Sticking LEGO to wood

paul_merton

What's the best way to stick LEGO baseplates to wood? Are there any thin glues ideal for this purpose (without melting the LEGO), or would thin double-sided tape be better?

Shib

While I haven't tried it with LEGO, when I've had to glue wood to plastic in the past hot glue was the best result, anything else either didn't stick to the wood or didn't stick to the plastic.

Mynatt

I have also not tried this but loctite should be a good item to go to. However I would just go for the double sided tape for if you ever need to use the base plates again.

datsunrobbie

I've used original Gorilla Glue to attach cut baseplates to a wooden golf-ball display. It MIGHT  be possible to remove those plates, but I'm pretty sure neither the plates nor the wood would survive the process unscathed. 

canon03

If you want to be able to remove it later, I use zots which are little round double-sided tape dots.  That is what I use to secure minifig display plates.

paul_merton

I don't want them to come off, so permanency is ideal :) Might try some gorilla glue then if that does the job (is that just the same as superglue, or is there something else in it?)

@Mynatt what kind of loctite do you mean? That's the brand name, they make loads of different kinds of glue for different purposes.

gmonkey76

@paul_merton loctite is the brand name. I know they have a "super glue" and a black glue that are good. Will post picks in a bit. Never used on LEGO, but they work great on other things.

gmonkey76

@paul_merton  495 is the "super glue"

paul_merton

Incidentally, I've recently tried both superglue and MEK for gluing LEGO to polystyrene. While both worked, the superglue left white residue (fogging?) after a few hours, which reduced the smoothness of moving parts. I guess that wouldn't be a problem on the underside of a baseplate though.

paul_merton

Ahhh, I love anything that has a "BONDS SKIN IN SECONDS" warning :)

Mynatt

@paul_merton
I'm in the process of making minifigure display stands and I attach 1x2 plates onto wood no problem with this and it holds very well.

SprinkleOtter

Must.... resist.... "wood" joke...

CCC

Just use carpet tape (really strong double sided tape). It lays flat and no glue residue shows through. My kids have four baseplates stuck to an ikea table top, they haven't come off in over four years now.

Just make sure both surfaces are clean and no dust.

paul_merton

Oooh, carpet tape's a good idea - and I have some of that lying around already!

BuriedinBricks

@paul_merton - Sorry for the resurrection on this thread, but just curious if the carpet tape worked out for you. I need to mount some baseplates on a board and a Google search led me here.

bookmum

I can't believe no one has said this.... have you tried Kraggle!! Ha ha! 

ecmo47

Some tiny, flat head screws work very well. Drill a hole through the top of the stud so that the screw does not interfere the clutch ability.

Speedman29

I just use the weight of lots of LEGO on top of the baseplates to hold it all in place!

omnium

I've been meaning to stick an 8x16 brick to the side of a cupboard to use as a key holder/hanger, where the keyrings are 2x4 bricks or short Technic beams. But I don't fancy gluing it. Double sided tape seems like a good idea, but under side of those bricks don't have much surface area.

alaskaguy

I use double-sided tape. Holds up to my 1 year old's abuse.

If I wanted something more permanent - I'd go for hot glue.

Istokg

Hard to believe, but this is true... from 1953-55 Norway (which produced their own LEGO parts, due to a toy import ban until 1961)... used the early Automatic Binding Bricks baseplates in their LEGO sets, and nailed the thin plates to a block of wood!, and sold them that way!




When I first saw one of these, I thought that someone did this as a home project... but several others have come up in recent years... and Norway did indeed nail the baseplates to a thicker piece of wood.

Here's a Norwegian 700/3 basic set of 1953-54 showing the nailed baseplate (gotta love some of those early parts colors!).

ktsam

I was surprised no-one had suggested Sugru yet. Here's one site with a few ideas that explains more:

http://www.instructables.com/id/LEGO-sugru-4-awesome-projects-video/

They've recently brought out a new version of Sugru too that apparently is safe for kids (the page I linked has a warning that Sugru is safe for kids one it's cured but that refers to the old formula). 

Fauch

omnium said:

I've been meaning to stick an 8x16 brick to the side of a cupboard to use as a key holder/hanger, where the keyrings are 2x4 bricks or short Technic beams. But I don't fancy gluing it. Double sided tape seems like a good idea, but under side of those bricks don't have much surface area.

then 8 x 16 tile and you put tape on the flat side.

Alfredthebuttler

ktsam said:

I was surprised no-one had suggested Sugru yet. Here's one site with a few ideas that explains more:

http://www.instructables.com/id/LEGO-sugru-4-awesome-projects-video/

They've recently brought out a new version of Sugru too that apparently is safe for kids (the page I linked has a warning that Sugru is safe for kids one it's cured but that refers to the old formula). 

I know I’m a little late to the game here, but has anyone tried this sugru yet? I like that it can be removed but I’m afraid that the base plates wouldn’t lay flat. 

Otherwise, I might try the carpet tape idea. I need something durable but not permanent. I’d hate to have to throw away $50 worth of baseplates when my son outgrows the table. 

Snapshot

Carpet tape should do the job for you. I've used it to stick four 48-stud baseplates to hardboard and then tiled them with 2x4 and 2x2 tiles to make the base for my tabletop work.