Any ideas on this mostly white and dark red set? I recently purchased quite a few Lego pieces from a neighbor. They are a bit of a mess with no instructions. I did find a couple bags that had not been opened. This is bag 2 and 3 and a couple smaller bags. I'm pretty sure bag one is already opened and in the mix of the others. Any ideas what set this could be. Thanks for any help.

Based on the White Wedge, Plate 6 x 12 Right, the Light Bluish Gray Technic, Steering Wheel Small, 3 Studs Diameter and Dark Red Wedge 3 x 4 with Stud Notches

I think these parts belong to

75003-1 : A-Wing Starfighter


fgetc() moves pointer one step forward I have opened a file using handle = fopen("rw.txt").
The file consist of 3 values which is separated with spaces
ex: 12 23 34
using isspace(fgetc(handle))
Problem here is that fgetc() increments the internal pointer,  making store incorrect strings including string.

Can these three values be stored in some different way, making me store these values, and ignore the whitespace using NXC syntax?

Here is my current code:

#import "value.txt" val
task main()
{
    byte handle;
    handle = fopen("value.txt", "r");
    if (handle != NULL)
        {
            string a;
            string b;
            string c;
            int count = 0;

           while(count <= 2)
           {
               if(!isspace(fgetc(handle)))
               {
                   if(count == 0)
                   {
                         fgets(a, 2, handle);
                         TextOut(0, LCD_LINE3, "done a" + a);
                         TextOut(0,LCD_LINE4," lenght: " + NumToStr(strlen(a)));
                         Wait(3000);
                         count = count + 1;
                         ClearScreen();
                   }
                   else if(count == 1)
                   {
                        fgets(b, 2, handle);
                        TextOut(0, LCD_LINE3, "done b" + b);
                        Wait(3000);
                        count = count + 1;
                        ClearScreen();
                   }
                   else if(count == 2)
                   {
                        fgets(c, 2, handle);
                        TextOut(0, LCD_LINE3, "done c" + c);
                        Wait(3000);
                        count = count + 1;
                        ClearScreen();
                   }
               }

                TextOut(0, LCD_LINE3, "done" + NumToStr(count));
               Wait(3000);
               ClearScreen();

            }

        }
    }

}

The most basic solution would be to store the character read by fgetc, for example, instead of:

if(!isspace(fgetc(handle)))

you'd write:

char val = fgetc(handle);
if(!isspace(val))

This way if the isspacecall returns false you will still have the latest character in the val variable.

I'd also suggest you look into the switch statement instead of using multiple if-else blocks: http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/nbc/nxcdoc/nxcapi/switch.html


Can you please identify this set? I got this set but it is missing pieces and I am trying to figure out which set it is.  Can you help please?

Looking up all sets that have this piece in tan, had me guessing at Set #5771-1 Hillside House.

EDIT:  At least two maybe a third set...

Looking at white fence in upper right corner of 2nd pic.

Set #3938 Andrea's Bunny House.

Again looking at that upper right hand corner of 2nd pic.

I spy with my little eye a tan cone that is not in the previous sets.

Set #Set 3937 Olivia's Speedboat.

Possible 4th???


Which official LEGO sets are micro-scale versions of existing sets? The 10230 Mini Modulars set is  based on the existing modular series:

As well as the 4695 Mini Harry Potter Knight Bus. Have there been other micro-scale sets released by LEGO based on existing sets?

(M) = Microscale
Harry Potter

4841 Hogwarts Express,
(M) 40028 Mini Hogwarts Express
4755 Knight Bus,
(M) 4695 Mini Harry Potter Knight Bus

Modular

10182 Cafe Corner,
10190 Market Street,
10185 Green Grocer,
10197 Fire Brigade,
10211 Grand Emporium,
(M) 10230 Mini Modulars

Pirates of the Caribbean

4184 The Black Pearl,
(M) 30130 Mini Black Pearl

Star Wars

Various TIE Fighter, (M) 3219 Mini TIE Fighter
Various Millennium Falcon (M) 4488 Millennium Falcon and (M) 75030 Millennium Falcon
Various AT-AT Walker, (M) 4489 AT-AT
7675 AT-TE Walker,
(M) 20009 AT-TE Walker
8098 Clone Turbo Tank,
(M) 20006 Clone Turbo Tank
7163 Republic Gunship,
(M) 20010 Republic Gunship
7674 V-19 Torrent,
(M) 8031 V-19 Torrent
Lots of Mini's in the Advent Calendars, 7958 2011, 9509 2012
10019 Rebel Blockade Runner,
(M) 10030-1 Imperial Star Destroyer contains micro version

Technic

8053 Mobile Crane,
(M) 8067 Mini Mobile Crane
8275 Motorized Bulldozer,
(M) 8259 Mini Bulldozer
8295 Telescopic Handler,
(M) 8045 Mini Telehandler
8069 Backhoe Loader, (M) 42004 Mini Backhoe Loader

Creator

31003 Red Rotors, (M) 30184 Little Helicopter
31004 Fierce Flyer, (M) 30185 Little Eagle
31020 Twinblade Adventures, (M) 30189 Transport Plane
6743 Street Speeder, (M) 6910 Mini Sports Car

Misc.

10226 Sopwith Camel, (M) 40049 Mini Sopwith Camel
10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van, (M) 40079 Mini VW T1 Camper Van

Possible

10194 Emerald Night, (M) 31015 Emerald Express
8110 Mercedes Benz Unimog U 400, (M) 9390 Mini Tow Truck


Do LEGO prototypes have production numbers on them? Basically I've found a rare prototype piece for sale, one of the red Vader helmets, and I want to make sure it s real. The description says that it has no production number printed, which makes sense because I'm not sure why a prototype would have a production number.

I've seen another for sale in the past that said it had a production number printed, and that it was number 1. So I'm not sure which one is real.

I have encountered a few prototypes over the years and none had any production numbers. Just the word LEGO and the year. So it probably is a genuine LEGO piece.


Can you identify this belt/legs Can anyone identify this pair of legs. I looked at all the chima legs and legs with the word 'lion' in them, couldn't find it.

In that same Eurobricks thread it says:

The legs (not hips) are from the Fantasy Era Crown King.

This is the minifigure this refers to:

For completeness, the torso (but not the arms) and the hips come from this Laval minifigure from the Chima theme:


Does my child need a smart device to control LEGO Powered Up train sets? The first two Powered Up train sets can be controlled with smart devices (phone, tablet, etc). Is this required to control the trains?

No, a smart device is not required to control train sets 60197 and 60198. These include a standalone Powered Up remote control:

This provides much of the same functionality as a smart device. From the FAQ:

  The LEGO® Powered Up remote control works a lot like how you would use your smart device (mobile phone or tablet for example) to control any other electronic device via Bluetooth technology. If you connect the remote control to the Smarthub in the train, you can control the speed or stop the train.

However, there are some features that are only available from a smart device:

  The app does provide you with additional features, such as sounds, and the ability to see how fast the train is travelling from 0-10 increments.


What element modifications are incorporated by the LEGOLAND builders? I know they glue their sculptures together, and sometimes support them with an inner frame. Is that the limit to their element modifications, or are there more tricks to the awesome LEGOLAND builds on display?

The glue is one obvious thing, and I think they recently also experimented with a new sort of transparent stuff to paint the finished models with so that they would be more resistant to direct sunlight. I don't think they'll paint bricks to change their colour, though.

However, In the same category of things any respectable AFOL would never do, I'm fairly confident they'll also resort to cutting elements if needed. I'm unsure if that happens often and it's probably limited to parts where the cut isn't visible from the public. Another thing is the use of generic plastic sheets for some large windows, for which no LEGO elements exist.

Then, as Kramii said, electrical and mechanical components are never LEGO. For the vehicles, they do have a generic frame (metallic, with motor, battery, and all control electronic) on top of which they build a LEGO exterior. Presumably, trains follow the same logic.

So yes, they are very lax with what they can or cannot do. I know the work area of the designer in Windsor is visible from the public, not sure it is so with other parks (I don't remember that in the two others I've seen); but if you get the chance it's nice to see them. With some luck, they'll have some time to spare to chat with you.


What are the special features of the Ferrari F1 Racer 1:8 kit? I found a good price on the Ferrari F1 Racer 1:8 kit. From the picture of the box cover, it would seem that the steering wheel can turn the wheels, but I cannot identify any other moving features.

Is this a Technic model or just a display model, which happens to use a lot of Technic parts?
If I am after a model containing many useful Technic parts for use in custom creations, is this a kit to avoid?
Do many of the side panels appear in other models or were they custom made for this kit and therefore, might have limited value outside of the box design?

From the Instructions for 8674-1 - Ferrari F1 Racer 1:8 you can see that the pistons also go up and down and the body can be removed.  From the box picture posted the set was part of the LEGO Racers, specifically the Ferrari subtheme.


Use Bluetooth to access NXT display I'm planning to use NXT to troll my friends, and I want to show something on the screen that I send to it via Bluetooth. To clarify, I want to type it on a computer in another room. Is there a way to do this all in the NXT software? (no coding)
Thanks - Sam.

You can remotely start and stop programs from the NXT software. So create a simple program that just has a few display blocks and an empty loop at the end to keep the program from stopping then run the program.


Are there any LEGO sets that have these two parts? Are there any LEGO sets that have the following parts:

Part 57518 (Link Tread Wide with Two Pin Holes)

Part 15035 / 18405 / 95292 (Large Shock Absorber with Very Hard Spring)

In the spirit of "teach a man how to fish and he will have food for a lifetime", here is how you can find your own answer to this question.

Determine rarity of the parts by going to BrickLink and search for the part name or number using the Catalog Search. BrickLink is a little finnicky with names and part numbers so it might take a few tries to get the right part (or to get it to return anything at all). For your items, 95292 only occurs in 3 sets, whereas 57518 appears in 29 sets.
You have several ways to go now - but the easiest is to have 2 tabs open, one for each of the list of sets. For each item in the shortest list, check if it occurs in the longer list (if the longer list is long, you can use Ctrl+F in your browser to do a text search on the page). Sorting each list by year might also help in doing this comparison.

For your selection of parts, it is quickly clear that there is no set that contains both. Not only that, the shock absorber you are looking for only occurred in 3 sets, all pretty limited in distribution (one of them being a truly Limited Edition of only 20k sets). Expect to be paying $10 per piece on BrickLink if you must have these. You might want to consider its shorter cousin 731c04 which occurs in 22 sets, including some lower-priced starter Technic sets. It can also be bought from many sellers on BrickLink for less than $2 per piece.


How did they make the LEGO Batman cutscenes? I want to know what programs they used to make the videos the old LEGO video games like the 2008 LEGO Batman, 2007 Lego Star Wars, and maybe the 2011 LEGO Star Wars for a little modern-ish feel. I want to learn how they made the models, textures, effects, map and etc.

I've just been inspired to make my own LEGO animations. What programs should I use to start?

Most likely Autodesk Maya and possibly some other tools based on LEGO internal parts libraries like the Easy Builder Tool or Brick Builder.

All of those games are made by Traveller's Tales. In a video on the development process for their Jurassic Park title you will see that they use Maya to create and animate their models (the right screen would be very familiar looking to a Maya user).

More-than-likely this is the same software they use to animate their cutscenes, and I doubt they have changed software packages since then.


Was the LEGO flower petal redesigned? I noticed part 24866 in one of our sets from TLG:

This looks a bit different to me. Has this part been redesigned?

After a bit of research, it looks like this is a new part for 2018.

The part that it is likely replacing is the old flower petal with stud connections:

Old: New:

The new part has 5 petals instead of 4, and they are shorter so that they don't collide with neighboring parts at any angle. New Elementary did a writeup on the new flower parts that includes an image to highlight this:

Both parts include the interior flower stem connector so that they can be used with either the new or recently redesigned flower stem.


What kind of design is comparable to these programming concepts? I understand this may sound like a weird question, but bear with me here, OK?

I'm getting ready to teach some kids introductory computer programming. We're going to use Scratch, a drag-and-drop "brick-based" language designed by MIT.

Now, scripts in Scratch are comparable to LEGO structures. Each script needs a base, and pieces to build it up. So far, so good.

However, scripts can also contain conditionals and loops, both of which accept a sub-structure.

I would like to show my students a LEGO structure that is comparable to a Scratch script. How could i do something like conditionals and loops?

A conditional can perhaps be represented by a door that can be blocked from the other side, or maybe two doors, of which only one is blocked via a sliding brick.

As for loops, I would represent them as conditionals with counters, by blocking a door with a set number of bricks and removing one brick per iteration. If you'd rather count upwards, then a fixed size hole can be filled with bricks gradually.

These analogies were made to the "minifig walking through a set of corridors - the program" analogy, but we could surely find solutions for axles and gears or even pneumatics if you were thinking along those lines.


How hard is it to get a job within the LEGO company, straight out of university as a graduate? How hard is it to get a job at the LEGO company?

Being fresh out of university as a graduate of mathematics, I'm specifically interested in answers on if and how LEGO hires graduates.

LEGO has a list of open positions which you can consult. As far as I understand, the application process starts there and you have to register a profile to apply for positions. Some positions also list a direct point of contact who can answer questions on the specific position (usually the boss-to-be, I suppose).

I'm not sure where a mathematics background might be useful within LEGO, but I don't know the full organization by far, and there are certainly some positions where it's going to be useful. In any case, don't be too afraid by all requirements listed for given positions, they don't necessarily mean that someone isn't suited for the job. But that's probably a discussion for another site.

Of course, jobs for which experience is required will probably be out of your reach, unless you do have experience in the required domain. For example, you could very well be a good LEGO builder already and have a chance for a design job.

But the good news is that LEGO seems to be willing to attract young talents, in particular in the IT sector. I remember seeing recently a "job position" which was in fact some sort of one-day seminar for young graduates, so that they could see what the life at LEGO is. There are also open positions which specifically mention students.

In any case, enthusiasm about the LEGO brand is certainly useful, and of course you'll probably have to devote some thinking time about where you're willing to work and live, especially considering most central positions are in specific countries, with Denmark being the most important.


Is it possible to use EV3 MicroPython with Windows 7? I have been trying to get python on my EV3 brick using an EV3 MicroPython SD card image as described on the Lego website. The EV3 brick seem fine with its new OS.

Instead my problems are at the computer end. When connecting the EV3 to my PC by USB cable and the Visual Studio Code editor (as prescribed by the Lego documentation) I can find and connect to the EV3 brick. But as soon as I try to actually do something with the connected device I get a blue screen of death.

According to the Lego homepage the systems requirements for EV3 MicroPython is Windows 10. I use Windows 7 on my computer which by itself should explain the problems. Nevertheless my question is if this seems plausible? Have others had the same problem? Is there any other way to use Python programming on my EV3 brick without having to change OS on my computers?

Sadly no! The EV3 software does not support Windows 7 or Windows 8. Because of how long ago Windows 7 was made, and the time EV3 was made, it simply cannot support it.

Or maybe it is your fault. The USB cord might be damaged or something, we don't know.


RobotC for RCX cannot find USB IR Tower I have looked for similar question but found null. So here I am asking.

I have Win7, a RobotC fo RCX and Mindstorms for RCX (both are old version, but available free). I borrowed an old LEGO kit (9794 Team Challenge) which lacked some parts. It has RCX 1.0 as controller. I borrowed a USB IR Tower from my friend.

After a well installation, I tried RobotC and was asked to download firmware to RCX brick.
But RobotC cannot communicate with it because it cannot find the port which I plugged the IR tower to. Inside the preference, there are two available USB port recognized.

I swithced between them but RobotC still cannot find the tower. I have been googling this around for almost a month now.

Thanks for any enlightement.

If you are you using ROBOTC 2 for RCX you need to install the separate driver for windows 32bit.  This driver is not included in the ROBOTC install (at least not with version 2.03).

It might also be a good thing to start with a fresh install of ROBOTC 2.03.


Transparent Technic elements I know these Technic liftarms come in clear transparent:

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32278#T=S&C=12

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32009#T=S&C=12

These liftarms come in a couple of transparent colors (not clear transparent):

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32348#T=S&C=15

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32449#T=S&C=15

Also this connector comes in transparent

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32016#T=S&C=12

And these connectors come in transparent red

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=6538b#T=S&C=17

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32013#T=S&C=17

Are there any other liftarms, connectors or Technic elements in general that come in transparent colors?

There are far more parts within Technic category in Transparent colors and just too many parts to list them all. I suggest checking Color Guide on BrickLink, Transparent Colors section and pick first column (named Parts) Most of the colors have Technic bits in colors you are interested in.

For example, just Trans-Clear color has 23 items under various Technic categories.


I have a bunch of LEGO pieces given to me already setup, any ideas to what set? Tan base with white and transparent cheese wedges? These were already set up in a box of LEGO pieces that I got.  Anyone have an idea of what they might go to?

They appear to be part of the Sydney Opera House set:

It contains that tan slope brick:

And those white hinge brick bases:

And you can see those parts in that configuration.


Vertical motion for a power burst bar 2nd question on my Bellagio fountain design:
Suppose I have several power burst with bar end, and I want to allow the viewer to turn a knob or something and make them go up and down. How might I do that?
I suppose I could use a winch with string somehow, but I'd like to do something a little more hidden.

I have an idea which was actually from JKbrickworks. Here is the MOC that uses it and here is another MOC of his that uses it.
Here it is step-by-step:

First, we have a plain old technic brick.

Now there's an axle stuck through it. That connector at the end of it is what I will use as the lever to turn. You can use whatever you want.

These connectors on the other end of the axle are supposed to lift the parts up and down, up and down, up and down. Using bigger ones will push them higher, but make sure that their ends are rounded.

And obviously, we need to add bushes. But we're still not done!

Buncha brickwork...

A 1x1 studded beam was added so that we can loosely hold a beam up above.

A non-friction pin is added.

A 1x5 beam was added, but I should actually use a 1x6 beam instead, which is fixed in the next images. What's the beam even doing here anyway? It's going to act as a guide for the axles that will sit above it.

Same process is gonna go on again. Note that I used two 1x6 beams in half because they didn't seem to exist in full. And yes, the technic beam must be laying on the lifters like that. I had to update it.

Almost done! But there's more...

More brickwork...

Now we have a technic plate with holes to stick axles through.

And of course, we stick axles through, you don't have to use plates like I did. And make sure that they are loose enough and rest on the beams. This is also the time when you can turn the lever to see if the axles pop up and down, up and down, up and down. If they don't and get stuck, try turning the lever the other way. At this point, we are almost, almost done.
The only thing left is to find a way to attach this minifigure shield to the axles. I don't have any solution for this unfortunately.
The final result should look something like this:

Update:
We've thought of using bars to connect the fountain parts, but we've discovered a few downsides and problems with that.
The first problem is that the plate with holes in my build is placed in such a way that it's not exactly aligned with the beams below, increasing the chances of any bars being placed on top slipping off.

The second problem is that the bars are noticeably thinner than the size of the holes in the plates, which leads to some pretty bumpy performance, as shown below. Your bar will tip around and possibly even slip out.

The build can be improved to reduce the chances of such things happening by doing the following:

First, let's remove that plate to make our additions.

Now we will have some off-set studs in order to align the plate.

And now we put the plate back, in a better position than before.

Now it's not as likely that the bar can slip off the beams. Don't you notice the difference?
We can reduce the chances of that happening even more if necessary by adding more plates with holes to restrict the bar from slipping, like so:

Alright. Now about the fountain spray problem.
The bar for that piece you're interested in is positioned in a rather odd way (if you're wondering why then just look at some of the thumbnails of 76108) like this.
But don't worry, I have a solution for this. Just stick the bar holder /w clip on top of the bar and attach the fountain spray part, and you'll be done! Easy!
The completed model should now look something like this.
Download link (click the button in the upper right corner)


Which set are these bags from? Red bricks, grey plates, and yellow railings? Can anyone help me identify which set these bags are from?


Repairing disintegrated old 9V wire I have a number of old technic motors and battery boxes I would like to use however the wires have disintegrated in storage to the point that the metal conductors touch and short out.

Does anybody know the best wire to replace them with? I'm thinking it probably needs to be flexible multicore but I'm not sure of the required current capacity or AWG?

You don't really need to worry about the wire gauge for Lego parts.
This source indicates that only the beefiest lego motors breach 1A, and even then, only while completely stalled. Most of those motors even have thermal protection systems built-in to prevent damage in the stalled case. So anything around gauge 20 or lower would do the trick.

Make sure to get a stranded core instead of a solid core so it will be flexible.

After you trim out the old damaged wire, slip on some cheap heat-shrink tubing over the remaining part before you twist/solder on the new wire. The heat-shrink tubing will reinforce and protect the new connections you made.


What is this weird and specific technical part? I found this part among some parts I bought. It looks like it serves a specific purpose.

What is it?

This is an Technic Steering Arm and was used is the steering mechanism of all kind of technic car like 1972-1: Go-Kart

With the introduction of studless building it was replaced by Beam 3 M. W/4 Snaps.


Can't link variable inside a switch when creating a new block I have a problem when connecting the variable (from the create a block) to a variable in the function because it's inside a switch. How can I link them?

I want to connect the variable to each (20) in the motor blocks

To get technical, this thing (pictured below) is a "parameter", not a "variable".

"Variables" look like this:

You can use a data wire to write the parameter value to a variable before the switch block and then read the variable inside of the nested switch blocks. Something like this...


NXT Sensors not working I'm looking for advice. I pulled my Mindstorms 8547 kit out of storage and started to play with it after several years of inactivity.

I found that the Color Sensor, the Ultra Sonic Sensor, and the position read back on motors all do not function. I downloaded the latest software and firmware version 1.31.

Any idea what is going on? Do I need to go back to a previous firmware version to get things to work as they did originally?

Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

Check for 5V on the two middle pins of the motor connectors (plug a cable into the brick, no motor on the other end,  and measure volatege on the contacts of the open other end). NXT/EV3 have separate power to all the sensors, if there's a short (failed capacitor or similar) or the power chip failed then the brick will still work, but the sensors won't get power.


Can you identify this old set with LEGOLAND minifigs? There is nothing written on the box and no LEGO logo anywhere. All the pieces that come with it are LEGO.

It is one box from 364-1: Harbour Scene from 1975:

Here's what the particular box looked like in newer condition:

And here's the set freshly opened with your box slotted into its place. Your box is the top center one if you can't tell from the image.

Here's a video covering this set in detail.


Unknown Set: White spaceship? with clear blue canopy Do you know which set this is? It's incomplete, and I would like to get the instructions. It looks a bit like a spaceship...

Hey Mc5,

Set #76028 Darkseid Invasion.

Build instructions here.

Have fun!


How can I controll the speed of motor using gears? Can anyone tell me how to use gear wheels to modify the speed of the motor in the Power Functions set 8293?

I know I could use the remote control unit, but I need to have a fixed slow speed on a static unit which will power a non-LEGO moving toy. I need a slow turning axle.

Sariel's tutorial is one of the better ones, and his whole web site is worth while. The Eurobricks Technic forum also has a list of tutorials thread that you might find helpful.

Sariel starts very simple and ends up with a discussion of what makes different variants on some of the Lego gears effective...


3d printed bricks quality? I know Lego has high quality bricks, but would like to know how 3d printed quality compare ? I would also like to see the kinds of tricks you use to enhance your print quality.

For what it's worth, I don't use 3d printed bricks. Just thinking about it, but searching on Google only give me information on how to convert from LDR to STL.

There have been various questions asked here previously regarding 3D printing, with very mixed results.  Here is a link if you are interested in the responses to those questions.

https://bricks.stackexchange.com/search?tab=newest&q=3d%20printing

The experience you are looking for to answer your question is slightly out of the scope of what we generally do here on Bricks StackExchange.  I would urge you to check out this more specific 3D Printing StackExchange site as it would seem more fitting and hopefully more helpful then what we may be here.

https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/


Examples of LEGO Rubber Bands Used For Friction Enclosure? I'm working on a variant design for a MOC that includes a cover over an open area. The new design is based on a suggestion for a "cookie jar" style design made in another of my questions, LEGO Enclosure Clasp. However, I'm having difficulty identifying which bricks to use to properly implement the idea and need a bit of inspiration. Could someone point me to an example of a set or other MOC design that uses something like brick #2653 (the 1x4 "sliding" piece) in conjunction with a rubber band to generate friction against the side of another piece (if such exists)?

Here's a very rough diagram of what I'm thinking of. The rubber band (red) goes around the inner square and fits into the groove in part #2653 (yellow) but "sticks out" enough so that, unless force is applied to push them past the grey bricks, they should generally stay in place.

My "problem" - and the reason I'm looking for guidance here - is two-fold. First, I have a relatively large (14x16) area around which I need this "gasket". Obviously, if the rubber band were to go around the entire thing, there would need to be some sort of reinforcement behind the grooved bricks to prevent the tension of the rubber band from just pulling them out of place. But, I'm thinking about using a few smaller sections (like one or two of the 1x4 end-to-end), each with their own rubber band. Perhaps a few of these around the perimeter would be sufficient?

The second is that I'm doing all of this virtually through a CAD system before I go looking into purchasing physical bricks and pieces I may or may not need. I've made several variants of the MOC with different ideas for how to implement the cover to refine my ideas as much as possible before I "pull the trigger", so I'd really like to see how someone else might have addressed this particular situation.

I personally would steer clear of a "cookie jar" setup.  The very suggestion of it's inherent qualities suggests something that wasn't meant to transport, but rather sit on a solid counter.  The rubber bands aspect seems potentially problematic as well.  Finding one that perfectly fits could prove difficult, and their elasticity would likely try to pinch in-between the tolerances of the bricks.  A rubber O-ring, being thicker and firmer, would be better suited for this task.  Personally I would opt for simple proven concepts that don't require guesswork and avoid potentially temperamental solutions.  If you did manage to figure out a working snug fit, you then would need a big gaudy handle sticking out to remove it with.

That being said, I threw together an example of a proven method for a removable door.  It would also incorporate your original idea of wanting a snap for peace of mind.

It's just a very basic design to prove a concept, one that's easy to improve upon.  One nice thing about this design is that you don't need a handle to open it, it un-clicks with just the friction of your fingers.

If you really want a cookie jar style lid I would incorporate a few studs onto a tiled edge, similar to how Modular sections are held together.  I would suggest the lid have an inner lip to increase stability.  Again, proven methods.


Is there an API for the Duplo 10874 train set? I intend to buy this train set for my daughter. Apparently, the locomotive can communicate with an app via a bluetooth connection.

My question is: is there any documentation available so that I can make my own app to communicate with these trains? Preferably, I'd want to connect with multiple trains at the same time. Then it'll be fun for her to play with the set and fun for me to program for them :-)

There is now official documentation for the Bluetooth protocol used by the Powered Up product line:

https://github.com/LEGO/lego-ble-wireless-protocol-docs

The community has created some tools to interact directly with Powered Up and Boost hubs. Here is one example:

https://github.com/nathankellenicki/node-poweredup

That tool supports basically every device using the Powered Up Bluetooth protocol, including the new Duplo trains.


What is this piece slightly longer than a 2x2 plate with grooves and a hole? Once again, I need the collective wisdom of this group to identify a mystery LEGO element!

I did a search for "2x2"and went through scores of Bricklink pages, but I couldn't find this particular piece.

It's the size of a 2x2 plate, but with this added grooved part that I've never seen before.

This looks like a PLATE 2X2 ANGLE, which is broken. There is a rough side shown on the picture.


Bag #3, no instructions, no box I bought a box of LEGO bricks at a flea market. This bag came in it and we want to figure out what it is. The polybag says "3" and the number on it is 135149 but that’s all I have.

I think that is 7937 "Train Station"

Method:

I recognised the white girder piece as being in the Saturn V set
Bricklink then shows all other sets with that piece
Of the eight sets that have that piece in white, the 7937 also has two blue chairs and some grey ladders.


What is the best-practice for circular lego staircase construction? Aside from using the grey key-hole shapes, I'm looking for a Lego-standard or best-practice method for building a circular Lego staircase?

Requirements:
6-8 studs "wide" (from the center to outer edge)
Sturdy, play-able construction
Connects at either 90 or 180 degrees to a floor.

There's a brick-built spiral staircase in the Pet Shop:

That's definitely the most common way to do it. You just build up around a central point. This can be expanded to use longer or wider steps:

http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/267772

You can also use 2x2 turntables if you need more strength and/or larger stairs:

http://www.popscreen.com/v/6UIWz/Tutorial-Lego-Spiral-Staircase


EV3 screen stuck at "Starting..." After I turn the device on, its screen is stuck at "starting..." for a long time. It hasn't change into the regular screen, and the light behind the button was still red (didn't become green). Is there a fix for this?

Try flashing the firmware. To get into firmware update mode, hold down the right button when turning the EV3 on. (You can also reset the EV3 without removing the battery by holding down the back and enter buttons for a few seconds.)

You can find much more detailed information on here.


Identify this baseplate I recently purchased a large lot of LEGO parts. Most everything I'm familiar with, but there are a few pieces that I'd love to get some insight on if anyone here can help.

This is a Megabloks baseplate, not LEGO.

For future reference - LEGO pieces will have "LEGO" stamped on the studs (where possible) and will have "(c) LEGO" somewhere on the inside in most cases as well. Difficult to read or find, but it is there upon close inspection. Your piece does not have any markings on the studs.


Who designed EV3RSTORM? I wonder, who designed EV3RSTORM? I have searched on Google but no results.

Brickset identifies JØRN THOMSEN as the designer of the 31313 set:
https://brickset.com/sets/31313-1/Mindstorms-EV3
Although I'm also inclined to believe that probably a group of people came up with the various initial robots.


Robot that searches for lights I use Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0. I want to schedule my robot to move to where there is light αnd then when it finds it (a large amount of light, for example 80%) to stop and move another motor for 30 degrees. Then stay still for 10 seconds and after that to search for another light.

Can you help me please?

I use

port B: right motor

port C: left motor

port A: the degrees motor

port 3: a light sensor

In pseudocode:

LoopBlock (forever)
    MoveBlock (B and C motors, 75% power, forward, forever)
    -- unclear here, probably want to head for brighter light
    -- instead, just wait for 80%
    If LightSensorBlock (port 3, greater than, threshold 80%) Then
         MoveBlock (B and C motors, stop)
         WaitForBlock (time, 10 seconds)
    End If
End Loop


Do any of the KRE-O Transformers sets actually transform? KRE-O, a LEGO-compatible brick toy, has several officially licensed Transformers models. I have two of the smaller ones and they do not actually "transform" - you take them apart and put them back together in a different form.

Do any of the sets use model functions to provide transformation, or are they all simply different models using the same bricks?

There's an almost 20 minute video about the kre-o Optimus Prime at youtube where pretty much everything is shown in detail - except the transformation itself. I'm really sure that if this was possible without disassembling and building it from scratch then it would be shown here, so the answer seems to be: no.


How to efficiently identify Lego bricks and find their names? I've found http://rebrickable.com/myparts linked in one of the answers here on this site and I'd like to list all of the parts I have at home (probably a thousand or two). The problem is, there is a lot of similar pieces on Rebrickable, including some which have "similar" in the thumbnail image, or have three zeros for parts, sets and colors.

For example there is a 1x2 brick with no hole in it: 3004. What is the difference between this and 3004px3? Can I filter the useless bricks out? How can I find the version with circular hole in the middle used a lot in Technic?

But the whole question boils down to: How to efficiently identify bricks and their names?

In my experience, the Bricklink catalog is the most complete parts list. It is organized in fairly logical tree by part type (brick, plate, wheels, slope, etc). Once you get familiar with it, you should be able to identify parts fairly quickly.

If you take a look at the 2 parts that you mentioned in your example on Bricklink, you can clearly see the difference between them:

3004:

3004px3:


How do I make instructions from my .ldr/.lxf files on OSX? I'm on OSX and I've got a bunch of models made in Lego Digital Designer.  They look awesome!  Now I want to make instructions.

Q: how do I get from my .ldr files to images or PDF?
I'll take anything!

There are a couple questions here on stackexchange that are similar, but years have passed and some of the references seem out of date.

From my research I believe (one) workflow is:

build a model in CAD of choice (I'm using LDD, but there is also LeoCAD)
import the model into Bricksmith
in Bricksmith group the parts together to make "steps"
export the steps from Bricksmith, which makes a .ldr for every step!
now it's time to render: bring it into LPub
... this is where I'm stuck.

The fundamental problem seems to be: LPub is... suboptimal

LPub needs parts files
LPub hasn't been updated in a while
The parts files are generated with Windows-compatible scripts
the parts files I've used so far just crash LPub

So, is the answer

"here's how to fix LPub" ?
Or "Stop using LPub" ?

Here's what I've found so far:

Making Lego Instructions - outlines the workflow I described
LDraw parts.lst - this is the "missing file" that gets generated.  Points to many other files.
LDMakeList - the script that generates the list
Lego Instruction Creator - stagnant project that was an alternative to LPub.  Has complicated dependencies.

LDD will produce printable instructions on its own.  You can print these into PDF files.  Do you not like the LDD-produced instructions?


NXT screen either flickering or blank, what do I do? The screen on my LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT brick has just stopped working. It is either flickering, or blank. I have tried turning it on and off, installed fresh batteries, and I can even hear the selection sounds. Additionally, it responds regularly when I connect it to my computer. I've had my NXT for three-and-a-half years, so it's not new. Is there an easy/feasible way to fix it, or a cheap way to get it replaced?

Here are the two easiest options:

Replace it. Contact LEGO, and tell them of your problem. I've
hear many success stories from people who did this, and LEGO
replacing it for free. For one person, it took a week to arrive, but
for another, three days. Note that if you want to keep your old NXT,
you'll have to have the receipt. If you don't have the receipt, then
you'll have to send them your deffective NXT. Also, if you did not
buy your NXT directly from LEGO, (i.e. Ebay) they will not replace
it for free, but rather ask that you pay them to repair it.
Repair it. If you have a soldering kit, then get it out, and follow
the instructions in this video. It worked for me the first try.


Looking for instructions for Air Canada Mega Bloks polybag 99911/99912 When I was a child I received a Mega Bloks airplane set on an Air Canada flight. I still have most of the pieces but cannot find the instructions.

The closest I can find is this eBay image of 99913 but I'm looking for the other sets shown on the bag.

Anyone have an image of these set instructions?

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Mega-Bloks-1997-Air-Canada-99911-New-Sealed-Fast-Shipping-/363045948319 has images, one of which is the back of the bag, which shows the instructions.


Who is (or was) Susan Williams? I've heard the name "Susan Williams" associated with LEGO products, especially in the 1980s. Who is / was she?

Q: All of the LEGO catalogs are signed by Susan Williams. Is she a real person?

  A: No...Susan Williams is the personifcation of all those
  helpful Consumer Affairs people who work at LEGO. As for whether or
  not there ever was a Susan Williams at LEGO, we're not sure.

http://www.lugnet.com/pause/legoqa.html


What went in the orange cylinders from Mars Mission? While sifting a bin of LEGO's that I received as a gift I found this strange orange cylinder:

I was able to determine that it was part 58947pb01, the "Cylinder 9 x 4 x 2 Tapered with Flat Bottom, Pin Holes with 'HIGH RISK AREA' and Captured Alien Pattern (Sticker)".  It turns out to be from the Mars Mission theme, and appeared in six sets in 2007-2007.  I'm guessing this one came from 7694-1: MT-31 Trike:

As you can see the tube forms the spine of the trike and it has something in it.  Despite consulting the instructions and watching weird youtubes that turn out to be unrelated I still have no definitive idea what the things in the tube are.

Do you know how you were supposed to play with this?  What went into the orange tube?

I'd assume from the partslist this guy is in the tube:

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?M=mm001


Of what fell beast did this olive drab carcass come? I think I have assembled the remains of some dread creature:

I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have enough elements to reassemble this, but I would at least like to know what it looked like in it's prime.

It looks like you have SandGreen parts from probably two different sets...

The dinosaur head (x158), 2 tail sections (40396 and 40379), 2 sloped pieces (3039), and black Technic brick (3700) are likely the remains of a Baby Ankylosaurus/Young Ankylosaurus:

The wedge plate (2419) and curved brick (6091) are likely parts from a Red Planet Cruiser (also in the Alien Discovery set):


Need help identifying the set for these parts green pieces Probably LEGO Star Wars, but no idea which set.

The wedge piece is 43712pb023 Wedge 6 x 4 Triple Curved with Air Vent and Hatch Pattern (Sticker) - Set 7734 and comes from set 7734-1 Cargo Plane.

The tubular brick is 6042 Brick, Modified Octagonal 2 x 2 x 3 1/3 with Side Studs. It came in only three sets in Green, all from 1997, all from the AquaZone theme. These sets are 2160, 2161 and 2162.

The other two pieces are too generic to be attributed to a specific set.


I am desperate to find the name of this brick Please help me find the name of this brick!
I am trying to build a Lego locomotive MOC and these headlights parts, the yellow ones would fit perfectly with my design, but I can't find the name of this one no matter how much I searched.

I would greatly appreciate if someone can recognize it and help me identify it!
Many thanks!

Looks pretty much like this part (tilted by 90°):

Brick Modified 2 x 2 with Pin Hole, Rotation Joint Socket
I recognized it by the small sloped parts next to the cylinder.
But apparently, this part was never produced in yellow. When looking closely at the pictures, the yellow has a different tone than the other yellow parts next to it. I think it might have been repainted.


LEGO Technic Unimog crane will not turn I finished the Unimog from LEGO 2 or 3 years ago, and I noticed this issue, but now I'm getting pretty angry because I still can't find the problem.  It seems to be that when I use the instructions for the function that should turn the crane, it doesn't turn.  All other functions work but unfortunately the turning, one of the coolest functions, does nothing.  Any recommendations?

When rotation / movements is blocked in a pneumatic set, this is often caused by the routing of the hoses.

Remove the crane and check if its possible to rotate the crane by hand. If not, check if the hoses have enough slack to allow movement, or try the re-route them again.


Opposite brick of Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Studs on 1 Side I was wondering if there was an opposite brick to this one:

Basically, I am looking for a 1 x 2 brick with two holes on the side where I could join the brick mentioned above.

Your best chances are with Technic, Brick 1 x 2 with Holes. Although LEGO considers such connection illegal depending on application (see slides 2, 11 and 12 of this presentation by Jamie Berard). However it works without major issues.


How much would it cost to buy one of every retail LEGO set released in a year? I'm curious: has anyone done the math to determine how much it would cost to purchase one of every retail Lego set released each year?

Clarifications:

I don't know if there are sets available in the United States that aren't available in Europe (or vice versa).  Assume United States with USD prices.
I'm asking about sets newly released that year, not sets from previous years that are still being sold.
Obviously each year will be different.  Perhaps consider just 2016 and 2015 (and maybe a sampling of others to see what the trend is like).

Brickset allows you to export a search as .CSV and appears to include prices for all regularly available sets - this does exclude promotional sets (i.e. in-store, newspaper vouchers, magazine gifts, partner stores, or VIP/special offers) and educational sets (only available through specialist educational retailers), or pick-a-brick/model options.

Running a quick SUM() over the price columns results in the following totals for 2015 and 2016 as examples - which gives you to total for the sets that were released in those teritories - if you want you can play around with the data yourself to merge the different sets, as well as apply either an average or premium amount (based on the number of bricks) for the promotional sets:

| Year | # Sets |    UK £   |    US $   |   CAN $   |   EUR €   |
|------|--------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| 2015 |    771 | 12,607.44 | 16,117.06 | 18,364.45 | 14,140.92 |
| 2016 |    828 | 13,531.21 | 16,915.18 | 19,718.39 | 15,886.59 |

As you can see the total number of sets is variable (2011 had only 584 sets for example) so the total price will vary each year.


My 8880 Super Car: Quality criteria for potential buyers? A couple of years ago I bought a used 8880 Super Car for around 50 Euros. I thought it was an exceptional bargain but now I am not so sure any more. I want to sell the set and want to avoid a disappointed buyer. The picture below shows the most obvious show-stoppers: stickers, prints and yellowing of the wheels. The stickers are more or less OK, headlight prints are very good. The round plate is only a "reference white" for comparison. There is some yellowing on the wheels, but it is moderate, same for the gear plate.

My question is: What else would you as potential buyers of this set consider important, before bidding?

Besides the obvious quality checks, something that is quite important to me when buying second hand: in what state of assembly will the set be shipped?

Unless it's a set I'm desperately searching, I will almost certainly forego bidding if the set appears to be shipped entirely assembled.

Partially disassembled is even worse in my opinion.

Also not acceptable is the set entirely disassembled but all pieces thrown together, I believe this causes scratches on the pieces and makes it easy to have pieces missing (with the mistake possibly happening on my end while resorting the pieces).

Ideally the set is shipped entirely disassembled and the pieces sorted in zip-lock bags in a logical way: large pieces with large pieces, smaller with smaller... In such a manner that it's easy to check for completeness and I'll have fun rebuilding the set.

Problem is that the shipping manner is seldom described in any online advertisement, one needs to ask for this...


What minifig configuration has been included in the most sets? Which minifigure configuration has been included in the most sets? I'm looking for the color of the head, arms, hands, legs, pelvis, and torso as well as the facial expression and any headgear. Please include an image of this minifigure doppleganger.

So far, the best I can think of is the red classic space guy which appeared in 46 sets.

Considering minifigs were less specialized back then, I bet the winner is in that time period anyway, and the fact that spacemen wore an uniform makes me think there is no other minifig apperaing in 46 sets. Even the basic city worker only reaches a pale 21 sets.


How many Star Wars Storm Troopers have there been? How many different storm-troopers are there in the LEGO Star Wars sets
for the entire timeline?

Based on the LEGO wiki on Fandom, there have only been 7 different variants of the plain white Stormtrooper minifigure since they were introduced in 2001 (plus one Chrome-Silver variation).

If you also include Clone Troopers, Sand Troopers, Snow Troopers, Scout Troopers,  and other such armored soldiers from the Star Wars universe, that number would be much, much higher (also see 'Variations' at each of the links above).


Do LEGO sets go on sale on black friday? I'm considering buying a LEGO set (42110) and with black friday coming up I was wondering whether they go on sale for black friday on amazon or the official LEGO store/shop at home. I looked at the price guide for various LEGO Technic sets on The Camelizer, a Chrome addon that only works with Amazon and I saw no significant drop in prices around black friday. In fact the prices went up by quite a bit, most likely due to demand for the holidays. I don't particularly remember there being a black friday sale at the LEGO store or the shop at home website, but hopefully someone can remember if there is a black friday sale. Any information would be very much appreciated.

Retailers adjust their pricing strategy from year to year, so what happened in previous years may not be necessarily an indication of what will happen this year.

In general, LEGO offers Double VIP Points and some sets on sale (usually stuff they want to get rid off, not sets that are popular recent releases) and throws in some freebies. Amazon does their own thing, mostly competing with Wal-Mart and not LEGO directly.

I have also noticed that in the past 2-3 years, Black Friday sales are not the best either from LEGO directly or retailers. However, the couple of weeks leading up to Black Friday can be pretty good. Again, this is not an indication of what will happen this year, it is just what I noticed in the past few years.

LEGO Technic sets, especially the large ones from the current year, rarely go on sale. So, if you can get something like Double VIP Points (basically giving you 10% off), is not bad. On Amazon, I have seen as much as 30% off before Black Friday on some of the larger LEGO Technic sets and that was considered exceptional.

Some people missed out because they thought prices will be even better during Black Friday. That did not happen. And that brings up another point. Don't be greedy with looking for the ultimate sale and risk missing out altogether. Look at the price you would be happy with, willing to pay, and is reasonable. Then, just go for it.


What is the popular challenge of solving the Rubik cube as quickly as possible using LEGO bricks? I saw videos of people participating in a race to resolve a Rubik cube as quickly as possible using Mindstorm LEGO robots.

Can you provide information whether there is a competition and on who is involved?
What is the research/design process?
Is there any sponsorship?
What are the performance obtained?

There's no "race" as this has been solved multiple times by different people (solving rubik's cube isn't that hard). just take a look at the CubeStormer (or, better, the CubeStormer II).

I also saw building-plans and programs for such a cube-solver (not exactly the linked one). If you like to rebuild such a thing: I'll add links as soon as i find them.

EDIT:
As promised, there's the Tilted Twister with building plans online. See it in action on this youtube-video. This is very slow compared to the CubeStormer, but looks like it can be built using only the NXT2.0-pack and doesn't need thousands of parts and multiple expensive NXT-logic-blocks.


Totally stumped! Part ID - unusual crane part? Is anyone able to identify this piece? I'm totally stumped in spite of searching through hundreds of vintage sets from the 60s / 70s.

Really appreciate any info, thanks!

This is Vehicle, Tractor Chassis Base 11 x 2 x 3


Lego mindstorms ev3 spinner factory problem I hope you can help me with this. I'm on an education where we practice all stuff about IT. I'm currently working on the Spinner Factory project in the EV3. However, when i looked through the program description, I stumbled upon this picture

I have no idea what the grey block before start block means. I've tried a lot of googling, but can't find a solution. I don't know how to implement it either,.

My Blocks can have input and output parameters.

What you're seeing is an input parameter.

This particular My Block has as input parameter the color the factory bridge needs to drive to.

If you create a My Block from a selection of blocks and there are already data wires going in or out of the selection, input and output parameters are created automatically.

You can also add or edit input or output parameters in the My Block Builder dialog.

Perhaps this tutorial helps:
http://stemrobotics.cs.pdx.edu/sites/default/files/MyBlocks%20%281%29.pdf


Little round knobs under the ark of the covenant I'd like to build the ark of the covenant from LEGO IDEAS as part of my 'raiders of the Lost Ark' scene. Is there a way to get a parts list for a LEGO IDEAS submission? If not, can someone identify those little round knobs at the base of it. Can someone help me understand how he's attaching the bars to the ark?

Since I'm not the author I won't be able to provide instructions, however it is quite easy for me to identify the pieces you are asking about.
"Little round knobs" are Brick, Round 2 x 2 Sphere with Stud / Robot Body (20953)

Bars are attached with the help of Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Light Attachment - Thick Ring (4081b)

That's how it would look in the assembly:


Need help identifying helmet I cannot identify this minifigure helmet I have. It looks like some sort of a biker helmet.

This piece came in a bulk of parts, which are LEGO, however not entirely sure this is legit LEGO piece. It fits snugly onto minifigure head, however doesn't have any usual LEGO marking. The inside has just a number "3". Which is the reason for clone-brands tag. I did check on Bricklink, but I'm not very familiar with minifigure items.

This appears to part# 30171 Minifigure, Headgear Cap, Aviator

In black it appears in 118 sets.

However, I checked with my helmet from Robo Pilot
and that one has a LEGO marking on the inside, yours could be a older mold though.

Edit, I also have one with a 7 marking inside , no logo, so I would assume it is from an older mold.


Does anyone here know how to apply for MFi product plan id to LEGO? Does anyone here have an idea as to how to apply to LEGO to get MFi product plan id? Or how do I get to their MFi product plan form?

MFi (Made For iPod/iPhone/iPad) is a program from Apple, not LEGO. You can apply on Apple's website: https://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/.


EV3 digital interface with sensors? The EV3 Brick is noted as having both analog and a higher speed digital I/O with auto ID up to 460.8 Kbit/s (UART), and 4 motor port with encoders.

The NXT Brick has 4 sensor ports both Analog and Digital: 9600 bit/s (IIC), and 3 motor ports with encoders.

I know the EV3 brick can use NXT sensors and motors, but I cannot find info on the difference in the communication protocol. Are the NXT sensors and motors less precise then the EV3 sensors and motors? Will the EV3 Brick support more sophisticated sensors and motors in the future?
Thanks,
John

I can't tell much about sensors since the EV3 Hardware Development Kit has not yet been released, but the existing motors have the same precision specifications and are completely interchangeable between NXT and EV3. And yes, hopefully, with the better bandwidth we can expect more sophisticated sensors!
See also http://robotsquare.com/2013/07/16/ev3-nxt-compatibility/


Trying to identify an old 2 x 7 white LEGO plate with a hole in the middle and 4 holes on the side Recently someone gave me a huge bunch of old LEGO pieces. Among the parts I found a white 4x6 plate with 4 wheel holes (those red wheels with a metal pin), a hole in the middle and an 2x1 extension on one end. Here's a photo:

I suspect that this part is from somewhere between 1960 and 1980. Can anyone identify it? Which sets may contain it?

This is

Part# 824 :  Train Base 4 x 7 with Wheels Holder

It appears in 2 train sets from 1966


Best Places to show MOC online? Well, I finally finished one of my projects. Is there a friendly place online where I can post a few pictures of it for people to see?

I have several places to offer for you to share your MOC.
Eurobricks - here we have a forum, split into several subforums based on the primary topic. Don't be afraid of "Euro" in its name - there are members from all over the world.
Flickr - photo hosting website, however there is still a strong LEGO community. You'd upload an image and add it to related LEGO groups for others to see. Having more followers makes it easier to be spotted by others.
Instagram - this doesn't need an introduction I hope. Posting your very first picture over there may not result in many likes. You need to invest time in getting followers.
Youtube - some people prefer making video of their creations rather than pictures.
Rebrickable - this website has multiple LEGO related uses. One of them allows you to share your MOC, but it needs to have a building instruction. So other people could also build your model and it is not just for show off.
Reddit - is another community which is about all things LEGO®. As Arturo Moncada-Torres suggested in comments you can also share your creations, just don't forget to tag it as MOC.


Where can I find a good tutorial on programming with Lejos? I want to get started with LeJOS and use Java to check to see if an EV3 touch sensor is pressed, but I can't find any decent tutorials.  Are there any good resources for this?

The makers of LeJOS maintain a blog on WordPress: https://lejosnews.wordpress.com/ where they also give tips and write howto's. I think that is the best place to get started, apart perhaps from the LeJOS.org wiki pages which are located here: https://sourceforge.net/p/lejos/wiki/Home/.

Those wiki pages tend to have some inconsistencies between versions (some of it is not yet updated to the latest version of LeJOS EV3) but when I got started with LeJOS 2 years ago I found it quite easy to get going using those pages.

Of course, all of these pages assume you understand how to write programs in Java - otherwise you'd need to look for a Java tutorial, like the ones published by Oracle at https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/.


TIE Fighter instructions Need to know what instructions go with this set. Bought them this year from LEGO store.  My kids lost the instructions. Comes with three separate bags in the set. Please help I'm trying to give it to my neighbor kid. My boys are still way too young for this set.

LEGO have instructions for all their recent sets, and many older ones available directly from their website:

https://wwwsecure.us.lego.com/en-gb/service/buildinginstructions

There you can search for a specific set number, or search by theme ("Star Wars TM") and year of release - for example 75101 can be found here.


Sending information from one EV3 brick to another EV3 brick I am working on a project using RobotC and multiple EV3 bricks to participate in a robotics challenge. I am wondering if it is possible to send sensor values from one brick to another through either bluetooth or USB? All of this is through code, and not using the graphical interface.

Currently, RobotC does not support Bluetooth messaging[1] or USB daisy chaining[2] LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 programmable bricks.


Which are the largest LEGO ships that actually float? My kids are frantic about LEGO ships, and I was wondering which are largest ships ever made.

Of course, they need to be actually able to float in a pool.

The largest LEGO ship that officially floats in water is the Cargo Ship that comes in 7994-1 LEGO City Harbor:

It is the only set which contains the 74 x 18 x 7 Boat Hull, which is the largest boat hull LEGO has made.


What set number is this? I have a set here that is mixed in with a bunch of other Lego, and no instruction book. I know 100% these pieces belong with it. Is there anyone who can identify the set for me so I can find instructions for it? It has a staircase piece and a 6179 piece that says “Gold Mine” with a base plate number 2359 in a sand colour.

Parts shown in your picture are from Bandit's Secret Hide-Out (6161) set. Here you can find inventory of this set to collect all the parts. Baseplate, Road 32 x 32 7-Stud Curve with Rocks and Ruts Pattern is unique to this set.


What internal electronics does the Control+ Technic Hub (88012) use? I'm interested in comparing to the other Powered Up hubs, which are already documented here:

Mindstorms v4 / spike prime What internal electronics do SPIKE Prime and Mindstorms v4 use?
train 6AAA hub What electronics are inside the LEGO Powered Up hub?
boost / move hub What internal electronics does LEGO Boost use?

Thanks!

TLG was kind enough to send me one of these, so I've done my part and cracked it open to see what is inside. The teardown was fairly easy to do without damaging any components. The only tool I used was a brick separator.
There are a few tabs around the edges that can be depressed to allow the main housing to come apart:

I'm not certain what the purpose of the small rubberized button is, but it is accessible from inside the battery compartment. This may be related to detection of a future battery pack.
The PCB simply lifts out:

On the bottom side, we can see that the main processor is an STM32L431RCT6. It's based on the Arm Cortex M4, can be clocked up to 80 MHz, and includes 256kB of flash memory.
The top side includes the remainder of the components of interest.

For Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication, the Control+ hub uses a CC2640 from Texas Instruments. This is the same chip used by the Powered Up hub.
The motor drivers are LB1836 chips. They are dual drivers, and there are two on the board, one for each pair of ports. These are the same driver chips used for the Powered Up, Boost, and Robot Inventor hubs.
Overall, this hardware is very similar to the other hardware in the current generation of products (Robot Inventor, Powered Up, Boost, etc).


How to glue a LEGO tree decoration in a way that's not permanent, to prevent accidental disassembling? I have a sweet LEGO Santa Claus and few other builds that would look cool as decorations on Christmas Tree. Sadly, it would probably break if I would try to hang it. It can stand all right but is not sturdy enough to hang, or to survive much handling, really.

So I want to glue it together. But I don't want it to stay glued. I want to be able to disassemble it when I no longer use it as an ornament that hangs on something. Is there any way to glue LEGO bricks and still be able to wash away the glue without damaging them when I want to?

Note: this question has nothing to do with the safety of 4 years old kids, like this one, and strength of connection I'm asking about is way smaller (hanging on a tree vs kid potentially trying to take it apart).

You can increase the "clutch" power of bricks by sandwiching a piece of paper towel between each connection. Once the bricks are together, cut away the excess paper using a knife.

The effect of this is roughly the same as applying a weak glue. Your builds will not become impervious, but will hold up better to handling and hanging.


Which mini figure is this? I would like to know which mini figure this is?

It is Hoth Rebel Trooper (Orange Chin Dimple)

With missing white backpack and goggles.


Minimizing brick loss during play Lego bricks are obviously made for playing---and should be played with. But, as a parent who strives to keep the set collection in order, it is not fun when bricks get lost after play and sets become incomplete.

What strategies can be employed to minimize brick loss, while still allowing children to play with the sets?

At my house there are two (well, three) Lego collections. Mine, and my kids'. The rules are stricter for mine: the Lego isn't meant to be thrown around, dropped pieces should be picked up, it isn't to be left on the floor, it doesn't get brought all over the house, and it gets put away every time.

The kids' collections they keep in plastic boxes and they can play with it how they want. Sometimes pieces get lost. I try to impress on them the importance of keeping the pieces together and putting things away where they go, but it isn't always possible. It might be a lesson they need to learn the hard way. My kids are extremely respectful of my Lego collection but not so much of their own. So it is possible to enact rules they can follow, but there are limits.

One issue that can help with missing parts is keeping track of where the parts should be. Keeping all the parts in one big box makes it harder to tell what's missing. If you keep your kits assembled as per the instructions, you'll know the parts are all there. Of course, this dampens your ability to create your own things, so maybe some other organizational method will help. You could sort the parts into ziplock bags by colour. You could put all the minifigs and their accessories in separate bags. Having enough smaller containers that lets you see when pieces are misplaced (i.e. not lost, but in the wrong container) helps you find pieces when you need them. Being able to estimate if a certain bag is missing pieces, or plainly recognizing that a certain piece is gone gives you the motivation to search for it now before the vacuum gets it. Keeping organized helps prevent problems. But it's also a buzzkill for many people.

That said: pieces will get lost. They will get broken. They will change colour in the sun. They'll lose their clutch power. So how do we cope?

The easiest solution is to order replacement parts from either Lego itself or from vendors on a site such as Bricklink. Some pieces are rare and hard to replace, but other pieces are easy to find and cost just pennies. Bricklink is intimidating at first but it's reasonably well structured and you can eventually find what you need.


Are the Lego looking figures in the picture real? I stumbled on this picture on the Nerd Fitness blog's paleo diet page:

Are they real Lego figures? (both the mammoth and the hunters) or photoshopped?
If so, are they correct? Or merely repurposed (e.g. hunters are really from a Viking set, and "mammoth" is just an elephant from some Africa themed set)?

Yes, they are real! The minifigures all have standard LEGO body-parts. They are not from any specific theme, but mixed and matched from different minifigures. The headgear and hair-pieces are all real LEGO pieces as well. The beards are from LEGO customizer Brickforge, the spears are from LEGO customizer BrickWarriors, and the capes are standard LEGO. The elephant is also a standard LEGO elephant which appeared in several sets in the past. Here are some reference links:

BrickForge's website: http://www.brickforge.com/store/

BrickWarriors' website: http://www.brickwarriors.com/

Elephant: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=elephant1c01

Hope this helps!..(c:


What LEGO set has the smallest box? Similar to What Lego set has the biggest box? but probably more-challenging to answer, what LEGO set has the smallest box (either square or cubic dimensions work)?

I'm talking actual sets with an item number and an actual boxes, not polybags or sub-components in a set (like a minifig cape box).

I thought that promotional boxed sets were good candidates for the smallest box as well, as I own a 1630-1 Helicopter (which, incidentally, I got as a promotional gift for buying toothpaste at some point in the 90s IIRC), at 7 x 7 x 4.5 cm (220cm3/0.22 litres).
There are sets with similar dimensions as well, such as 5018-1 Gravity Games Promotional Set at 7 x 7.5 x 4 cm (210cm3/0.21 litres), 7912-1 Helicopter Promotional (Duracell), 5017-1 Hockey Promotional set. and some others.
I thought those were the smallest in volume, but after a deeper search on bricklink I came up with a thinner 2.5cm (281-1 1 x 2 and 3 x 2 Sloping Bricks, Red with 8.6 x 6.2 x 2.5 cm / 133cm3/0.133 litres):

And after delving in the sets with a low part cound, I came up with an even thinner 1.8cm box with 1222-2 1x1 round bricks, at 7.5 x 5.5 x 1.8 cm (74.25cm3/0.074 litres) (same box size as 1241-2, 1240-2, 1230-2 and possibly others):

Also of note are the 1:87-scale cars from the 60s, like e.g. 265-2 1:87 Karmann Ghia with Garage:

The "box" itself is a transparent hollow brick, specifically part number 721, 4x8 studs wide by 3 bricks high wrapped in a paper strip, which puts it at 3.2cm x 6.4cm x 3.04cm or 62.25cm3/0.062 litres. (Hey, you asked for the smallest box, not the smallest cardboard box!)
Apparently some of these 1:87-scale cars, e.g. 671-3 1:87 Vauxhall Victor Estate with Garage were sold with an actual cardboard box around them, with listed dimensions of 3.2 x 3.2 x 6.5cm (66.56cm3/0.066 litres):


Can't identify this LEGO set with large angled brown plates Can any one help identify this LEGO set?

Because I can't find instructions to build it!

I think you have some of the parts for Jabba's Sail Barge #75020

It is one of the few sets to have so many of the Hinge Plate 2 x 4 with Pin Hole and 3 Holes in light bluish gray, you show 7.  It also has the  12 x 3 Wedge Plates in reddish brown, as well as the reddish brown 2 x 3 Tile with 2 Clips, and reddish brown 2 x 14 plates.


Identify this bridal dress torso Can anyone identify this brides dress torso:

I've searched on Bricklink for dress, white dress, and bridesmaid, but couldn't find it. I also have 1 in my collection but would like to buy more.

Keyword for this torso on Bricklink is "flower".
Torso Female Wrapped Dress with Pink Flower Pattern / Yellow Arms / Yellow Hands
It was used just for Fairy from Series 8 of Collectable Minifigures:


Does the LEGO (online) store ensure customers do not get repeated models in character packs? I have ordered ten of the LEGO Super Mario character packs from the LEGO store online.
I would expect that the models in these packs to be distributed randomly, i.e. each pack has a 1-in-10 chance to include each of the ten models. However, having opened eight of the ten packs, I have received eight distinct models (I am only missing the bullet-bill and the Fuzzy).
The chances of this happening by random chance are small - I'm not 100% sure on the mathematics, but I think its about 1,8%.
Does anyone know if the (online) LEGO store systematically tries to make sure customers do not get repeats in random packs?

I think I can answer this question myself now.
I have ordered twice, ordering five character packs in each. Across each of the sets of five, all of the characters I received were unique. However, there were two models in common between the two sets of five.
As zovits and Phil B. suggested in comments, it looks like employees will simply grab the next packs you have ordered form the box. Inside the box the packs seem to be ordered, so it is very likely that you'll end up getting unique models, but not assured.
If you would like all ten models, and can afford it, order ten packs at once.


My grandson wants a LEGO motor. What should I get? My grandson wants a LEGO Power Motor to use with his gigantic box of Lego pieces.  He is 11 years old and seems to know his way around the world of LEGO bricks.  I, though, haven't a clue what he is asking for. I see things such as "EV3, NXT, RCX, and NXT-G and I'm confused. Can anyone help me?  What is it I'm looking for?

You say he is looking for a "Power Motor", which sounds like he is referring to the LEGO Power Functions line. The bare minimum you need to get a spinning motor would be one of the battery boxes and one of the motors.

Battery Boxes:

AA Battery Box
AAA Battery Box
Rechargeable Battery Box (requires Transformer 10V DC)

Motors:

M-Motor
L-Motor
XL-Motor

(They also make a servo-motor and a train motor, but these are made for special purposes.)

The terms you listed however refer to the different generation of Mindstorms robotics.

EV3: Current generation
NXT: Previous generation
RCX: First generation (rather old and difficult to use with modern computers)
NXT-G: The GUI used to program the NXT robots.

Mindstorms do include motors, among other things, but are mainly geared towards use with robotics.


EV3 screen stuck at starting after inserting MicroSD card I followed the official guide to download microPython and flash it onto an empty MicroSD card (SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB), but the EV3 screen is now stuck at "Starting" after I insert the MicroSD card. The EV3 works fine without a MicroSD card.

This could be due to a bad SD card or due to bad flashing software. For example, there was a broken version of the Etcher software in early 2019 that caused the same symptoms [1].


Is it possible to connect EV3 and NXT bricks like master/slave configuration via bluetooth? Can I make a Bluetooth connection between LEGO EV3 bricks and LEGO NXT bricks? and If it is possible how to handle the software to make  a chain between them?

There are many possible ways of doing this. I am a contributor to the ev3dev project, so I am a bit biased in that direction.

To do this with ev3dev, I would install the nxt-python package on the EV3 and use it to remote control the NXT.

If you want to stick with the standard firmware, another possibility would be to relay bluetooth mailbox messages through a PC or other device. Here is an example (it goes in the other direction though - NXT controlling EV3).

Another possibility is to use Lejos or MonoBrick. Both have NXT and EV3 remote control libraries,


The Missing Handlebar I've been trying to look for the handlebar piece but it doesn't show up. Can someone tell me why?

I'm not sure where are you looking, but it is readily available on BrickLink in seven colors: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=30031&idColor=85#T=C&C=85


Angular resolution of NXT motor I am sure that I read somewhere that the resolution of the motor sensor was 2 degrees, but I can find no mention of this in the NXT Help file. What's more, the motor control block allows the Duration to be set to an odd number of degrees. Can anyone please clarify this for me?

I found the resolution of the EV3 motors by attaching a 90° connection to the motor, and a long axle with a pointer at the end so I could see changes in small angles.  By running a loop a large number of times with settings of 360°, then with 360.5°, then 360.75°, and watching for when the changes trigger actual accumulation of ending point, I found that there was no difference between a rotation of 360° and 360.75°, but at 361° the difference appeared.

I'll try the same setup with an NXT motor and let you know the results.

So it's like a step function with an interval of 1°.

I have building instructions and the program that I'll but on Rebrickable sometime this week.

Hope this helps.


What LEGO clone brand are these with 4-peg studs? I think this was a present in the mid-late 80s.

Very sophisticated building blocks for top-view apartment-room design. They also had furniture and appliances. Can anyone tell me the brand etc?

They look similar to Arckit, but the "stud" placement is different.
Perhaps you have a picture of an earlier design?

https://www.dezeen.com/2015/05/24/architect-modelling-system-arckit-posh-lego-damien-murtagh/
https://us.arckit.com/


Is there an alternative replacement motor piece for 4.5 V Trains? Is it possible to find on a market a simple 4.5V electric motor, that can be installed into LEGO Part 564c01?

The service pack No. 5000 is more and more difficult to find.

First, check the assembly is correctly greased - they can throw a lot of sqeak out if they are needing a little grease even if the motor is fine!

I have looked in to this myself, but the cost and trouble just isn't worth it - you can buy a used working unit for around £8 to £12 from a used / vintage Lego parts site.

These motors are really good quality and almost last forever if looked after, so chances are you will get your £8 - £12 worth from a quality used one - regular off-the-shelf motors cost anywhere from £4 - £8 and that's if you can get a perfect size and voltage match not to mention getting the drive gear to fit it etc. Stick with buying a using original motor/full assembly and check it is suitably greased and looked after it

I have lots of Lego train sets and that was my answer to non-working motors. I look after them well, and they just keep going!


Does knolling help or is it just part of the fun? When building a new set, many people knoll their LEGO bricks before beginning the assembly.

My question is: Is there a actual advantage to knolling all the pieces or is it only a way to stretch the fun?

It seems to me that if the main advantage is to save time when looking for the pieces, knolling nullifies this by demanding an enormous amount of time to pre-organize all the pieces.

Knolling is organizing objects by type, at right angles.

If you enjoy spending your time doing that, then by all means, do it.

However, logically, it is obvious that precisely organizing objects provides no benefit to anyone whose mind doesn't require strictly rectilinear organization of objects.

First, you have to sort all the objects (in our case, lego pieces) by type and colour.
You have to precisely arrange them.
Then, you build something, using up those pieces you just placed so precisely. Presumably you'll knock some askew: do you re-knoll? Do you have to move slowly and more carefully to avoid accidentally knocking them around?
By the time you're done, you're left with a creation, and a small number of knolled spare parts, now no longer in any kind of suitable arrangement (due to most of the parts being put on the model.

Or, consider the other scenario:
 1. You just open the bags of parts and pick from the bags (or, as I do, you dump the bags into shallow containers, so that it's easier to see and grab parts, but you don't mix all the bags together.
 2. When you're done you have a bunch of empty containers.

The advantage to the 2nd way is that you don't have to spend any time categorizing and sorting parts. You just grab what you need.

The only practical advantage to knolling is that you can easily see where parts are, and grab the appropriate ones. You can even count them and compare against the set's inventory to see if any are missing. However, you can achieve the sorting goal without knolling, but rather just by separating the parts by type and colour. This is faster, because you don't waste time fastidiously placing things at right angles.

For most Lego kits, I'd argue that even sorting the parts is a waste of time, because the parts are generally not randomly placed in bags. Even if the kit doesn't have numbered bags for different stages of the build, the pieces are not randomly distributed between bags and so you can still easily find things. (If someone else is sorting for you as you build, THAT can save time, but it requires two people, and thus doesn't really save time overall).

When building from your collection, if your collection is sorted (as mine is), knolling or otherwise arranging parts is a big waste of time. It's fastest if each bin of your collection has one type and colour of part and the bin is large enough to hold the pieces loosely. If (as I do) you run out of space for loose parts, you can save space by attaching the pieces together, or fitting them in tightly like a puzzle. This takes an enormous amount of time and, furthermore, wastes time later when you take the parts out to build. The only reason I put up with it is that I don't have unlimited budget and storage space to buy the bins I use for storage.

TL,DR: knolling is organization taken to extremes. It's based on aesthetic principles and not efficiency. What efficiency it gains can be had for lower cost by simpler organization methods. If you enjoy knolling, go ahead, but it certainly isn't really helping. If you can't stop knolling, you might be OCD.


Finding out if these are partial creations to any sets I recently purchased a Sterilite box of LEGO at a garage sale and it contained some partial creations.  Some of these look like they may belong to a set while others may be individual creations.  Can anyone help me identify if any of these belong to a set?  And which set?  Thanks!

Photo #1 is from 75933: T. Rex Transport
Photo # 2 and # 7 are from 75170-1 : The Phantom
#3 is part of 75168: Yoda's Jedi Starfighter
#5 is part of 75182: Republic Fighter Tank
#6 is part of 60179: Ambulance Helicopter


Which brick is the gray one? I don't know which brick the gray one is. Can anyone help me?

The gray part is a 43713   "Wedge 6 x 4 Triple Inverted Curved".  It has appeared in 231 sets since it was introduced in 2003.  Your picture looks like light gray.  This part has only been in 28 sets in Light Gray or Light Bluish Gray.

I found it on bricklink by searching for "curved 6 x 4".  I also tried "curved 4 x 6", "fuselage", and "bow" (as in the bow of a boat) before finding the right search.


What is the max current for the EV3 I/O port's VCC pin (pin 4)? The LEGO EV3 Hardware developer kit says that the fourth pin of input or output port provides a voltage of 5 volts but doesn't give the the maximum current that can be drawn from the pin.
What is the max current that can be drained from the VCC pin (pin 4 at 5V)?

As seen in the schematics, pin 4 of all of the input and output ports plus the 5V on the USB host port is connected to VCC5V/VCC5VIGEN, which is supplied by U23 (the analog/digital converter is also connected to this, but current draw for that is negligible). U23 is a TPS2041BDBVR which limits the current to 1A and has a continuous current of 500mA.
So all ports and USB need to be considered at the same time and must not exceed 500mA on average or 1A peak.


Help identify playing cards I'd like to design a poker scene similar to this one:

I've been able to find some individual cards such as the joker.  However, I can't find the full 'hand' piece in the bottom right. Is that a real LEGO?

These are all  the playing card tiles I can find:
3069bpb264 : Tile 1 x 2 with Groove with Playing Cards Four Aces Pattern

3069bpx6 : Tile 1 x 2 with Groove with Playing Cards Full House Pattern

3069bpb337: Tile 1 X 2 with Groove with Playing Card Ace of Spades Pattern

3069bpb338 : Tile 1 X 2 with Groove with Playing Card Joker Pattern

Those last two part numbers are individual cards, both of which came from a Jester minifigure from one of the collectible minifigs series.
Also, those coins you see in the middle of the table are from part 70501c01 and  97053.


How do I rename an EV3 project? I can rename the program in the Home Edition software but I just can't rename a project. Please tell me how to do it. Thanks!

As far as I know (I use Education Edition but the menu on the Home Edition looks the same), all you need to do to rename a Project is to go to the File menu and use the "Save As" functionality to save your work under a different name. This will automatically rename the Project (as displayed on the Project tab) on your programming screen.


Dichotomous key for identifying / discovering LEGO pieces? Is there a dichotomous key available for looking up LEGO pieces by progressively answering information about their characteristics?  It doesn't necessarily need to fit the strict definition of a dichotomous key (namely there being only two choices per stage of identification).

For example:

Does it have studs?  Yes
How many sides have studs?  2
How many studs are there total?  6
What color is the piece?  Gray

might yield part number 4277927

Additional characteristics such as estimated date of manufacture or whether a piece is counterfeit may be discerned by applying the same method to non-functional features such as the font of the logo.

Closest thing that I know of is the peeron site - you can use google to search only peeron by adding "site:peeron.com" or you can use the peeron website to find the part.  Start by looking at the part list for a few sets you have (or see for sale) and then when you get used to the terminology you should know how to search for the unknown part.  It lists all sets/years that the part came from, and all colors it is available in, and uses Lego part numbers and set numbers (it ads an extra digit to set numbers that have been reused by Lego)

brickwiki says:

Peeron is a set database with set inventories and an instruction scan repository (PICSL1) run by Dan Boger, with the help of a number of volunteers (Clark Stephens, TWS Garrison and a number of developers).

[ . . . ]

Peeron is one of the three major sources (with BrickLink and LDraw.org) for nomenclature and classification, it maintains a color list, and assigns (in cooperation with LDraw) names and numbers for parts that haven't yet been named.


How do I make a remote control car without LEGO motors? I have no LEGO motors In my collection, what are some household materials I can use?

It sounds like you are asking how to motorize your own custom LEGO creations using motors that you may already have around the house rather than purchasing official motors.

Before I answer this, I just want to make sure that you are aware that you can purchase the PF motors individually on LEGO.com for fairly cheap. You don't have to buy large, expensive sets in order to get motors. The basic PF motor set which includes a battery box, motor, wiring, and lighting is $30 USD. Unfortunately, as pointed out in the comments, this kit doesn't include a proper RC remote, so you'd need to buy an IR receiver and IR remote as well, which would add another $25 to the cost.

The first thing that you'll need to do is find a suitable motor. Old toys are probably your best bet. If you're going for small, you could also take a pager motor out of an old cell phone. This is what Phillipe used to make a motorized city-scale vehicle in another question:

The main challenges with using custom motors are:

Attaching the motors to LEGO bricks

The strongest connection will likely be created using some sort of glue or epoxy. Most two-part epoxies should be sufficient for small motors. Here's an example from Eurobricks:

You could probably get away with using screws or even rubber bands, but it's a bit trickier to make everything line up the way you want.

Converting the output of the motor to rotation of a LEGO axle

Assuming that the motor axle is relatively small, it is possible to drill out the center of a Technic axle and slide it onto the motor's axle. This can be a little tricky to get right, but it does work. Here's a video that explains it.

If your motor already has a pulley attached, it's easy to just run a belt between the motor and a Technic pulley.

Powering and controlling the motors

If you don't mind your creation having a tail, the easiest way to power the motors is to simply run a wire to the vehicle from some sort of controller. It's fairly easy to put together a working system if you have old wired remote controlled toys like this one laying around:

If you have any radio controlled toys laying around, it's also fairly easy to just rip the electrical parts out, put those on your LEGO model, and wire up your motors. You could also use the motors from the original toy. Then you don't even need to do any wiring. You would have to find a place for batteries and the receiver hardware on your creation, though.


Extra Pieces for Lego Gadgets Book My son is having a lot of fun with the Lego Gadget set (book and bricks), but he can only build one thing at a time, and would love to have a lot more of the types of Lego bricks that came with the Gadget set. I looked on the Lego website in the "Pick a Brick" section, and wasn't able to find these bricks. Does anyone know where I can find extra Lego Gadget bricks without having to buy more of the full book/bricks set? Thanks!

Rebrickable has inventory of elements included with this book. This website has also an options to add these elements to wanted list for Bricklink as well as BrickOw. Each element has links to both websites (Bricklink and BrickOwl) so use the one you prefer to acquire elements you actually need.
Once you know the element you need you could also buy them directly from LEGO via "Bricks & Pieces" found on LEGO Support page. Although it is a bit slightly more complicated since book doesn't have a set number and you have to look up each element individually.


Is it legal to sell your mocs? First off, I assume that it's legal to sell used LEGO bricks and it's also legal to sell self-made LEGO instructions and parts-lists.

As far as I know, there are people selling LEGO sets of their MOCs online. But I also witnessed a discussion, where the general consensus was that this would be illegal.

So let's say I build a MOC and want to sell it. Would the following be okay?

Selling the exact MOC I've built
Selling the parts one would need for the MOC (+ instructions and part-list)
Packing the parts and instructions into a self-designed box and selling them

Selling used LEGO is definitely legal, at least in most legal systems. One of the most basic property rights involves the right to transfer ownership as long as both parties agree on the terms. Even selling items under copyright (instructions, box art, games, etc) is legal under the first-sale doctrine.

I don't see any reason that any of the 3 things that you listed would be illegal. Here's a similar example which hopefully makes things more clear.

Let's say that someone builds computers and sells them. No one builds a computer from scratch, so the builder has to buy lots of components (CPU, GPU, RAM, hard drive, etc). Although each one of these components is likely covered by hundreds of patents, that doesn't actually matter because the builder bought the right to resell the parts. As someone selling MOCs, you have to buy LEGO bricks to resell. This is a valid use of your property rights.

To address your issues specifically:

Selling a MOC you build - This is legal because you are simply selling your own physical property (the used bricks) and your intellectual property (your MOC)
Selling the parts one would need for the MOC (+ instructions and part-list) - Again, you have the right to sell the parts. The instructions and part list are your intellectual property, but there may be issues with trademark (e.g. you can't brand it as a TLG authorized set)
Packing the parts and instructions into a self-designed box and selling them - This is essentially the same as 2 except with additional intellectual property of your own (box art, etc). Again, it needs to be clear that this isn't an official LEGO set.

In regards to the branding and trademark issues, TLG has a document available which provides a useful set of guidelines to use when referring to LEGO.

To be clear, I'm not a lawyer, and if you're planning to start a business selling packaged LEGO MOCs, you might want to consult a real lawyer first.


List of Lego Technic sets with remote controller? I am interested in buying a set with motors (etc) with a remote controller.

Is there a website that allows to search with this conditions? Official website is pretty bad.

I have found the Lego Technic 9398 4x4 until now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjlo7G661Iw

Are there any other?

There have been many remote controlled Technic sets over the years. I've organized this list with the most recent generations of remote control elements first.

Control+

Current remote controlled Technic sets will contain a Control+ hub. We can find them by showing the sets that contain that part on Bricklink.

Power Functions

For Power Functions, we can look for sets containing the Power Functions IR Receiver and sets containing the PF IR Receiver V2. It looks like the following sets contain that part and are remote controlled:

Motorized Bulldozer 8275
Motorized Excavator 8043
4x4 Crawler 9398
4x4 Crawler Exclusive Edition 41999
6x6 All Terrain Tow Truck 42070
Volvo L350F Wheel Loader 42030
RC Tracked Racer 42065
Remote-Controlled Stunt Racer 42095

RC

Prior to Power Functions, there were dedicated RC elements used to provide remote control functionality to sets. These can be found in this category on Bricklink. Most of those sets aren't really Technic, but some are. For proper Technic sets, it's probably helpful to look at just the RC sets containing a separate buggy motor instead of the large integrated vehicle base. Those three sets are:

Hot Flame 8376
RC Race Buggy 8475
Supersonic RC 8366


How many pneumatic actuators does one air tank support For example, I want to use air tanks to supply pressure to up to 18 pneumatic actuators (19475c01), but I don't know how many air tanks I should buy to supply the air pressure required by all of them. Does it have something to do with load? I suppose that I don't have too much load.

An air tank (at least LEGO low capacity ones) are not meant to directly supply actuators. Their main purpose is to smooth out the pressure of air flow produced by a pump (manual or motorized).


Do we need WiFi Dongle to install Scratch on EV3 I was wondering if I can install Scratch program on EV3 brick without the wifi dongle.

Appreciate any insight here.

No. Bluetooth on the computer you are using is necessary but you don't need a wifi dongle for either your computer or the ev3. If you are using the EV3+Scratch extension on scratchx.org, all you need is the scratch x plugin and a computer with Bluetooth (or a bluetooth dongle).

Here is a good article about how to set everything up.


Cleaning Bricklink pieces bought as "new" I'm just preparing my first Bricklink order and I've got a simple question - Is there a reason to clean pieces bought on Bricklink which were sold as "new"?

No. 10 out of 10 orders were in perfect condition. Cleaning the bricks would have been a waste of time, and would have added unneccessary scratches.


How can I improve my rackless steering design? I am trying to build a vehicle with a sturdy steering mechanism powered by the servo motor. When I was a kid I did this all the time with a rack and pinion design, but now I don't have any of the rack bricks.

The best I have come up with is an axle connected to a universal joint connected to the steering bar (see pictures - note that some of the chassis has been removed to expose the steering).

The problem with this is that the steering is slightly offset to one side. Also the axle can easily pull out of the connector if there is any resistance to the steering.

Is there a better design I can use, while still keeping the vehicle relatively compact?

Look at the instructions for set 42048 Race Cart. It has rack and pinion steering without using a rack. It basically uses the same 2-long beam as you use on the servo, but uses it to push two pins with towball end either left or right. You can find the instructions online at LEGO.com.


Steering mechanism for City-scale vehicle I'd like to build city-scale (6 studs wide) motorized vehicles with PF remote control. There are already several suggestions on how to motorize wheels. The next challenge is steering
 mechanism that can be connected to motor (with gears or by other means). Sure, solution with 2 rotation axes is preferred, but rigid axle turning at center is OK too.

It's difficult, but not impossible. A rigid axle turning at the centre would be mechanically simpler. As my crude drawing illustrates;
I would place a 24-tooth gear over the 2x4 wheel axle. A 8-tooth gear is optional but will provide finer control over the steering. The two teeth gears can also be replaced with a pulley gear.

This technique however will not work with current Lego CITY vehicals unless the wheel arch is removed or replaced.