Fixing loose clutching bricks

[aurly]

My old bricks seem to have gained, rather than lost, clutch power. But having been assembled for years does not appear to make much of a difference, if any.

[Darth Dino]

Hi

this depends on how the bricks are aging. Lets say, if you keep it assembeled but lightproove (no UV light) they last for decades.

I recently dissambeled old '80s Classic Space sets, many of them aged and yellowed from the light. But i did not find any lose parts, only some of the handles/small antenna pieses lost their power to hold the antenna/handle straight. Most of the bricka and plates had to be disaasmbeled with a brick separator...

Dino

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Hot and cold cycles (winter/summer; little or no a/c) could possibly affect clutch power over time, but it sounds like this will not be an issue. Direct sunlight can also heavily, negatively, affect LEGO

[naf]

I don't think leaving bricks together will affect clutch. The act of putting them together and separating them creates friction, which wears the pieces out, and this can cause a loss of clutch power. Also, if any pieces seem to lose clutch, look for tiny fractures, as these can affect their clutch power.

This was posted on brother's brick, it shows that the Lego pieces being tested could be snapped together and separated 37,000 times before failing.

http://www.brothers-brick.com/2013/04/17/how-many-times-can-you-put-two-lego-bricks-together-before-they-break/

[Deathleech]

I have my assembled Lego sets in a display case against the only wall in the room with a window (it's right next to the window on the left side facing in towards the room. The light isn't coming in through the window and hitting them directly since the back and sides of the display are solid wood, but could light be reflecting into the front of the case and damaging them? I know this probably isn't the best place to ask, but I figured we are talking about UV damage so I would bring it up...

This was posted on brother's brick, it shows that the Lego pieces being tested could be snapped together and separated 37,000 times before failing.

http://www.brothers-...ore-they-break/

I wonder if the angle had anything to do with this. Usually bricks are put together straight on, not from an angle like the machine is connecting and seperating them. Plate pieces that need a brick separator might be an exception and would probably wear quicker anyways due to being so thin. Regardless 37,000 times is quite a bit, I doubt most of us will put the same brick together even a fraction of that throughout our life, lol.

Edited January 22, 2014 by Deathleech

[Darth Dino]

Hi

well, high engery light like UV (the shorter the wavelength, the more energy) does mot reflect good, because it will be absorbed by many surfaces. E.g. UV will be nearly 100% absorbed by any plasic, even transparent plastikxs like "Plexiglas" (acrylic glass). Thats why plastic sunglasses are much better than those with glasses made of glas.

If the sun does not direct hit your Legos, then i dont expect much damage from that side.

Dino

[Faefrost]

There are so many variables. Lego has been constantly tweaking and adjusting clutch power of parts over the years. So different aged parts may behave differently for reasons beyond age.

As a general rule bricks will not lose "clutch power" unless subject to undo stress such as lots of use in play or similar wear and tear. etc. now bricks on a display model may occasionally loosen. That's more a result of environmental factors such as temperature changes. Re attaching the brick firms up the connection. And the bricks haven't actually lost clutch.

[KingPixels]

Wasn't there an LEGO movie called Clutch Powers?

[Hawcun]

Hey, i have a problem. When i buy a new set and i build it and leave it on my desk and when i wake up the next day my minifigure hair pices or helmets have lost some of its grip. How can i fix this?

[AmperZand]

@Hawcun Wash the hairpiece/hat with soap and water, dry it with a tissue and allow to air dry for a few hours to be sure no water is left. Then apply a thin coat of Humbrol Satin Cote to the anti-stud inside of the hairpiece/hat, making sure to include the inside wall of the anti-stud, i.e. the area that will be clutching the stud on the minifigure's head. Allow 6+ hours to dry and test. If the clutch is still loose, apply another thin coat of Satin Cote and allow to dry. Repeat as necessary, but normally one coat will do it. 

Edited May 24, 2018 by AmperZand

[anothergol]

On 24/08/2010 at 10:37 AM, Superkalle said:

Trivia - regarding the oven test, TGL ran in to troubles when they wanted to test the UCS Millenium Falcon. Their test oven was simply to small. So they called a local Pizza-place and borrowed their oven. Funny but true

Weird, considering

1. even at room temperature, the UCS MF isn't really a model of "solidity". Talking about pretty much every detail that falls off if you just look at it. (& that's OK, it's not exactly made for kids)

2. the most important, the structure, is quite Technic-based, with pins holding stuff lateraly, how does it even matter that clutch power could be reduced here?
But I guess it's procedural for them to test everything.

 

[sed6]

I've found a good solution to fix loose bricks or to make a brick extra grippy. I use a very small flat head screw driver and press it into the top edge of the stud at a 45 degree angle. I then wiggle or rock the screwdriver (or both) to slightly deform the stud. Usually only one spot is needed but sometimes I'll do it in 2-3 different spots. The slight deformation or displacement of the plastic is usually plenty to increase its grip strength. Alternatively the same can be done on the bottom side of a brick to the circle in the middle or the edge of a 1x brick. If you do it gently enough the deformation isn't visible to the naked eye unless you examine it up close. Some might consider this cheating or whatever but I don't.

[hsousa]

On 4/8/2013 at 6:00 PM, TheLegoDr said:

I've actually heard that keeping bricks clutched for too long will actually make them clutch stronger over time. It is logical that it could stretch the plastic though, but I've heard differently. I've never actually tested the theory though. I do have my King's Mountain Fortress set built for probably close to 20 years, but I haven't checked to see how clutchable they are. Granted it would probably end up being different plastic used, so the results wouldn't really change anything.

I've just come out of the Dark Age and dissassembled all of the pieces there were still connected for around ~30'ish years and they all reconnect just fine. Some pieces that were in a bag not assembled to anything were bad and some (most) were good, so take it at face value,  I have some trees that were badly damaged by yours truly teeth so some work will be required to try and fix all deformed and broken pieces.

[Arnoob]

The bricks my wife used to play with in the early sixties were stored away, so now our grandchildren and their parents play(ed) with them.  These bricks tend to connect with the modern blocks very loose. A pity, because many of these bricks etc. are no longer available and can therefore not be replaced.

[Johnny1360]

I recently acquired around 3000 LEGO elements and during the course of cleaning, which included soaking in very hot, soapy, tap water, I noticed an unintended consequence. The clutch power of all the bricks was greatly increased from what it was before cleaning and even though some of them were quite dirty, most were not bad at all. So I would say it's worth a shot, if your bricks are not clutch worthy. 

Edited May 12, 2019 by Johnny1360

[TeriXeri]

I had a slightly warped 16x16 plate in a recent boxed set, and hot water at least seemed to fix it back to a more flat shape before putting it together.

As far as bad clutch power goes, the figures I used on the year 2000 Soccer field set don't clutch on studs anymore, but I think that's because those stands they use might be slightly bigger then a regular stud to firmly keep the figures in place when using those springs to shoot the ball. However I haven't tried hot water on those old figures yet.

Talking about this part in the soccer set

Edited May 13, 2019 by TeriXeri

[LEGO Historian]

On 5/11/2019 at 8:15 AM, Arnoob said:

The bricks my wife used to play with in the early sixties were stored away, so now our grandchildren and their parents play(ed) with them.  These bricks tend to connect with the modern blocks very loose. A pity, because many of these bricks etc. are no longer available and can therefore not be replaced.

Those would likely be Cellulose Acetate bricks (known as Cellidor by the Bayer Corp., which supplied the plastic to TLG).  Over the years CA bricks have tended to warp, and do not fit well together today.  TLG switched from Cellulose Acetate to ABS Plastic starting in 1963 (although the conversion to all ABS didn't happen until circa 1970).

Here is a LEGO glued display retailer model of a Greco-Roman temple from 1958-60.  Even though the parts are glued together, they still managed to warp over the years.  So CA parts are a challenge to build with.