The Free Universal Construction Kit

177

rrobinhouston 4 days ago 33 commentsRead Article on fffff.at

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Discussion (33 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

lucb1e•10 minutes ago

In case the authors are here, the first sentence contains the bytes e2 80 94 which would be UTF-8 for an em dash, but it has been reinterpreted as 3 bytes using https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows-1252#Code_page_layout and shown on the page as â€”. Further down, there's a lot of similar errors such as a single right quote (U+2019) in K'nex. Firefox seems to have first removed their encoding configuration menu in version 89, then introduced a new button in version 91, and that one is disabled now as well so there's no fixing this user-side it seems :/

Edit: ah the page is from 2012-03-19, from the <meta property="article:published_time"> tag

delichon•about 2 hours ago

These kits can have extraordinary longevity. I was playing with Lincoln Logs in 1967. Turns out they got started in 1918. Lego bricks have been around since 1945. The moat created by seriously delighting your customers at a young age is large.

reaperducer•29 minutes ago

Don't forget Erector Sets.

I spend untold hours failing to build a cable tramway between my mother's dresser and bed.

But at least now I'm an expert at pylon design!

datawars•about 2 hours ago

Very cool. Do two copyright infringements (one on each side of the adapter) cancel each other out? I really like it!

croes•about 2 hours ago

At least Lego‘s patent on the bricks expired. You can’t make mini figures but bricks shouldn’t be a problem

sixtyj•about 2 hours ago

Well done indeed

I hope that Lego (not lawyers ofc) would appreciate such creativity approach and hire creators. (E.g. similar to acquihire of OpenClaw creator by OpenAI.)

How many of us do think this way?

I am always jealous (in good way) when I see similar projects.

srean•about 3 hours ago

Any zometool aficionados here

https://www.georgehart.com/virtual-polyhedra/zometool.html

Duanemclemore•about 2 hours ago

Zometool rules!

I run workshops about the use of modular systems in facilitating non-expert participation in architecture. One I did (at the CAAD Futures Conference in 2023) was with Zometool. It was a blast and really successful.

In preparation I also got to interview the late great Steve Baer, inventor of the Zome (among many other things - seriously look him up, he's one of the most brilliant people of the past 100 years imo). It was a huge honor.

The book chapter the organizers were supposed to do about the conference workshops never materialized (hrmph), but I've done other little collaborative build projects since, so one day I'll document them all together.

srean•about 1 hour ago

Fantastic ! Would love to read more about your experiences.

tripdout•26 minutes ago

Wow, Tinkertoys, I still remember how the wood smelled and the big drum it came in.

lioeters•about 2 hours ago

> Note: all units are in inches.

Not so universal as I'd hoped, but I love the concept and the organization behind it, Free Art and Technology Lab.

qwerpy•37 minutes ago

Is this complaint just for the sake of complaining? You print out the pieces, they connect various toys together. The units could be light-years for all it matters.

reaperducer•27 minutes ago

There's something about the internet that makes people want to moan in public about nothing.

Whenever I see someone in a current British television show use "inches" or "feet," I'm reminded of the HN metric mafia that insists that the United States is the only place in the world that uses imperial units.

Even Wikipedia will tell you that's false.

vscode-rest•23 minutes ago

Every post/comment is selecting across 100,000+ people worldwide for the individuals most likely to complain about it.

There’s no other place on earth I can invite 100,000 people to disagree with me. Exception is maybe a public office. (Which the vast majority of people shy away from, for just this reason)

tanvach•about 2 hours ago

Super cool, lock-in is very real. We are overflowing with Duplo and Lego sets because I just don't want to deal with another system. There are, of course, other models on Thingiverse, Printables, etc., but knowing these are properly designed to fit and work is a huge plus. Cudos to the team!

culi•about 4 hours ago

That's an awesome project. I'm sure there are many kids that have been gifted LEGO knockoffs that are not compatible with legos from adults that didn't know any better. A similar "interop" project for those would be great

bombcar•about 4 hours ago

Almost all (back then, I hear the clone quality is much higher now) were "compatible" but had little to no clutch power, a wall built with some of them would inevitably break at the clone bricks.

onemoresoop•about 2 hours ago

Crappy tolerance in the clone parts. I hear the clones got much better now.

flobosg•about 4 hours ago

(2012)

cortesoft•about 3 hours ago

No Construx? I built everything out of those as a kid.

pipeline_peak•about 4 hours ago

When I was a kid I used to rate my uncles and aunts based off who got me Legos or Megablocks.

Idk how I’d feel if they got me this.

andai•about 4 hours ago

I was so confused recently, when I bought a toy car kit from some German brand which cost 25 euro and came with the pieces all joined together straight from the injection mold, so you had to twist them off one by one, and then the little injection spikes stabbed your fingers while you worked.

Bought an almost equivalent set from Lego (stab-free!) for 9 euro. How does that pricing make sense haha

fwipsy•about 3 hours ago

Neat idea, but as an adult who builds little machines out of Lego Technic for fun sometimes, the adapter selection seems very limited. In order to make this idea "practical" you would need adapters with a variety of sizes, shapes, and orientations. I guess I'm not the target audience - I can definitely see this being cool for children.

mathgeek•7 minutes ago

That’s the joy of 3d printing. You can adapt these to any adapter if you need it.

idiotsecant•about 3 hours ago

I feel like the only way to summon the corporate lawyers faster would be to put a Mickey mouse on the box.

Rygian•about 3 hours ago

Mickey mouse is in the public domain, at last!

LPisGood•about 2 hours ago

I think they would have a very strong case that using the mouse on a product is likely to confuse consumers about the origin of the product and therefore infringe on their trademark.

jadamson•about 3 hours ago

If you go to the homepage (or look at the banner) the project is shut down since 2015.

https://fffff.at/rip/

jojomodding•about 2 hours ago

Tell your kids about FUCK, the most fun way to play with them bricks...

gblargg•40 minutes ago

Do you mean leaving them on a hard floor so a parent can injure their heel stepping on one at night?

kmoser•32 minutes ago

Special high intensity training!

extraduder_ire•about 4 hours ago

FUCK yeah.

analog8374•about 4 hours ago

swank and deboner.