Popular Mechanics - USA (2020-07)

(Antfer) #1

T


HE MISSIVE TO POP MECH READERS, VIA
Instagram, was this: Make some-
thing with LEGO that will make your
(or someone else’s) life easier, and
show us the results. We weren’t look-
ing for the complexity or aesthetics
you see in expert LEGO builds—even
though those are awesome. We were looking
for utility. Plastic bricks, Technic gears, and
minifigures from existing kits were allowed,
but we asked that builders steer clear of any
instruction manuals. The job was to engi-
neer your own solution. As one builder put
it, “I just see any box of LEGO as a box of
parts.” Another worked from the same phi-
losophy: “I love the concept of hacking items
to get more uses out of something you already
own.”
Of all the projects tagged for the #PopMech
ProChallenge, here are a few of our favorites,
and the story from their creators.

AUTOMATIC TOILET PAPER
DISPENSER

The Builder: Steve Guinness
@thebrickconsultant

Guinness builds commissioned
LEGO models for customers, and is
the British LEGO Masters champ. “I
dream in LEGO, wake up with new
ideas, and head straight to my stu-

Reader


Challenge:


Build


Something


Useful


With LEGO


dio and get building,” he says. But
he saves his best ideas for family.
For this build, Guinness wanted
to help his 11-year-old son, Obby,
who had just broken his arm. When
Guinness came across a LEGO
Star Wars BOOST Droid Com-
mander set, he found what he
needed for an automatic toilet
paper dispenser, including motors
and motion sensors that you can
control remotely with a program-

Pro Challenge


// BY ANDREW DANIELS //

8

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