Since 2008 I’ve been giving a presentation at various LEGO conventions, mainly BrickCon in Seattle, Washington, and Bricks by the Bay in Santa Clara, California, called “Brick Geometry” covering a variety of LEGO building techniques. A new recording of the latest version of this presentation is now available on YouTube.
Category: Techniques
Lego Diagonal Connection Points
A common question in LEGO creations is “how do I build on a diagonal?”
Use a fry bagger to sort LEGO parts?
Use a fry bagger to put LEGO parts into Ziploc bags!
What a great idea! I saw this today on Facebook, posted by Soyary Sunthorn‎ in the AFOLs of FaceBook group. He got a fry bagger – a tool used in fast food restaurants to put french fries into the bags or other containers they are served in.
Seven-way radial symmetry technique
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:
Guest Speaker at a High School
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:
Docking Rings
This is an idea for a standard docking system for LEGO® spacecraft. It is done by forming a docking ring with Technic® pegs spaced in a square configuration. The spacing of these pegs is designed so that whether mounted on the side of a wall of a ship (bricks), or in the floor or ceiling (plates), they can still be used to dock with another craft in any of 4 orientations.