Bricks cracking... just from being connected to one another?

[Tuinman]

Most of my cheese slopes have cracks. Always on the short side, most of them on exactly the same spot. I'm trying to stop getting annoyed by it.

But worse is that other parts, especially slopes of all kinds, start to crack. Not even a year old. Is the quality declining? Can't remember my older Lego (80's) had this problem.

Edit: typo's

Edited October 18, 2014 by Tuinman

[Cara]

I have a minecraft villager, the 1x1 tan tile on top and the 1x1 tan plate with printed eyes have cracks down the side (the plate crack goes right between the eyes)

Wondered if anyone else has noticed this with minecraft sets, especially since they are the type that stay built for a while and sit.

[klinton]

I've legit only ever had two parts break (two 1x1 grey claws). I don't have tonnes of sets like some of you though (only about 93, I think), so I may not be dipping in as large a pool.

I can't imagine a part breaking on contact. The two parts I had break were from the Lego Movie Ice Cream Machine set, due to snapping the cones in and out of them every time I'd rebuild the alt model (I cannot decide on which I love more, hahaha).

Other than that, even all of my little slopes are fine. I've checked and double checked them a few times, as I see threads like this around.

Are you guys in overly humid or arid climates? It has to be environmental. If this were a perpetual problem with the bricks themselves, I would imagine I'd have encountered this by now.

[AFOLguy1970]

I live in Fort Worth, TX. It is not overly humid, nor is it really arid. Yet, after an inspection of parts after disassembling some sets, I did note several cracked cheese slopes. They were basically attached to other parts within the model and were not handled by the kids. The ears on Unikitty from Benny's SSS were among those that cracked. Honestly, I think there is something about the design of this part that encounters too much stress when it is attached to another piece. Has anyone ever contacted TLG and brought this issue forward?

[robuko]

I've had quite a few cheese slopes crack on the short side at the base.

[badbob001]

Has anyone tried to 'repair' their cracked bricks? Would it help to brush some MEK solvent into the insides of the cheese slopes?

[Lego Otaku]

cheese slope is *tiny* it'd be hard to repair that and keep it from re-cracking. It is however possible to modify uncracked cheese slope if you have a good drill press and a plastic-safe vise to hold it exactly centered and drill out just a hair bigger than original so there'd be less stress and flexing plastic when it goes on a stud. Stud is 5mm, you'd need to find a precise drill bit that is just a tad bigger than the brick but not so big it ends up making the piece loose and pop off easy.

[pixie]

neve happened

[splatman]

cheese slope is *tiny* it'd be hard to repair that and keep it from re-cracking. It is however possible to modify uncracked cheese slope if you have a good drill press and a plastic-safe vise to hold it exactly centered and drill out just a hair bigger than original so there'd be less stress and flexing plastic when it goes on a stud. Stud is 5mm, you'd need to find a precise drill bit that is just a tad bigger than the brick but not so big it ends up making the piece loose and pop off easy.

I've had a similar idea, only involving a Dremel type tool, not a drill press, and shaving a tiny bit off the front and back, such that they will slip over the stud, but leave the sides as they are. That way, the front will not be under any kind of bending load, but pure tension (no greater stress at the surface, which will start a crack), while the sides will still firmly grip a stud.

That, of course, is an awfully huge load of Dremelling. May be fine if you only have few cheese slopes. You probably have the better idea. Build a jig to hold the slopes on the drill press table, with a lift lever, set the depth stop on the DP, then drop slope in jig, drill, press lever to remove slope from jig, rinse and repeat.

[Bering]

I have the same problem here. I bought the 4998 Stegosaurus and the 4507 Dinosaur a long time ago for example. After years storage in a dark place with constant temperature, nearly all 1x1 white teeth/nails have cracked (see picture). It also happens with 1x1 and 1x2 bricks, as for 1x1 and 1x2 plates and for 1x1 mini slopes. You can't see the crack when you just hold the brick, but when you put it on another brick, the crack shows up. I only build these models several times, in my opinion the quality isn't the main importance here right now. I am willing to spend more money for quality, what i thought i did...

The strange thing is, the crack starts from the outside. When a brick is placed onto another brick for a long time (1x2 brick), you can see a bending from the outside. Then you see a small, hardly noticable crack coming up from the place where the pressure is put. Then after more time, the crack is fully noticable and sometimes cracks to the full length of the brick. My theory is, if you show new Lego sets or Mocs for a long time, cracks appear. I think due to the lower quality of the modern Lego. I have had sets from the 80's which i showed for years and they still don't have cracks in them.

I hope the quality of Lego will soon be what we were used to. But i also think it is a good thing we post our experiences here.

[1974]

That is the future of LEGO, sorry

Please send these pics to LEGO CS and a copy of what you have written above

[Duq]

I've had clips break after first use, lots of cheese slopes have cracked, minifig arms split past the elbow and many Technic parts with cracks.

And let's not start about colour differences...

And yes, it pisses me off no end, especially every time I read about record breaking profits.

[1974]

Yup, and now they're working on highly sofisticated machinery that gonna half the productioncosts, but still same ol' (new, that is) crappy dye-injected plastic. Sets will probably not get cheaper though

[Bering]

Sorry to hear about your experiences. I also had pieces cracked the first time i build the model. And i didn't use force. I'm very gentle for my Lego (AFOL). This week i went through 7 sets i bought new. The 4886 house, 5891 house, 6745 house, 4958 walking dino, 4884 wild animals, 4998 stegosaurus and the 4507 dino. Result: 116 pieces with noticable cracks. Ordered new pieces on Bricklink. I will post some pictures later. I only build these one time and put it back in ziplocks in the box.

Lego is expensive, but i could live with that if the quality remained the same... I emailed Lego.com about this issue and i will post the feedback here.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Bering

[antp]

On the other hand, all the sets you mentioned are a few years old, so even if they modified something to solve the problems that kind of old set will still be affected...

Hoping that at least they try to solve the problems on new batches

(even if problems seem to be still found in new ones)

Edited January 14, 2015 by antp

[rainey06au]

Hey guys,

Found this thread/forum while Googling to see if I was alone with this issue - guess not! I've already contacted the Lego service department and they are sending me replacement slopes which is very cool, and great customer service. I registered here simply to show you guys the photos I took of Emma's Ice Cream Stand (set #30106). I built this set with my daughter approx 4 months ago, we played with it gently for about 30 minutes and then it was put on a display shelf in our spare room (no sunlight - always cool particularily over this period in Tasmania, Australia) until Christmas this year when I got it down again for her to play with alongside some new Lego that Santa gave her. These cracks had developed (or might have existed in the beginning to a smaller degree) over this time, the set has never been disassembled and rebuilt.

I have now learned that you guys refer to these pieces as 'Cheese Slopes', hehehe.

Edited January 14, 2015 by rainey06au

[antp]

Impressive, not only slopes but that all parts seem to have the same problem: the white panels and 1x2 tan plates are all cracked.

Cheese slopes are the small 1x1 ones, like the pink at the front of the top. Other ones are just regular 1x2 slopes.

Edited January 14, 2015 by antp

[rainey06au]

Pretty strange eh! You can see why I was surprised. I'm always super careful how our Lego is assembled, played with, and stored. The wife has been known to call me President Business. Lol.

[Duq]

That picture is shocking...

[Bering]

On the other hand, all the sets you mentioned are a few years old, so even if they modified something to solve the problems that kind of old set will still be affected...

Hoping that at least they try to solve the problems on new batches

(even if problems seem to be still found in new ones)

Good point. And if they modify something to solve the problems, how do we know if we order good or bad (old) bricks on Bricklink then?

Pretty strange eh! You can see why I was surprised. I'm always super careful how our Lego is assembled, played with, and stored. The wife has been known to call me President Business. Lol.

Sorry to hear about your Ice Cream Crack Stand. I had exactly the same problems. This picture should concern Lego i think.

Edited January 14, 2015 by Bering

[m0dulo]

This week i went through 7 sets i bought new.

(...)

Result: 116 pieces with noticable cracks

116? From 7 sets? My family recently returned to LEGO and poured more money into it than we will admit to ourselves. We will probably take a break from it and/or simply stop buying more LEGO if we find relatively new pieces cracked after being used once.

Edited January 14, 2015 by m0dulo

[Boettner Builds]

Just yesterday I had my first "cracked on installation onto stud". :( http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6091 This part in dark red. Brand new, unopened Prince Of Persia Battle Of Alamut set. Of the 4, 2 of them cracked as soon as I installed them onto the stud. The other 2 are just fine.

[m0dulo]

I vaguely remember a site that tracked where parts were made. Does something like that exist or did I dream it? I'd be interested in checking out where the lower-quality parts are made and see if there is a trend.

[Bering]

116? From 7 sets? My family recently returned to LEGO and poured more money into it than we will admit to ourselves. We will probably take a break from it and/or simply stop buying more LEGO if we find relatively new pieces cracked after being used once.

116 yes, and then i'm only talking about noticable cracks. Not starting cracks... My new frustration with Lego. :-( And i'm talking about new Lego, never played with, only assembled once. And i skipped the cracked teeth as posted in the picture above, because they will be placed in the mouth, where the cracks are not seen. ;-) These are the cracks i'm talking about. I made a pretty good deal on Bricklink by the way. New parts included postage 16 euro's. But i'm afraid it will solve the problem only temporarily.

Just yesterday I had my first "cracked on installation onto stud". :( http://www.bricklink...Item.asp?P=6091 This part in dark red. Brand new, unopened Prince Of Persia Battle Of Alamut set. Of the 4, 2 of them cracked as soon as I installed them onto the stud. The other 2 are just fine.

Sorry to say, but the other 2 will break eventually. Just put it on the shelf for a couple of months and post the picture here. Deal?

I vaguely remember a site that tracked where parts were made. Does something like that exist or did I dream it? I'd be interested in checking out where the lower-quality parts are made and see if there is a trend.

That would be very handy such a site. For now i would encourage everybody to post pictures here for damaged/cracked Lego. Only by doing that we could bring it to the attention of Lego. I'm from the Netherlands by the way.

[sithewok]

Wow. These new finds are really making me nervous. We've only been buying Lego since March, but we leave all of our big sets (modular) assembled. If the parts are going to start breaking soon, I'm not sure that we will continue buying a lot of Lego...

Have any of you shared these photos on Facebook or Twitter? Lego seems to monitor them pretty closely. May be a good way to get them to take notice.