Lego kits have become impressively intricate over the years, but the company really outdid itself with a 2079-piece typewriter in 2021. Part of its Ideas series, the brickmakers released the fully functioning mechanical keyboard. It’s a unique and extremely well designed set, although not without its limits. Somewhat understandably, the Lego typewriter allowed you to type on it, but it couldn’t actually put any ink to paper.
Lego expert and YouTuber Koenkun Bricks was not completely satisfied with the tradeoff, however. In a recent video, the Netherlands-based hobbyist documented his quest to create a functional typewriter that actually pressed tiny Lego letters onto a sheet of “paper” that is also built from strips of Lego tiles. The final results are mesmerizing to watch—but only if you can handle all the trial-and-error it took to him to get there.
It’s difficult to list out all the various experimental solutions, miniature prototypes, and complete workarounds it took to reach the final product. All those cumulative hours of work are enough to stress anyone out, too. As it turns out, it takes a fleet of internal mechanisms to ensure each individual Lego letter leaves its respective dispenser, rolls down an incline path towards the hammer, then successfully impresses onto a sheet of Lego paper. Meanwhile, other mechanical arrays (and a lot of rubber bands) push the sheet from left-to-right.
In the end, the device looks more like a Dr. Seuss invention than a classic typewriter, but Koenkun Bricks clearly subscribed to a “form follows function” approach when crafting his contraption. As one commenter wrote, the machine technically behaves more like a printing press typesetter than a typewriter. Regardless, it was a serious undertaking and worth highlighting in actual print.
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