LEGO Winter Village 10361 Holiday Express Train featured the very first 3D-printed LEGO piece, but it won't be the last.
The LEGO Group has confirmed in a press release that there will be more 3D-printed pieces in the future, joining the tiny blue train in 10361 Holiday Express Train. That element is described as just 'a sneak peek into this dynamic future'.
The additive manufacturing team that worked on the 3D-printed train haven't slowed down when it comes to experimenting more, already doubling the output rate of their printing machines. The LEGO Group is now working on 'further enhancements' according to Ronen Hadar, the Head of Additive Design and Manufacturing, with the end goal being that the 3D-printed brick will be as much a staple of the LEGO system as another piece.
"We still need to learn more about how to apply the technology, and where to apply it,” Ronen explained. “My task is to make 3D-printed LEGO elements boring, so people don’t think about how it was manufactured. They just think it’s a cool element that gives them something fun to play with.”
It's an issue that's divided LEGO fans, with some arguing that it takes away some of the LEGO magic and finesse when you can simply print an element to achieve a certain goal, rather than trying to build it from existing parts. However, others say that it opens up new doors, especially as the 3D-printed train highlights how these elements can do more than the average LEGO brick.
“It’s a milestone,” commented Ronen. “This feels like a move similar in magnitude to when our founders purchased their first injection moulding machine back in the late 1940s!”
The idea behind the 3D printing project, something Ronen and his team have worked on for nine years, was not to replace the injection moulding process, but rather to unlock new types of form and function for LEGO pieces, creating play features that couldn't otherwise exist. In the case of 10361 Holiday Express Train, that means moving parts, with spinning wheels and a puffing chimney as it chugs along.
“We can make all kinds of geometries that are not possible with injection moulding, like bricks with internal mechanisms, for example," explained Ronen.
The miniature train aboard the LEGO Icons Holiday Express Train – which went on sale in October – is a sneak peek into this dynamic future. Besides its intricate shape, which mirrors that of the set’s larger locomotive, it comes with moving parts: wheels that spin and a puffing chimney.
Now, Ronen and the rest of the team are looking for other ways to incorporate 3D-printed elements, with it certainly seeming like more examples are a matter of when, rather than if, in the LEGO Group's book.
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