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Cary Clark / FAQ / Build / clean-parts

How can I clean LEGO® parts?

From Tom McDonald: !

I just use plain water for 80% of cleaning, water with mild dish soap for 19%. Any other solvents or solutions can be hard on the plastic. If you use rubbing alcohol, don’t let it sit on the part for more than a few seconds. Also, avoid getting petroleum jelly on the tires.

From Ed “Boxer” Jones: !

I use Palmolive and warm water. One thing I also do is I have a large wire seive (like window screen, only finer) that I place in a larger pot of water and soap. This makes draining the pieces that much easier.

For drying, I air dry them. In the past, I have also used the air only setting on the clothes dryer to remove water stuck in crevases. For that, place the pieces in a cotton pillowcase knotted at the open end.

From Richard Marchetti: !

A 1/4 part bleach to 3/4 parts water -- or some other milder conconction of bleach to water -- used on white, grey, or clear bricks and left to soak for 1- 2 weeks will whiten older bricks that have been exposed to direct sunlight and yellowed. The result is old, yet very clean, bricks.

Actual dirt may be cleaned off with a good soak in a mild detergent like “Simple Green” mixed with water, and then brushed off with a soft toothbrush if need be, or merely rinsed off after some marginal scrubbing with a sponge -- and not the side with the scrub pad, just the plain old sponge part. The scrubbing pad side of a sponge is abrasive enough to polish metal, and will scratch the bricks.

From Louise Belles: !

When I needed clean LEGO® pieces to build a candy dispenser, I just bought new ones. I may be taking this quote too far: Phyllis Diller said, “Cleaning the house while the kids are still growing, is like shoveling the walk while it is still snowing.”

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