Investigation into the strength of Lego Technic liftarms and brick beams, and of liftarm pin connections

Investigation into the strength of Lego Technic liftarms and brick beams, and of liftarm pin connections

[Introduction]:
'Studless' Lego Technic Liftarms have been in use since the early 2000s while 'Studded' Lego Technic Bricks have been in use since the late 1970s. This report is to further investigate the strength of these Liftarms and Brick Beams to clarify what the theoretical maximum weight limit is. It is often said that you can do almost anything with Lego but limits have been reached. The goal is to quantify those limits for the AFOL (Adult Fans Of Lego) community in a similar way to Philo and his work on Lego Motors. My previous report back in July 2011 was quite well received even though there were some criticisms.

With the help of David Luders, I am privileged to be able to repeat this experiment. While similar in its goals, this report will hopefully address some of the criticism and further the knowledge in this area.

For the purposes of this report Liftarms will refer to the 'Studless' Lego Technic Liftarms; Brick Beams will refer to 'Studded' Lego Technic Bricks; Beams will refer to either Liftarms or Brick Beams; Pins will refer to Lego Technic Pins.

© Tristan Lostroh, 2012.