Again in September, 3DPrint.com reported that LEGO was making 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 might debut the corporate’s high-throughput polymer AM course of.
Now the set, referred to as Vacation Categorical Prepare from LEGO Icons, is formally obtainable for buy worldwide, and LEGO has printed a take a look at the know-how behind the tiny practice, confirming each its significance and the lengthy improvement timeline that made it attainable.
In line with the model, the miniature locomotive included within the Vacation Categorical Prepare is the primary 3D printed half ever offered at retail in a LEGO set. Whereas the corporate has launched a handful of AM-made parts 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 by way of certainly one of its customary business units.
This 3D printed practice piece is a part of the LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Prepare set.
The half itself is a micro-version of the set’s primary practice, full with spinning wheels and a useful chimney. LEGO designers Bo Park Kristensen and Jae Gained Lee collaborated with the additive manufacturing crew to create a geometry that might not be achieved by way of injection molding. For LEGO, the purpose was to not exchange molding however to open up totally 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 put up. “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’ve got for a few years used 3D prints in our improvement part, 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 take pleasure in.”
Park Kristensen additionally explains that the 3D printed factor might have been many issues, however ultimately, the crew determined that this practice can be the primary mass-produced 3D print in a LEGO field.
LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Prepare set.
For the LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Prepare set designer Gained Lee, the 3D printed practice was the right manner so as to add an additional dimension to the brand new set, which was itself an replace on the LEGO Creator Skilled Winter Vacation Prepare set from 2016. Two little one minifigures from that earlier set now function within the Vacation Categorical as grown-ups delivering toys to a brand new era of children, and the design crew, curious in regards to the potential of 3D printing and desperate to attempt it out, realized that these small toys might be a possibility to create that first printed factor, famous Gained Lee.
LEGO engineer engaged on 3D printed components.
LEGO additionally confirms a number of new particulars not beforehand disclosed. Hadar says the corporate spent 9 years creating the AM platform in Billund, Denmark, constructing a system able to producing high-quality components at a fee appropriate for shopper merchandise. The crew has already doubled the output velocity of the machines and is concentrating on additional enhancements as extra units incorporate printed parts.
LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Prepare set.
Whereas LEGO doesn’t point out the particular machine configuration used to supply the factor, the corporate beforehand referenced EOS know-how 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 Nineteen Forties. He says his long-term objective is to make 3D printed parts “boringly regular,” a normal a part of the LEGO design toolkit fairly than a novelty.
Though for now, the Vacation Categorical Prepare 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 straight into the arms of hundreds of thousands of LEGO followers. As extra designers start experimenting with the know-how, LEGO hints that related “dynamic parts” might seem in upcoming units.
LEGO Icons Vacation Categorical Prepare set.
Pictures courtesy of LEGO
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