How can I stop bricks 'skating' over plates?

Question

I've just read all around the question about 'clutch power' from nine years ago and the changing molds, both here and on Rebrickable, but these don't answer my problem.

Has anyone else had the problem of bricks and plates not wanting to stick to plates being used as base plates? As in MILS plates, for example? Often they just slide over the plates not wanting the engage, especially when I'm trying to stick a structure with EG a footprint of 6 x 4 studs onto a MILS plate. I'm using a mixture of new and I don't know how old.

Anything I can do about it? Wondering if I should wash everything in lemon juice.

Never heard of (or experienced) that problem, and I can't see why lemon juice would be any better than water. — Henrik supports the community, Dec 04 '22 at 08:30
What if you start from a corner, instead of trying to push it down all at once ? — Sander De Dycker, Dec 04 '22 at 10:29
Do you happen to have a picture to show the issue you are describing here? — Alex, Dec 04 '22 at 14:02
@SanderDeDycker I do try that. When plates/objects and that works when objects have a footprint of up to 4 x 6 studs. Bigger that that and my problems start. — MocBird, Dec 05 '22 at 05:00

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 04 '22 at 13:57

I suspect you are encountering an effect similar to what happens when stacking large plates together. 6x4 doesn’t seem particularly large but any area larger than 2x2 can be difficult to initially connect to a large contiguous area. The comment from Sander is a good one: try attaching one corner of your structure first. Then apply pressure radiating from that corner to connect the rest. You may need to use some of the techniques mentioned in the linked answer to get it fully connected.

I would VERY STRONGLY recommend AGAINST using any fruit juices to wash any parts in any circumstances! Any fruit juice, even a highly acidic one like lemon juice, contains sugars that will be hard to remove completely and can lead to mold or insect infestations depending on how the parts are stored or displayed.

Thanks for these suggestions, I shall get myself a little rubber hammer. I wondered at one stage whether the soaps/detergents used to wash secondhand bricks were the problem. Then wondered how to get it off. That's where the lemon juice idea came from. Don't worry, I don't think I'll need to go that far. — MocBird, Dec 05 '22 at 05:07

How can I stop bricks 'skating' over plates?

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