ASK HERE How to clean your LEGO sets/parts?

[NovaStar]

Had it been a single reply, I might have been intruiged enough to check it out. As it is, it's blatant advertising for his product via spam, which puts me right off ever even considering it.

I wasnt going to point that out, but that was my impression and like you, i wont bother looking because of that.

Incidentally, we have had success with old lego in a pillowcase in the washing machine on its gentlest cycle with no spin. Mainly older pieces that will mainly be used for hidden structural work tho.

[escortmad79]

Why spam all the cleaning Lego with the same thing?

That's a surefire way of getting banned!

[Kumpelkante]

Well i have method cleaning my lego, that might be a bit more time consuming, but is way more fun and a lot simpler imho. First i put off all the fig from the set or moc and put them in a box. Then i carefully dust of the set/moc with a very soft brush wich was originally intended to make ink-drawings (pic one of the larger ones though). Then dust of the figs and reapply them. Simple but fun, because you dont need expensive tool and can "play" with your Lego all the time (well, sort of).

[charlieboy]

I find plastic dust sheets work very well over my town layout and countless display shelves but even then dust still gets through and i'd much rather be able to see the sets all the time and not have to keep them covered up. A member on here recently mentioned a Go-Duster. I hadnt heard of it before so I googled it-

Its basically an electric duster with various sized heads.I'll be getting mine on monday so i'll let you know if it works!

[smittyfan]

For baseplates, I turn them upside-down and I rub the studded side into some scrap carpet or even the normal carpet in your house. Doing this to the baseplate immediately illiminates all the dust on the baseplate, even between the studs.

hey i do that all the time! also i just use a small clean dry paintbrush to wipe away the dust... gets in the small spaces quite nicely!

[Derek]

Wow this is an old thread. Whatever, the topic's always relevant...

But I have the absoulte BEST solution to dusting. I swear that these things (Swiffer Dusters) work miracles on Lego. They are magical- they literally remove virtually ALL dust and are really soft so they don't leave scratches like a toothbush would. They have these little microfiber things that the dust just clings to.

I'm telling you that this is THE solution.

-Derek

P.S. No, Swiffer isn't paying me anything, I just swear by these things.!

Edited December 31, 2010 by Derek

[Cinderbike]

Household bleach or peroxide? Hydrogen peroxide works wonders on yellowed plastics. Google retrobright for instructions for making a paste, it does work pretty well.

[Superkalle]

@jngunsw: Please use full words when writing in the forum. It just looks so much better if you're not writing ppl, hv, n, etc. Thanks!

[Brickdoctor]

@jngunsw: Please use full words when writing in the forum. It just looks so much better if you're not writing ppl, hv, n, etc. Thanks!

Pssst! He was last active in '07.

[RileyC]

For cleaning my Lego I use a small soft paint brush. Its still very effective at getting the dust out and I haven't seen it leave any scratches. Its also good for getting inbetween the studs and good for just those quick brush overs. Its definitely my weapon of choice.

[Cinderbike]

For general cleaning I use Mr. Clean magic erasers. I don't know what they might be called in Europe, but they work great.

[Syn]

What is the best way to clean your Legos? I kept them in an old toy box (wood with a fiberboard bottom) and over the years the bottom started to separate and get nasty so I took them out and put them in a plastic storage tub. well I have this nice dirt build up on a few of them and and I have them separated from all the others so they wont get it all over other bricks. I've tried just soaking them in hot water with mild agitation and some mild soap even which did ok for the light stuff but the heavy stuff I fear I am going to have to scrub it. Unfortunately a lot of the pieces have OEM designs on them and I don't want to scratch it off. so any help would be great.

[escortmad79]

Always best to run a search before you post, there are loads of topics on cleaning Lego

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

Here

& Here

[Syn]

I did run a search and not a single one of those threads came up, I tried Cleaning legos, clean lego, cleaning and Maintenance. Not my fault that the search function didn't turn up those threads.

and they didn't answer my question either, I wanted to know about getting heavy dirt off of painted and sticker pieces when soap and water isn't enough. not de-yellow, de-smoking or general cleaning. but thanks.

Edited January 5, 2011 by Syn

[Superkalle]

Cleaning off old sticker residue can be done with chemicaly purified gasoline (Not sure about the english trade name). Does not affect the ABS plastic at all and is normally intended for stain removal and cleaning of adhesives, chewing gum etc. You should be able to get small bottles from the chemists. Have used it for years.

[escortmad79]

I did run a search and not a single one of those threads came up, I tried Cleaning legos, clean lego, cleaning and Maintenance. Not my fault that the search function didn't turn up those threads.

and they didn't answer my question either, I wanted to know about getting heavy dirt off of painted and sticker pieces when soap and water isn't enough. not de-yellow, de-smoking or general cleaning. but thanks.

Well I typed in "cleaning" in the search facility & managed to find the ones above!

[Syn]

Cleaning off old sticker residue can be done with chemicaly purified gasoline (Not sure about the english trade name). Does not affect the ABS plastic at all and is normally intended for stain removal and cleaning of adhesives, chewing gum etc. You should be able to get small bottles from the chemists. Have used it for years.

Purified gasoline? I'll google it and see if there is a derivative that I can use, will this eat off the Paint on the bricks?

[Trent]

I recently bought a collection of mixed bricks from a friend of a friend, who has lost interest in Lego and is selling all of his childhood/teenage belongings.

There's a massive amount of bricks here, but I'm currently sorting it into Lego and non-Lego (e.g. Megablocks), and I've noticed that a fair portion of the Lego bricks are badly damaged or chewed - or are quite grimy and dirty.

I'm not overly surprised at the condition, but as I kept my bricks in pristine condition as a child, I'm unsure how to clean them. There's an awful lot of bricks in the box, so I don't really want to take a toothbrush to them all individually...I just want to get them to a reasonable standard. My instinct is to put them into a bucket of warm water, but I don't know if warm water would warp the plastic, or what sort of cleaning agent (if any) would be ok to use on the bricks? I'm not really bothered about changing yellowed bricks back into bright white - I just want them to be clean.

Any hints, tips and advice (or even links to existing topics!) gratefully accepted!

[fred67]

Warm (not hot) water and mild dish detergent does a good job (and, from what I recall, is TLG's recommendation).

That's what I do... in batches, warm water with dish detergent in a large bowl, I let it soak for a few minutes and occasionally agitate with my hand, then dump them in a strainer and rinse off, dump them on a spread out towel and pat them to remove the bulk of the water and then let them air dry for a day or two.

As I sort them out afterwards, I separate out the discolored bricks and retrobright them.

[kibosh]

<snipped>dump them on a spread out towel and pat them to remove the bulk of the water and then let them air dry for a day or two.</snipped>

I think this is key. Make sure to move them around periodically while they dry. The bricks especially will want to hold water in the tubes, and can get quite funky smelling if not allowed to dry properly. Let them dry thoroughly!

[LEGO Guy Bri]

Warm (not hot) water and mild dish detergent does a good job (and, from what I recall, is TLG's recommendation).

That's what I do... in batches, warm water with dish detergent in a large bowl.

I use scalding hot water with no problems, except on baseplates. They must have cold or luke warm. I don't use a stove or microwave to heat the water, just from the faucet. I have my best results mixing a couple shots of Dawn soap with a cherry car wash soap in an airtight tupperware. I use the carwash soap because it has a plastic protectant for bare plastic bumpers and trim. Plus it leaves a slight cherry smell to the pieces. Any carwash detergent would work though. Mix it all in, put a lid on and spin them around and let soak. Like 'Fred67' said retrowash> H2O2 Hydro-peroxide 3% + oxiclean/similar detergent (catalyst) = renewed yellowed pieces.

[lightningtiger]

My trick is toothpaste and it works on most marked pieces saving a few from the bin.

True you must let them dry fully, yep that funky smell is one to beat !

[Amiechan]

At my work we usually wash the kids lego in the dishwasher in laundry bags (mesh bags). The lego is from the eighties and still going strong. But I'm not sure I would dare that with my own lego.

[unbornchikken]

Like others have said, warm water and detergent does wonders for cleaning bricks. Most of this is fairly straight forward with the tricky part being based on the individual bricks themselves and how they might need to be cleaned and/or dried.

I've a few tips that I've picked up from the last time I had to do a mass cleaning (like Trent, my son also received a large collection of used bricks):

1) I've actually found that Salad Spinners are extremely useful for the entire process. You can use them to soak in dish detergent (and stir), drain the water/rinse, and also get the bricks a little more dry before the air-drying process.

2) While drying, pay special attention to the bottom of the pieces as that's the hardest part to dry for the most pieces. I've found it best to either lay pieces on their side or top down. Also try to make it so that pieces aren't touching each other while drying.

3) Additional tools useful for cleaning and/or drying: Q-tips (getting into hard to reach places), canned air (after some air drying, to speed the process along).

Ultimately though, just expect that the whole process will take quite some time both in terms of what you have to do, and in terms of the drying time. Still, the end result is quite satisfying. Good luck!

[LEGO Guy Bri]

2) While drying, pay special attention to the bottom of the pieces as that's the hardest part to dry for the most pieces. I've found it best to either lay pieces on their side or top down.

I use a table top fan on high. I la them out, generally with the underside facing the wind ( I know, der) and leave them for about an hour or two. Then voilà