DIY LEGO Brick Sorter | I Like To Make Stuff

I prototyped a LEGO Brick Sorter out of plywood, laser-cut acrylic, and some 3d printed parts. This will be a part of a larger LEGO table I'm building in the future, but this mechanism is so cool, come check it out! Check out the Maker Alliance at ilt.ms/join
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DIY LEGO Brick Sorter | I Like To Make Stuff
• DIY LEGO Brick Sorter ...
I Like To Make Stuff
/ iliketomakestuff

[@JonathanRansom]

I think we need one that is like a centrifuge. Have it pulse on and off. This video gets the thoughts going...

[@Iliketomakestuff]

That'd be cool

[@duser]

Omg industrial level lego sorter

[@uhlenbrock15]

I thought that too! Maybe to stay with the vertical bin style, maybe you could have them slide back and forth linearly that way the sorter wouldn't need as much hands on sifting. Either a linear actuator to push/pull the sieves or a dc motor converting to linear motion like a piston and crankshaft. Or an old palm sander on the back to give a good vibration!

[@Shwyne23]

@@uhlenbrock15 or even the simple Version with a DC-Motor and a Zylinder thats mounted a bit off the center.

[@DrunkInPublic]

This comment is why I love iltms fans!

[@SeanHodgins]

Step bits work great on drilling acrylic too because they don't pull the material up. Now making something to sort them by color!

[@DavidLeeKersey]

People have built those using lego and camera vision and AI watch?v=04JkdHEX3Yk

[@Px4164]

oh never sort by color, shape and function is the only way

[@jasonbailey9139]

@@Px4164 depends on if you’re building for function or for art. I’d never sort by color, but I can see why someone might.

[@gorak9000]

I don't see the point of this at all - now your lego is sorted in big pieces, medium pieces, and small pieces?? WTF good does that do??

[@hammerhands58]

I agree. Step bits work great in plastics.

[@Itsdirtnaptime]

I love how KZbin creators leave random questions that they don't really need the answer to but makes people make comments for the algorithm. Nice try Lego Man. Not going to trick me into making a comment. But nice videos. I love the idea of Fusion videos to help people learn to use it. I use my 3d printer for great things. I know the common misconception is still that 3d printers are for figurines only. I love when people get to see practical uses. I often think about wanting to show people how to design for practical, household uses. It is channels like this that help people realize they CAN do it themselves. Not relevant, but I have been watching your channel for years.

[@caleba.robinson8451]

But... You commented 😅

[@Itsdirtnaptime]

@@caleba.robinson8451 that was the joke. Besides just an excuse to make any random comment that is not relevant but helps their channel for the KZbin algorithm.

[@dr.rotwang]

Bob, you need to get yourself some plexi point drill bits. They are bits specifically made to drill acrylic, poly carbonate, and other plastics so they don't crack, chip, or chunk out on the back side. They will save you so much time, headache, and frustration when drilling plastics.

[@Zarlax]

When drilling acrylic like that, try peck drilling. Just continue to raise/lower the drill. I’ve had better luck with that not lifting/cracking the material. Nice build Bob - need an offset motor or orbital sander to vibrate the parts through so you can just load/sort unattended :-)

[@petesquared23]

Thanks for the mention Bob! Appreciate it :) Been a big fan of yours for a long time.

[@Iliketomakestuff]

Hey Pete!! Thanks so much for the inspiration!

[@ryan736]

Nice! My thought like a “vortex dust collection system”. Attach a shop vac to a bucket that has trays that lift out. Fast clean up by sucking them up and sorting the pieces.

[@c.a.g.1977]

Great contraption for smaller piles of LEGO's, but if you have to sift a whole bucket load of bricks then maybe you could make the sorter out of three stackable plastic containers with three different sized holes drilled in the bottoms?

[@TomMakeHere]

The gorilla tape to remove the acrylic backing is a fantastic trick. Thanks!

[@gudnuf2060]

What you need is a bin that feeds a conveyor which carries the pieces under a camera. A small pick and place arm can then sort the pieces based on size, shape, and color. It would also be useful to sort screws, bolts, nuts, and general hardware

[@PearlJam2k6]

One thing i'd suggest is mounting a funnel up top, kind of how woodchippers have so that when parts are swept off the table, they dont risk falling off the other sides. The other upgrade i could suggest is a sliding "plate" so that you can shake pieces through without having to take it off the table mount, however it would cause issues with the pivoting system (so maybe replace the pivot entirely with a longer slide plate that you can just remove when the parts are sorted how you had on the cardboard prototype)

[@DAS-Machina]

They make drill bits for acrylic. The angle on the end is sharper and they work great.

[@int2str]

If you're mounting it to the table, it will be harder to shake and get the pieces unblock. Put a piano hinge on the french cleat when you mount it to the table. Then put a vibration motor to the back with a battery or USB power supply to vibrate the whole thing. That might dramatically imrprove the effectiveness?

[@cjennings1524]

I really appreciate that you left the error in the final edit

[@makaylapayne83]

Re-purpose a dresser and then you’d get the different sizes by pulling out the drawers and it would be storage!

[@Lamefoureyes]

this is a really excellent idea

[@BrennonBaxter]

Try steep angle diagonal sorting plates that dump left and right alternatively. You might have to adjust your hole size a little but it should be a bit more simplistic for sorting and agitating the pieces. It might even be a bit more fun to watch, you could even make V shaped sorts for a bit more sorting area.

[@rockaholictom]

To shake the sieve on the side of the table, you could mount it using a drawer slide with a limited throw. That way you can pull it side to side and sort what gets caught on top. Great video Bob!

[@faheemali3550]

i was literally about to say the same thing! drawer slide and all haha

[@insayno9959]

That gorilla tape technique with the protective layer is amazing. Never thought of doing that

[@JTWoodworks]

Neat idea to have it mount on the end of the table. Also a solid choice to paint it white to make the orange pop

[@doubledarefan]

Use a scrap of wood to apply hold down pressure right next to the drill bit when you drill the acrylic, while still keeping your fingers away.

[@nomadcrossfire]

If you run your drill in reverse at the end of your hole you can melt thru the final portion and your piece won't pull up. A 0 rake drill bill is also a good option.

[@dragon6irl]

The only thing about mounting it on the side of a table is, it will be really hard for the pieces to fall through on their own. You need some sort of agitation to shake them up and get them to fall, otherwise they just stack on top of each other and stay at the top.

[@riccardopoetz7100]

when he said that it is going to be atached to a table, i thought he would suspend it with rope, so that the whole thing can be shaked easiliy by hand, that would be my advice.

[@tonypelino180]

I had the same thought. Maybe if it were mounted on a short track it could slide side-to-side? Or pivot about the bottom chute? Love this prototype, I need one badly!

[@mmogamer7749]

How have I not seen any of his videos before? I am subscribed to multiple engineering channels but not seen this one until a lego video is out. Anyways, I would have tried to implement a way to shake the legos to further sift them out. You can do it by hand, so it wont be needed to have a power source.

[@duser]

This is so cool! I think you may need a way to shake this thing back and forth so the lego can get agitated and sifted. My non-maker simple solution: use those drawer rails you used in your pantry. Put them horizontally and use a door knob on either side to shake it? It won't look as good as it does now tho.

[@n3rding]

You should have used an auger with small holes at the input and larger at the output, the rotation will separate out the pieces and fall through to different containers below (sort of like a gold mining trommel )

[@dylanking9144]

Would be cool to add like a rumble pack from an old video game controller to help move the pieces along. Could put the sifter on some rails and then the rumble pack/shaker can move up and down to jostle the pieces through the holes better.

[@ruggedindividual]

I always add a thin trim over the acrylic, as I would for a window screen or glass pane mounted onto a wooden frame. It offers safer installation and stronger finished product. I enjoyed the project. Thanks for sharing it.

[@FernandoKugi]

@11:13 If you uses the drill-press in reverse or counter clock, it won't grab the acrylic it in the end...

[@seansysig]

It needs a vibratory or air mechanism to aid in sorting thru the holes.

[@Brandon_Balentine]

This would be cool to maybe add a vibrating shaker to the side of it. Something like the old vibrating football games. Then maybe you wouldn't have to shake it which would be helpful for leaving it mounted to the table.

[@johnlima2507]

You could also align this with the entire back edge of the table to make more room for more Legos! You could put a support under (one side of) the individual rotating filters to support the weight of tye increased number of Legos

[@packratpirate4154]

Me watching an in depth guide/showcase of an incredibly design gadget for a very specific problem I will never have

[@G33v3s]

One change I would like to try if I were making one would to make the top area a bit deeper so that you can give it a good shake with less risk of spillage. Great project as always, really got my creative juices flowing.

[@cruduskellies]

I wonder if a person could build a table around the bigger design. So it functions as a table, and a sorter with a large sort area?

[@Iwasthinking01]

Love the video. Was wondering if it would work better as a mini dresser, with each drawer having a sifter as the base? That would also store them in the same place.

[@Iwasthinking01]

I guess it's not so good if you have a lot of pieces.

[@Bloodbound89]

small tip for the drilling acrylic part :D we use a piece of wood with a big hole that the drill head can pass but to hold down the acrylic way better so it doesnt tend to lift and bite /crack

[@tom.jacobs]

Wouldn't placing the different layers at an angle be more practical, so gravity will help to create a flow (maybe with doors on the side, so don't need to rotate?). Would make the whole thing taller though..)

[@drubunn2012]

A cool storage bin idea could take inspiration from a lazy susan. Your LEGO sorting device could sit above it, meaning you would just have to rotate the bins underneath too the size you need...

[@daydaymarceaux]

You should try a sifter with different sized slots to sort the long skinnies from the chunkys

[@stephenwong7465]

lol your lego bins look like our lego bins - we have stacks of them all jumbled up. This is great.

[@WreckDiver99]

Now Bob, show us the best way to STORE sorted Lego. I've seen lots of ideas, but in the end? IMPOSSIBLE. We were up to over 100+ bins of various types (Plano boxes for small buttons, etc., Akro-Mills plastic bins for larger parts, etc.). Yea, just no solid way of doing it. We're at over 50K lego pieces at our house...probably closer to 75K by now, so we have parts EVERY WHERE....LOL

[@Iliketomakestuff]

Next week ;)

[@rachelreams3393]

My collection is probably similar to yours in size. You're right, there's a million ways to approach storage! I have 8-tray Really Useful Boxes towers (on casters), with their 15-compartment scrapbooking dividers in each tray, combined with Bass Pro brand tackle boxes for the small things and minifigs. Other people (like the Bricklink sellers) go all in on Akro-Mills.

You could cut a dado on the sides of the box to slide the acrylic front instead of screwing it.

[@kernelsmith]

I wonder if it would be easier, and still do what you need, if you put the acrylic into a dado running down each side and into the funnel part. You would lose a little rigidity of the box so it might rack. I can think of a number of ways to counter that tho

[@ctk5044]

Put a drawer pull behind it and attach the table so that way you can shake it horizontally to get the smaller pieces that bottleneck to fall.

[@ModelCarHobbyist]

Sweet idea, but I don't know if I could use it for my model car parts. Definitely will help the kiddos with their legos though. Love your channel!

[@marcosruiz9780]

I was thinking having it on slides when its on the side of the table, so it can go from one corner to the other, helping with shaking the thing at the same time selecting which box you want the pieces to fall at, instead of changing the boxes you move the sorter

[@gianna2766]

Hey Bob, a few months ago you said you guys might make a project kit , are you guys still planning on doing that. I would love to get a kit for Christmas. Thanks

[@funnyyylock]

First time I've seen your content. Super great intro! Immediately subscribed!

[@MakerPipe]

This is awesome! 🔥

[@sapelesteve]

Great work Bob! However, after watching your video, I am really glad that I don't ever have to deal with sorting any LEGO pieces! 😂😂👍👍😉😉

[@stuartkorte1642]

Does the dimes, nickels and quarters sort correctly. 😜 Definitely more levels or inserts for different shapes/lengths that can be switched out based on what’s being sorted/resorted. Rectangle instead of circles. A vibrating motor on back wall.

[@dancampione6686]

Nice! Have each layer of size tip out so you can pour those into a bucket or tray for further sorting. Like a tip out sink tray

[@jeffheinzman1612]

The lego sorter is great and all, but I was blown away by the finger servo that you have to start your laser cutter. I'm definitely going to do a similar projects this weekend. Not sure what button to push yet

[@mikehorvath9661]

Holy crap! Thank you for this. Our Lego situation isVERY similar and I’m at my wits end. Looking forward to the new storage solution.

[@foxsquirrelgaming2463]

Instead of pivoting shelves, you could also make a plexiglass front that slides up and you can dump each shelf as you slide the plexiglass up and you don't have to build so many small pieces.

[@AaronAlso]

For all this hard work you could have simply ordered an Official Lego Sort and Store mini-figure head. My daughter has two and they are perfect for travel.

[@PawDieFur]

The only issue I see, the pieces are not the same size in every direction you look at them. Ex: 1x6. It can be defined as a 1x1 or a 1x6. So would you want that in the larger sections or smaller sections?

[@tseckwr3783]

Good One, Bob.

[@cmdraftbrn]

*stares at lego models from 20+ years ago* you're safe my pretties.

[@akhilmankad1845]

Due to the possibility of shattering the plexi glass, I tend to use poly carb, same stuff for the most part one just doesn’t shatter

[@SchysCraftCo.]

Very cool and unique design there. It turned out very unique and very nice. Hopefully it gets great use out of it my friend. Can't wait to see more videos from your channel. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Keeping making. God bless.

[@Iliketomakestuff]

Thank you very much!

[@thorkmoore]

This size and function would be really cool as a coin sorter!

[@wadelakey4690]

I liked and subscribed just because of the title to this video. I haven’t even watched it yet!

[@BrianSargent]

Love the spaceman shirt! I've manually colour separated my older daughter's lego so I can out them back into kits for the next one!

[@weegaz22]

I would stick with the theme and add a lego motor to the back with an offset weight and switch on it, turn it into a vibratory separator

[@SharineWalker]

Maaaan and I’m over here organizing my son’s Legos by color 😫

[@MCsCreations]

Awesome work, Bob! It turned out great! 😃 You know, they use something similar for paleontology and archeology! Anyway, stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊

[@MrMsal1984]

Would making each filter a removable box worked as well?

[@Iliketomakestuff]

Totally, that's the original LEGO sorter design

[@MrMsal1984]

@@Iliketomakestuff I didn't even know that was a thing, I never really did Lego

[@dochowell]

The shirt! 😁

[@CJGiantsKID09]

I want to see one of these for shop tools/ Drill bits

[@justkeeppainting]

A little motor on the side to cause vibrations would be cool, then it could be permanently mounted to the lego table. 🤔

[@russellzauner]

Lego + fractional distillation = win

[@Nordorf]

What i would change: 1. Make it bigger. That size would only let you sort tiny amounts at a time, even for something as small as a table top (and also especially due to the blocks not having anywhere to go, leaving them all clumped up like that. 2. Add a motorized agitator, meaning the whole thing can be mounted and stay mounted wherever you want it. Push a button and it starts shaking for you. 3. Make the sorter-plates more rigid. Currently it seems like you need very little force before the sorter plates starts to turn, thereby making the entire sorter less than ideal. One option would be to add a stopper on each side of the sorter-plate so it can only turn one way instead of being free-spinning. Personally, i would probably re-think the whole idea of turnable plates and go for something more rigid/sturdy, especially if adding the motorized agitator.

[@adriaandavel]

Wouldn't wood drill bits be better for acrylic?

[@matthyland1218]

Love seeing the process, great build

[@PeteGoode]

cat litter box sifter? Think about it... you could sort the “tootsie rolls’ by size. 🤣

[@PeteGoode]

Halloween candy sorter? Make it so!

[@21blackwood]

How bout a shaker table like what they use for gold mining but controlled by like an arduino. this would reduce bottle necks by shaking them loose. I can see you tapping the funnel to get those pieces loose. then you could use the wheel to turn the sifting plate.

[@twoseventhree]

i use masonary bits to drill acrylic. stops the cracking,.

[@TheBowdy666]

Looks good I was wondering how you where going to shake it

[@DarkStarStudios]

I wonder why they’ve didn’t laser cut the acrylic to size and laser cut the holes for the screws. I have a Glowforge and that would done it no probs 🤔

[@dennisgallaher3640]

I almost had to dislike this video from Bob's inablity to remove the backing in one piece. Almost. Great video.

[@jurkielen4680]

I schuld sort it by Color it realy makes it easier to build

[@andychen1947]

Thanks for sharing. It is neat. Just curious, how does sorting by sizes help?

[@momoprior9132]

You got me thinking about how to fix the bottleneck so I'd be interested in making one that's about the same depth but maybe a couple feet wider, with a few cm of play along the x-axis of each grid so you can slide them a little to agitate the parts being sorted. Would need little fences at each end to prevent escapees though :v

[@jonwoodvine322]

I should have skipped to the end first to see how well it worked Lesson learned But did like the process

[@adamstirk]

Just needs some kind of motor to jostle the pieces to help sort them rather than shaking it by hand with that much Lego, I’m thinking a bigger version of a rumble motor out of a controller

[@TerenceMurrayWolf]

Could something like that work for screws???

[@lostnetwork5717]

love it buttttt wish you made it out of lego. maybe you can do like a lego conveyor belt to move the bricks into the correct bins. but this is awesome and a staple to all lego makers

[@schmourt]

why not make the sorter and the storage one and the same? put little clear doors on the sorter walls

[@86abaile]

Oh my god that gorilla tape trick, you are a legend sir.

[@michaellpeterson]

Curious why to not use the laser to cut the front piece of plexiglass including the holes.

[@RichWomack]

Good Miners have been doing this for hundreds of years.

[@holemajora598]

Nooooooooo! The rip.. Look what you did! Haha

[@destinycaptain247]

Hand sorting… There’s no getting around it. I sort by color - brick, tile, plate. I also sort by specialty, type, and function. Then, finally I sort by brand.

[@DAI.H4RD]

Please tell me the brand bit is a joke... but that is a good method you have of sorting!

[@destinycaptain247]

@@DAI.H4RD My collection is 98% LEGO, but I do have some Late 80’s TYCO, and some mid 90’s Megablocks.

[@brodiemordecai5023]

i love rhis

[@oieaca]

This will be hanging and not fixed to the table, right? because how are you going to shake it if it's fixed?

[@Pumpion]

I kinda wanna make one for my dnd dice

[@Drag0nmaster]

I would GLADLY buy these (if they were for sale qnd I had the money)

[@thescenicnaturalworldrelax9823]

Hi! 👋😌 that is very great video, friend)) nice to watch it

[@LaBizounerie]

I made something similar a while ago sorting coins from a vending machine!! Great time saver! Yours is a lot sexier though! Well done! =)