Comments on: MAKE interviews BrickForge’s Kyle “Armothe” Peterson

By: armothe

armothe — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:10:35 +0000

“Given some of the information Kyle had given in his response wasn’t accurate” LOL, whatever William.

By: the enigma that is badger

the enigma that is badger — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 22:01:50 +0000

@StarWars4J From the original article Baichtal wrote that I linked to:

“Parts are injected with ABS resin – some of it is ground up Lego bricks.”

As such, I don’t think it wasn’t that much of a leap for Andrew and I to come to the same conclusion, namely that Baichtal was referring to BrickArms. Given some of the information Kyle had given in his response wasn’t accurate (ie BrickArms does not use any ground LEGO plastic for its production runs), I just wanted to clarify the matter. That’s all I had to say, and I’m happy to leave it there and welcome other discussion related to the article.

By: Starwars4J

Starwars4J — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 20:12:56 +0000

Well I wouldn’t say the article was necessarily referring to anyone in particular, multiple customs parts dealers have home-based systems. Thrash’s new budding business (Brick Warriors) makes great use of this method, for example.

Anyone else suddenly reminded of Carly Simon?

Anyway back to the actual article, it’s nice to see the greater recognition of the hobby outside of our small LEGO-oriented circle. I have to admit, those “new” parts (ranger hat, 1×1 round tile) really did catch me by surprise!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:48:12 +0000

^ That’s what I figured John was referring to. It does make sense that you’d use available materials for small runs like prototypes (and Will gets some interesting effects by mixing colors).

By: the enigma that is badger

the enigma that is badger — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 14:58:51 +0000

“I hear some 3rd party manufacturers of Lego accessories recycle old bricks in their ABS, grinding them up and adding them to the molten plastic”

Baichtal is likely referring to his older article on BrickArms prototype molds:

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/02/brickarms-molds.html

While Will Chapman does occasionally use ground LEGO plastic to inject prototype molds (great way to test possible new colors!), BrickArms production runs, created with separate steel production tools, use virgin high-quality ABS. The advantage Will has with using the highest quality, thermostable ABS is that Will’s molder can regrind sprue and use that plastic for additional production runs with no loss of quality. The molder also sends some of this regrind to Will for use in injecting prototypes with his home equipment. Waste not, want not!