LEGO: Sturdy Enough for the Next Generation

It's no secret that I'm a LEGO fan, and I'm not the only one. I'm sure HUSH will back me up on this one. I can't even remember a time in my life when we didn't have LEGOs in the house. My fiancé even made LEGOs an integral part of his proposal. How could anyone say no to that?

I was going through some old boxes the other day and came across a huge tub of LEGOs that hadn't seen the light of day in quite a while. It dawned on me that most of that jumbled assortment of bricks was handed down to me from older friends and relatives. I estimate the oldest LEGO bricks to be at least thirty years old as at least one set came from the late 1970s. That got me thinking about LEGOs in a different way. It's pretty amazing to me that the bricks that were manufactured several decades ago still fit perfectly with modern bricks. The older bricks barely look any different than the new ones. The only way I can distinguish the old 2x2 bricks from the new ones is the extra layer of grime they so lovingly acquired after being handled by dozens of small, sticky hands.

How many other toys are made with such quality that they can survive multiple owners and still be in any condition to pass down to the next generation? The only other toys from my childhood that I have held onto this long with the intention of handing down to my own children are my Barbie dolls. I can assure you they do not look as nice as they did when they were new, and they look very different from the Barbie dolls one can find on store shelves today.

The anatomy of the LEGO

To better understand how LEGO lives up to such a high quality standard, let's take a look at what it takes to make a LEGO brick. Anyone who has ever played with LEGOs is familiar with the studs on the top and the tubes on the bottom, but not everyone knows that friction is actually what makes the bricks stick together. The interference fit between the studs and tubes keep the bricks from falling apart, but easily allow for little fingers to break the bond.

Where LEGO bricks come from

Most LEGO pieces are manufactured in the Czech Republic and Denmark. These facilities can produce 3,000 types of pieces including hundreds of millions of tires. In fact, LEGO is the largest producer of vehicle tires in the world! Besides tires, which are made from rubber, almost every basic LEGO piece is made from acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic granules. The plastic that is used to make LEGO pieces today is what gives LEGO pieces their grip, gloss, and color stability. Its composition has changed very little in the last twenty years, and all raw materials are tested internally and externally to ensure the highest quality.

During production, the ABS plastic granules are melted at temperatures up to 450 degrees F (232 degrees C) and are then injected into the injection molding machines. The molds used to make LEGO pieces are primarily made in Germany. They are expensive to make, but are extremely accurate with a precision tolerance of 0.002 mm. After a few minutes and a lot of pressure, the LEGO pieces cool off, and a conveyor drops them off into a bin. Complex LEGO pieces that are made of more than one part, like minifigures, are put together later on with very precise assembly equipment.

Bins containing various LEGO pieces open and close automatically to drop a specific number of pieces into polypropylene bags. To ensure that the correct number of pieces ends up in each bag, a machine weighs the bag to make sure the weight is what it is supposed to be. Have you ever built a LEGO set and had extra pieces left over? This is common, and usually happens with the smallest pieces in the set that do not weigh enough to be measured by the scale. When this happens to me, I consider it a bonus because the smaller pieces are the most likely to get lost and I'm happy to have extras.

A large part of the reason that LEGO sets are handed down year after year is the company's commitment to quality. Finished LEGO pieces go through drop, torque, tension, compression, bite, and impact tests to ensure they can withstand all kinds of wear and tear and remain sturdy and safe. Amazingly, only 0.00002 percent of pieces do not pass these tests. LEGO has had absolutely no product recalls since 2004.

I have enjoyed playing with LEGOs since before I could walk, and decades later, they still hold a special place in my heart. I especially love the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit sets. These days I mostly consider myself to be a LEGO collector rather than a LEGO builder. I'm not going to say I don't enjoy spending a few hours building with LEGOs now and then, because I definitely do. And why shouldn't I? What's not to love about those colorful bricks and smiling yellow faces?

References

Image Credits: lego.com, fastcodesign.com, wikia.com

How Lego Bricks Work

Product Quality and Safety

LEGO Progress Report 2012 (PDF)

Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lego