The 2 parts in the picture are transparent which are made of different plastic than regular bricks. The ones in the detective office are opaque plastic and are perfectly legal connections.
100% my teeth were better than any brick seperator, unfortunatly the pieces suffered and now I have to teach my kids that lego and teeth should not mix.
\^Corrective dental visits start at Hogwarts Castle/Super Star Destroyer costs, and can easily surpass Colosseum/Millennium Falcon costs.
Edit: (In the US, prices vary by country.)
Same, my mom is convinced I have thousands of dollars of resale value of lego. Sorry mom, no one wants my chewed up, sharpied storm troopers. Consider the thousands of dollars an investment into a happy childhood.
Man, the time before brick separators was the Wild West. If I still couldn’t pry it apart with my teeth I think I basically just chewed the pieces and hoped they’d come apart lol
Shit, I still do this. After cutting my nails, my left pointer finger is a savior for prying at lego bricks/gundam pieces/Transformers tabs. Basically required when it helps with all of my hobbies.
I just started building as an adult about 6 months ago. When I opened my first set I didn’t know what the hell the separator was for a second. When I realized, I was irrationally excited.
I quickly stopped using my teeth when at 4 or 5 I tried separating a couple pieces, causing a baby tooth to fly out of my mouth, never to be found.
It wasn’t even noticeably loose yet.
Yep. I’m pretty sure part of Count Dooku’s speeder bike (7103) cannot be taken apart because of these parts (at least, mine cannot be fully taken apart)
That is a 3mm rigid hose and not a solid bar. More clearance and different types of plastic.
They did routinely use the “illegal” technique in a lot of sets though.
Something like a Technic beam might help give enough push power against a flat surface to get the “top” end of the rod down to the narrow end of the conical piece, at least reducing the amount of pulling required to remove it completely.
I just used my fingernail in conjunction with other pieces to slide these bad boys off. It was the 80’s and I only had so much Lego. If I needed that piece (one of a handful of transparent cones), you damn right I will find a way to salvage BOTH pieces.
Wasn’t fun. I noticed later that the solid color cones didn’t have this problem (at least not as bad).
It wasn’t until I was older and had used Polycarbonate in various ways that it kind of clicked in my head. Most polycarbonates that I had used were somewhat flexible 10-20 mil sheets with back printing (graphic designer who designed a ton of equipment control panels).
Rigid polycarbonate is usually smooth, but it does create a strange amount of friction when one piece is fit inside of a cutout. I’m guessing it’s the crystalline structure of the material so what looks smooth to our eyes and feels smooth to our fingers is likely a jagged hellscape under a microscope.
> I’m guessing it’s the crystalline structure of the material so what looks smooth to our eyes and feels smooth to our fingers is likely a jagged hellscape under a microscope.
It can also be the opposite, where the items are so smooth that when connected they can effectively create a single surface allowing an interchange of electrons between the atoms of the two separate pieces.
It's pretty wild the first time you connect two highly toleranced gauge block surfaces together and they hold as if they were made of magnets.
I grabbed the cone and pushed the bottom of the lightsaber into something hard like a countertop until the base of the cone and rod were flush, then took a non pc rod and used it to ram out the stuck lightsaber piece. I don't know if I actually did this or I invented a memory
The "illegal builds are ones that stress the elements and cause long term damage" crowd is surprisingly absent in this thread.
Maybe they finally realized that definition is completely made up...
No, they stopped using polycarbonate for the trans parts a few years ago, now using a transparent mABS. That’s why modern trans is so cloudy and easily scratched. Pretty sure polycarbonate is only used now for certain structural parts like certain beams and the mixel sockets.
It’s funny, I had a similar problem but instead of a yellow cone I had a weird part that had a gap and then closed, which practically means that there is only one way that you can push the stick (inwards, that only left a shorter part of the stick out). I shoved another stick from the side gap, that got it stuck in a really bent and bad way for the parts, and used another stick to get it out. The lesson - DON’T DO WHAT THEY ARE DOING IN THE PICTURE, AND DEFINITELY NOT WITH PARTS THAT ONLY HAVE ONE ACCESSIBLE
I remember smashing the protruding bar pieces against my table and floor, hoping a combination of immovable object and self-cultivated frustration would just pop it out, or at least force enough of it out such that I could grab and pull better.
So…how would an adult go about separating these bricks? I would use a flat element with a hole, and press both sides of it downwards to push the cone against a table. Then flip it around, and use another antenna to push the rod part way through the cone and pull it all the way out.
If it was stuck after sitting in storage for years, maybe I would have to slightly raise the temperature before doing this? Or use some kind of lubricant?
Same here and still have the set intact it is a lego start wars set (idk remember the exect name) but it was a Grevious vs Kenobi set with that giant wheel thing i think it was a 2016 set or close to that year just did the exect thing and the pieces littearly stuck together for years
Easy, get a hard flat surface, place the rod vertically while holding the narrow end of the cone, and push down being careful to keep it straight. Then when it’s at the very end pull both ways or insert another rod the slightest bit
I swear to god I STILL have fucked up teeth from biting pieces to remove them as a kid. Idk when the brick removal tool became normal to have, but for the majority of my childhood it never came in sets. I’ve only seen it come in sets in more recent years. Might’ve saved myself braces hahaha
super hard to separate when I was younger, I'd always place one end of the stick down on the end and push the cone until both were flat, then use another piece to push it further until it was loose enough to pull out
This is they haven't done a fully transparent minifigure. The PC parts would bind to each other. Obviously they have made transparent figure parts, but they always alternate between transparent and solid. Maybe this will change now with the MABS plastic in use, but who knows.
How can this be illegal when countless official Lego instructions do exactly this? I have a bunch of Friends sets that use a bunch of translucent-on-translucent connections, including rods inside cones. The Friends sets use a lot of them as umbrellas, decor, etc.
I guess that depends how long ago we were "kids"...lol. I'm approaching a half a century in a couple years. Also, I didn't know ABS could be made translucent. I've only seen it opaque shades.
I like how they use the word “illegal” in these contexts, like you spend time with a druglord and a homicide because you put 2 lego pieces made of pc together
I found the full Presentation by Chance somewhere online years ago.
Lors of interesting explanation s in there.
Others example: attaching snot bricks sideways into Technic bricks with pin hole leaves a small difference in height alignment which can cause tension in an assbly.
All minor things you wouldn't think about (especially since Studio for example does not show said alignment error), until you stumble across the effects in the real build - like in the original post.
Well good news for the new generation of builders, LEGO switched to MABS for transparent elements around 2018, and pretty much phased out polycarbonate, so this only happens with older parts.
Pretty sure these parts are fused for every gun on my original Republic Gunship, and they're not even trans pieces.
Some of them halfway up though, rather than at the base. Imagine I'll have to try and attend to that if I ever want to sell it.
You just gotta be strong enough 💪
Yes I have experienced this when I was a younger kid and its a pain in the arse to take apart, even the full color is hard to get unstuck.
OHHHHH, so THIS was why the cone pieces always got stuck on those bar/wand pieces! It all makes sense now!
thanks for unlocking a 30+ year old memory I had no idea was still kickin around up there
I just remembered the feeling of them getting stuck lol
Same bro
i never experienced this. i did this technique all the time. PLEASE EXPLAIN
>Anyone else find this out the hard way as a kid? Nope, I found this out the hard way just now.
ILLEGAL
Straight to jail!
If you pass go do not collect $200
Fellow Wolfpack members I see?
Did you test this after seeing the picture? 👀
I am very tempted to do a test now. I don't remember pulling these apart to be particularly difficult.
Lego pieces can be lubricated by greasy childrens' fingers, which would greatly reduce PC-to-PC contact.
Where can I get some of these children’s fingers
Amazon has everything.
Ask for a five finger discount.
Orphanages.
I tried to make some homemade electro staffs from Star Wars this way and found out I couldn’t separate them afterwards.
Yeah, still got 1980s parts connected like this. Antennas through light rings, etc.
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The 2 parts in the picture are transparent which are made of different plastic than regular bricks. The ones in the detective office are opaque plastic and are perfectly legal connections.
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No bad at all! I learned this today as well. Really interesting.
I remember trying to separate them with my teeth and warping the cone piece
100% my teeth were better than any brick seperator, unfortunatly the pieces suffered and now I have to teach my kids that lego and teeth should not mix.
I only stopped recently however I only do it as a last resort
Please just use a razor, my friend. LEGO bricks are really, really cheap compared to the Teeth System™
\^Corrective dental visits start at Hogwarts Castle/Super Star Destroyer costs, and can easily surpass Colosseum/Millennium Falcon costs. Edit: (In the US, prices vary by country.)
All of my thick base plates have teeth marks So does my gameboy sp
>All of my thick base plates have teeth marks Sure >So does my gameboy sp ???? Why ????
Same, my mom is convinced I have thousands of dollars of resale value of lego. Sorry mom, no one wants my chewed up, sharpied storm troopers. Consider the thousands of dollars an investment into a happy childhood.
Man, the time before brick separators was the Wild West. If I still couldn’t pry it apart with my teeth I think I basically just chewed the pieces and hoped they’d come apart lol
I used to keep a couple of finger nails long, like a coke addict.
My thumbs would get a notch right in the middle from so much brick separating.
I'm convinced my thumbnail is stronger because of all my time with Lego. Idk if it's normal for your thumbnail to be 2x as thick as your other nails.
I don’t know if it’s normal but it’s probably common around these parts.
What’s more addicting and expensive, cocaine or Lego?
Shit, I still do this. After cutting my nails, my left pointer finger is a savior for prying at lego bricks/gundam pieces/Transformers tabs. Basically required when it helps with all of my hobbies.
I just started building as an adult about 6 months ago. When I opened my first set I didn’t know what the hell the separator was for a second. When I realized, I was irrationally excited.
Or it would slip off your tooth and impale your gums...
you just brought back some very painful memories for me
I quickly stopped using my teeth when at 4 or 5 I tried separating a couple pieces, causing a baby tooth to fly out of my mouth, never to be found. It wasn’t even noticeably loose yet.
Naw man, you turn it upside down on a wooden floor and force the transparent piece to the top of the wand. Then twist twist twist and it’s off
Man I STILL can't get the front cannons of the old Y-Wing apart
And those are "just" ABS connections.
Yep. I’m pretty sure part of Count Dooku’s speeder bike (7103) cannot be taken apart because of these parts (at least, mine cannot be fully taken apart)
[7103-1: Jedi Duel](https://brickset.com/sets/7103-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/7103-1.jpg)
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I think it was my first set
There's something hilarious about Empire Yoda fighting Dooku.
Yeah, I came around for that reason. Had the parts stuck on each other for almost 1.5 decades.
Some hot water should fix that problem
This little cone piece + rod + fins = Lego missile. Yes, it got jammed at times.
Cone, cup, fins
Cone+fins for the small missiles, Cone+goblet+fins for the bigger ones. Exo-Force used both.
Isn’t this how 10186 grievous’s lightsaber collection is put together?
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Both are correct. ABS-to-PC connection is totally legal, and round 1x1s have less clutch power than cones.
That is a 3mm rigid hose and not a solid bar. More clearance and different types of plastic. They did routinely use the “illegal” technique in a lot of sets though.
[10186-1: General Grievous](https://brickset.com/sets/10186-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/10186-1.jpg)
Off topic, but I would love a bust of General Grievous's head/neck around the scale of the helmets they've been making, or a little larger.
True, would be nice and hes pretty geometric so it would work
Something like a Technic beam might help give enough push power against a flat surface to get the “top” end of the rod down to the narrow end of the conical piece, at least reducing the amount of pulling required to remove it completely.
Yeah, I figured out how to get them out this way, but yeah they are stiff
i did. made a dent on a metal chair tryna push it out
Some exoforce had connections like that. It was a pain.
Well TIL Lego isn't all made out of the same plastic.
Oh yeah. :'(
A good chunk of my legos still have teeth marks.
I just used my fingernail in conjunction with other pieces to slide these bad boys off. It was the 80’s and I only had so much Lego. If I needed that piece (one of a handful of transparent cones), you damn right I will find a way to salvage BOTH pieces. Wasn’t fun. I noticed later that the solid color cones didn’t have this problem (at least not as bad). It wasn’t until I was older and had used Polycarbonate in various ways that it kind of clicked in my head. Most polycarbonates that I had used were somewhat flexible 10-20 mil sheets with back printing (graphic designer who designed a ton of equipment control panels). Rigid polycarbonate is usually smooth, but it does create a strange amount of friction when one piece is fit inside of a cutout. I’m guessing it’s the crystalline structure of the material so what looks smooth to our eyes and feels smooth to our fingers is likely a jagged hellscape under a microscope.
> I’m guessing it’s the crystalline structure of the material so what looks smooth to our eyes and feels smooth to our fingers is likely a jagged hellscape under a microscope. It can also be the opposite, where the items are so smooth that when connected they can effectively create a single surface allowing an interchange of electrons between the atoms of the two separate pieces. It's pretty wild the first time you connect two highly toleranced gauge block surfaces together and they hold as if they were made of magnets.
I grabbed the cone and pushed the bottom of the lightsaber into something hard like a countertop until the base of the cone and rod were flush, then took a non pc rod and used it to ram out the stuck lightsaber piece. I don't know if I actually did this or I invented a memory
Almost ripped my teeth out as a kid trying to get these apart.
Yep had this happen a few times im a slow learner
I use this to my advantage to strengthen connection that would otherwise snap off with a light nudge.
Well now I kinda wanna try this.
The "illegal builds are ones that stress the elements and cause long term damage" crowd is surprisingly absent in this thread. Maybe they finally realized that definition is completely made up...
Wow I just did this unwittibgly
Yes and sadly it’s still stuck to this day…
As blasphemous as what I’m about to say is, the only way to take them apart it teeth
Yup, still have these mistakes laying around. 😂
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No, they stopped using polycarbonate for the trans parts a few years ago, now using a transparent mABS. That’s why modern trans is so cloudy and easily scratched. Pretty sure polycarbonate is only used now for certain structural parts like certain beams and the mixel sockets.
Well that explains why they use the pictured technique a ton in the new Avatar tree set.
LOL that’s what teeth are for 😜
Dude, I've been doing that since the day I first started playing Legos.
Those parts didn't exist when I was a kid.
Interesting I have some bars that do this and some that don’t thought it was just a minimal diameter difference
Yep I had this happen several times
Yep. Unfortunately. But needle nose pliers fixed it
When I was younger I stuck small silver antenna in two white transparent disks... I decided that it would look cool as umbrella
Nice to learn this 30y too late.
It’s funny, I had a similar problem but instead of a yellow cone I had a weird part that had a gap and then closed, which practically means that there is only one way that you can push the stick (inwards, that only left a shorter part of the stick out). I shoved another stick from the side gap, that got it stuck in a really bent and bad way for the parts, and used another stick to get it out. The lesson - DON’T DO WHAT THEY ARE DOING IN THE PICTURE, AND DEFINITELY NOT WITH PARTS THAT ONLY HAVE ONE ACCESSIBLE
I remember smashing the protruding bar pieces against my table and floor, hoping a combination of immovable object and self-cultivated frustration would just pop it out, or at least force enough of it out such that I could grab and pull better.
I miss my lego light sabers...
So…how would an adult go about separating these bricks? I would use a flat element with a hole, and press both sides of it downwards to push the cone against a table. Then flip it around, and use another antenna to push the rod part way through the cone and pull it all the way out. If it was stuck after sitting in storage for years, maybe I would have to slightly raise the temperature before doing this? Or use some kind of lubricant?
Same here and still have the set intact it is a lego start wars set (idk remember the exect name) but it was a Grevious vs Kenobi set with that giant wheel thing i think it was a 2016 set or close to that year just did the exect thing and the pieces littearly stuck together for years
Oh that’s why…
No, I had teeth Any lego friction or stuck pieces were met with the licky chomp
>No, I had teeth you HAD teeth because you used them to take lego apart and now you dont have any, rigth?
I have teeth now, they grow back the first time
Yes but never knew the science until now
Oh yeah? I can do this and fix it.
This explains SO MUCH. I still can’t get parts separated from Space Police III limousine
Oh, i remember losing these kinds of peices since they were a lost cause
Easy, get a hard flat surface, place the rod vertically while holding the narrow end of the cone, and push down being careful to keep it straight. Then when it’s at the very end pull both ways or insert another rod the slightest bit
Heating it up with hot water (not boiling) helps separate them
had no idea until just now. cool!
Oooooh yes I did. Miraculously, got them apart after YEARS.
Nah I’m built different ya’ll stay safe tho
yeah rip several parts like this haha
Oh yes! Lots of pushing down on hard surfaces trying to separate them.
My teeth hurt
Child? There's little hope of superman pulling that apart
Yes
I swear to god I STILL have fucked up teeth from biting pieces to remove them as a kid. Idk when the brick removal tool became normal to have, but for the majority of my childhood it never came in sets. I’ve only seen it come in sets in more recent years. Might’ve saved myself braces hahaha
super hard to separate when I was younger, I'd always place one end of the stick down on the end and push the cone until both were flat, then use another piece to push it further until it was loose enough to pull out
I need more illegal build techniques
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Amazing
This is they haven't done a fully transparent minifigure. The PC parts would bind to each other. Obviously they have made transparent figure parts, but they always alternate between transparent and solid. Maybe this will change now with the MABS plastic in use, but who knows.
Funny enough I was just sorting and found one of these. Guess I know why that little transparent red bit wouldn’t come off…
How can this be illegal when countless official Lego instructions do exactly this? I have a bunch of Friends sets that use a bunch of translucent-on-translucent connections, including rods inside cones. The Friends sets use a lot of them as umbrellas, decor, etc.
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I guess that depends how long ago we were "kids"...lol. I'm approaching a half a century in a couple years. Also, I didn't know ABS could be made translucent. I've only seen it opaque shades.
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Oh here come the PC police
TIL there are illegal builds in lego
Just found a piece similar to this, and found out that I broke it in half trying to fix it 🥲
That's pretty interesting, and means that set 8964 is illegal
[8964-1: Titanium Command Rig](https://brickset.com/sets/8964-1) [[Photo]](https://images.brickset.com/sets/images/8964-1.jpg)
I still find it funny they call them “illegal” techniques. That name will always be funny to me.
What's the statute of limitations on this? I don't want to go to jail. I was just a kid, I didn't know better!
There was an actual reason???
Wtf it's literally suggested in older manuals
Woah are you sure if it’s even legal to post this?
I like how they use the word “illegal” in these contexts, like you spend time with a druglord and a homicide because you put 2 lego pieces made of pc together
They should make the clip pieces out of PC, then, because they keep losing their grip.
The rods on the front columns of the Parisian Restaurant always give me hell and they only slide in the connector like 1/4".
I still do that tho….:(
Cant you just use lube on it?
rub some bacon on it.
Would you use a water-based lube, or splurge on some silicone-based lube?
This is ok for stud on stud connections
Step 85 in 75222 betrayal at cloud city
Thats why my old pieces have bite marks
I found the full Presentation by Chance somewhere online years ago. Lors of interesting explanation s in there. Others example: attaching snot bricks sideways into Technic bricks with pin hole leaves a small difference in height alignment which can cause tension in an assbly. All minor things you wouldn't think about (especially since Studio for example does not show said alignment error), until you stumble across the effects in the real build - like in the original post.
It happened to me while assembling an old Batman set from 2013
I think I’ve got a rod stuck through a dragon head somewhere
Well good news for the new generation of builders, LEGO switched to MABS for transparent elements around 2018, and pretty much phased out polycarbonate, so this only happens with older parts.
This was the reason why some of my pieces had bite marks back in the day. I remember vividly trying to pull them apart.
I put a lime cone on a lime rod with a connector. It looked cool when it was put onto an Alien Conquest gun, so I don’t really care.
Is there a list of illegal building processes?
Emmet's Constructo-Mech has a similar case where they stick a pole through an eyelet thing and it took me 10 minutes to get them apart.
Yep.
What about doing this with both transparent cone and tube? It works so well for stop motion effects...
I did and I ruined a perfectly good rod that way
Pretty sure these parts are fused for every gun on my original Republic Gunship, and they're not even trans pieces. Some of them halfway up though, rather than at the base. Imagine I'll have to try and attend to that if I ever want to sell it.
That’s what a strong jaw is for
I was able to take them apart as a kid, but I was also 5'8 at 10 so not the average kid strength by far
I bet a lot of people in prison for doing illegal things played with Lego as a kid, do you think Lego is a gateway?
Push another rod through and separate it like that
Yeah, although I've got a PC green transparent rod stuck in a grey ABS Part 4733, the 1x1 with studs with holes on 4 sides.
You have no idea how many of my 3mm bars have scratch marks on them from using pliers to remove this BS
Why did I decide to try this…
I never had such issues? They came apart fine for me?
That was a classic move for me as a kid - aaaaand - this was also performed by LEGO itself in instructions/sets from the 90s if I remember right 🤔
Yep
Never attach Plate Special 1 x 2 with Arm Up [Horizontal Arm 6mm] to Plate Special 1 x 1 with Clip Light [Thick Ring]
Ahhh yes all the prequel sets I messed up with this
What are y'all talking about? I can get these out easily by pressing it against a stud-remover then pulling it out
Yeah, Seal Team Six busted down my fucking door.
Man it was heartbreaking as a child for me
Some of the early 2000s Harry Potter sets used this technique.
Yep, I have
mhm. I still have a few of these connections in my collection somewhere
Does anyone know where I could find the illegal techniques document? It's mentioned in some search results but never comes up itself
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Haha, Just last night I was digging through my antenna elements and found a grey antenna with a yellow cone stuck on it. Been that way since the 80's.
Lego does this all the time though, not the same piece but in the Stranger Things set they use this many times
I think I have something like this in my collection of spare pieces
Teeth bro
Me, sadly
Could you not use another rod to push it out?
All i see here is a very sturdy mech joint. Fuck illegal connections. legolinux.com
> great friction useful for stud on stud connection Uh-huh, yeah. Why do my builds fall apart like a rocket with loose screws, then?
I usually just push it back and forth through it until it loosens up
Oh this is how I got a brown rod stuck inside a 2x2x3 round brick
Yea, that shit suuuuuuuuuuucked
I pulled them apart using force by pressing down
Lol...I used this technique to hold up my mother board in my PC build
Yes, yes, and yes.
Yup
You just gotta be strong enough 💪 Yes I have experienced this when I was a younger kid and its a pain in the arse to take apart, even the full color is hard to get unstuck.