Again in September, 3DPrint.com reported that LEGO was getting ready to launch its first mass-produced 3D printed factor inside an upcoming LEGO Christmas set. On the time, particulars have been restricted to a LinkedIn announcement from Ronen Hadar, Senior Director of Additive Design and Manufacturing on the LEGO Group, and an outline of the miniature blue locomotive that will debut the corporate’s high-throughput polymer AM course of.
Now the set, known as Vacation Categorical Practice from LEGO Icons, is formally obtainable for buy worldwide, and LEGO has printed a have a look at the expertise behind the tiny prepare, confirming each its significance and the lengthy improvement timeline that made it doable.
In response to the model, the miniature locomotive included within the Vacation Categorical Practice is the primary 3D printed half ever bought at retail in a LEGO set. Whereas the corporate has launched a handful of AM-made components in restricted portions over the previous a number of years, together with a drafting arm, duck, and pogo stick, this marks the primary time a printed piece is being produced at scale and distributed via one among its commonplace business units.
This 3D printed prepare piece is a part of the LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Practice set.
The half itself is a micro-version of the set’s foremost prepare, full with spinning wheels and a useful chimney. LEGO designers Bo Park Kristensen and Jae Gained Lee collaborated with the additive manufacturing group to create a geometry that might not be achieved via injection molding. For LEGO, the purpose was to not exchange molding however to open up solely new types and features for future play options.
“October 2025 marks a milestone that has by no means been performed earlier than,” described Park Kristensen in a social media publish. “I’ve been so lucky to discover and develop a brand new brick in additive manufacturing for a retail product in mass manufacturing for The LEGO Group. We have now for a few years used 3D prints in our improvement section, however it’s the first time we apply it to a full scale. Many issues wanted to be settled for this to come back alive, however ultimately, we succeeded from all ends to ship this piece. This marks a brand new addition to our product choices. Hope you get pleasure from.”
Park Kristensen additionally explains that the 3D printed factor might have been many issues, however ultimately, the group determined that this prepare can be the primary mass-produced 3D print in a LEGO field.
LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Practice set.
For the LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Practice set designer Gained Lee, the 3D printed prepare was the right approach so as to add an additional dimension to the brand new set, which was itself an replace on the LEGO Creator Knowledgeable Winter Vacation Practice set from 2016. Two youngster minifigures from that earlier set now characteristic within the Vacation Categorical as grown-ups delivering toys to a brand new era of youngsters, and the design group, curious concerning the potential of 3D printing and desirous to strive it out, realized that these small toys may very well be a chance to create that first printed factor, famous Gained Lee.
LEGO engineer engaged on 3D printed elements.
LEGO additionally confirms a number of new particulars not beforehand disclosed. Hadar says the corporate spent 9 years growing the AM platform in Billund, Denmark, constructing a system able to producing high-quality elements at a price appropriate for shopper merchandise. The group has already doubled the output velocity of the machines and is focusing on additional enhancements as extra units incorporate printed parts.
LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Practice set.
Whereas LEGO doesn’t point out the particular machine configuration used to supply the factor, the corporate beforehand referenced EOS expertise in inner communications. What is evident is that LEGO considers this launch a serious milestone, with Hadar even evaluating it to the corporate’s adoption of injection molding within the Forties. He says his long-term aim is to make 3D printed components “boringly regular,” a normal a part of the LEGO design toolkit slightly than a novelty.
Though for now, the Vacation Categorical Practice is only a first actual glimpse of that future Hadar describes so passionately, the printed micro-train represents an enormous step in bringing industrial additive manufacturing instantly into the fingers of hundreds of thousands of LEGO followers. As extra designers start experimenting with the expertise, LEGO hints that comparable “dynamic components” might seem in upcoming units.
LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Practice set.
Photos courtesy of LEGO
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