LEGO

Lego interlocking solid puzzles

Lego interlocking solid puzzles

Apart from the fact that the bricks and plates are open at their bottoms, and so the pieces always have one side that can’t be “smooth,” Lego is a pretty handy way to prototype interlocking solid puzzles. Many of these are based on cubic units, and can be built in Lego at a scale of 1 cube = 2 studs x 2 studs x 5 plates.

Eric Harshbarger, whose Lego hijinks we’ve featured a couple times before, has produced some lovely models based on this principle. Shown above are his 6-piece burr, checkered solid pentominoes, Soma cube, and deluxe polycube set. The awesomeness continues at Eric’s site.

Lego hot wire cutter

David Ye of hacker collective Split Reaction (who built the fully automatic BB gun we posted earlier this week as well as helped build the Mega Claw featured in the World Maker Faire) created a nichrome wire cutter, using an unlikely material for the frame — Lego. Lego bricks are great for making models, but […]