A year after launching its first 3D-printed retail product, the LEGO Group has revealed its latest 3D-printed element.
Amongst the 5,682 pieces that make up its new LEGO Icons Venetian Neighbourhood set, fans will find a mini street piano, which LEGO says you'll actually be able to play a little tune on.
This functionality, according to the Danish toymaker, is enabled by a turning mechanism that's activated by a connecting small flower vase element which sits on top of the piano.
LEGO hasn't specified which additive manufacturing (AM) technology was used to produce the all-black part but it looks most likely to be another example of selective laser sintering (SLS), the same technology that was used to manufacture the miniature train inside its LEGO Icons Holiday Express Train set last year. LEGO has previously shared that it uses SLS machines from EOS.
The set will be made available on November 4th and will retail at £449.99.
The LEGO Group has been using polymer 3D printing for prototyping and design testing for over a decade. The launch of its Holiday Express Train set was the first time the company had deployed AM for a mass-produced product. In a conversation with TCT back in 2023, then Senior Additive Manufacturing Manager Mandanà Moshiri described metal AM, which LEGO has also been using to produce moulds, as "vital", adding that without it, "there are some LEGO elements that otherwise would not be possible." While LEGO's AM technology of choice is primarily laser powder bed fusion, Moshiri said, "we keep our eyes open to new technologies and we sometimes test new ones.”
