Hi..

I have a question. The other day I was dismantling a Lego set assembled for some time, and noticed that the pieces had a lower setting in each other .. The pieces lost properties if they are assembled for some time?

LEGO is not advisable to leave much time riding?

Sorry if you don't understand the question..

Regards

Hi..

I have a question. The other day I was dismantling a Lego set assembled for some time, and noticed that the pieces had a lower setting in each other .. The pieces lost properties if they are assembled for some time?

LEGO is not advisable to leave much time riding?

Sorry if you don't understand the question..

Regards

Hi,

I would love to answer your question but I don't quite understand it, are you saying that you have found they sit lower after being built or that the pieces get smaller due to the weight of the other pieces on top of them?

Paul

I think he means why do bricks lose their grip after a while.

I think he means why do bricks lose their grip after a while.

So, do they? And what we mean be "a while"?

I think he means why do bricks lose their grip after a while.

Yes. It is normal? You think we should not have the LEGO assembled for long time?

Regards

I guess bricks mostly loose some over their initial grip rather soonish, not sure why that is, but it doesn't seem to get much worse after that. I have got models that I keep assembled 24/7 and I can't say they are slowly falling apart. Unless you want to never use the bricks your always will loose that tight grip that some of the brand new pieces have, but why buy lego if your not using it. I have yet to encounter a serious case where bricks don't click together any more, even my old childhood lego still stays together fine.

I have some Lego from like 10 years ago and they still grip fine. Looser grip is fine by me, makes it easier to take pieces apart. Especially plates.

But I had a set that was built for a few months, and I definitely noticed it was incredibly easy to remove the plates that were stacked on the plates. I guess that is the looser grip. But I like it. I hate tight grip because it feels like its impossible to remove.

I did a bit of research into this recently. I was worried about grip loss because I wanted to store my bricks stacked. (I really like to keep everything organized. Stacking bricks for storage means that they take up less space, and it's easier to get many of the same brick all at once.) Anyway, what I found was that keeping bricks stacked does not have a significant or alarming effect on grip strength. This is assuming that the bricks are stored at a reasonable temperature. Real harm happens at high temperatures; heat makes plastic bricks prone to warping. But simply keeping things stacked (i.e. keeping a model together for a long time) isn't a worry and won't make your bricks unusable.

Sidebar: UV light can change the color of bricks over time. There is another thread about that somewhere.

Weel, today I had dismantled the GG and most of the pieces was like new.. Perhaps it's just a few that loses 'that' grip..

Thanks for the answer guys.

Regards

I read this topic and tested it on a set that I assembled around 1986 and never took apart. I pulled apart some pieces, put them back and didn't notice anything strange other than a layer of dust. No loss of grip as to speak of.

I read this topic and tested it on a set that I assembled around 1986 and never took apart. I pulled apart some pieces, put them back and didn't notice anything strange other than a layer of dust. No loss of grip as to speak of.

Cool, thanks for letting us know. What set was it, by the way? I can't imagine a set staying together for that long. Was it stored away in a box somewhere?

I did a bit of research into this recently. I was worried about grip loss because I wanted to store my bricks stacked. (I really like to keep everything organized. Stacking bricks for storage means that they take up less space, and it's easier to get many of the same brick all at once.) Anyway, what I found was that keeping bricks stacked does not have a significant or alarming effect on grip strength. This is assuming that the bricks are stored at a reasonable temperature. Real harm happens at high temperatures; heat makes plastic bricks prone to warping. But simply keeping things stacked (i.e. keeping a model together for a long time) isn't a worry and won't make your bricks unusable.

Sidebar: UV light can change the color of bricks over time. There is another thread about that somewhere.

Heat you say? Well my built lego set was in a box near the heater. So maybe that caused it to lose some grip. But no dust or discoloration. just that the plates were easy to remove compared to plates that I do not leave assembled.

I have the 7710 Push Train assembled and sitting around since 1983. Everything is still holding together. Some of the pieces don't have that brand new brick "snap" feel when I pressed them together. The train has been in sunlight, hot and cold days over the years. There is discolouration on the grey. The blue is a bit lighter. The black seems to have held up well over the decades.

I also have a fire station assembled since the 1980s. I noticed that the chemicals from the rubber tires have reacted with the base plate after sitting on the same spot for many years. It left melted like marks of tires in the plate plastic. I probably should have moved the fire engines around from time to time.

Bricks do lose some grip over time if left assembled, but if the temperature is well controlled then the grip only drops up to a certain level, which still provides good clasping power. I don't think it's anything to worry about.

This effect is actually a good thing for some old sets that have very firmly gripping bricks (partly due to heat exposure). Leaving them built up restores them to a normal state after a few years.

I also have a fire station assembled since the 1980s. I noticed that the chemicals from the rubber tires have reacted with the base plate after sitting on the same spot for many years. It left melted like marks of tires in the plate plastic. I probably should have moved the fire engines around from time to time.

I've seen this with a few 80s sets too. This can actually happen on shorter time scales and showed up after just a year or so on my 6395. The marks can be removed using alcohol.

Cool, thanks for letting us know. What set was it, by the way? I can't imagine a set staying together for that long. Was it stored away in a box somewhere?

If it had been stored in a box it wouldn't have collected so much dust . It stood in my parents'house on a shelf, waiting till I fetched it a couple of months ago. By the way, it's set no. 5581.