

length: 32mm

height: 9.6mm

stud diameter: 5mm

stud height: 2mm

shortest distance from outside edge to stud edge: 1.5mm

shortest distance between studs: 3mm

DaveE

Edited March 3, 2010 by davee123

[Aanchir]

Where did you find that measurement? The vertical stud spacing supposed to be 9.6mm for a brick height, and 3.2mm for a plate height. The ACTUAL measurement of a 2x4 brick has a small bit "chopped off" from each direction so that there's room for the bricks to easily go on and off, but I don't know what that measurement is. At first I thought maybe you were accounting for that, giving 0.02mm for the vertical allowance, but then why wouldn't you have done the same thing for the horizontal allowances with 15.98mm and 31.98mm?

Perhaps the person you quoted was including the studs. Those could easily add two tenths of a millimeter.

[Etzel]

Perhaps the person you quoted was including the studs. Those could easily add two tenths of a millimeter.

The difference wasn't 0.2mm but 0.02 mm. And as davee123 wrote in his post, the stud hight is 2mm

[Aanchir]

The difference wasn't 0.2mm but 0.02 mm. And as davee123 wrote in his post, the stud hight is 2mm

Ah. I must have misread the original measurement as 9.8 mm. Anyway, .02 mm is quite a small measurement, so it's more than likely just a measuring error. Nevertheless, 9.6 mm seems to be more accurate, given that a 1x1 brick is 1.2 times as tall as it is wide.

[Johnny 5]

Thanks for all your replies guys. When I went and ordered it the lady looked at me like I was crazy.

It will be my groom's cake for my wedding, Ill post pics of it after the wedding.

[edge_nl]

Although this is an old post, this is a very informative website about LEGO dimensions:

https://www.cailliau.org/en/Alphabetical/L/Lego/Dimensions/General Considerations/

[Johnny1360]

Holy thread resurrection! Very informative link though thanks. Bookmarked 

Edited December 3, 2018 by Johnny1360

[AndrewH7]

On 3/2/2010 at 5:21 PM, Aanchir said:

If you're more accustomed to inches, good estimates are:

h=.375" (3/8")

l=1.25" (1 1/4")

w=.75" (3/4")

I use inches because there are no unfriendly decimal values. A 1x1 brick is six sixteenths of an inch tall, and five sixteenths of an inch wide. But both inch and millimeter estimates are about the same accuracy-- inches just (for me, anyway) make it easier to measure height and width on the same scale without rounding.

Should be 5/8" wide, in fact a little more 80/127" & as there be a 1/127" gap between bricks then = 79/127".

Edited December 30, 2022 by AndrewH7
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