I rolled this question in my mind for a long time but still didn't find any physical justification for it. However, sometimes I caught myself in setting all the pins equally oriented when building something...

Even in TLG official building instructions, I see that sometimes the pins are places with their slots directed longitudinal to connected parts, sometimes traversed. Did you have any ideas why it may be (if not a pure random for sure) done such differently?
I guess that having a longitudinal end slot, the connection of two linear liftarms (for example) should be more firm in the longitudinal direction, as the parts won't play compressing the slot gaps, but may have a bigger play in bending. or vise versa.

Well, I experienced that the attachment of some sub-assemblies are much, much easier when the pins are aligned in a certain way. You can compress all pins at the same time when attaching such a sub-assembly.

I do line up axle pins as seen in the manuals because they can only be attached in one of two ways. Same deal with bushing direction. I'm not as fussy with regular pins.

I do have an OCD to orient all slots on bushes the same way (and according to adjacent connectors with slots if they have them) , pins on the other hand not so much, only exceptions is when it's a 2Lpin+axle inserted into a 2pin+bush, always alligning the slots. 

But I know who will be the responsible if now I'll start orienting every single pin a certain way 

Edited September 13, 20213 yr by syclone
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I’m not sure I follow your logic. The black pin shown has 4 slots distributed at an interval of pi/2. This means it’ll have compliance in both x and y directions. You could theoretically reduce the effect of this by rotating it so that the slots are diagonal in the hole, but either way the amount of stiffness you’d gain would so minuscule that it’s purely mind games at that point.

just my take. Happy to be proven wrong :)

Personally I'm a combination of all things mentioned. I need to have all bush slots the same way, the bush ends (for the 1L ones) equally facing inwards/outwards and all pins orientated with the end slots parallell with the length of the beams.
Do I have OCD? I don't know, but I suspect I do cos if these things are randomized, I don't like it  

I also tend to find that the grip of the pins feel a little stronger when they're orientated in the mentioned way with the end slots being parallell with the beams lengthwise.

Personally I really don't care :) And I'm almost sure that the orientation in the instructions is totally random, or it only depends on the software they are using to produce them. 

I align the visible axle-end pins of 32054 to be forward/rear when possible, and up/down otherwise. I put the ring on 6558 in whatever way I think will make it easier to take the model apart, assuming there is no assembly requirement. I don’t pay any attention to slots that are not visible when fully assembled, because I would drive myself crazy with that.

I confess that I am also suffering from this kind of OCD ;-)

29 minutes ago, sm1995 said:

I’m not sure I follow your logic. The black pin shown has 4 slots distributed at an interval of pi/2.

But the slots in the centre don't do that much. The outer ends can be pressed together which makes insertion in a pin hole easier.

18 minutes ago, Woodstock89 said:

I confess that I am also suffering from this kind of OCD ;-)

Yep. But now that I've heard a semi-reasonable argument for why I should align regular pins as well it may be even worse!

4 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

Yep. But now that I've heard a semi-reasonable argument for why I should align regular pins as well it may be even worse!

Now the standard building session shall also include a stress analysis for all the connections hahahah

Yes, the slots of pins/bushes/etc. have to be in the same direction. It is (for me) very disturbing if they aren't.

Also, this end of a bush should point to the connection point, the other side to the outside.

I am semi-obsessive about this since reading on here that it can make it easier to assemble beams with multiple connections, which I think is the case.

Anyone else bothered that the box image of 42043 has part 41678 in the grille in different orientations?

For official models I don't care as I don't build those.

But for my MOCs slot orientation matters in some places because the middle slot is useful for pulling out a 3L pin with a small tool.

(Some other brands also have pins that grip stronger than LEGO pins, and it can be hard to pull a 3L pin with your fingers if you can't really grip well)

The only things I really pay attention to are the pins with stop bush, normal bush and the axle pins. I also make sure the “dot” from the moulding process isn’t visible. Apart from that I really don’t care which way my pins face.

@LvdH Yup, same with me - I hate it when the moulding mark is visible on beams. I placed a sticker on the marked side of a beam in 42053 and it haunts me to this day... 

I pay attention when MOCing with the blue 3L pin.  Mainly to minimize the amount I have to disassemble and reassemble as I tweak my MOC. 

Yep, I line everything up. Slots on bushes, slots on connectors, and slots on pins, and in the case of a pin with axle connecting to an axled liftarm the slots head in the direction the liftarm is facing. 

I do this on MOCs and sets.

I don’t pay attention to the oriention of normal pins, but with axle pins and 2L pin with bush, and normal bushings I do. I also pay attention to the moulding mark of the beam, and where possible I put an official sticker over it, or I turn it facing inwards the model. 

27 minutes ago, Maaboo35 said:

moulding mark is visible on beams

Mold marks means marred models.

Lol I was wondering how long it would take until this topic would pop up

Never paid attention to this, only to bushes' orientation.

3 hours ago, Bartybum said:

Lol I was wondering how long it would take until this topic would pop up

Yeah, it apperead to be a confession topic now. I also started suspecting akind of OCD because of these things but who we are if not totally LEGOed People 

Lol, yes, yes I do.

And here I thought I was the only one.

 

Edited September 13, 20213 yr by Johnny1360