Artifact Dissection

Introduction to Engineering Design and Solid Modeling Group Project

Mechanical Dissection of LEGO

SOLIDWORKS Model of LEGO 'Mixles, Krog'

Artifact dissection is an essential tool in engineering. Understanding product functionality and piece construction, can help engineers improve their own designs. The deconstruction can inspire innovations in their own work.

My group members, Alex Andrews, Jake Terrell, Tom Dean, and I decided to measure and 3D model the LEGO assembly 41539 'Mixles, Krog'.

During our first group meeting I brought in several ideas, including this LEGO product. I was excited when the group elected to reconstruct the full LEGO assembly in SOLIDWORKS, because building with LEGO was my first experience of hands on engineering growing up.

The project required us to communicate and create exact pieces that could interlock within a single assembly file. I cloned most of the simpler pieces, and challenged myself

by also recreating more mechanically imaginative bricks including the socket brick and two separate ball joint piece designs, one for the leg (video top right) and another for the mouth joint.

I also built the clear fins, the arm connectors (Krog, right in blog cover photo, and right hand bottom video), clip arms (smaller left in blog cover photo), as well as the hollowed arch pieces that make Krog's tongue and curved back.

I produced the project's motion study assembly video, which includes a demonstration of joint movement, and piece fading animations.

My favorite blueprint drawing I developed was for my socket piece(below), because it displays the classic hollowed brick of a thin 1x2 block, while also showcasing one of the more interesting design concepts of the assembly. Besides the precise measurements I recorded to duplicate the piece, the drawing also demonstrates the ball joint's assembly. The small joint system is conveyed by placing the ball block piece over the socket piece, consistent to how they interlock within the assembly.

I feel that I could still improve in my SOLIDWORKS drawing skills. This is demonstrated in the drawing I made of Jake's circular LEGO (below). Jake did a phenomenal job making the circular base, and I was eager to display his hard work in an intriguing layout. The highlights of this drawing are the tastefully selected detail views and the angled cross section H-H.

My drawing could still be improved by moving the H-H further to the right hand side and rearranging the detailed drawings to better communicate their origins.

Our final project lab report is available below for download.

Artifact Disection .pdf

Download PDF • 1.05MB

This project taught me the importance of a hard working team, that connect well. I look forward to learning from experienced designers, and engineers in the future, as well as strengthening my current SOLIDWORKS skills.