This is a brief follow-up to my previous post on using graph paper as a tool for LEGO building. That article talked about the top-down view paper. This is side-view paper, depicting the height of bricks, but also helpfully broken down into individual plates, as well.

This graph paper measures 24 studs by 24 bricks and is numbered on all 4 sides, in different directions so that you can get just about whatever count you want. I’ve also made heavier lines depicting bricks, so it’s easier to find your place and count.

I’ve also made the document a pdf so it is extra easy for anyone to download and print. Enjoy!

Design Grid – 1:1 Scale [24x24 Side View]

When designing portraits and sculptures out of Lego, one thing that can be extremely helpful is graph paper.

Now, you couldjust go out and buy some standard graph paper, but we can take it a step further. How about graph paper that is designed specifically for Lego bricks — the squares measure the right dimensions. Now that would be awesome.

And there are a number of places out there on the web that you can find various Lego graph paper, but I wasn’t satisfied by anything I found, so I designed my own.

My graph paper measures 24 studs by 28 studs and is numbered on all 4 sides, in different directions so that you can get just about whatever count you want. I’ve also made heavier lines every 4 studs, so it’s easier to find your place and count.

I’ve also made the document a pdf so it is extra easy for anyone to download and print. Enjoy!

Design Grid – 1:1 Scale [24x28 Top View Numbered, 4x4 delineations]

Paperclip as a LEGO tool

What kind of LEGO tool is a paperclip good for?

In a word: tiles.

In five words: tiles on a big baseplate.

Have you ever tried putting a tile on a baseplate or other large LEGO and noticed that it’s hard to get off? About the only  time it’s easy is when it’s right on the edge of the baseplate.

Take a close look at some of your LEGO tiles. Around the bottom edge there is a nice little groove  for you to access. Just position the paperclip under the groove and move.

Some Caveats

Fingernails

Fingernails are another viable option if you have strong nails and if you’re willing to risk breaking a nail. Not me. Give me a paperclip.

Teeth

Do we even need to go there? Yes.

Many of my legacy LEGO pieces (i.e. the bricks I still have from my childhood) have teethmarks because it had not occurred to me to use some other type of tool. Half of this problem was solved when the Brick Separator was invented. But not for tiles. Andthat’s what the paperclip was invented for.

Metal

On the other hand, you still want to keep in mind that this is a hard object you’re using against a soft object. Metal versus plastic. And therefore there is the possibility that the paperclip will scratch or in some other way damage the LEGO. Just be careful!

Where a Paperclip won’t work.

Okay. If you were “smart enough” to bury a tile in the middle of a bunch of other bricks taller than it, get ready to tear apart a portion of your creation to get to it, if you decide that tile is the wrong color, or that you want something else there. And don’t say I didn’t warn you!

LEGO Ruler Variation A: The Porcupine

In case it isn’t obvious, this one gets its name from the use of the Technic pins along the one side.

Step 1

Start with 5 2×6 plates.

Step 2

Add 3 1×10 Technic bricks.

Step 3

Use 3 1×1 bricks each of two different colors. This makes it easier to quickly count off by 5′s or 10′s when measuring something.

Step 4

Add 6 1×4 bricks or 12 1×2 bricks to fill in the gaps. I happened to use 1×2′s here because I liked the color contrast and didn’t have anything longer than the 1×2′s in sky blue.

Step 5

Cap it off with 5 more 2×6 plates.

Step 6

Flip the ruler around and fill in with technic pins. You can put them in any increment you want, but be careful on the spacing. It gets sticky when you need a pin to go exactly where the two bricks meet (there’s not a hole space where there’s supposed tobe!) I solved this here by going every 4 instead of every 5.  Having a different measurement length on this side  also gives you an alternate scale to measure by. I

If you still want a different scale than what I have here, experiment with different lengths of technic bricks to get the spacing you want.

Here’s my original build of Allan’s design:

You can use whatever colors you want. I really liked the contrast presented here by the yellow and blue. The model pictured here is the one I’ve personally been using for a couple years now.

But, one of the flaws I’ve found for me,  is that, since I use it a lot, and since it is only two plates deep, it’s a bit fragile. On the other hand, this also makes it easier to move it around and get it in tight spots. I suppose one solution might be to glue it permanently. But not everyone is keen on gluing their bricks. So I tried to build a couple variations that are a little sturdier.

LEGO Ruler Variation A

In case you hadn’t noticed, that is three views of the same ruler. Note the thing that make it sturdier: bricks sandwiched between plates. It also makes it thicker, so I added an alternative way to measure: technic pins. And, since I’m using technic bricks and pins, I can adjust how wide I want to measure. The one caveat there is that you can’t put a hole where two technic bricks come together, so you’re somewhat limited as to how you can arrange them. Here I’m doing it by 4′s, and you can see that my cart measures 16 studs long.

LEGO Ruler Variation B

Here is another sturdy variation, but with a set of measurements on the top and the bottom to sort of let you measure “left-handed” or right-handed.

Later this week I’ll post instructions for how to build these rulers.

Allan offered a basic design, and mentioned that you could use just about any number of designs. Here are a few of mine:

My original design I wanted something translucent and cool.	The Zebra Need I say more?
The Patriot Red, White, and Blue. I’m an American, but I suppose these colors could be patriotic for a number of countries.	Midnight Magic I liked the idea of black with a subtle bit of standard green in there.
The Basic Eight I thought it would be neat to touch on some of the colors that are most common in LEGO. These are the most common eight, as far as I can tell.

Maybe they disappeared in a move. Or your baby sister tore them to shreds. Or the dog ate them. For whatever reason, most of us have, at some time, lost building instructions. Apart from trying to put the thing back together from memory, stealing your best friend’s instructions, or just plain never building the set again, there are a number of sources online for you to recover instructions.

The first and best source is the LEGO website itself. Down at the bottom of each page in their standard footer, there is a link for Customer Service. That page has a couple links on it that say “Building Instructions.” There you can enter the set number, a key word, or search by a set brand (i.e. castle, harry potter, etc.) While they don’t have all the sets ever made, they do have all the recent ones. Once you’ve entered a set or a keyword you’ll get a list of all the applicable sets in their database. Click on one to see a thumbnail image of the set. Then, once you’ve found your set, you can download the instructions as a pretty good quality PDF.

Another place to find scanned images of most of the sets ever made is at The Brickfactory. Keep in mind that these won’t be nifty PDFs you can download. Each scan is a big JPG file sitting on a web-page. If you’re concerned about the legality of saving and/or printing these scans, The Brickfactory has respectfully posted a disclaimer that links to LEGO’s official “fair play” standards. There is a paragraph at the bottom of the page entitled, “Scanning Of Copyrighted Materials Into A Web Site” where the LEGO company specifically addresses this sort of site and essentially says, “hey, we own the copyrights, but at present we are not going to make a stink about people posting old building instructions on the internet if they’re not trying to make money off it, or make us look bad.” (That was my paraphrase, but please do go ahead and read the page for yourself.)

Finally, If you want a real, live set of paper instructions, Bricklink is a good place to go to find people selling building instructions. From the Reference page, use the Item Types drop-down menu to select “Instructions.”

Hope that helps. If you have found other helpful ways to track down building instructions, feel free to post a comment, and I may incorporate it back into the article at some point.

Uses of the Brick Separator

The Brick Separator has a few different uses, some less obvious than others.

The most obvious use is getting one brick off another brick or a base plate.

A less obvious use is to use two Brick Separators together to get plates and other things apart. Remember how many teeth you broke doing this one? Or how many times you groaned when your LEGO instructions had you put a 1×2 plate on top of another one?

A third use, and probably not nearly as obvious is to use your Brick Separator as a brick, i.e. as part of a MOC.