3D Printing: Make your childhood building sets “Interoperable”
I randomly ran into this today and I thought it interesting enough to invoke a post. When I first saw it, my mind was flooded with childhood memories of all of the building toys I have ever played with (Legos, Lincoln Logs, TinkerToys….). The folks over at Free Art and Technology have published .STL files of building set adapters that you can print out on your 3D printer. That’s right, attach Legos to your Lincoln Logs. Connect TinkerToys to your Bristle Blocks (Remember those? My dad does. Specifically he remembers stepping on Bristle Blocks that I left on the floor in a dark room). This set of adapters is designed to adapt between ten (count ’em-10!) different styles of building sets, a few I haven’t even heard of, and a couple I couldn’t even find on Wikipedia (links in the list):
A childhood Maker’s dream come true! Connect all of your building toys together!
- Legos
- Duplos
- Fischertechnik
- K’Nex
- Krinkles (“Bristle Blocks”)
- Lincoln Logs
- Tinkertoys
- ZomeTool *
- Zoob *
- Gears! Gears! Gears!
* Zoob and ZomeTool related files will be published in 2016 and 2022, respectively, to avoid patent infringement issues. However, I’m certain that someone will fill in the gap and make their own instead of waiting….
I suppose the only glaring omission in the above list could be 80/20. Wouldn’t an 80/20 to Lego adapter be wonderful?
Want the files? Download the Free Universal Construction Kit here!
Published from DFW, Texas