Advice on Removing Round Plate/Studs

Interplay

I have been having a lot of difficulty removing clear plastic 1x1 round plate/studs when they are on the underside of another 1x1 square plate. An example would be trying to disassemble the Christmas lights on the Santa's Workshop set. The orange lego tool does not seem to have anything to help with this. With one, I ended up needing to use needle nose pliers to get it loose, which I would rather not do again.

Any advice?

binaryeye

Do you have two brick separators (the orange tool)? If so, you should be able to get them apart: put one on top of the 1x1 square plate and one on the bottom of the 1x1 round plate and push the top separator handle down while holding the bottom separator in place.

If you don't have two separators, try using a large plate (i.e. something you can hold in place) instead of the bottom separator. If you push straight down with enough force while using the lever action of the separator, it should keep the 1x1 round attached to the plate while prying the 1x1 square off.

lordzarak

There's a reason the citizens of Lego Springfield worship the brick separator. ;-)

akunthita

Yep, two brick-separators will do the trick! The combination I really hate though is when there is a 1x1 plate with center clip on top, and a round 1x1 plate on the bottom. Now that one is almost impossible to take apart and LEGO designers love to use this combination. :neutral_face:

drdavewatford

akunthita said:

The combination I really hate though is when there is a 1x1 plate with center clip on top, and a round 1x1 plate on the bottom. Now that one is almost impossible to take apart and LEGO designers love to use this combination. :neutral_face:

Yes - horrible. LEGO keep doing this in the Winter Village sets and it's a mare to separate the elements.

luckyruss

This is probably what the OP is posting about on the workshop - some of the lights across the roof are on yellow 1x1 clips. If you leave them on the "rope" with the top of the brick separator that seems to provide more leverage?

Interplay

I didn't specifically think to mention the 1x1 clips, but those are definitely the biggest pain. These are all good tips; I hadn't thought of using two brick separators for the flat bricks. Thanks!

SirBen

A thin guitar pick will nicely fit into the corner in the underside of the of the 1x1 plate and get enough grip on the lip of the 1x1 round plate to easily facilitate its removal.

lieslgee

Brick separator, a thin metal straight edge, or I snap them on a larger plate and I can usually get them apart from there.

Paperballpark

Angle Grinder ;)

CCC

I use two long nosed pliers that I bought from a pound shop. I glued a piece from a thin foam rubber sheet (stolen from the kids' craft box) inside the jaws of the pliers. They are then easy as anything to get purchase on the parts and pull them apart without scratching or damaging the parts. When you have 50 or so to do, it's worth coming up with alternative solutions! And it doesn't leave tooth marks either.

AdeelZubair

I just used one Brick Separator and placed the 'issue' on the bottom and just pulled back till they got separated.

CCC

Another useful tool for removing small plates, especially if you don't want to remove ones around the part you are removing (if you've made a mistake in a mosaic for example) is the minifig spanner. The sharp end on that is ideal for prying off small plates and tiles from larger plates.