Last summer, CanCrete Equipment set up a discovery call with Playwell Bricks CEO Jason Pyett, resulting in a commission for a boom truck with functioning stabilizers and boom. Little did the team know the challenge this boom would represent!

Luckily, Playwell Bricks eats challenges for breakfast.

Playwell Bricks team member Eric Dubois Yang designed the truck. “We finished the truck itself fairly quickly,” recalls Eric, but it became a challenging experience “as we spent more time on the boom.”

There was a struggle to get the boom right with the proper friction to make it functional. “The main challenge was getting the right type of joints for the boom so that it didn’t fold under its own weight.”

It was important to CanCrete Equipment that this boom be functional, but Jason began to worry that Playwell Bricks might have to defy physics to make it happen. Several designers joined in the discussion of the boom’s joints, offering different solutions and trying them out.

They quickly discovered that native-compatible bricks had greater friction than the name-brand bricks, allowing the boom to work as hoped. It was the solution they’d been hoping for, but when the parts arrived, disappointment set in. The friction was just too variable among the bricks.

Ultimately, Jason made the call to use Technic pins instead. It changed the look, but it gave the boom the functionality the client requested.

The sets were then shipped to Cancrete Equipment. After a few months passed, Playwell Bricks was delighted to see the custom book truck set in the wilds of social media as CanCrete hosted a giveaway of three of these sets to their followers. Congratulations to the winners!

If you’d like to commission a custom Playwell Bricks of your company’s equipment, contact Playwell Bricks today. We can’t promise to defy physics, but our team of world-class brick designers will definitely help you build your dreams!