working LEGO printing presses show how to produce images

Traditional printing presses as working LEGO sets

A LEGO Ideas suggests two working printing presses that, once built, can show users how images are printed and transferred onto paper. There are two toy machines involved: a lever-operated plater press, based on the Albion press and built from 312 pieces, and a roller-based press next to it, built from 163 pieces.

The maker, named PrintNerd, says that both models draw inspiration from historic presses that are still used by printers today. Instead of creating LEGO printing presses that are just for display, the suggested ones are fully functional. Their aim is to bring this piece of history in the age of digital media back to the forefront, allowing users to understand how printing and manual image productions have worked over the years. It is also a way for the creator to tangibly pass on information to the current generation and make them experience it firsthand.

all images courtesy of PrintNerd via LEGO Ideas

Suggested ‘idea’ that shows users how to print

The creator writes that the lever-operated, working LEGO printing press has a rotating handle that users can turn to move the bed inside. Then, they pull a lever to bring the platen down and apply the pressure, transferring the image onto the paper. The roller-based press next to it uses gears and moving rollers to move the bed through the press and squash it between the rollers. Together, these two working LEGO printing presses, which are still an idea at the

moment, can show users different ways of how traditional printers transfer an image onto paper or a surface.

The creator adds that they turn the traditional presses into LEGO blocks because they want to make them more accessible, hands-on, and understandable to the general public. ‘There is also an existing community of LEGO fans who already print using LEGO, building relief plates from bricks and using large external presses to make prints,’ they write in the campaign. In a way, the two working LEGO printing presses complement them, allowing users to understand how part of the printing world works by letting them operate the brick-made machines themselves.

there’s a roller-based press, built from 163 pieces