Set to run a program within another program using NXT-G I'm using NXT-G to program my robot to do few tasks autonomously for so many possibilities. When using C programming, we can call a function from different file into the main program. So, I wonder if it is possible to write a program that can run another program for one possibility and run another program for other possibility?

As far as I remember there is no possibility within NXT-G to programmatically execute another program. Moreover, as I understand it the default firmware simply doesn't have that possibility (the command to start a program is a direct command which must be sent via bluetooth and can't be used in a program). Maybe other programming languages using other firmware can do it, but I don't know about that.

However, you could encapsulate certain parts of your program in your own blocks, which I would say are similar to C functions. As such, it will simplify your main program, and you can reuse blocks in different programs (but the blocks themselves are included in the program file, it's not like a library which would be a different file). You should probably read a tutorial on how to make your own blocks to decide if it's a valid solution for you.


What are these minifigures? Does someone know what theme or set these minifigures are from?

First one is Ultron Sentry from Iron Man vs. Ultron (76029) set.

Second is a minifigure made with torso and legs from Duros Alliance Fighter, Jet Pack, Minifigure, Headgear Helmet SW Hoth Rebel Trooper, Minifigure, Visor Snow Goggles and unknown head. All come in Rebel Alliance Battle Pack (75133) most likely since it contains all parts and similar head piece seen in your picture.

Last one is Aaron - Flat Silver Visor, Clip, Curved Slope and Tow Ball on Back, without the slope and tow ball on the back it seems. It is from Moltor's Lava Smasher (70313)


Western General Store - slats and roof I'm interested in making something like the Western General Store.  Can anyone explain how they got the slanted windows boards like that?  Also, the roof seems to use some sort of cylindrical T-brick at the apex (in the 2nd picture). Can anyone identify that piece please.

Here's an example of how walls have been built. If you look closely on original pictures you can also see 2 x 2 top hinge piece (marked in Yellow here) used for attaching it on the bottom.

Roof is, however, not connected to the top edge. This is how top edge looks on one side of the roof as it is made out of Technic pieces, mostly:

Parts are:

4623a or 4623b - Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Bar Arm Up (Horizontal Arm 5mm or 6mm)
32013 - Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Angled #1
62462 - Technic, Pin Connector Round 2L with Slot (Pin Joiner Round)
2780 - Technic, Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise, Staggered, with or without Center Slots

Each of two roof surfaces are not attached to the top edge as I mentioned, however each cylindrical portion of the roof is attached to studded plates with the help of Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Light Attachment - Thick Ring. Pictures don't tell how these are attached together. Keeping in mind we have plates visible, it shouldn't be hard to create some sort of structure underneath top surface to hold each "plate+cylinder" assembly together.


What is the special LEGO Movie 1x1 element shown in the Channel 4 documentary 'Inside LEGO at Christmas'? I recently watched the UK Channel 4 documentary 'Inside LEGO At Christmas' and in it, one of the employees of Bright Bricks showed a tall 1x1 element that he described as a brick that Lego came up with for The Lego Movie set.

It can be viewed on YouTube here @7:17

Is this element included in any commercially available sets?
Is it indexed on Bricklink?

I have done several web searches for other references and also searched Bricklink but have been unable to find any other information about it.

The Piece of Resistance

can be found in 11 sets

bricklink link


Unlimited engine option does not work I  work in a school and all my Lego NXT bricks have the same problem. Unlimited choice in the activation time engine does not work. The other functions (rotation, and second degree) are going well. So I can use my probes and so I am very limited in the tasks to be performed.

I've done these actions, but without success:

Reset On my brick
Update Bricks
Update The program to version 1.31
Contact My representative

You need to ensure that your program has a way to stay alive (wait block, wait for sensor, etc...), otherwise as soon as the program ends all motors are stopped.


How to include submodel into main model in LeoCAD? In LeoCAD I can create multiple submodels. But how do I merge them or integrate one into the other? The release notes suggest that this is possible, but I can't seem to find out or find resources about how to do it.

The idea behind this is that I would like to create building instructions for the model using LPub3D. I would like to use submodels to make the building instructions easier to understand. I would like to show how a certain part of the model is built and then at some point integrate it into the main model. So far I have not managed to do this. The different submodels coexist separately and in LPub3D I have only access to the main model (i.e. the first submodel).

I have now figured out that you can include submodels the same way as normal parts. In LeoCAD, go to the parts panel where you can select a category ("All Parts", "Parts in Use", ...), scroll to the very bottom and select "Models". Then you can select your submodels and incorporate them.

(For some reason, my submodels still don't show properly in LPub3D, but I guess that is a separate question.)


What is the minimum required set of parts for Mindstorms? I'm interested in trying a second-hand Mindstorms kit, but can't afford the full kit. It doesn't need to be the latest version, either. If compatible with my computer, RCX would do.

Is it possible to learn the basics from a subset of parts from the kit? If so, is there a recommended set of parts to do so?

I would get the NXT brick itself, at least one but preferably two motors, and the touch sensor.

Obviously, you need a brain brick, but you also need a way for it to do something, thus the motors. And if you want to do anything particularly interesting, that doesn't need to be automatic functions only, you'll need a sensor to start different functions at the proper times and in the proper conditions.

You could expand a little by adding the motion detector, but mostly you just need an input, output, and brain.


What are the largest Technic-compatible tires on the market? I am looking for the largest LEGO wheels with tires available to build a nice-sized RC LEGO car.

Of course I will start with the simplest prototype, but I would like to achieve a design which will embed an automatic gear box and quite a large propulsion system. So the size of the wheels will be important.

Edit: The "Wheel 81.6x15" 2903 @Pubby8 found seem to be the biggest. But they are thin... Are there any other larger ones? Even 3rd party would be good.

Edit: @Joubarc & @Pubby8 found the biggest wheels but without tires I am still looking for 3rd party solutions before accepting an answer.

The largest wheels I know are these (I measured 110x63 mm, including tyres), but they are quite rare (only available in one single set):

Weels: 22969 "Wheel Technic Racing"
Tyres: 32298 "Tyre Power Puller"

The wheels itself are not that big, but if you include the tyres, they are really huge:

They would probably work really well for an RC car.


Use D output in 42099 (4X4 X-treme Off-Roader) set How I can use the D output for an additional motor in the 42099 set? Or how can I use a custom control skin?

At the time of writing this, it is not possible to use the Control+ hub and motors in any other configuration than the already existing preset ones. This situation is expected to change, but there are no promises regarding functionality or timeline from LEGO.


Help identifying/finding the part number of this piece? (maybe some kind of jackhammer?) I found this piece in a box of random Lego although I think it originally came from a set. It does have Lego written on the side but there is no part number. I thought it might be a jackhammer but I haven't been able to find a piece that looks like this on BrickLink or Brick Owl, maybe I was searching for the wrong thing. Does anyone know what it is/it's part number?

This is Part # 2516 : Minifigure, Utensil Tool Chainsaw Body with Handles and Studs


What is this light grey LEGO plate with six sides (hexagon)? I've been unable to find this specific piece's name, just for the reason that it is a very unorthodox piece.

Informally, it's known as the Nexogon.

Bricklink calls it "Plate, Modified 6 x 6 Hexagonal with Pin Hole". The part number is 27255. It's original use was as a shield in the Nexo Knights line in 2017, but it has appeared in a few other sets since then.

If you're interested in ways to use this part, New Elementary did a whole series of posts from different builders when it was first released. The unique shape and different connection families open up a lot of fun opportunities.


Have you ever seen this color of Teddy Bear? I found a Teddy Bear in transparent red color, have anyone ever seen this before? I'm just not sure where can I buy this guy.

Neither Bricklink nor Brickset knows about such a piece (all teddy bear pieces of this mold with downward arms come in non-transparent colours and are printed), so it must be either a knock-off (very low value), or a test mold (very high value).


What are some LEGO Christmas trees designs I can build? It's Christmas time, and I'd like to build a Christmas tree to add to my winter scenes. Unfortunately the large LEGO pine tree is a little small, and also doesn't offer much by way of decorating opportunity.

What are some larger (but not too large!) and nicer-looking Christmas tree designs I can build?

This is the design I created last year for the Winter Bash 2018 Building Competition.

It's very detailed and has many outward-facing studs to which decorations can be attached.

Here's some instructions for building the tree without decorations (note that many of the pieces are internal and do not have to be green).

(Click the image to view the instructions larger)

NOTE: In step 9, you will need to rotate some of the stems to avoid overlapping in order to attach them all.


What is the name of this part This part is usually used on the simple 4 wide car base mostly seen in city sets.
With making these simple cars, it sits on the sides, and provides a base under a 1x4 Panel pieces. 4 studs on the lower part, 1 higher stud on each side which touches with the fender pieces. Dimensions for this piece is 1x6x1.

BrickLink calls it Part 52501 Slope, Inverted 45 6 x 1 Double with 1 x 4 Cutout:


What does the 4 digit number embossed on my LEGO set represent? I have a Limited Edition LEGO set which has an embossed 4-digit (2755) number on the bottom. I'm curious to know what it is because I don't remember seeing one before. It would also be nice to know what the numbers under the barcode represent (118789 524)

If I had to guess I would say it was a unique number given to each set in the production line of the set.

That number is not a real number, it is a production code (in your case, 27S5) consisting of 2 digits indicating the week of the year the set was made (in this case, the 27th week), a letter indicating the region the box was made in/for (R = US/Canada, S = Europe, I believe) and the last digit is the last digit of the year the set was made in.

So you have a Gingerbread house made in 2015, in the 27th week of the year (June 29, 2015 - July 5, 2015), and it was produced in/for the European market.

These codes typically go on the seals/stickers closing a box, but in case of smaller boxes that are supposed to be pushed open, the code gets embossed into the package.

And just for comparison - all my Gingerbread houses have production code 31R5 (I'm in the US).

UPDATE 5/2/2016: Here is a list of all the plants referred to by the letter code:

H = Nyíregyháza, Hungary
R = Ciénega de Flores, Mexico
S = Kladno, Czech Republic
Q = Purkersdorf, Austria
B = Shenzhen, China (Not Confirmed)
M = Billund, Denmark (Not Confirmed)
O = Billund, Denmark (Not Confirmed)

Note: list attributed to GiliusThunderhead over at the BrickPicker.com forums.


Advice on where to start I've seen this (http://petapixel.com/2013/04/12/check-out-this-lego-slr-and-its-lego-camera-strap-and-lego-strobe/) and really want to build it but cannot find instructions anywhere.

I can see the obvious parts but where on earth would I start with the bits that are well hidden away? Has anyone got any ideas of how it could be done? Is it just a case of playing around and seeing or can someone provide elusive instructions that I've not been able to find. Before you ask, yes I have contacted the designer to no avail.

I don't have enough of the right colours to be able to play but guessing software can do that but does that produce a list of bricks I can then buy? Not played with it before.

I do not have much specific advice for the building of the model, but to get the pieces to physically create it, I can help with.

BrickLink will be the superior tool for you to be able to create this model yourself, and then buy the pieces for it. If you don't already have a BrickLink account, you can make one at this link:
Bricklink Registration

Stud.io Download
Once you have done so, click the above link and download their beta program "stud.io" which is a brick-building software that is very similar to Lego Digital Designer (a program originally released by TLG). It is more compatible with BrickLink than LDD, and you can link your BL account to stud.io.

Once you build a model in stud.io, you can easily upload it as a 'wanted-list' to your BL account that includes all the parts you need for your model that you created in stud.io. You can follow the steps on BL to get your parts in the most convenient fashion. I have found this to be cheaper and quicker than any other alternative (unless, of course, you have a massive collection of Lego pieces).

I hope that helps.


Is there a modern equivalent for windscreen piece 6152? For a creation I'm building, I am using a white windscreen piece (part ID 6152).

Looks like this piece was last produced in the late 1990's. Is there a modern equivalent that preserves this general shape?

The windscreen you mentioned has been retired, however you can still get it on BrickLink. It is available inexpensively in several colors: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6152

If you want to use a modern version, this wedge is pretty close in shape and is available in current sets: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=6153b

As a reference, here are all the LEGO windscreens LEGO ever made. You can browse them by year released and sets they appear in: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=P&catString=115

And here are all the wedge elements LEGO ever made. They tend to use these more often these days, most likely because of the stronger/thicker walls: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=P&catString=42


Unsure of how to use a switch that is time dependent Have been trying to make a line follower that can auto-correct itself if it would lose the line. The follower is supposed to turn around, go forward and catch the line if the line has not been detected for about two seconds.

Can this be done by using a switch block where my current program goes into the true slot and the auto-correct in the false slot?

You have not provided your programming language of choice, so I'll answer in pseudocode which can then be adapted to the specific environment.

It should be possible with the following construction:

do {
  if (on_line) {                 // this may be a variable you update periodically or a method to call every time
    last_time_line_seen = now()  // remember that we have seen the line at this time
    follow_line_as_usual()
  else {                         // if the line is currently lost
    if (now() - last_time_line_seen > 2_SECONDS) {
      turn_around_go_forward_catch_line()
    } else {                     // we are off the line but the two seconds have not passed yet
      do_something_else_like_go_forward()
    }
  }
  wait_some_time()               // optional, may not be needed
} while(stop_condition)          // if you have a stop condition

This works by storing the timestamp of the last known time when the line was seen, and checking if that was more than 2 seconds ago in the case the line is currently lost.

I haven't seen in your question what your robot should do if it has lost the line but the two seconds have not passed yet so feel free to fill that part with any behaviour.


Identify white element on back of Apple monitor Please help me identify this part - the white piece / pieces at the back? The instructions are no longer available and all i can find is this fuzzy picture. I can work out the rest, but this has baffled me. Thanks!

If I understand which part you are referring to, it looks like Hinge Plate 3 x 4 Locking Dual 2 Finger (44570) to me.

It's tough to tell for sure what it is connected to, but it is probably Hinge Plate 1 x 4 Locking Dual 1 Finger (44568)


Is the LEGO Midstorms EV3 software compatible with OS X Yosemite? OS X Yosemite (10.10) was just released yesterday. I want to upgrade, but I am worried that the EV3 software will be incompatible.

What should I do?

A. Upgrade

B. Stay on OS X Mavericks (10.9)

B. Stay with OS X Mavericks.  I can confirm that bluetooth no longer works with Yosemite. Spent two hours trying to make it work, but in vain.


EV3 software with large blocks I can't seem to find a download for home or education version of EV3 software that has the large white blocks for either macos 10.13 or 10.15 on my imac.
Can someone help?

I currently have that version on ipad but imac version Home 1.3.0 is slender blocks and not as cool.  This is for the ev3 education kit.

https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/mindstorms/downloads

Scroll a bit down and you'll find two apple icons.

The left one will work for macOS 10.15 (Catalina) or newer, and is with what you describe slender blocks. It's similar to the Scratch educational programming environment.
The software is "pre-release" so might still have some kinks in it.

The right one is the older software with the blocks you are used to.
HOWEVER it will NOT work on macOS 10.15 or later.

Rather than porting their existing application to 10.15, LEGO has decided to spend their resources on the new app. Unfortunate decision in my opinion.


How does one become a LEGO® Certified Professional? The LEGO Group's official website has a page speaking about the "LEGO® Certified Professional" designation that a person can earn. It states:

LEGO® Certified Professionals is a community-based program made up of adult LEGO hobbyists who have turned their passion for building and creating with LEGO bricks into a full-time or part-time profession.
LEGO Certified Professionals are not LEGO employees, but they are officially recognized by the LEGO Group as trusted business partners.
Each LEGO Certified Professional is selected for the program based on his or her:

Building proficiency
Enthusiasm for the LEGO brick and building system
Professional approach towards other LEGO fans and the broader public

What seems to be missing from this page is information on the exact process.
How does one become a LEGO® Certified Professional?

Is there an exam that someone can formally request to sit at a LEGO Store or corporate headquarters?
Is there a formal portfolio evaluation process?
Is one required to amass a certain number of course credits in engineering, design, polymer chemistry, and/or education?
Is the program invitation-only?

I did find an interesting article giving biographies of several LEGO® Certified Professionals, but it doesn't go into depth about how they specifically came to become certified. It mentions that "So if you are thinking about becoming a LEGO Certified Professional one day, it is a good idea to study their work and follow in their footsteps.", which isn't exactly helpful. If I want to become a physician, I need to be looking in to how to get admitted to medical school, not reading biographies of Galen and Jonas Salk.
I also found a testimonial of someone claiming to have earned the certification in 2010, and it consists of the author talking about how awesome the certification is and what they plan to do with it rather than explaining the process that they went through to earn it. This also makes me suspect that the requirements may be arcane or not well known.
Whether I, or anyone here, has or could ever achieve the level of skill required for the certification is not part of the question - the question is how one could try, even if the result is failure - rejected portfolios, failing exam scores, eternal banishment to Ice Planet 2002, etc.

First of all, there needs to be an opening for one, which typically means LEGO feels they need more Certified Professionals in a particular region.

The most-recent opening was last November and was presumably filled in December. For this most-recent one, LEGO had a posting on their website where people could apply, and they made a small announcement to fan communities via their ambassador program.

Assuming this is how future certified professionals get selected, basically becoming a certified professional means applying to an opening in the program, and getting accepted (I strongly suspect anything beyond the initial application is protected by an NDA).

Unfortunately, I don't know what specifically was asked from potential applicants to the most-recent opening, but if you are interested in perhaps applying you should be on the lookout for future openings. In the mean time, consider joining some RLUGs or RLOCs and making some connections, to gain a reputation as a builder and perhaps be recommended to apply when there is an opening.


Can you ID this part? I am trying to id the three grey bars on the left-hand side of the image.

Any ideas?

Many thanks.

It's 32294 Wishbone Suspension Arm:

This is listed as part x136 on Bricklink.


Do you know which series or set this sticker is from? Can you identify the series for this sticker? Or even better, do you know which set it is from?

Welcome. This is part 52031pb093 - Wedge 4 x 6 x 2/3 Triple Curved with Gold and Silver Ring Ornament on Dark Green Pattern (Sticker) which comes from set 76006 Iron Man: Extremis Sea Port Battle from 2013.


Difference between The Lego Group and LEGO Systems A/S I am not sure what LEGO is called currently.  Is it still The LEGO Group or is it LEGO Systems A/S or is it both?  What is the difference between them?

LEGO explains its ownership here https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/lego-group/ownership.
Also available from that page is the annual reports. Last year's annual report has a list of all the various subsidiary names by country (see last page of https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/lego-group/annual-report/). It appears 'LEGO Systems A/S' is the company name for the Denmark arm. So there are a lot of names and nuances and it depends in what context you want to refer to it - and how exact you need to be. The LEGO Group would be the right name to use in most fan (rather than business/legal) contexts.


Help me figure out what sets these minifigs belong to! I was given a huge box of LEGO bricks from my neighbor and these are the last men I can't figure out what sets they come from.  If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated!

Numbering your minifigures 1 to 19 by going from left to right, top row first, I see the following:

gen035 - Skeleton with Round Brick Head (Ninjago Bowling Pin) from set 2519 Skeleton Bowling.

Same as 1
Same as 1
oct027 - Octan - Racing, Blue Legs, Blue Helmet 4 Stars & Strips, Trans-Light Blue Visor from set 9293 Community Workers. Note that the minifig head in this figure is not correct in your image - it was likely swapped out by the previous owner.

The torso is 973pb0510 - Torso SW Armor Clone Trooper Pattern (Clone Wars). There are several minifigs that have this torso, including 8 with white arms and black hands. A full list is located here: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=973pb0510&in=M
Not LEGO.
Not LEGO.
Torso is 973px83 Torso SW Dark Gray Shirt, Belt with Red Buckle Pattern (Padme), which belongs to sw025 Padme Naberrie from one of two sets from 1999: 7131 - Anakin's Podracer or 7171 - Mos Espa Podrace. Note that the arms must have been swapped out by the previous owner as the original minifig had blue arms.

Either njo007 Kai (missing his headscarf) or njo052 Kendo Kai (missing his Kendo gear). Appear in 7 sets from 2011/2012.
sw258 - Hoth Officer (with another minifig's head on top). From set 8083 Rebel Trooper Battle Pack.

cc4066 Actor 1. From polybag 4066 - Actor 1, released in 2001.

njo013 - Lord Garmadon (Ninjago). Could also be one of 2 other Lord Garmadon minifigs (with different gear). Part of several Ninjago sets from 2011.
Not LEGO.
Not LEGO.
Not LEGO
sw401 Imperial AT-ST Driver from set 9679 - AT-ST & Endor.

The torso is 973pb0318c01 Torso Speed Racer Pullover Open Collar, Diagonal Wrinkles Pattern / Blue Arms / Light Flesh Hands from the Speed Racers theme. The legs do not belong to this torso. Torso belongs to sr001 Speed Racer, Blue Pullover from set 8158 - Speed Racer & Snake Oiler from 2008.

Another likely Castle related torso that I haven't been able to identify yet. Seems to have a sticker on it.
Thanks to Samuel L.(!), this torso is 973px67c01 Torso Police Vest, White Shirt, ID, Yellow Star Badge Pattern / White Arms / Yellow Hands. It was part of 11 minifigures in the Classic Town theme, and those minifigures appeared in 18 sets.


How much is Sheriff's Lockup #6755 worth? I have set #6755, Sheriff's Lockup.  What's an estimated value without the minifig?

Set 6755 is basically an older version of set 6764. There are several listings on that page missing all the minifigs - they seem to go for ~$40 (or at least those are the current asking prices).


How to overcome a roller coaster track gap of a length of 1 or 2? I'm creating a roller coaster MOC with a looping based on the Creater Expert set #10261. All track pieces have a length of 8 or 16. However due to my looping I have an offset of 6. To reconnect my track with the starting point I therefore have a gap of 2 somewhere.
I played a bit and created a construction that might work (at least with 3 or more vehicles):

But I'm still not happy with this solution.
I'm wondering what might be the best way to overcome this gap?
Does there probably already exist any brick that can be used?
Update:
The Plate, Modified 1x2 with Bar Handles does not work, for the vehicles get stuck on the studs. However the tip with the bar was good! I found the Pneumatic T Piece First Version (T Bar). Together with a Hinge Brick 1 x 2 Base and Top this might work:

However I do not own the Pneumatic T Piece First Version (T Bar) and cannot test it. I wonder if the hinges will not "hinge without permission"?

Here's what I came up with:

The key element I used is the hose nozzle (60849):

I opted not to use hinges to try to create as rigid of a connection as I could. Here's the build:

This seemed to work fine in the small amount of testing I did, but it does require a bit of careful adjusting to get everything aligned properly initially.


Education EV3 Software Site Licence - installation on teachers computers? WE've recently purchased some mindstorms ev3 education sets plus the site licence of the Software.
in Switzerland many teachers do their preparations at home, so my question is, am I allowed to install the software on a computer at home or a notebook which is not constantly located at the school adress? It's really a Problem for us if that's not possible ...
Thanks for your answer

You can check out
https://education.lego.com/nl-nl/educationdownloads/productpage/?AccessLink=985ff951-4b98-467d-9f16-687487a43784&ignorereferer=true

I think this is were you can find the student version, quite similar to the teachers version.


How can I find out what parts are in a Lego set? I am building an inventory of all my LEGO pieces and I am looking for a website that can give the pieces in a set with only the set number. It would be easier if there was information for many LEGO sets with the full inventory. I also will need to have a file of all LEGO parts.

Here are the options that I'm aware of along with some basic pros and cons:

Rebrickable

Rebrickable provides set inventories for nearly all sets. It includes sets from all time, and is still being updated as new sets come out. Rebrickable also provides all set inventories for offline use via its download page.

Bricklink Inventory Reference

Bricklink probably provides the most complete and up to date set inventory data. These inventories are also very detailed and include extra parts, sticker sheets, etc. If you are a seller on Bricklink, you can also part out sets into your inventory which could be useful to you at some point.

Brickset / Lego.com

TLG provides nearly complete inventories for sets online via the replacement parts page. You can use this to get part information from your sets, but the interface is lacking because this isn't really what the page is meant for.

Brickset provides this same part data in a format which is much better for viewing. Simply search for a set and use the "Parts" tab to view contents if they are available.

These resources have a couple of downsides:

They only include relatively new sets.
Set inventories aren't as complete as Peeron or Bricklink.

Peeron

This site is great for old sets, but it isn't updated anymore.


Alternative builds with Star Wars LEGO sets I currently own these LEGO Star Wars sets:

LEGO Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter 9493
LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon 7965
LEGO Star Wars Tie Fighter 9492
LEGO Star Wars Emperor Palpatine's Shuttle (8096)
LEGO Star Wars Slave 1 (8097)
LEGO Star Wars Anakin's & Sebulba's Podracers 7962
LEGO Star Wars AT-RT 75002
LEGO Star Wars 9496 Desert Skiff
LEGO Star Wars 9498 Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter
LEGO Star Wars Rancor Pit 75005
LEGO Star Wars Luke's Landspeeder (8092)
LEGO Star Wars 9516 Jabba's Palace
LEGO Star Wars 9515 The Malevolence
Lego Star Wars Geonosian Starfighter 7959

I would like to know if there are alternative builds/sets I can make with some or all of them?

My goal is to build something else with what I have that is Star Wars related.

Thanks

There is a website, http://rebrickable.com/, that lets you enter the sets you have, and it compares the inventories to other sets to determine which other official sets you can build with those pieces. It also includes unofficial MOCs that other builders have submitted, and it will substitute other part colors if you choose.

For example, just entering the first six sets on your list, it suggested a mid-sized (360 piece) TIE Interceptor MOC (http://rebrickable.com/mocs/anincompoop25/tie-interceptor) for which you already have all of the pieces.


Part Identification - bricks with posts I have two unusual lego pieces that came from a collection of used legos that mostly seem to date from the 1970's that I am unable to identify using LDraw's ldfind app. What are these parts, and if known, what sort of sets might they have come from?

The red one is a 2x6 plate with only two knobs on the top of the plate, with a triangular post with that is about three bricks tall with one knob on top of the post. The bottom of this brick says "Pat. pend" and has A and 1 designations.

The black one is a 2x4 brick that looks like a wheel brick with holes on the sides that might be for wheels, except on top there is a tall post and two short knobs. The bottom of this brick says "Pat. pend" and has E and 4 inside the circles. It sort of looks like a technic post, but thicker.

The black piece is part of a steering mechanism, part of 377-2: Crane With Float Truck. Here it is on BrickLink.

Like Windfire says, the red part is a direction switcher. You can see the switch on the side of the battery car.


Chandelier with candles I want to make a hanging chandelier with candles.
The centerpiece is Technic Knob Cog .
My initial thought was to design it just like the Big Ben Church bells (step 278).
However, I don't think that technic pin with bar extension will interface correctly with the technic knob cog as I think it needs an axle to hold it right? So I guess I need a way to hang a short vertical axle from a very long horizontal axle (or set of connected horizontal axles).

I'll confess - my inspiration for that element in my answer to your 4 candles question came from set 10273 - Haunted House which uses it for exactly that purpose - instructions are here (180MB), it's on page 119:

It uses a Technic, Axle 5 with stop to hold the knob cog up, and it's inserted into a Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Angled #1 that's hanging from a beam made from Axle Connectors 2L (Smooth) and Axle 2 Notched.


What is the battery life of the new Mindstorms and SPIKE Prime hubs? The new Mindstorms v4 and SPIKE Prime hubs include a 2100mAh Lithium-ion battery. How long is it expected to last when running a program?

Power consumption and battery life will of course vary based on the load that the hub is driving. Philo has an extensive analysis for motor power consumption, so I'll just look at what the hub itself consumes while running a program to come up with a baseline battery life estimate.
I've uploaded a test Python program to my hub that gently blinks a heartbeat LED:
import hub,utime
while True:
    hub.led(0,0,10)
    utime.sleep_ms(500)
    hub.led(0,0,0)
    utime.sleep_ms(500)

In order to measure the current draw, I first wired up the battery to the hub with the battery outside the hub:

I then connected a basic multimeter up in series with the hub as a current sensor:

We can see that the Hub with the simple program running consumes about 150mA of current. Assuming ideal usage of the included 2100mAh battery, the hub should be able to run for approximately 2100mAh / 150mA = 14 hours while not driving any peripherals.
Peripherals such as motors (and even the LED display) quickly dwarf the power consumption of the hub itself, but under normal usage we should expect to see several hours of battery life.


What is this EV3 controlling app What is this EV3 controling app that is used here:

https://youtu.be/Sjix76QjtMU?t=1m43s

The link in the video is broken but I could find it on the Google Play store.

It looks like it is called Mindstorms Custom Controller.


NXT or EV3 gyro sensor Do NXTs or EV3s have gyro sensors or built-in gyro sensors? How can I know the direction of the robot?

LEGO doesn't make a gyro sensor for NXT, but Hitechnic sells a gyro third party product and Mindsensors has a combo gyro/accelerometer/compass (IMU). Both can be used with EV3, and LEGO also has a gyro sensor, included in the Education kit


What is the largest Lego kit commercially available? I believe the Imperial Star Destroyer is the biggest in terms of size, at 58.8 cm by 50.5 cm by 21 cm, and the Death Star in the number of pieces, at 3803. Are there any newer, bigger models?

In 2008, LEGO released an exclusive Creator model of the Taj Mahal, with 5922 pieces, the most in a commercial LEGO set.

It is no longer available at the LEGO Shop, but it's still commercially available from other retailers. Here's its Amazon product page.


How to start with technic? I have bought myself the technic set 9393 Tractor. I really like the model and I want to dig deeper into the Lego technic universe. I am not focused in building pre-designed models (although I enjoy it, and it would be  a plus), but I want to have a decent set of technic parts, such that I can build models on my own. So what is the best way to get a basic set of bricks:

Buying some sets and take the parts from the sets? (rather buy a big set, or several small ones?)
Buying used parts as bulk?
Are there non-model technic sets, similar to the traditional Lego, for which they have door sets, wheels sets etc. ?

I know this question might be a bit broad. So let me add that I am not necessarily want to build motorized models right away. Also, I do not plan to build huge models, more in the size of the 9393 model.

Here are the two things that I would recommend:

Get yourself a big set if you have the budget for it. These will have a large variety of pieces and once you've built the models from the instructions you'll have a good understanding of a lot of different building techniques.
Watch eBay or similar sites for large lots of Technic parts by the pound. These can be a little hit or miss, but the price per piece is far lower than most other ways of buying parts. Keep in mind that prices tend to be higher around the holidays.

There used to parts packs for Technic like what you are describing, but I believe they were removed now that pretty much everything is available from Pick-A-Brick. You can also get any parts that you want from bricklink.com, and if you don't mind used parts, this can be a pretty affordable option.


What set(s) is this piece from? What set is this from, or what is the piece number?

This is
Part # 45301pb023 : Wedge 16 x 4 Triple Curved with SW V-wing Starfighter Pattern (Sticker)
It appears in
7915: Imperial V-wing Starfighter


Purchase of large blocks in South Africa I have thousand's of small-single, two and four blocks but sometimes need to build larger structures and thus, would like to know were in South Africa I can
purchase these larger blocks without all the smaller blocks

There are some BrickLink stores that operate in South Africa. You should be able to get from them whatever you need. Here is the list of stores:  http://www.bricklink.com/browseStores.asp?countryID=ZA


What is an effective way to clean clear LEGO bricks? What kind of cleaning products are good and safe to remove smudges and finger prints off clear LEGO parts? Normally I would just use the Clorox wipes. The parts in question are 1x2x2 panels in clear plastic.

Almost all LEGO can be washed with dish soap and warm water (Do not use dish washer soap though, it sometimes contains grit to help grind off dried food. This will scratch your bricks)

Second best option is windex, which isn't too bad for plastics.

I would advise against clorox wipes though. I believe they contain bleach, which while is great for getting things clean, it will react with the ABS plastic.

I tried bleaching some old lego a number of years back, and I soaked the bricks for a day or two and I found that, while they wer very clean, they also slightly expanded as a result of reacting with the bleach. They are very sticky, and are hard to separate now. Additionally, they seem a little harder and less flexible.

Note that this occurred after being immersed in a water bleach mixture for extended time. One swipe of bleach will probably not have much effect, but it shows that it does react with the plastic, so that is why I suggest against it.

Warm water and dish soap cures most problems.


What is the quickest way to weed out compatible bricks from loose LEGO? When I buy LEGO in bulk, I often find that there are at least a few clone brand bricks mixed in with them. What is the quickest way to weed out these non-LEGO parts?

My puny brain can only come up with one method: One Piece At A Time.

Check for the LEGO logo somewhere. Sometimes it's hard to find. On the Brick, Round 1 x 1 with Fins it's on the bottom of one of the fins.

Seems that most of the time there are minor, yet obvious, mold differences. Some brands, like Kre-O have an indent on one or more studs.

I have recently sorted some headlight bricks and 1x1 bricks with one stud on the side and found that there are many variations on those, including whether or not the stud has a through hole, or whether or not the 'back' of the brick is solid or open.

Often enough, the plastic will simply feel wrong.


Can someone please identify this 2x2 round dome part with 1 stud for us? We're trying to identify the middle part in this picture. We would appreciate any help we can get.

It looks like a Round 2 x 2 Dome Top (553b) brick with a Round 1 x 1 (98138) transparent tile.


Different surface roughness of tiles. Quality issue? Recently, I filled a PAB cup in the nearest LEGO store. Among other parts, I also took a lot of light bluish grey 2x2 tiles. The following image shows some of these:

However, reflected light reveals that the surface of the tiles can be quite different. This image (same parts as above) shows that there are obviously two types of tiles. One with a really smooth surface, with the stud ring on the underside visible from above. And one with a rough surface similar to brushed metal:

I am a bit surprised to see LEGO products with their sub-micrometer precision molds showing such behaviour. Are different production lines mixing here? Have you experienced other parts with different properties that should be the same?

Update:

Alexander O'Mara suggested to examine the underside, and indeed there are some patterns. First, the smooth tiles:

Now the "brushed" tiles:

You notice the groove above the word LEGO on the smooth tiles that the brushed tiles don't have. The number 3068 is of course the same on both. There is a lot number (?) in the format XX-YY with YY being underlined.

The smooth tiles all have XX-57 with varying XX (right hand side), the brushed tiles all have XX-49 with varying XX (lower side, next to the "3068").

So, what does that mean?

EDIT:

One observation: inside the bottom tube, the surface shows a structure in the smooth tiles, but no structure in the "brushed" tiles. This could mean that the 3068 tile consists of two pieces that are hot-glued together in the process: One part covering the upper surface and sides, and another piece with the bottom tube and inside. The upper, covering part (from which small pieces are stamped out) may itself have an upper and lower side with slightly differing roughness. Maybe the production process doesn't prefer which side is up, so sometimes a rough side can be seen, and sometimes not. This is only a theory.

Can someone point towards an answer?

From TLG Customer Service (emphasis added by me for one possible explanation):

  I truly appreciate that you sent this to us so that we could see the variation
  in the parts. Being able to see the numbers on the inside was very
  helpful!

  We haven't had any reports about quality issues with this element for
  any of the pressings. I've actually taken the link you provided and,
  as you know, the LEGO® Quality Team takes the quality of our products
  very seriously, and our team will now be able to look at these images
  in the post and make further evaluations. It could be that the mould
  was changed and the new mould hasn't worn smooth yet but I can't say
  for certain that that would be the cause of the variation in the
  texture on the top of the tile.

  Please make sure the user doesn't delete the post so that our Quality
  Team can take a look.

  Thank you again for passing this important post along to us. We really
  appreciate it!


Lego Escher structures How are these done? Is it trick photography? With some kind of giveaway background it should be obvious, but I notice they are not us telling that.

The first photo on this page shows the model Andrew Lipson made.

The photo is taken under a such angle in respect that the different parts line up in the photo, to get the desired effect.

"Waterfall" used a combination of specifically angled photographs, coupled with some post processing to remove the overlapping elements:

  OK, let's come clean. We actually resorted to photographic manipulation for this one. [...] The final image was constructed by very carefully overlaying portions of the left image with the corresponding portions from the right. Yes, it's dirty. We couldn't see how else to do it. Sorry.


Why is my LDD model incomplete after I export it to LDraw? I have an LDD model that I exported to an LDraw file. When I opened it in LDView, only part of it was displayed.

It looks like some parts were not exported properly. Is it normal? Why does it happen?

This in not a LDView problem, but a conversion issue between LDD and LDraw. Only parts present in both libraries will be displayed. Moreover, the file (ldraw.xml) that defines the correspondance between parts of both systems must be up to date. Latest version of this mapping file is available here.


Are both of these fences made by Lego? I have a group of 1 x 4 x 2 fences (Lego part 3633) in black, light bluish gray, and yellow.

However only a few of them say "Lego" on the bottom. These have hollow bottom pins (see picture below, right side).  The others do not say Lego or have a part number. They have solid bottom pins (see picture below, left side).

Normally I can feel the difference between Lego and non-Lego parts. But the parts with the solid pins have a Lego feel. Also the yellow ones are the same shade of yellow as my Legos and not the shade of MegaBloks I have.

Is it possible these solid pin fences are really Lego? Or have I been fooled?

I've got some of the left-hand side version with the solid pins and no markings in red.
They are most definitely original Lego as I never owned any non-Lego parts.
I'm fairly certain they came with the 1978 firetruck set nr. 620.


I have set from Agents theme yet the database doesn't contain my set I started to sort my LEGO when I realized that I still have most of one of the set I bought so I tried to search the net for the set name. However, the database of LEGO wiki and BrickSet didn't have anything resembling my set. I have come here to get help from any LEGO experts to identify my LEGO set. I am almost 100% sure that it's not a fake LEGO set.


How do I connect a LEGO wheel to axles so it can be powered? I have a growing LEGO collection, which started with a lot of parts from the generic 10697-1 'LEGO Classic Large Creative Box' set. Sometime later, I bought a bunch of wheels, part numbers being: 55981 and 6014.

My question is, how do I connect these wheels to axles (e.g., 3706) in such a way that the wheel can be driven by power functions (e.g., by a LEGO motor/servo)?

Normally when wheels are powered using an axle they have an axle hole, whereas your wheels have a pin hole, and a 3mm mini pin hole.

So you should probably buy some wheels with axle holes anyhow, for future building.

However, in the meantime, there are tricks to driving parts which use a pin hole, for example, a lego 55981.

You simply use either this, or this and this

There is also a 2L pin version here or a 2L axle version here

There are other clever ways to do it too but this should be enough to get you started. I am not familiar with a way to drive the other wheels you mentioned
unless I have forgotten a way, these are not really designed to be driven at all nor easy to be driven because they have a 3mm 'mini' pin hole, which fits into a 3mm 'mini' pin.

The reason I say 'clever' is because these friction pins act as clutches, if there is not enough torque required to drive the wheels then they will slip and rotate independently of the wheel.

If there is sufficient torque then they will grip the wheels pinhole and drive it.

This has both positive and negative effects depending on what you're doing.


What proportion of LEGO Technic parts are specialised in a given kit? I do not have any Technic kits. I'm not even a LEGO user. However I am interested to know the following:
In a typical Technic kit, how many of the parts are standard Technic pieces and how many parts are unique to a given kit at the time of its release?
P.S. I am not sure whether Technic "pieces" are still called "bricks".

In response to comments
It appears there is no general rule for this, therefore I will ask about a specific kit, namely 42100:

Building the Largest LEGO Technic Excavator! - Liebherr R 9800
https://youtu.be/KPHkrSZ7SSk

The kit is built live (speeded up) on the video so I believe the parts will be visible and identifiable to an expert.
I don't want a precise mathematical description, just an approximate proportion or count that can identified in this kit.

For the 42100 specifically:
https://www.newelementary.com/2019/12/lego-technic-review-42100-liebherr-r.html
Since links are discouraged as them being ephemeral, here's the two most relevant pictures:
New parts:

Existing parts in new color:

In the first picture, the bucket is exclusive to the set, the other parts have been re-used in a couple of smaller sets.
In the second picture, except top left and bottom right, these parts are also very new in other sets, they were introduced in the 2020 Spike Prime educational set (a set with programmable components, similar to Mindstorms)
I would say this number of new parts is fairly typical of all flagship Technic sets.


Replacement power cable for Mindstorms RCX I have an old Mindstorms 1.5 RCX.

The plastic on the power cables has degraded, and they short out and don't work well.

These look like they would work as replacements, but I'm not exactly sure. I contacted the seller but they didn't respond.

Will these work as replacement RCX power cables?

The cables you point out are newer Power Function cables and are ill-suited for 9V usage such as with the original Mindstorms kits. Technically, you could daisy-chain two of them and it would work, but that's probably not the best solution.

Here is a bigger illustration of the cable, courtesy Philo:

You can clearly see that only one end of the cable has a 9V connector on the bottom.

I would advise you to check Bricklink instead, you should find plenty of seller there, possibly in your own country.


What is LEGO MINDSTORMS? I have heard of LEGO MINDSTORMS, and wondered what it is for the longest time. What is it? What can you do with it?

LEGO MINDSTORMS is the brand name for a series of robotic toys produced by the LEGO Systems A/S.

The kits are centered around a programmable brick - a micro controller in a LEGO compatible housing that can be integrated LEGO products.

The kits include software that allow the user to write programs to command the brick to control motors and read data from sensors attached to the programmable brick. In other words, you can use it to create interactive LEGO models.

With some imagination and determination, you can do just about anything with it. Do a web search and you will find more examples of what other have done with their MINDSTORMS than I could possibly list.


What are some helpful techniques for applying stickers? It can be tricky to place small stickers accurately on small parts using adult-sized hands. The best technique I've found so far is to remove the sticker and stick it on the corner of the sticker sheet so that I can position the sticker above the part without my fingers getting in the way. Still, though, it can be difficult to center the sticker perfectly, and when the margin between the sticker and the edge of the part is small, tiny inaccuracies are easily noticeable.

What are the most effective techniques for applying stickers accurately?

For a rectangular sticker on a rectangular surface, I usually try to center it between two sides and align it along the top.  This does cause the problem of centering the sticker up and down.

If I really care about the proper alignment, I use the end of a small knife blade to place the stickers properly.  Just stick a corner of the sticker to the tip of the blade, align and stick.  This has the added advantage that when you begin to place the sticker, the knife is still underneath and will allow you to remove it and try again if you miss.


What are all the different third-party accessories that I can get for an RCX? What are all the different third-party accessories that I can get for an RCX?

About 8 to 10 years ago there was more RCX-compatible sensors makers on the web.  Today, I don't think we'll find them unless we dig into the Internet Archive.

It looks like Techno-Stuff is still making some RCX-compatible components.  Also, Mindsensors was making RCX-compatible components also but I couldn't find links to them through their website main page (It might be discontinued).  You can probably still buy some through eBay.  Here are two of their RCX compatible products:

UltraSonic Proximity Detector v2
Motor powered Sharp GP2D12 infrared distance sensor interface


Help identify mystery piece and set it could go to More mystery parts from the bags of LEGO pieces we bought.  I can't find a LEGO symbol on it.  Is it a LEGO part or some other brand?

This would be a Crane Bucket - Complete Assembly (Top, Jaws, Spring).
It could have come from any of 29 sets from 1974 to 2012.


Any way to get the current motor position or angle in WeDo 2 (when accessing hub via BLE protocol)? I have managed to write a small C# program that lets me play around with the WeDo 2 hub. I can read sensor values or set the speeds of up to two connected WeDo motors independently (I am aware that Lego says that this is not a good idea). The program is slightly similar to what is being done on this link, just (so far) more ugly and less sophisticated. For reading the sensor values, I got some really useful hints from this German-language article.
Anyway, this means it is now almost possible to build a remote controlled car with steering. The only thing that is missing is some way to verify that the steering is in neutral position. For this, it would be practical to have some way to read the current motor position (or angle) and/or to tell the motor to go to a certain position (or angle).
I have tried this:

I have tried using some of the commands mentioned in this piece of documentation. However, none of them worked, except plain StartPower(Power). Given that the Guids mentioned in the document were not particularly helpful when trying to make the WeDo 2 hub work as expected, this document may not be very relevant here.

I have tried reading sensor values, but I did not get any values for the port that the motor is plugged into. For the two "real" WeDo sensors, one has to perform an initialization before they provide values. I do not know if or how it is possible to initialize the motor in order to provide its current position or angle.

I have tried using the LegoDeviceSdk. But this does not seem to offer anything beyond "turn with power X" either.

Any ideas how I could get a motor position, or make the motor rotate to a desired position?

Based on the answer to this question and some experiments with other hubs and other motors today (Boost hub + Boost motor + small PoweredUp hub), it seems that the WeDo motors really lack any ability beyond "Run with power X". Given that the WeDo motor is the same model that is built into the Bat Mobile, I would expect that the PoweredUp app would offer more functions for this motor if the motor was capable of them.


What set is this piece from? I got this in a random lot with lot of pieces from 2001 sets. If you depress the black square on the side, it makes an auditory noise like a siren, but warbled, like in old sci-if movies.
The body is white, except for the button, and the top is that radioactive orange that Lego doesn't make anymore.
Also, only part stamp on it is H1. The lego stamp has no year.

It's a bb42 "Electric, Light & Sound Siren 4 x 2 x 4 Jack Stone"

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=bb42&in=S

and in that colour it came in the Police HQ set 4611
http://brickset.com/sets/4611-1


How large is the face of a 2x2 45º brick? I am attempting to make a decal for a roof tile, sort of like the computer face on certain bricks of the type. However, as there appears to be no template, how large is the face of a 2x2 45º brick?

The sloped face of the 2x2 brick is 16mm across by about 11.3mm tall.


Can I change the firmware on a Retail EV3 Intelligent brick to the Educational version? The LEGO Mindstorms EV3 comes in both educational and retail versions. The educational version differs in bricks, sensors, a rechargable battery and datalogging capability.

I would like to know can I change the firmware on the EV Intelligent brick to supporting datalogging?

And does this mean I need to buy and install educational version of software on my PC?

There are indeed two versions of the firmware to support the two sets of capabilities of the EV3 Brick, both currently at version 1.3/1.03:

EV3 Firmware V1.03*H*.bin - The current "Home" edition.
EV3 Firmware V1.03*E*.bin - The current "Education" edition.

From what I've seen, you should be able to use either firmware on the bricks, however to get access to the data logging features you would also need to use the Education version of the software as well:

  LEGO MINDSTORMS Education EV3 Software includes:

  Data logging capabilities so students can log and analyse real-time sensor values.


Pneumatic pistons getting sticky My sons "9641 Pneumatics Add on Set" now suffers from stiction.

How can this be fixed? Can it be cleaned? Is there a recommended lubricant?

In this discussion at LUGNET the conclusion seems to be that you could use dry graphite if you are comfortable with graphite powder everywhere. Else you should try lithium grease or canola oil.

There is also a serious warning about using hydrocarbon oils that could damage the rubber seals inside pistons and the rubber air tubes.

One poster also noted that stiff pneumatic cylinders can be unstuck by moving them by hand for a while. This definitely does worth a shot before trying to add any kind of "foreign" material such as oil.


Can someone please help me ID these parts? I'm trying to recreate this small creation, but don't have a parts list:

Going from top down, here are my best guesses, but I'm not very good at this:

2654 (Black) Plate, Round 2 x 2 with Rounded Bottom (Boat Stud)
4623 (Yellow) Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Arm Up (Horizontal Arm Length 6mm), qty 2
30151 (Yellow) Brick, Round 2 x 2 x 1 2/3 Dome Top

I don't have any good guesses at to what the next two parts are. The "stem" looks almost like a 18654 Technic, Pin Connector Round 1L, but they aren't available in yellow. Whatever it is, it connects to that 2 x 2 round plate that I can't ID either. The bottom piece I'm guessing is a:

4150 (Yellow) Tile, Round 2 x 2

Can anyone help me ID these parts more definitively? Thanks!

Pretty sure the piece directly under the Dome Top is just a 1x1 round brick, then a standard 2x2 round plate...


Which set is this black LEGO Technic car with skull and fire stickers? Please help me to identify the LEGO set. Thanks!

This car looks like the secondary/alternative model from set# 8167, "Jump Riders":


Can ScratchJr work with WeDo 2.0? Now that ScratchJr is available on the tablet.

Is it possible to use it to control a WeDo 2.0 robot?


Send variable to EV3 via WiFi I'm trying to connect my EV3 via Wifi to my Unity game. Is there a simple way to send a command to the EV3?

I gave the EV3 a fixed IP and I'm getting the broadcast which the device is sending. So there is a connection. Can I send a variable or something to my EV3?

First, you need to learn how to make a TCP connection to your EV3. There is a good guide on this here.

Then you need to learn about EV3 VM bytecodes and how to send direct commands.

Since you are using Unity, you may be able to use a pre-existing library such as the MonoBrick Communication Library or the Brian Peek library.

To send a variable, you need to use mailbox commands along with "Messaging" blocks in the EV3-G software.


What is a good ratio to buy bricks in? I want to add to my collection by buying an assortment of 2x4,2x2,1x2, and 1x1 bricks in a variety of colors. I want these to be general purpose bricks, primarily for sculptures and buildings.

What is a good ratio for parts? For example, should I buy mostly 2x4s or 2x2s? What colors are used the most?

Colours

It's difficult to tell which colours are used the most. I have six different colours of bricks that are I'd consider essential for every day city building:

(Monochrome) Black & White
(Primary) Red, Green & Blue
(Secondary) Yellow

I chose these six colours because they are  commonly sold in buckets and tubs and are widely available. They tend to have the best brick to price ratio around and they are also very versatile, you can build most models out of these six colours. They also happen to be the only six colours that can be recognised by a NXT/EV3 colour sensor.

As your collection builds, you get a better idea about what kind of things you like to build. A builder specialising in medieval models would probably find colours like grey and brown essential.

Bricks

A good ratio of parts is variable depending on your needs.

Say for example I wanted to build a the wall in the image below, I'd require 40 1x2s and 8 1x1s. That would be a ratio of five 1x2's for every 1x1.

Of course, this isn't going to apply to everything you build, you'll need to make an educated guess based on what creation you're trying to make.


What's the deal with the single-type-of-piece bags on Amazon? While looking for current Lego offers on Amazon, I was surprised to see loads of offers such as:

10x Lego inverted slope 2x2 dark red
8x Lego plate 4x6 new dark grey
40x Lego Technic pin long with stop black
40x Lego plate 1x2 light gray
25x Lego brick 2x2 new brown

and so on.
It seems quite some of those parts come in ... peculiar colours, such as lime green or lots of browns, but I may be mistaken and this might change day by day.
What are those offers?

Is that vendors who buy loads of original Lego sets, put the individual parts into larger bags of 5 to 50 pieces, and then sell them and somehow have a little revenue margin?
Is that vendors that somehow get large quantities of the same pieces from Lego (e.g. through channels that allow toy stores to build up some custom scenery around the actual sets in showcases if there is such a thing) and then resell packs of such pieces?
Or are those offers not for Lego pieces at all, but for some rip-off that fakes the brand logo on the studs?

I think it's really hard to tell for sure without actually making a couple of orders and seeing what arrives. What I can say is that it appears that they are selling at a HUGE markup over similar parts available on Bricklink. (A quick check shows an average markup of 600% over BL on several lots)
I would guess that either the first, third, or some combination of those two guesses is likely to be the case here. Since secondary markets like BrickLink and BrickOwl are somewhat niche sites maybe the seller(s) are taking advantage of people unaware of them and selling at a very good profit to a larger market. Additionally since Ali Baba, Ebay, and Amazon tend to have a large number of counterfeit sets available these sellers may be able to get away with selling all or a mixture of counterfeit parts to increase their margins.
As for your second guess, there are programs that The LEGO Group makes available to organizations of various sorts to acquire large numbers of pieces at fairly reasonable prices however they do tend to monitor the secondary market fairly closely for evidence the parts from those programs are being resold so, while certainly still possible, it is less likely the parts are being sourced that way.
Again though, it is nearly impossible to tell simply from the advertised lots without actually making a purchase to verify what you would get.


Automating rotation of a block on a track How do I rotate a block 180 degrees after an item (like a car or train) passes a certain point in a track?

Here's an idea for converting the movement of a moving train to rotational motion track side. This is shown in set 6991:

The mechanism in this case is a tire hanging from a universal joint so that it engages the train without interfering too much:

This core idea could be mechanically adapted for other purposes, such as the 180 degree rotation that you are looking for.


Sort the program list on EV3 When uploading a project to the EV3 brick, is there a way to control the sorting order of the programs on the brick?

E.g:
Prog_1
Prog_2
Prog_3
...

When playing a robot match in FLL one often needs to start a number of programs in a pre defined order, but we are unable to sort the program list. Resulting in much time waisted looking for the correct program.

Not without hacking the firmware, which would be against FLL rules.

One solution I have seen many teams use it to only write one program. This program has it's own menu (that you have to make yourself as part of the program) that calls subprograms (presumably saved as My Blocks).


Which Lego Set Is This, large white and tan walls, blue base plates? I picked up a few loose sets. No instructions. Any help appreciated.

That looks like the Taj Mahal (10189):

The instructions from Lego.com are easily found on Brickset under the instructions tab. It's a beautiful set if you have all of the pieces. Good luck!


What color has been produced in the highest volume? What color makes up the highest percentage of LEGO elements produced since ABS plastic was introduced in 1963?

Black.

Peeron.com has a colour table that lists how many pieces of each colour you would have if you had one of every set in their database.

Obviously their database is not complete, it doesn't relate to when ABS was introduced (but most of the pieces produced in all time will have been since then), and some sets have been produced in higher numbers, so that's not an incredibly reliable figure, but seeing it has more than double the closest rival, I think it's safe to assume that Black's the winnner.

I would think that it is partially due to the fact that technic pins come in black, and there can be hundreds of those in sets.

Incidently, the top 5 are:

Black
White
Old Gray
Red
Yellow


Improving EV3 Screen Readability I often have a hard time reading the EV3’s LCD display. I presume that I’m not the only one who has experienced this issue. Is there a way to improve its readability?

For example, are there any good magnifiers that fit, or any ways to add backlighting or mirror the displays to a larger screen?

One guy found a way to make the EV3 Brick's screen have light on it like it is on any device, but if you think training for soldering and blowing $30 just to see your EV3's screen is not worth it, you might as well use a lamp.

Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPNJC5Uz9HY&t=0s


EV3 brick cannot connect my to computer I can't connect my brick to my computer. It keeps saying it can't communicate with the brick. My brick has no firmware. My friend said to change the USB cable but it still doesn't work. I can't connect it via Bluetooth either.

Try to update your firmware via EV3 software: http://www.thenxtstep.com/2013/08/how-to-update-your-ev3-firmware.html


Are Nanoblocks compatible with other building bricks? Recently I have found Nanoblocks, a Japanese brick toy, in American stores. How compatible are these with other building toys? They look to be approximately the same scale as Modulex.

It appears that the goal of the nanoblock producers is to make "the world’s smallest toy building blocks"1.  And they appear to be too small to be compatible with LEGO.  See the following video comparisons of the sizes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cobnr8fWTY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QXGP837-dU

1. http://www.mynanoblock.com/site/?page_id=2


Parts for a 4 Candle set I want to build several stands with 4 candles.
Here's my plan from bottom to top

3 round 1x1 bricks for the base
a palm top to branch into 4 parts
a round 1x1 brick on each of the 4 bars
a pin holder on  top of each of those
a candle flame tucked into the pin holder.

I don't have these parts yet, so I'm hoping someone can verify this will work before I buy them.
If not, do you have any other suggestions?

In principle, this will work although as D M notes (assuming a non-inverted build), the 1x1 bricks won't attach to the palm top correctly as they aren't long enough - a 1x1 round plate with hole on the bottom will help - either the same colour as the candle or as a part of the holder.
You might find that the candles are too close together for you as they would end up touching:

If you aren't worried about stability, by inverting the the 1x1 round bricks and resting the pin-holders upside down for a more "used" look, however the pin holders aren't secured:

Other options you might consider include using:

The very old 5x5 Propeller with 4 blades, very limited colour set
Plate Round 4x4 with hole
Two 1x3 plates stacked crossways, with 1x1 plates to provide additional support and conformity (as IvanSanchez suggests)
Plate, Modified 3x3 Cross, only available in a limited colour set, but available in at least black, brown and reddish brown (as Matthew Jensen suggests)
Axle Connector Hub with 4 bars and four Bar Holder with clip to hold inverted pin holders

The Haunted House set uses a Pearl Gold Technic Knob Cog in its chandelier, shown with the Candle element:


Need help identifying these castle pieces Wondering which set these castle pieces are from?

They're likely from King's Castle (70404):


Are there LDraw files for the standard Heroica components? I'm using MLCAD to design and polish some Heroica maps. As I go I've made various LDraw files for the common map components (6x6 tiles with 4 spaces, 4x1 hallways, etc.) as well as some aliases for simple objects in particular colors (e.g. the gold pickups).

Am I duplicating work someone else has already done? If no one answers this in a few days I'll probably answer with my own archive.

Note that this is not a request for the Heroica sets in LDraw format - I've got manuals for that. I'm more interested in getting parts files that can be used to rapidly build my own levels.)

I've uploaded the Heroica LDraw parts I made to my website (and now there's even a site to go with it).

My Parts

Paths of length 2 and 4, and rooms in 2x2, L, and J shapes. The base
and half the tiles can be recolored; the remaining tiles are fixed
at dark gray.
The length 3 bridge over a 4x4 water tile, used twice in Fortaan.
The standard potions with fixed colors, and recolorable potion
templates.
The "character sheet" model. The 1 x 4 cross plate is recolorable.
A treasure chest, fixed as brown.
A gold piece, fixed as pearl gold.
A health piece, fixed as red.
A torch, fixed in color. This uses the unofficial 64647 LDraw part,
included.
A closed gate. The standard door piece is not available in the LDraw
parts library or unofficial list, but the gate used to link Nathuz
and Fortaan is.
A magic door, fixed in color.
Rocks, recolorable and standard dark gray.
The ship dock, from Draida Bay, and the regular brown starting
space.

Included Unofficial Parts

These parts are real Lego parts, but have not made it into the LDraw
part library yet. I've put them on the same site for convenience.

62808 - Minifig Key, by Andy Westrate
64647 - Minifig Plume/Flame Triple, by Philippe Hurbain. This is
used as the top of the torches in Nathuz.

Other Parts

Here are some parts that are invaluable, from the standard LDraw part
library. If you're going to make Heroica levels, they belong in your
MLCAD Favorites.

2343 - Minifig Goblet
3794 - Plate 1 x 2 with 1 Stud
3958 - Plate 6 x 6
30153 - Rock 1 x 1 Gem Faceted
41539 - Plate 8 x 8
64644 - Minifig Telescope
85863 - Microfig
87580 - Tile 2 x 2 with Groove and 1 Stud

What do they look like?

Here's a POV-Ray render of the map I'm working on now, sans greebling. Except for the 16x16 center the rooms and paths all use the premade parts, and it features the chest, gold, and potion parts also.

By the way, these are the first reusable LDraw parts I've ever made, so it's possible there's some really horrible failure in them.


Good manufacturer/market for clear (transparent) bricks and plates in bulk? I never realized how rare clear bricks are! I'm looking for an efficient way to buy clear 2x4 (e.g. 3001) bricks in bulk. On BO, BL, and Peeron there are very small lots and prices close to $1 and beyond per brick. On Alibaba there are some new compatible brands but they tend to mix random colors and styles, no pure bulk packs of the same brick in clear (white).

While I can patch together an order from the above, I'm wondering if there is a manufacturer that just sells pure lots of the same type and color so I can keep buying from them and not have it be a brand new search each time.

Or do any markets exist that unlike PL/BO/Peeron include competing brands rather than only Lego?

Clear 2x4 bricks might seem to be expensive because LEGO doesn't produce them currently (they stopped making them in 2006). However, a quick search on Bricklink sees them listed as cheap as $0.02 per brick, used, which is not expensive at all. Just make sure you look for the correct brick design - you want to look at 3001old.


How to generate Duplo instructions? I am aware of how to create a Lego model and generate instructions using LDD and Stud.io
However, I am having trouble figuring out how to do this for Duplo. How does one do this?
EDIT:
@alex yes I think my question was poorly phrased.
I think my real question is "how can I create a Duplo model in LDD or Stud.io"

I can see some Duplo bricks in LDraw parts library, which is used by Stud.io as well, so you should be able to work out instructions the same way you do with usual bricks.
One thing to note is that availability of Duplo parts in LDraw is rather limited.
Alternatively, you can use LDCad (which uses LDraw library) to create your model. In this case you can find most of the Duplo elements under Library sorted by function > Duplo.


EV3 turning in circles New programmer feeling my way around. I set the most simple "steering block" to 25, the power to 50, and the number of motor rotations to 40 or 50.

Then I let it run expecting the bot to go in a circle. Instead it circled around somewhat erratically with roughly the right radius, but without coming anywhere close to following the same track.

Hard to tell exactly what it was doing but maybe the outside wheel on the turn was moving steadily forward and the inside wheel (the slower one) was progressing unevenly.

What do I need to do to get nice clean circles?

It is quite common for the tires to slip and cause this type of behavior. For example, here is a similar question. The answer here is the same.

Make sure your center of gravity puts most of the weight of your bot on the drive wheels.
Make sure the tires and the surface your are driving on are free of dirt/dust.
Use sensors to help compensate for any slippage of the wheels.

If you only want your robot to go in a perfect circle and nothing else, you could fix a beam to the floor on one end an your robot on the other so that it cannot deviate from the circle.


Pattern for vertical motion using technic lego I have a motor and some other components that move a machine vertical on the ground. Inside the machine i need to raise a part by 5 cm, up and down.

Are there some common patterns that can move objects vertically (lift) using technic lego? Torque comes from a motor powering gears.

You can accomplish this using gear racks (3743):

You just have to create some type of channel that allows the rack to slide vertically, and then set up a gear to mesh with the rack. You can do this however you like, but here's a quick example that I built to show you what I mean:


Identify LEGO Dimensions pack Can you please help me figure out which character this build pack goes with?

The bag has a copyright date of 2007. I know the number on the bag doesn't matter but I noticed the copyright date might help narrow it down a bit.

I've also included a picture of the set laid out so you can see which pieces are in it.

Based on the Trans-Yellow Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Tooth Horizontal

which appears only in three sets this is:

71264-1: The LEGO Batman Movie: Play the Complete Movie


Which set is this bag 2 from? White airplane pieces? Which set is it from? Can I build anything with it on its own? It says 2007 on the bag.

3367 space shuttle seems to match, although it is a 2011 set

https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemInv.asp?S=3367-1

The tail piece does not appear in older sets in white according to bricklink...


Star Wars 2013 Advent calendar codes What are the four codes for the 2013 Star Wars Advent calendar online game?

The four codes are as follows:

December 01: Y15C05
December 08: Y30C03
December 15: Y73C14
December 22: Y12C34


Lego EV3 - Get output device type, opOUTPUT_GET_TYPE I would like to know what kind of motor (XL, L) is connected to EV3 output port (A|B|C|D). I need to use direct command:

Instruction        opOutput_Get_Type (LAYER, NO, *TYPE)
Opcode             0xA0
Arguments          (Data8) LAYER – Specify chain layer number [0 - 3]
                   (Data8) NO – Port number [0 - 3]
                   (Data8) *TYPE

so request should looks like:

unsigned const char opOutput_Get_Type[] {
    0x09, 0x00, // bytes in message
    0x00, 0x00, // message counter
    0x00,       // DIRECT_COMMAND_REPLY
    0x01, 0x00, // 1 value will be returned
    0xA0,       // opOutput_Get_Type
    LC0(0),     // LAYER 0, first brick in chain
    LC0(0),     // port A
    GV0(0)      // returned value
};

When I send it to brick a get response:

04000000 0400
          ^-
          DIRECT_REPLY_ERROR

which stands that error occurred. Motor is connected to port A. What am I doing wrong?

Checking the source code, it appears that the opOutput_Get_Type command is not implemented. In both links, it is mentioned in the comments, but there is nothing in the actual code.

Unfortunately, I am not finding a different way to get this information.


What is part number for this yellow cylinder? I looked through hundreds of bricks on BrickLink and can not find this thing. Does anyone know what this is? The yellow piece on the axle:

That would be 75535 Technic, Pin Connector Round 2L without Slot (Pin Joiner Round)

There's a newer variation on the part which has a slot, but you can tell the difference by the hairline crack in the picture.

62462 Technic, Pin Connector Round 2L with Slot (Pin Joiner Round)


Identification of a piece, 1x1 bar piece with studs and handle Sorry for the small image, but does anyone know what number that piece is?

This is 4599b - Tap 1x1 without hole in end.


Is it possible to use 5 motors on an EV3 brick? The EV3 brick has only four output ports (A B C & D) to run motors. Is there any way to use port 1 (sensor port) to control a motor?

A sensor port can't directly output to a motor. The sensor drivers can't provide enough power to supply a motor.
You have a couple options:

Daisy-chain two EV3s together. The first can control the sensors and
motors of the second.
Use an electronic motor multiplexer. EDIT: It should be noted that this requires an external power supply, which will increase the cost and complexity of your project.
Depending on your project, you might be able to make do with only 4 motors. See this response for driving multiple outputs with a single motor.


Why does Jay from Ninjago have a scar? Jay, one of the protagonists of the Ninjago series, has a scar on his face. I would like someone to let me know what this is about.

According to the book, LEGO NINJAGO: The Visual Dictionary (Masters of Spinjitzu):

  Eyebrow notch caused by an explosion

The relevant page can be previewed on the Amazon page for the book:


Lego technic 42082 4 wheel steering issue I have just completed the build and everything appears to work as it should except the 4 wheel steering. When you turn the small wheel on the rear of the crane only the rear wheels steer. The front wheels will steer if you move them manually, but not in tandem with the rear wheels. Has anyone else encountered this? Am hoping it is an easy fix

I think you missed step 273 on page 133 of book 1.
In this step you align the front and back wheel and move a gear wheel and bush so the front steering mechanism is connected to the rest.
To fix this you need to disassemble part of the front

After taken of the fenders
Follow steps 471 till 484 in reverse.

This removes the panel above the gear so you should be able to access the gear.


Where to place your own ldraw pars I just started designing LEGO instructions. I used LeoCAD to built the model and Web Lic to create the instructions.

Being a Linux developer, Windows is hard to use and access.

It seems bricks should be created with MLCad, but it does not seem to run on Linux. Anyway, I tried creating a brick with vim and information in this tutorial, but can't find where to place my unofficial parts (.dat) files and how to see the result.

How to use my own (created by me) parts ?

Cannot comment on LeoCAD as I've never used that, but LDCad is far superior over MLCad and it works well on Linux natively. LDCad uses same part library format as MLCad - LDraw. You cand find LDRaw file documentation here.

It is not clear from your question if you wish to create your own parts or just add the ones not currently available in official LDRaw package. If you are interested in the later - there is a guide. It can be easily adapted to Linux.

In case your intention is to create your own parts LDraw contains a nice documentation explaining the file format. The process of adding a newly created part into the library is the same as explained in the section above. Just make sure to put your file for the new part into the /Unofficial/parts directory under your LDRaw package installation directory and make sure to run make-list to include the newly added files in the list of available bricks to build with.


Can't identify venom/spiderman minifigures I can't identify these Venom/Spiderman minifigures and I have no idea what set they're from but they are probably about 6-7 years old. I'm not sure if those are the right bottoms for Venom, but I know that the head and torso match (and one of Spiderman's hands are mismatched as well). Does anyone recognize these particular ones? Thanks for the help

I think they come from this Megabloks set


Cannot add instruction tiles to EV3 brick program. I was using the EV3 brick program software included in the ev3 Brick and I can no longer add instructions. I think I've reached the max length. Is there a way around this? Can I run a second program after finishing the original one? Thanks

Large programs can be difficult.

Usually it is better to divide a large program into pieces, where each piece is a MyBlock.

To create a MyBlock, select a group of program blocks and then find the "Create MyBlock ..." from the toolbar.  I think it's at Edit -> Create My Block ...

A series of dialog boxes will appear, complete them and the selected blocks will be stuffed inside the MyBlock, and the program will be altered to use the new MyBlock.  Double click the MyBlock and there will be the program elements that were originally selected.

Practice on a smaller program before attempting on a large program.


How do I create manuals in the same style as LEGO instruction manuals? Possible Duplicate:
  Do any programs exist that allow you to build your own LEGO manuals?

I want to create my own manuals, but I want them to look and feel like actual LEGO instruction manuals. So, I probably need a style guide and / or tool that helps me to achieve this. Are these tools and style guides available?

The online consensus on this question seems to be using LDraw, and progressively create the model while saving the steps (like this tutorial explains).

However, I remember an other way, but I can't put .. oh wait, it was using MLCad.


Lego Digital Designer on OS X El Capitan? Since the El Capitan 10.11.2 upgrade some options are gone in Lego Digital Designer. In the Preferences menu the "Outlines of bricks" and "Advanced shading" are options unselectable.

The annoying part is that without brick outlines it is hard to use for building new things since it is impossible to see where the bricks start.

I have looked at this forum:
http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=115313

There is a quoted workaround that suggests deleting these lines from the Info.plist file of the app:
LSMinimumSystemVersion
10.4.11

But it does not work for me.

Any other workaround appreciated.

LEGO Software in general doesn't work that great with Apple computers (I a speaking from experience). Try a couple of different solutions by searching the web, and contact LEGO Support. Hope you find a solution!


Please help identify what set this bag belongs to, white windows and fences, and tan circles Bag indicates that it was made in 2011.

This one is definitely from 10214 London Tower Bridge. I only have a used set that didn't have the original bags, but all parts and colors match perfectly.


Trains overview image I'm looking for an overview image of all trains ever released by LEGO. With trains I mean train sets containing locomotives and wagons that run on train tracks.

There is a beautiful image from Jeroen de Haan, which shows all trains from 1981 to 2003, but it's a little outdated.

There is a new project called Train Poster v2 which is making a new poster with all trains from the 1960's until today. It is still a work in progress as of 2016.


Which set did this sealed bag of mostly grey LEGO bricks come from? I bought a sealed bag of LEGO bricks with no box or directions and I am trying to figure out which set it is. It is all grey, black, and clear pieces and looks to be 100-150 pieces. Any help is appreciated.

As I mentioned in my comment to OP's original question, this is an inner bag of a larger set, not a full set. It is a bit hard to tell which set it could be, as the pieces are too common to narrow it down from just one image. I did look up the 3x4 hinge-plate, as that was the most uncommon, but it still appears in 45 sets: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=44570&colorID=86&in=A

Upon more careful inspection, and narrowing down the pieces even further, it appears that this is the gray/black bag from the #10702 LEGO Classic Creative Building set: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=10702-1#T=S&O=

I came to this conclusion by verifying some of the other pieces in the set from the BrickLink Catalog, and also noticing that the 23mm D. x 7mm Offset Tread Black Tire only appears in the above mentioned LEGO Classic set from the list of 45 sets with the 3x4 hinge-plate.


Can anyone identify this Lego piece? Clear red Bionicle head with clip? I got this in a big box of LEGO from my cousin and this was in there. When I asked him he said he didn't know anything about it. I also couldn't find anything on the Internet about it. It has no identification number or any other marking except Lego 2003. I was wondering if this was a prototype. If anyone can identify it I will be very happy.

It's from a tooth brush. It is the thing that covers the brush itself. Here is a better picture of the green one.

Another picture :


How do I have an else in conjunction with an if statement with two conditions? I can't find a way to emulate an AND statement in a switch statement:

if (angle >= 10 and angle <= 30)
   ;// do smth
else
   ; // this is what I want

Until now, I just nested two if statements, but now I want to introduce an else case, but I don't want to duplicate the statements in the else condition two times (one in the first if, the second one in the nested one).

Is there a better way?

You can put all of the logic outside of the switch block and use the "Logic" input of the switch block. You can do exactly what you have described in pseudo code since there are "less than"/"greater than" blocks and an "and" block.


What is piece 4211642 from 10179 - UCE Millenium Falcon? I'm working on making sure I have all necessary pieces for 10179: Ultimate Collector's Edition Millenium Falcon (a painstaking process, to say the least). I received the set not entirely complete, partially disassembled, and without directions.

I'm using the PDF of the directions to sort and count the pieces, and I can't figure out what this piece (4211642 on the bottom) is supposed to be:

(from center of p.308)

I don't have anything left over that appears to match, and the part number isn't of any help. I've even paged through the instructions to see where these five mystery pieces are used, but can't seem to figure it out. Can't find it on the Peeron parts list.

The PDF is of annoyingly low resolution. Can someone with a printed copy help me out here?

According to the LEGO customer service, this part is a "BUSH Ø7.84" (which is of no help whatsoever, as with most LEGO internal names) and has the design ID 6221. Unfortunately, there seems to be no official picture for it yet.

This design ID corresponds indeed to the part which Joel Cohen and BradC have identified; the element id of the same part in black (622126) as found by BradC follows the old convention design id + color id (26 being Black at LEGO). And this part at the LEGO customer service does have a big image which would clear all doubt if we had any left:

LDraw and Peeron know this part as 424 - Technic Handle. BrickLink does too but refers to 6221 as alternate item number. This happens often with parts which have no markings whatsoever and for which the official LEGO design ID wasn't known at the time the part was added to the LDraw library.

Why the inventory at both Peeron and BrickLink misses it is anyone's guess, but it's one of the biggest LEGO sets ever so it's bound to have mistakes. Although I see the list for Peeron has been provided by LEGO itself, so it's a bit weird.

Is the part actually used somewhere? I don't have the strength to read the whole manual.


Where is this knock-off LEGO brick from? These are some of the non-LEGO pieces I had in my LEGO collection when I was a child, and I was told they were old LEGO, but any site on the history of LEGO completely failed to show anything like this, so they have to be knock-offs.

They are likely made in the 60's but it could be earlier. It's compatible with LEGO, except that the studs are higher, so you can't put a thin brick on top of them. The plastic is softer and just slightly translucent. I like their solution for the underside, very neat, and a clever attempt to pass by the LEGO design patents. I don't know the manufacturer, and would appreciate any information.

As others have pointed out, these are Montini building blocks.

Montini building blocks were produced by Berco Lux in Tiel, The Netherlands between 1960-1969. The plastic is much softer and the colors are a little different.
In 1969 production was stopped because of the Lego patent.
Montini history and the conflict with Lego ( in Dutch)


I have a LEGO instruction book with the front identifying page missing. I am trying to work out which set it is. Yellow and black sea plane and boat The LEGO set looks like a Creator set, mainly yellow bricks with many different small builds. Biplane, Speed boat, submarine, vehicle ferry, yacht, oil tanker. The photo of page 3 is attached.

Any ideas?

These instructions are from 4505-1: Sea Machines

Complete instructions book  (PDF)


Issues with my LEGO Land Rover Defender - Low rear Just built the 42110 LEGO Land Rover Defender and found the rear of the car sitting very low on its base and the rear wheels almost touching the wheel arches.

This is very low compared to the front end, what have I done wrong in the build, and how can I correct it please?

I would suggest looking at a speed build of this model and comparing the placement of pieces with that of your own.

So, let's try...this guy's video => The Austrian Lego Fan seems to have banged out a step by step build of this model, which shows a many angles of the area you're have issues with.

To get those butt-dragging results, you may have got your springs pinned in the wrong hole.  Hey, but we can give more input if you provide a pic or two.

Both pictures are the same.  One is text-less so the words don't get in the way.

Focus your attention on these spots.  Is each spring pinned to the correct hole?


Interface A missing PCB I have a Technic Interface A with the cables but lack the printed circuit board (PCB) for PC that I need to use it for automating my models. The card when it was for sale had markings of Lego 9771 and I assume this to be the part number.
Ideally I would like an original card but is there a way of getting a 3rd party card? Or another idea might be if someone does manage to make such an interface please consider building it to run multiple Interface A and/or B modules simultaneously.
I think that I may have parts that run on almost if not all of the powered interfaces that Lego has been kind enough to release. I would be quite grateful indeed if I were able to use them together in my sizeable Lego projects.

Uli posted a link in a comment to https://lgauge.com/technic/LEGOInterfaceA/9750(1093).htm which has a link to http://isodomos.com/Lego-Sets/1093.html , that link is dead but archive.org has a copy http://web.archive.org/web/20081121054400/http://isodomos.com/Lego-Sets/1093.html both sites have the pinout, but the latter site also confirms the logic levels as 5V TTL.
I will repeat the pinout here, in case those sites disappear.

Pins 1 and 3: 5V

Other odd numbered pins: Ground

Even numbered pins 6-16: Outputs 0-5

Pins 18 and 20: Inputs 6 and 7

Unlike the interface B which is a somewhat-intelligent device that communicates over RS-232 the interface A seems to just use straight digital IO lines. For bi-directional control of motors the outputs can be used in pairs.
The pinout seems to be an exact match for the user port on a BBC micro. I suspect this is not a coincidence.
It would not be difficult to hook this up to something more modern, a 5V Arduino could probably hook up directly. For a Raspberry Pi you would want something to shift the levels, I'd probably use HCT logic running off 5V for the signals from the Pi to the interface A (this may not be strictly needed) and LVC logic running off 3.3V for the signals from the interface A to the Pi.


Converting a .ev3p file into a .ev3 project file How do I convert a .ev3p file into a .ev3 project file?  Everytime I click on the .ev3p file to open it, it just turns up as text in the notepad.

Actually, you can't convert a .ev3p file into a .ev3 file. Based on this post and other ones here's what a .ev3p file really is:

  When you unzip a .ev3 program, there are many txt and xml files that are inside. In particular, there is an xml file produced with the filename extension .ev3p, which contains program instructions that the EV3 brick can then interpret and execute.

So now we can conclude that a .ev3p file is only a certain part of the .ev3 file.


What pieces are prone to breaking? I've had a few pieces break over the years, which was a real bummer as I was not expecting them to.

What are some commonly used pieces that are prone to breaking? Pieces that should be handled carefully and stored separately.

Lego is generally quite robust, but there are potential weaknesses:

Material Problems

Some parts are prone to damage as a consequence of the material from which they are made:

Plastic

Sunlight can cause discoloration
Bricks can be damaged by extremes of temperature
Older bricks (pre ABS) are prone to warping, discoloration and may become brittle
Most plastic bricks are easily damaged by pressure (eg. from teeth) and abrasion

Stickers

Most are easily damaged by water
Wear easily
Are easily damaged when they span components

Rubber

Rubber bands tend to perish

Structural Problems

Damage can also be caused due to the shape and structure of some components:

Long Parts

Long thin parts are prone to bending or snapping under load, for example:

Long technic beams
Flags, signs etc. with long stems
Larger plates and baseboards
Swords
Propeller blades

Clips and Other Joints

Lego clips are prone to breaking under stress, for example:

Minifigure hands
Flags that clip on to flag poles
Bricks with clips on
etc.

For older types of window frame, the lugs that hold the shutters can snap off quite easily:

Ball sockets can break if you force the ball out by levering it against the socket instead of pulling it straight out.

The hinge holes on chests can be stripped out by pushing the lid open too far

Technic Parts

Wheels and gears can crack under stress
Smaller items that fit on technic (axles bushes and the smaller cogs) are easily crushed

Other Parts

It is rather easy to supply excessive force to angle brackets eg. by stepping on them or when they are at the junction long parts that can apply leverage

Electronics

Electronic items have special problems:

Battery boxes can be ruined by leaking batteries
Electrical items can be damaged by applying the wrong voltage, eg. 12v to 4.5v lamps
Most electrical items can be damaged by water
Cables break easily, and (at least in the case of the old 4.5v system) can easily be pulled from plugs
Some conductors are prone to corrosion

Recommendations

I recommend:

Sort lego before washing to remove parts that will be damaged by water
Don't play with lego on the floor where it can be stepped on
Keep bricks out of sunlight
Don't let bricks get too hot
Keeping lego away from children(!) and pets
Remove batteries when not in use


How to stop or freeze the EV3 large motor in position How do I stop or freeze the large motor in a fixed position? I have a forklift type attachment that will lift to the precise height, but will not stay in position due to the weight of the attachment.
I know I can use a worm gear to solve this problem but wanted to see if there were any other solutions before redesigning the attachment.
I have tried using rotations, seconds, and degrees with a STOP at the end. Occasionally, it will stay in place but usually it drops to the mat surface.

According to the official documentation you could use
hold()

which

Stops the motor and actively holds it at its current angle.

Note: My assumption here is that you are referring to this

as "large motor". If you are using a PF Large Motor:

then this advice is useless, as those can't be controlled with such precision due to the lack of an internal rotation sensor.


How are LEGO bricks packaged? This week I got a LEGO set gifted and while I was building and unpacking I thought about how the single pieces might come in their respective little bags? I had some fun fantasizing to the point where I'd really like to see the packaging machine.

Id love a video "how its made" style but I only found some on youtube from a LEGO HQ tour showing molding and storage but not the step for pieces from storage to package.

So does anybody know this? :)

This is a comprehensive walk-through:

http://gizmodo.com/exclusive-look-inside-the-lego-factory-5022769

The last video shows how parts are retrieved from the shelves, decorated, packaged in plastic bags and put into set boxes. It is probably exactly how you imagined the process :)