For maximum efficiency when dreaming up LEGO projects, it’s wonderful to have the bricks sorted by size. Then you can easily spot just the right size for the hole in your build. Given that, it’s no surprise that LEGO sorters are a common DIY project. We’ve seen a complicated LEGO sorting machine, a more straightforward sorter, and now, we have a LEGO sorter made from a vacuum. This invention from YouTuber Unnecessary Inventions, which we first spotted at Laughing Squid, helps you suck up LEGO bricks and sort them by size.
Matty Benedetto of Unnecessary Inventions found inspiration for this creation in an old episode of The Office. David Wallace has the idea for a children’s vacuum that sucks up toys. He calls it a Suck It. You know, the perfect name for a product for kids. Bendetto repurposes that idea for vacuuming LEGO. It means getting a LEGO off the floor and avoiding the unique pain of stepping on a rogue LEGO piece while also putting the LEGO into tiers of different sizes.
Benedetto started with a shop-vac. After testing the vacuum’s suction power, he devised a container with four parts. He designed and 3D printed the dividers between each tier. The dividers feature progressively smaller holes for the LEGO to shake through. Then the LEGO pieces come in through the vacuum’s attachment and drop through the levels into the correct tier.
Honestly I wouldn’t even use this to clean up after an afternoon of LEGO building. If I was making a LEGO masterpiece from scratch, I’d just dump all the bricks onto the floor and let this vacuum sorter device, called Suck It in honor of The Office, do all the work. Is this is best of LEGO sorters? That is up for debate. But I’d argue that this is a very necessary invention.
Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of A Kid’s Guide to Fandom, available now. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
