Why aren't there any large transparent Lego plates?

[Takanuinuva]

The Lego Ideas Ship in a bottle had me thinking. Why did they make the bottom of the bottle using so many small clear parts. They would have saved a bit more money if they casted the larger round corner plates in clear instead.

Is it cause larger transparent pieces would be more likely to break than the smaller ones? That's why we've only seen the smaller plates and tiles be cast in transparent colors?

[Peppermint_M]

The plastic used for transparent parts is too brittle to safely use to create large parts. It is more likely to break or shatter.

I think that is also what stops wholly transparent minifigures too.

[Takanuinuva]

I thought the reason there aren't fully transparent minifigs is cause having two clear pieces connected as a joint would make them impossible to turn or remove after a while. They would end up somewhat bonding together iirc

As for plates that is what I thought. But I think 2x2 or 2x3 plates could be make in transparent colors and would be fine.

[zg0]

4 hours ago, Peppermint_M said:

The plastic used for transparent parts is too brittle to safely use to create large parts.

8x8 plate exists in 3 transparent colors. duplo 12 x 16 baseplate exists in transclear.

[Peppermint_M]

Just now, zg0 said:

duplo 12 x 16 baseplate

True, but they have a bulkier design being Duplo and all, not quite the same tolerances as a system scale brick.

It is still true that the plastics for transparent parts are more brittle than the ABS for regular bricks, the tolerances and wearing isn't anywhere near the same. 

[zg0]

17 minutes ago, Peppermint_M said:

True, but they have a bulkier design being Duplo and all, not quite the same tolerances as a system scale brick.

how about regular 8x8?

transparent parts produced using different molds than non-transparent. so to produce part that non-exists in any transparent color lego need new mold and it may be not cheaper than use smaller parts that already exists in transparent color.

[NathanR]

2 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

I thought the reason there aren't fully transparent minifigs is cause having two clear pieces connected as a joint would make them impossible to turn or remove after a while. They would end up somewhat bonding together iirc

Actually, over the last few years there have been some trans-blue minifigure parts, a leg (one of the Chima figures) and an arm (JEK14 clone trooper, Lego Star Wars spin off).  Fully transparent minifigures haven't been done because a polycarbonate torso would crack when an arm was inserted, whereas the ABS plastic on normal torsos has a bit of a flex to it so can accept the connection.

Two polycarbonate parts together have very high friction between them, so some connections of transparent parts become impossible to pull apart:

http://bramlambrecht.com/tmp/jamieberard-brickstress-bf06.pdf

3 minutes ago, zg0 said:

how about regular 8x8?

I do have them (appear in one of the Winter Village sets for an ice rink).  As far as I can remember, the part looked physically identical to a regular 8x8 plate.  I'm not sure if new moulds are needed for the different plastics, but I imagine the stiffness of the part is a factor in whether it can be made in transparent or not.  Most large Lego plates can warp or twist quite a lot, but I expect the polycarbonate could easily crack if not reinforced, which would require a new mould.

Edited July 1, 2018 by NathanR

[zg0]

1 hour ago, NathanR said:

I'm not sure if new moulds are needed for the different plastics

"big" tranparent parts had different part id — so different molds. small ones sometimes same — same molds.

[Johnny1360]

4 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

 

As for plates that is what I thought. But I think 2x2 or 2x3 plates could be make in transparent colors and would be fine.

Set 31066 Space Shuttle Explorer does have two 2x3 tiles with clips in trans blue, so it is definitely doable. They also appear to be identical to their non-clear counterparts so at least at that size it is quite feasible. 

[dr_spock]

Aren't there 48x48 transclear base plates that are not generally available to the public? 

1 hour ago, NathanR said:

..snip...

I do have them (appear in one of the Winter Village sets for an ice rink).  As far as I can remember, the part looked physically identical to a regular 8x8 plate.  I'm not sure if new moulds are needed for the different plastics, but I imagine the stiffness of the part is a factor in whether it can be made in transparent or not.  Most large Lego plates can warp or twist quite a lot, but I expect the polycarbonate could easily crack if not reinforced, which would require a new mould.

Polycarbonate has low shrink when cooling compared to ABS.  The PC part would be larger than the ABS part if made from the same mold.  The difference would be proportional to the size of the part.  For big part, it can be enough that they won't fit together within LEGO tolerances.

 

[Grover]

I suspect that the runners, sprue, and the weep holes are all different on the mold as well.  That, coupled with the different shrinkage (and thus a differing oversize) would lead to different molds.  However, an 8x8 plate in trans blue of some flavor would be great with me if they could produce some more of them.

[Lyichir]

In any case, since molding that part in transparent would need a new mold, there wouldn't really be any cost savings compared to using a larger quantity of existing transparent parts. I don't even think it'd necessarily be an improvement on the finished model, since it'd trade the smooth underside of the existing bottle for an abundance of anti-studs on the back of the plate.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Lyichir

[Blondie-Wan]

On 7/1/2018 at 7:27 PM, dr_spock said:

Aren't there 48x48 transclear base plates that are not generally available to the public?

I don’t know about 48x48, but the 16x16 baseplate has been released in trans-clear in multiple sets.

On 6/30/2018 at 2:17 PM, Takanuinuva said:

The Lego Ideas Ship in a bottle had me thinking. Why did they make the bottom of the bottle using so many small clear parts. They would have saved a bit more money if they casted the larger round corner plates in clear instead.

Is it cause larger transparent pieces would be more likely to break than the smaller ones? That's why we've only seen the smaller plates and tiles be cast in transparent colors?

There might be technical reasons along those lines, and indeed there are technical reasons why certain things haven’t happened such as all-transparent minifigures, but there are in fact lots of large transparent elements, including some in the very set you mention. The largest elements in the Ship in a Bottle are transparent.

I suspect the main reason why a given element might not exist in transparent or in some other given color is because there simply hasn’t been a need for it. LEGO has molded railroad track elements in trans-clear, the same way they’ve molded Darth Vader helmets in red, but they’ve never released them in sets, just as they’ve never released XL motors in parapink, 16x32 baseplates in chrome gold, or tyrannosaurus heads in glow-in-the-dark.

[Lyichir]

Considering that polycarbonate bonds to polycarbonate, one potential reason would be the difficulty of separating two large transparent plates if you were to stack them. It's hard enough with ABS plates, but transparent ones could pose an additional challenge.

I think another factor is that they're just no longer ideal for as many purposes. Back in the days of classic space, transparent yellow plates were used for spaceship canopies, but the studs on them makes them less than ideal for that sort of purpose. These days, it's easier and often better looking to use SNOT techniques and untextured panels or windows if you want an effect like that.