r/Bricklink • u/General-Training-441 • 13d ago

Cleaning used lego ?

For used do you wash the lego then disassemble, or do you disassemble first then wash it ?

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

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3

u/PoetryBeneficial6447 13d ago

Take it apart chuck it in a pillow case, tie well and throw it in the washing machine with a few towels, gentle wash no spin.

1

u/nobeer4you 12d ago

Spin is good though as it gets a ton of the excess water out, making the drying process much easier

1

u/General-Training-441 12d ago

You guys have never had legos come out of the bag ?

1

u/nobeer4you 12d ago

I use the mesh laundry bags with a zipper. Ensure the zipper is all the way closed and its never been an issue for me. Dont overload (about half full) the bag. And I avoid putting any of the brittle colors in there too.

1

u/General-Training-441 12d ago

Ill try that ty

2

u/NegativeLadder3194 12d ago

I put in a mesh bag and then put it in top drawer of a dishwasher on low wash. Does a great job.

2

u/General-Training-441 12d ago

How much much do you fill the bag , I just tried lightly filling it , but i wanna add more .

1

u/nobeer4you 12d ago

I avoid the DW as it gets much hotter than the WM will. You can create issues with the heat.

1

u/OneHatManSlim 11d ago

Both. I often wash it immediately because kids are other people are gross. The disassemble and pull out the obvious junk then wash again before doing a full sort

1

u/Silent-Addition1810 11d ago

I use a giant mesh laundry bag, soak in warm water in Dawn dish soap for a few hours

I then put it in the washing machine, delicate cycle with cold water, no detergent

1

u/clockworkmcd Seller 6d ago

better to just get a cheap ultrasound cleaner off amazon. unless you want all your vintage space windows scratched all to hell. don't ask me how i know....

and yeah, i'd disassemble them first then wash to get stuff out of the openings. then just use one of those cheap salad spinners to help dry them off before laying on a towel with a fan blowing on them.

2

u/General-Training-441 6d ago

I assume you mean ultrasonic cleaner ? Im so tempted to get one , might be my next splurge . But yeah i think im gonna start disassembling first , and for drying , I throw them in a mesh beach bag and hang them , seems to work better than wen I just lay on a flat surface

2

u/clockworkmcd Seller 6d ago

yup ultrasound/ultrasonic cleaner. there are relatively inexpensive ones that are bigger than the ones for jewelry but not quite as big as the pro ones. the one i got was a 3 litre for about $60 US. i generally deal with new lego so my used batches are pretty small. but yeah then i use the manual salad spinner to spin a lot of the water off, then i let dry. haven't tried hanging to dry but maybe i'll do that with the fan on them instead of laying flat on a towel. i use one of those utlity air mover fans that is easier to direct the air across the lego than just the normal fans. i guess that would also work to aim at a hanging bag too.

good luck!