From LEGOs to Ziploc: The Science of the Snap Fit

Re:From LEGOs to Ziploc: The Science of the Snap Fit by scoot on Sunday December 06, 2020 @07:54PM (#25328264)

Strange choice of title, since LEGO doesn't snap-fit. LEGO blocks join by press-fit, where tight tolerances ensure friction between the connecting surfaces. This as opposed to the expansion and contraction of intentionally miss-sized joining surfaces – causing the snap of snap-fit.

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Re:From LEGOs to Ziploc: The Science of the Snap Fit by hypertele-Xii on Sunday December 06, 2020 @07:59PM (#25328295)

Some pieces do, like minifig hands on poles. The iconic bricks friction fit though.

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Re:From LEGOs to Ziploc: The Science of the Snap Fit by jumboshrimp on Sunday December 06, 2020 @10:16PM (#25329021)

I'm not smart enough to understand the math in the paper, but I'm able to see that the illustrations match the minifig hand example. This snap fit is present in a lot of LEGO pieces. I'm sitting next to SF, Shanghai, and Kyoto architecture sets, and the 3-in-1 deep sea creatures set, all of which use different snap fit pieces. However, I can understand the confusion given most people's first image of a LEGO piece.

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Re:From LEGOs to Ziploc: The Science of the Snap Fit by lostgame on Sunday December 06, 2020 @11:07PM (#25329235)

Bionicle, Throwbots; etc - would like a strong word with you. ;)

Some LEGO doesn’t snap-fit. The average blocks don’t. There’s a good portion of pieces that do.

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Re:From LEGOs to Ziploc: The Science of the Snap Fit by gcanyon on Sunday December 06, 2020 @09:05PM (#25328681)

This was bugging me as well. It left me wondering if there was something I didn't know about how legos stick together.

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Re:From LEGOs to Ziploc: The Science of the Snap Fit by lmilcin on Monday December 07, 2020 @05:55AM (#25330998)

Having small kids I just went to fact check.

Neither regular no Duplo Lego bricks snap-fit. They all have very smooth friction-fit and at no point the force needed to bring them together changes.

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Re:From LEGOs to Ziploc: The Science of the Snap Fit by app4soft on Monday December 07, 2020 @12:48AM (#25329668)

According news title photo, I guess the topic is clicks of LEGO® Duplo™ bricks, not a "classic" bricks.

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Re:From LEGOs to Ziploc: The Science of the Snap Fit by vanderZwan on Monday December 07, 2020 @04:54AM (#25330724)

True, but that is also friction fit, with even lower friction because it's made for toddlers without much grip strength

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