this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2024
92 points (91.8% liked)

LEGO

3823 readers
34 users here now

Show off your Lego, discuss your MOC's and builds, and talk news and upcoming sets here!

Rules

1 No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia.

2 Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.

3 No porn.

4 No Ads / Spamming.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

It seems these bricks were made in the late 1970s without Lego's authorization, by rogue employees developing new types of plastic and experimenting with their molds and various plastic colors.

It is unknown just how many of these bricks were made, but they are extremely valuable, and in my opinion and many others, very beautiful.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Injection molding in steel molds is the way to go. It can be done at home, but only by the most serious of hobbyists. (Hell, I could probably make an aluminum mold or two, now that I think about it. At $500 a pop, it could be worth the time...)

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The lego tolerances are so tight you would not get it accurate by a hobbyist, many mould makers have struggled with how tight the tolerances have to be. You even have to account for ambient tenoerature when cutting the steel in case your nold has expanded from cutting heat and environment temperature as well as typical cutter wear and deflection, and then there is the polishing aspect

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

What I was able to find is that bricks need to be within 10 microns and that is so they can reliably fit with Legos made over the last 50 years, or something like that.

Also, the shrinkage of the ABS is probably what would drive me crazy. The shots of plastic would need to be super consistent in a mold that was specifically designed with the properties of the plastic in mind.

Since I have never done injection molding or even cut molds, it would be a cool project to attempt, just for lulz.

(There are other ways to get the desired result that would be good enough to make the sale, but I won't get into that.)