Bill Ward’s Brickpile

I just stumbled across a way to build a 7-way radial symmetry in LEGO.

A technique for building 7-way radial symmetry in LEGO. The blue 2×2 plates are connected to each other using plate hinges in a ring, and when I built that I noticed the ring looked like the right diameter to go around a 4×4 round piece. The hinges actually protrude a little into the center, but by sandwiching the two 4×4 rounds together and filling the space inside with a round 2×2 plate and seven (leaving one stud open) 1×1 round plates, you can make it all fit nicely. And since the 4×4 rounds and 2×2 round plate have axle holes, it can easily be connected to any Technic mechanism.

If you stick an axle in the middle it twirls like a top – it’s very well balanced.

LDraw code after the break:

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This is how I wash LEGO parts… how do you do it?

I’ve tried a few approaches.  The laundry washing machine (in a mesh bag) worked fairly well, but I think a few bits got loose and got in the drain so I stopped doing that.  The dishwasher (mesh bag in the top rack) also works OK, but I think it gets too hot in there – I had some warped bricks from the heat.  Handwashing seems the safest, to ensure I don’t lose any parts down the drain or have them melted.  If the water is cool enough to not damage my hands, it’s cool enough to not damage the bricks.

I always wash used bricks when I get them, and also any model that has been on display for any length of time tends to gather dust.  I’m very allergic to dust, and I live with someone who’s very allergic to animal dander, so I need to keep my collection clean.

Anyway, here’s the four step process I use to wash bricks.  Please post in the comments if you’ve found a better way or have any war stories about dirty bricks….

1. Soak in soapy water.  I use All Free/Clear laundry soap – I figure if it’s good for synthetic fabrics it should be good for plastic bricks.

2. Transfer to mesh bag and rinse in bathtub.  I had to do this in three batches, I had so many dirty bricks.

3. Use laundry basket, lined with towel, to carry to living room.

4. Dump out on towels on living room floor, with fan blowing on them.  Luckily I live in coastal California, so the humidity is low and they actually get dry this way.  I’ll stir them periodically, but they’ll be dry enough to sort and put away in a day or two.

Anyone want to come over and help me sort?  I’ll give you free pizza!

A couple of weeks ago, I was a guest speaker at Cypress High School in Santa Cruz, CA. A friend of mine is a math teacher there and she invited me in to give a LEGO presentation. I decided to focus my talk on the art of lettering in LEGO, so I brought along my LOVE and LEGO Robert Indiana style sculptures, and the Blackburn Hotel. I also built some lettering out of LEGO parts as a study of different ways to model the alphabet. I came up with a set of five clear baseplates with the letters A through Z, each letter in a different style:

I also made some more basic lettering examples. The students then had about 15 minutes (I meant to give them more time, but between my rambling on, and their incessant questions, the presentation part took a lot longer than planned) to play with some bulk LEGO that I had brought, to try to build their names or other text… Here’s some of what they came up with:

The slides from the Half-Plate Offsets presentation I gave at BrickCon are now available online. The slides are freely available and redistributable using a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-Alike license.

Download here: half-plate.pdf

I took video of the presentation, but I haven’t watched it yet. If it comes out well, I’ll post it online also.