Brick Separator Overflow

Bumblepants · January 2013

Sort of a tangent here, but would you consider a set which includes a separator incomplete if it was not included in a used set sale/trade?

canuck · January 2013

It's categorized on Bricklink as an extra so no.

GothamConstructionCo · January 2013

So far I have managed to rack up a total of 7 orange.
I have kept two back and the rest I have given to my daughter so she always has one to hand as I try to encourage her to use seperaters instead of her teeth to avoid choking on somthing.

The Technic rod is a big help too, it would of saved me swollowing a cog as a kid :-(

CCC · January 2013

GothamConstructionCo said:

I have kept two back and the rest I have given to my daughter so she always has one to hand as I try to encourage her to use seperaters instead of her teeth to avoid choking on somthing.

And to stop bite marks in the bricks. I guess you've got your priorities the right way around!

Ernst · January 2013

I have 2 now, came both with LotR sets.

Jenni · January 2013

I don't know how you can all know exactly. There are 2 on the floor in the TV room, 2 in the dining room, 3 orange and a green out in the LEGO room but I know there's a grey somewhere and probably more orange. As to what's in the unopened boxes......

^^^ my daughter will still use teeth if she thinks we're not looking, but I caught one of her friends doing it this weekend, on a minifigure head! We had a chat about that, we've also had to chat with this friend about taking out minifig hands. I really do want her to have friends over to play but it's terrifying too :).

icey117 · January 2013

Ha, good one!
4 (helmsdeep, heartlandstable, cityalarm, gungansub)...

pteric · January 2013

0 unless I have them in some unopened sets. Which sets are they in?

LegobrandonCP · January 2013

pteric said:
0 unless I have them in some unopened sets. Which sets are they in?

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=96874&in=S

Aquapolis · January 2013

1. I think i lost the other 2 i had.

Jenni · January 2013

@legobrandoncp that's what I needed! There should be 34 in the house then, because I know there are 2 old style separators.

FollowsClosely · January 2013

I have 20 or so old ones and 7 new style. Yet we are always looking for one. They are never where they belong.

Bumblepants · January 2013

I have 8 and sold one on Bricklink last summer from the Quinjet. Will probably have a ton more once I start buying this years sets.

legonut80 · January 2013

I have 20 orange ones and 1 old green one. I showed my 6 year old son last year how it worked and he was amazed :)

@Jenni I worry about them having friends to play for that reason. I like our minifigures to keep their hands. I've been lucky so far but we've not had many friends come to play :)

Jenni · January 2013

@legonut80 but you keep your LEGO somewhat contained, it's not spread over every room of the house :).

T_Lars · January 2013

I've got two of the old style gray (I think one came in a Basic set, the other I have no idea where it came from) and four new orange. My experience with the old style wasn't too great, so I was reluctant about using the new ones but they really do work well, especially with the back end for removing tiles. They are usefull to have but I can see myself ending up with a ton of them, kinda like the "Tamiya multi-tool" collection I've got from all of my RC cars.

madforLEGO · January 2013

All of the ones I have (7 Grey) are from lots I have purchased.. I think I actually bought a green one. why I'm not sure, but I can say they can go 'bad' and not really grip brick well after enough usage.

soundczar · January 2013

Great idea for a thread! I have two old-style greys, three old-style greens,and about 15 new-style oranges. I build in three different locations and keep them scattered between all three.

Zeya · January 2013

caperberry said:

I join two together on the technic axle using this

This is ingenious! You've just given me something to do with the inevitable influx of separators I will be getting in the coming months/years. I wonder if you could also join them together with a long technic beam brick.

Brew · January 2013

Not sure how many I have... Maybe a couple dozen of various colors.

I just know they can be super helpful. I disassembled a Grand Carousel last summer and would've had bruised fingertips without it. Especially all those tiles on the base plate...

rocao · January 2013

146 orange

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz · February 2013

At least 4 old green, 2gray, umpteen new orange (they are all over the house and Lego shop) and 1 new green one. Have no idea how many in sealed boxes.

emilewski · February 2013

I have two old style green ones and probably around 9 new orange ones. The science center near me has a LEGO area where kids can free build. I think I will bring several and drop them in the brick bin next time I go with my daughter. They are useful but six are probably enough.

jadedanc · February 2013

15 orange, 1 green and 2 dark grey plus about 15-20 more in unopened box sets. I really need to either slow down collecting them or find some other uses for them :)

Titus · February 2013

canuck said:
I really dislike the new orange ones because they can't be used as 'pliers' like the old ones.

Can the green ones be used as pliers? And, how exactly does that work?

luckyruss · February 2013

Now up to three new style greens thanks to Saturday's purchases at the AFOL shopping day!

murphquake · February 2013

I would have to do a lot of searching to find them all, but I'd estimate 3 Green and a red brick ruler, plus about 30-50 of the orange ones, and a few more in unopened sets.... I have so many orange sets that I gave a friend's new FKFOL (Lego Friends KFOL!) 4 of them recently, and at least 2 or 4 to a LUGmate who mostly builds trains and mindstorms and didn't have any. When I LUG NY did our NYCC display I know I threw a dozen in one of my boxes, sadly i came home with all of them too =-)

I need to throw them up on ebay or something.

@canuck what exactly do you mean by using the green ones as "pliers"?

Oldfan · February 2013

^re: "pliers": In the old style separators, the bottom edge of the "wall" underneath the "cavities" was a very sharp point; you could use it to dig underneath the groove of tiles, etc. to pop them off.

With the new style separators, that "wall" is no longer a sharp edge, so you can't use it to pop off the grooved parts. However, the end of the handle is now a sharp point, so by turning the separator around you can use the end as pliers for those tiles. It works, but I prefer the old style design, because you don't need to change grips to use the separator in either gripping or pliers mode. Just my preference...

Oldfan · February 2013

^Now that I think about it some more...has anyone tried to use two of the new separators to take apart 1x2 plates (i.e. one on top and the other on the bottom)? With the new technic post (which I love BTW), can you physically fit two separators on top of each other like that and snap apart the plates like you could with the old design? I only have one open and have never tried this...

beegeedee · February 2013

^I'd probably stick it onto a brick first then try and separate that way. The axle would probably get in the way with 2 orange ones but I suppose you could do it with the 2 handles pointing in opposite directions.

I'm just guessing here - not tried it myself.

Shpadoinkle · February 2013

@Oldfan: Yes! This is my preferred use for the separators. Put two 1X2 plates together nice and tight and try it with two separators like pliers, you will be an instant fan! I didn't even use them until I read about this method on the Learn 2 Play blog, now I keep two together at every "Lego station" in the house!

CCC · February 2013

If you have loads of orange ones and don't mind a bit of diy, just chop the technic pin off.

Alternatively, for 1x and 2x plates stuck on top of each other, you can just use one on each side, one top, one bottom.

emmtwosix · February 2013

canuck said:
It's categorized on Bricklink as an extra so no.

For some reason, it's not considered an extra in 75004 - Z-95 Headhunter.

And I have four orange separators. One loose, one still in a sealed set, and two from opened sets. They're so useful, but I'm pretty sure I don't need anymore, but I would like to have one of each of the old ones, for some reason.

canuck · February 2013

@Murphquake & @Titus If you have two 1x plates stuck together you can use a brick separator on top and one on the bottom, if both are used at the same time you can get them unstuck.

prevere · February 2013

Maybe Lego will start including random chrome gold ones with sets.

emmtwosix · February 2013

I think "priers" would probably be a better description for them than pliers.

murphquake · February 2013

@canuck, oh ok, i thought you meant something to squeeze things together, that's opposite of how pliers work in my mind, but it's a technique i'm well familiar with.

dimefield · February 2013

2 old grey and at least 10 of the new orange separators. They are like guitar picks though.. Can never find one when you need one!

aimlesspursuits · February 2013

^I know what you mean. I have 5, 1 green and 4 orange...can only find the 1 green and 2 of the orange right now.

prof1515 · February 2013

I'm burning mine for fuel to stay warm in the chilly Illinois winters. Thankfully, I have a good-sized stack of them. Every night I throw a couple dozen on the fire and that lasts through the night.

ACWWGal2011 · October 2013

i have 1 new style orange(planning on buying more off bl since I heard they are cool moc additions) from a small pink brick bucket, 1 old style green, and 2 old style gray.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz · October 2013

@ACWWGal2011, we have way too many of those orange brick separators, if you are in the US how about trading a few for a poly bag?

klatu003 · October 2013

Not going to count mine, but do have one in that lives in my purse. You never can tell when you will need to separate some bricks.

khmellymel · October 2013

^ Me too!

I have three loose; one green, two orange (one of the orange ones is the one that is in my schoolbag), and then, surprise to me, I also have 4 orange ones from sets. I totally didn't even realise!

TheOneVeyronian · October 2013

I have so many orange brick separators, I've lost count of how many I own. There must be at least one brick separator in every room of my house you know.

But during the summer, I was asked to help take down a brick wall, so I took a brick separator with me to where the brick wall was located. That was when I realised the guy who asked me to help was actually talking about a concrete brick wall. That was the only time a brick separator was actually entirely useless in separating bricks, no matter how many I used!

:-P

dneul · October 2013

I have around 15 loose and they live in a tub on the table. I also carry one on my keychain. I drilled a small hole on the handle end and attached it to a ball chain then a lego keychain which gets connected to my keys so I am never without.

wander099 · November 2013

I have 1 old grey and I did have 9 new orange (+2 in sets on the way right now, so 11), but I gave 3 orange to relatively young children to whom I am connected in various ways - my sister's boyfriend's little brother for example. Everyone who has lego can make use of a brick separator at some point and since I had so many...