Sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads The Lego Movie does not only feature sharks and lasers but also laser sharks:

However, a Lego shark only has one place where other pieces can be attached and that’s located on its belly.
Hence, I am asking: How can I attach a laser beam (or anything else for that matter) to my shark’s head?

In the above still, the shark’s jaw seems to be detached, but that does not seem very healthy and still it only provides little space to attach anything.

The LEGO Agents Speedboat Rescue (8633) set has a set with laser sharks. The set uses a new version of the LEGO shark with two studs on the top behind the head.

Sadly the shark only appeared in two sets, this one and Brickbeard's Bounty (6243) and because of their limited release they are very expensive on Bricklink.

For the original shark you could use a small Technic rubber band (or any small rubber band) to attach a laser.

In the example below, The body of each laser uses a Technic pin joiner, the rubber band runs along the slot in the brick so it's kept in place. The back end of the laser is joined together with a flexible rubber axle connector.


Problem with "warping" of LEGO water I was trying to imitate the cool water technique of Legopard on MOCpages.

Sadly, I found that when I did it on a large scale (about 46x46 pegs), the water tends to warp upward in the transverse direction, curling the edges.  I cannot get my lake to sit flat.  I get the standing wave in the longitudinal direction, as shown in the picture, but the entire sheet warps in the transverse direction.
I first thought that perhaps mold type played a role, but building it in either clip type gave the same results.
Next, I tried putting in longer 1x plates below to hold the longitudinal wave as shown in the picture, while hopefully straightening the transverse curl, but the problem is that the 1x1 clips hold the water/tiles too tight in the transverse direction, thus pulling the pieces too close together, so the plates end up making the warp worse as they push the bases apart further (due to the normal tolerance or piece spacing).
I would love any ideas people can offer.  I am not sure how Legopard got his to sit so flat.  I am finding that even 6 tiles wide gets a noticeable warp and his picture is many times that.

This image of the same model shows that the whole set sits on a frame of bricks. In the inside, you could place bricks underneath wherever necessary to attach the water plates (not only 1x... but maybe 2x10, or several 2x4 in a row). They are invisible, so color and type don't matter. If this row of bricks reaches from one side of the frame to the other, it can shift to allow the longitudinal waves but it cannot curl up transversal(ly?).


What does "No Friction" mean in Parts "Gear with 8 Teeth Wide, Notched and No Friction" http://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-gear-with-8-teeth-wide-notched-and-no-friction-11955

As title, what does "No Friction" mean in the part "Gear with 8 Teeth Wide, Notched and No Friction" ?

In the case of this item, it means that the gear will slide freely along the axle it rotates around.


How much does a LEGO brick weigh? I am trying to do a science project and I need the exact weight of one of the LEGO pieces.  I am using it as a counter balance on my scale.  What is the weight of a 1x4 LEGO brick?

In most cases you can find the weight of a brick from Bricklink an unofficial LEGO site that takes weight measurements from user submitted data. Bricklink states the 1x4 brick as 1.64 grams in weight.

LEGO bricks tend to be odd weights because the design process primarily focusses on the physical aspect. A 1x8 and 2x4 brick both have exactly eight studs, yet the weight between them differs  by almost a gram.

In the interest of scientific accuracy, I would recommend weighing the bricks yourself with digital kitchen scales to confirm the weight.


Mindstorms EV3 unable to drive two motors simultaneously Yesterday I had the basic driving robot with two large motors, but I could not get both motors running at the same time. I had the tank control programming block, with both motors set to 50% and when running the program both motors would start and one would continue spinning, but the other would stop after only 1 or 2 degrees of rotation.

First I thought it was a problem with the motor, so I replaced it with another motor from another set, but the problem remained. When I switched the ports it was the other motor that would not keep running. I tried different ports, changing the cables and restarting the brick but nothing helped. Checked the rechargeable battery to see if it was a power issue, but that was full. I did this in a class with several other EV3 sets using both large motors and none of the others had this problem.

I then used the programming block for a single large motor and tried both separately and that worked fine. But when I put two of those blocks after each other to start the motors sequentially again the second would not run after an initial click.

When I wanted to troubleshoot it further after I got home everything worked fine, which makes it even stranger. That also suggests it was not the battery box as mentioned in this post.

So I hope maybe someone has seen this before and can tell me why this happened and what to do should it happen again.

Thanks!

EDIT:
I found the faulty EV3 (it was number 9, not number 6....). So I was able to do more troubleshooting. Attached a screenshot of the various programs I tried with comments.

It looks like port C is consuming more power than the other ports (motor runs at a significantly higher rpm). And this shuts down any motor running at the same time through one of the other ports. combining two of the other ports (e.g. A and D) works fine.

Any thoughts on how this can happen?

Most people with port problems have port C failure. I had similar issue. In my case it was factory defect: SMD chip (U26 on board, see image and HW dev kit pdfs) was soldered with a twist and had two legs broken, but they touched the chip and sometimes signal was getting through. They are used for tacho input. So in some modes when it runs fullspeed it works OK (remote control or built-in motor control), but when it is required to turn for degrees or rotate with a given speed it just spins fullspeed without a stop since it does not getting tacho from the connected motor.

I replaced the chip (74HC2G14GW-G) and now everything works fine. I don't think they solder chips by hands, so it could be some defective batch.


What is up with Jack Stone's legs? A recent question regarding identifying a Jack Stone minifigure included this surprising picture of the back of the minifig.

I was totally amazed by this because I had never seen a minifig with a leg pattern like that on the back.  Was this unique to this figure for some reason?  What could you do with this that couldn't happen with normal minifig legs?

The LEGO 4 Juniors figures (also called Jack Stone figures) are significantly different from regular LEGO minifigures. They are much larger, and are not intended to be taken apart like regular LEGO minifigures. They are closer to the LEGO DUPLO figures in this regard with non-removable head, torso, arms, legs, etc.

Having said that, if you remove the head with a hobby knife (yes, you have to cut through the plastic), the rest of the body can be taken apart into smaller components. Take a look at the picture below to see what a disassembled Jack Stone figure looks like. Source: http://thebrickblogger.com/2011/02/lego-4-juniors-minifig-customization/


How do I build a curved wall? On my latest MOC I want to build a round tower.

This is a minifig-scale build, and the tower is going to have a diameter of about 20/30 studs.

How should I go about building the "curved" wall of the tower?

Inspired by Zhaph's wall, this one is made with 1x3 bricks.  It has a radius of 12 studs (24 studs diameter).

It is connected to the base by the last two studs on each end of the arc. The middle of the wall rests on tiles.  To complete the tower you can repeat this module 4 times and use 1x2 bricks to connect them (replacing the 1x1 end bricks).

This would not make a perfectly round wall, but it's pretty close.


How to instruct Mindstorms EV3 from PC conditionally? I want to direct my LEGO Mindstorms EV3 creature from my PC conditionally (ev3dev, Python). The idea is that the program runs on the computer, collects real-time data from different sources, processes them, and instructs the robot via Wifi/Bluetooth step by step. (The data collection and procession is quite computational so the main program cannot be run on the Brick.) The process is basically remote-control but by the PC program directly.

Is it feasible? So far I know only the way when one should upload the full program to the Brick, but this way there is no option to interact with the Brick continuously.

If you are running ev3dev on the EV3, you can use RPyC to remotely execute Python code on the EV3.

Resources:

Python-ev3dev. Working with ev3dev remotely using RPyC
EV3 PYthon. RPyC


Name of trunk-like objects What's the name of the black curved elements in the header/banner of https://www.flickr.com/groups/lego_arboretum/?

The full picture along with some others of the same diorama can be seen here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mark-of-falworth/sets/72157638713690815

In addition, does anyone know whether there is an instruction guide for these trees?

I think the piece you're referring to is Dinosaur Tail / Neck Middle Section with Pin.


Was "3062oldtile" in any sets? Was the 3062oldtile - Brick, Round 1 x 1 No Bottom Lip or Stud (Tile) in any sets?  Bricklink doesn't show it in any sets.  Did LEGO sell this part individually a long time ago or is the database merely incomplete here?

This seems to be a prototype / part that was not put in production
Post / Picture by Gary Istok on Eurobricks


Is there a Technique or Algorithm for Building Spheres? There are times when I would like to build a sphere or a dome like this one:

From Small Lego Sphere Project

While this example is great, I find it difficult to scale it to another size, whether smaller or larger, without it...not looking roundish anymore.

Is there a tool available that can design a sphere or dome based on a size?

This website generates a sphere in LDraw format: http://lego.bldesign.org/sphere/

Here's a link if you want to learn how it can be done: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/graphics/classes/6.837/F04/assignments/assignment5/
(there are other ways too)


How to lubricate the 4.5v train motor for set 7722? How I can lubricate the 4.5v train motor on my #7722 train set? It squeals.

Undo the 2 screws at the top and then take of the top cover.
You can now take the actual motor out  of the casing. It just sits loose in there.
Then you can undo the 2 screws in the bottom to free the metal block with the plastic gears.
It is most likely those gears that cause the squealing because of dust/dirt that got into them.

I would recommend to clean them first using a soft brush. (Paint-brush works well). You can stick an axle through the bushings and turn the gears manually or rotate the big gear shown at the top with your finger. Just let the gears run against the tip of the brush.
Don't stick the brush in too deep! You don't want the hairs of the brush to get caught in the gears!

Then lubricate with a little bit (a few drops is enough) of plastic safe oil. the movement of the gears will spread the oil around eventually when the whole thing has been put back together and is running again. (This might take some minutes of running though. Don't expect the noise to go down after 5 seconds!)

Don't use WD-40. It will degrade the plastic !!!

You should NOT lubricate the actual motor itself. Some of the oil you put on the gears will eventually make it into the electric motor and that should be enough.


how deep can the axle go in the Power up L motor I am trying to make a MOC but I can't decide how long the axle could be so it can go fully into the motor but not extending out of the other side. Could you tell me how long the axle can go in?

That is only 1 stud.
So an axle of 5 always stick out 4 studs


How do you sync the LEGO high speed train remote? How do you sync the LEGO high speed train remote?

I'm going to take a stab at this. Presumably you're asking how to make the train remote properly control the train. There are two things to consider: 1. Which channel to use, and 2. Motor direction.

Channel: The train remote features two wheels which can be used to control two motors independently. One has a blue line and one has an red line. These correspond to the blue and red markers on the IR sensor. Also, the IR sensor and the remote have an red  sliding tab with numbers 1-4. These need to be set to the same number. So check on your IR sensor and see which number your slider is set to, and which side (blue or red) your motor is connected to. Then make sure you set the slider on the remote to match the IR, and use the appropriate wheel.
Direction: There are two ways to control the direction the train goes when you turn the wheel. One way is to flip the polarity switch on the train battery box. The other way is to flip the direction switch on the remote. If you find the train goes backwards when you turn the wheel meaning it to go forwards, just flip this switch.

Aside from these cases, there is nothing else to configure about the remote. As long as your batteries are fresh and your train is wired up properly, it should work just fine with any combination of sensors and remotes. You can even use one remote to control multiple trains as long as each one is on a separate channel/colour.


pc program to receive data from EV3 via usb/bluetooth I'm looking for a library to create a desktop program. It should receive a data from EV3 brick programmed by standard EV3 software.

Currently I consider 2 approaches:
1. EV3 brick sends a bluetooth message, PC receives it.
2. EV3 brick creates a file and writes a data to it, PC reads the file via USB.

It's more convenient for me to use USB because bluetooth is already used to connect to another brick.

I found 2 libraries how to do that, although there are obstacles:

monobrick C++ library - allows to read a file, but doesn't allow to connect to the brick via usb
Microsoft EV3 API - allows to connect to the brick via usb but doesn't allow to read a file

The MonoBrick C++ library that you linked is for NXT, not EV3.

You can find the MonoBrick C# Library for EV3 here. It works with USB, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi and can manipulate files.


What is this heavy red LEGO piece with no obvious connectors? I got a bulk box of LEGO on eBay and this was in it. It has the LEGO logo at either end but the pegs at the bottom don’t connect to anything. It’s heavy, like a battery, but no connectors and it doesn’t come apart. It doesn’t appear to be magnetic. Any ideas?


What part(s) can I use to connect technic liftarms at a 90 degree angle? Is there a way to connect the two beams in this angle and still keep the connection strong and keep the rotation the same?

You probably could use this, which looks exactly like it's the missing part of your puzzle:

You'll be interested to know that this part has intitially been proposed by the first four fans (MUPs, for LEGO Mindstorms Users Panel) working on the very first NXT kit and regularly ran into the same problem as yours. A lot of Technic fans now name the part after Steve Hassenplug, as Brian Davis started called it "hassenpin", eventhough according to him it was more a collaborative effort. It's nice to see that LEGO does listen to the people it invites to workshops (the big wheels in the Emerald Night are another example of this).


How much does a life sized LEGO person sculpture weigh? Generally, how many pounds of LEGO would it take to make a life sized person sculpture?
Do they weigh anywhere near the same as the real person they are modeled after?

The image posted in your question shows the Lego brick artist Nathan Sawaya.

On his website, he states:

  A life-size human form sculpture typically has 15,000-25,000 bricks.

So, lets use 20,000 for our calculations.

Next, how much does a brick weigh, well of course it depends on the type of brick, but if we take the common 2 x 4 Brick , Bricklink tells us that one 2 x 4 Brick weighs 2.32g.

20,000 x 2.32 = 46,400g
= 46.4Kg
= 102.3Lb
= 7.3 Stone

So one could say they are very roughly equivalent in weight.

But if anything, the Lego versions are likely lighter than their human twins. This is especially true if we consider that many of the bricks will be smaller than the 2 x 4 Brick we used in the rough calculation above. For example, according to Bricklink, the 2 x 3 Brick weighs 1.92g and the 2 x 2 Brick weighs 1.21g.


How can I remove permanent marker from a LEGO brick? I need to remove permanent marker from hard plastic. How can I do it?

I use pure Eucalyptus oil. It works wonderfully. Keep in mind that if you are using it on LEGO, it will also remove the original printing (but won't harm the plastic itself), so I wouldn't recommend it in that case. But other than that Eucalyptus oil can remove marker, paint, glue-residue, and all kinds of gunk much better and faster than products like Goo-Gone. I'm an artist and use it on a regular basis. Eucalyptus oil is available in small bottles at health-food stores, larger bottles at pharmacies (that's what I use), and also at some Asian stores (usually the cheapest).


Electric train set not working - even though the light is on My son just received an old LEGO 9V electric train (no model numbers or instructions) from a family member.

I've set it up and turned it on. It lights up but when I put one of the trains or just the train motor (refer to image below) on the tracks nothing happens.

I've connected the Train Speed Regulator to the power adapter and turned it on, then connected (to the top of the speed regulator) the extension wire with the train track clip things to each side of the tracks - refer below.

Is this the correct way to set it up?

And set up the track in the smallest possible loop for testing:

If anyone has any suggestions or solutions on how to make this work or the correct way to set it up it would be greatly appreciated!

The speed regulator light being on is a good start. It looks like you have things set up correctly as far as I can tell.

The first step is to identify which part is having issues. All of these parts can be purchased on Bricklink, so once you know what has failed, you can replace the defective part.

Here are some ideas for testing components:

If you have a 9V light brick or similar, you can attach it directly to the speed regulator to see if that is delivering power.
It's fairly easy to test if power is getting to the track if you have a volt meter handy. You can simply measure the voltage between the tracks when you have the regulator turned all the way up. If this reads around 9 volts, then everything is working except the train motor.
You can test the motor by connecting one pole of a 9V battery to one side of the wheels and one side of the battery to the other. You'll need to use a paper clip or something to bridge the gap. If the motor spins, you know that it isn't the issue.
You can also directly power the track using a 9V battery. You just need one pole on one rail and one on the other. You can make the connection using a small wire, paper clip, or whatever you have handy.

If any of that doesn't make sense, let me know and I can add more detail and/or pictures. Let us know what works and then we can go from there.


Can you use a beveled gear as a pinion? I would like to use the PF servo motor for steering, however it is very large - I was playing with the idea of having it mounted vertically, and then using bevel gears to change the direction of the motion, however that introduced too much play into the steering system (even with only two 12t double bevel gears)

I would like to know if there is any good gear/spacing for driving a rack via a bevel mechanism, preferably as small as possible and with a vertical PF servo motor

(P.S. - yes, I know the micro-motor would probably be better for this..)

Seeing a picture of your progress would help tremendously.  The way the question is worded, it sounds like you were wanting to drive the beveled gear directly from the servo to the rack at a 90 degree angle.  This won't work for two reasons: 1. The majority of Lego racks are not beveled.  2. The rack moves fore and aft as it moves side-to-side, which would disengage the gears.

I threw together a rough, working rack & pinion setup with beveled gears to get a better understanding of the play you may have been referring to.  You didn't mention which type of beveled gears you were using so I tried it with two of the most common types.  My only 2 "PF Servo Motors" are deeply embedded in other vehicles at the moment so I used an "M" motor in it's place.  Because of this I could not compare the two for "play" in the output shafts.

In both applications the majority of the play I observed was coming from the motor itself, not the gear mesh.  I also don't have a clue as to how you built it verses the way I did.  Because the gears and size of the assembly seemed to be your priority, I placed the motor in a more compact position.  The orientation of the motor and which way is "up" can easily be modified per application.

The first test uses the "32270 Technic, Gear 12 Tooth Double Bevel".

The second test uses the "32198 Technic, Gear 20 Tooth Bevel" to drive, and a "87407 Technic, Gear 20 Tooth Bevel with Pin Hole" for an idler gear.

Both set-ups had very similar play, all of which appeared to originate from the motor.  I did try the smaller "6589 Technic, Gear 12 Tooth Bevel" but it seemed to exaggerate the play. This is possibly from the lack of an idler gear and/or from the greater angle of the teeth, needed for the smaller gears to mesh.  I therefore excluded it from "working prototypes."  When comparing the "play" in the assemblies that I built verses the steering on my 2 vehicles with the Servo Motor (set# 41999 & MOC using 88004) there was no noticeable difference.  In other words, I think this is as good as you can get using modern Technic pieces without some bulky over-engineered steering assembly.

My last thought on this takes us back to my earlier comment, "The majority of Lego racks are not beveled."  Another option, and perhaps the easiest and most compact, would be to retro-fit the older rack pieces parts# 2790, 2791, 2792 into your build.  These parts were pretty much made for this type of thing.  Here's a couple pictures from set# 8832 for reference.


Help identifying a black round piece with three rings I'm on a personal project to document the brick list for building every one of Chris Deck's Star Wars miniatures (http://sw.deckdesigns.de/minis.htm), and I'm unable to find in the Lego catalogue or Bricklink a canister-like black piece with three different radius values. Look for the second step (3rd picture) in http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=93630.

Thanks!

I believe that the part you are looking for is 6221 (Peeron 424) :

This part was most commonly found in Technic sets and was often used as a spacer on longer pins or as a crank handle:

Here it is on Bricklink.


Bluetooth pairing successful in OSX but Mindstorms NXT software still can't connect I'm using OS X Mountain Lion. I've installed the Mindstorms NXT software successfully using the NXT Script.rb script from Lego's web site, which is supposed to tweak the install so that it is compatible with Mountain Lion.

I'm trying to use the remote control tool to control the NXT unit via Bluetooth. I can do it with USB. I'm able to pair the NXT with my computer, but it appears disconnected and doesn't show up in the available devices. However, if I go to Bluetooth preferences, highlight the disconnected NTX device, and then click the gear and choose "Edit serial ports...", it shows a green status and says it's connected. Soon after exiting this dialog, it says it's disconnected again.

I have also tried to scan for the device in the Mindstorms NXT software after pairing but it doesn't find anything. Has anyone succeeded in doing this? Do you have any advice for me?

Carl,

I have the same problem with Mountain Lion and Mindstorms that I bought for Christmas.  I have discovered the following so far:

This is a known problem that Legos has not taken any action on.  I believe it is related to two things: different bluetooth chips and Lion / Mountain Lion OS changes.
The Macs with Broadcom Bluetooth chips supposedly will not work.  However, the Cambridge Silicon chips supposedly will.  You can check this out under the About Apple on your Mac (more information button).  My MacBook Pro has the Broadcom chip.
Some people have had success pre Lion with bluetooth.  And there appears to be Leopard / Snow Leopard patches on the Legos web site.  The lack of success for some must still be related to the Broadcom chips which are in the newer Macs.
Some have had success with using Windows with Parallels.  Usually they are using an external bluetooth dongle and there is some fiddling that needs to be done to override the internal bluetooth by using bluetooth explorer.  It is not clear if using Windows through Parallels works with the internal broadcom chip.

Net, here are the approaches I have come up with to try:
1.  Try my wife's MacBook with Cambridge Silicon chips and Snow Leopard to confirm it works
2.  Create an external boot drive for Snow Leopard plus Mindstorms and see if that works on my MacBook Pro.  However, I think the Broadcom chips may prevent it from working.
3.  Buy a bluetooth dongle (not clear which ones work and which ones do not) and try it on Snow Leopard external boot drive and then Mountain Lion.
4.  Set up parallels and add Win XP to my Mac and see if it works with the internal bluetooth and if not, try the external bluetooth.

The biggest cost for me will be #4 since it will require buying the Parallels upgrade and maybe Windows 7 if I can not get XP to work.  I do not like doing this since I have had Parallels and it is "clunky" and at times conflicted with Mac OS and drive storage.  I am hoping a Snow Leopard external drive maybe with a cheap bluetooth dongle will solve it.

I am also going to complain to Legos about supporting the Lion / Mountain Lion OS upgrade.  However, I do not expect a positive response since they will probably stop supporting NXT 2 in favor of their new system.

**Successful Update!!!!!:

I have successfully run Mindstorms using a MacBook with Snow Leopard plus the Cambridge Silicon Bluetooth chips.  Plus, the flash player is version 11.1.102.55.  I created a simple program and downloaded it to the NXT brick using bluetooth.  I shut down the NXT and Mac several times downloading new programs to the NXT brick using bluetooth.  Each time you restart the brick or the NXT program, you must pair bluetooth via the NXT window button in the controller of the NXT program.  Once set up it will run as long as you maintain the link and keep the NXT program and NXT brick on.
I made an external Snow Leopard Boot disk to run off my MacBook Pro with the Broadcom Bluetooth chips.  I updated it with current Apple updates through the internet to make sure it is current.  I loaded the Adobe Flash player version 11.1.102.55 to be consistent with the MacBook setup.  (There has been some indication that the current Flash version creates problems so I took that out of the mix...I will explore this later).  I added the Mindstorms NXT 2 program.  I connected with the NXT brick via bluetooth; created a program and downloaded it successfully.  Net, it appears to work!!!!

I now believe that the issues with Mountain Lion are related to 64 bit versus 32 bit on Snow Leopard.  My understanding is that NXT 2 is a 32 bit program.  Plus, you will notice that Mindstorms NXT 2 runs better in Rosetta mode which Mountain Lion does not support (Notice the watch comes up when you double click to start the NXT program...it means Rosetta).  Net, it appears to work.

For your information:  Full Snow Leopard installation and NXT takes up 15.74 GB.  I added iWorks 9 so I would have a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation capability which would drive it to 16.7 GB.  Thus, you could easily fit the whole works on a 32 GB thumb drive and have about 15 GB of space for data.  This would make the whole arrangement very compact for travel with a MacBook Pro.

Anyway, I got it to work to my satisfaction and I am off to learn how to make robots!!**


Use iPhone camera as an input sensor for EV3 As EV3 has Bluetooth builtin as well as iPhone too, is there a way to connect them somehow so that iPhone could send data from the camera via Bluetooth to an EV3 brick?

As a more general question, can I make iPhone send/receive data to/from the brick via Bluetooth, e.g. commands, with Objective C or other ways?

I haven't come across any existing projects like this yet, but there is nothing stopping you from doing this yourself. I would suggest writing an app for your phone in Obj-C and just remote controlling the EV3 via bluetooth.

The bluetooth communication uses the RFCOMM profile. This post might give you some hints on getting the bluetooth connection.

You can find the EV3 communication protocol specifications in the hardware developers kit that is linked in this blog post.

Hopefully this is is enough to get you started.


When using pi * distance between wheels/tracks, how do I measure distance between wheels? I am trying to make a program that requires my 51515 to turn a specified number of degrees. I found a way to do that on the LEGO app's "Knowledge Base", but the given example was:
import math
from mindstorms import MotorPair

motor_pair = MotorPair('B', 'A')

# Turn a Driving Base 180 degrees in place (if wheels are 8.1 cm apart).
motor_pair.move(8.1 * math.pi / 2, 'cm', steering=100)

My issue is that I do not know exactly how to measure the distance between the wheels. Am I supposed to measure from the middles of the wheels? The outsides? the insides?

This formula will need the lateral distance between wheels, i.e. the distance between left and right wheel, not the back and front wheel.

motor_pair.move(8.1 * math.pi / 2, 'cm', steering=100)

The steering=100 parameter means that the wheels will move in opposite directions. For the 8.1 value, one wheel will move +12.7cm and the other wheel will move -12.7cm. That is half of the circumference of a circle with diameter of 8.1 cm.
Now to the question: exactly what point of the wheel you should measure in left-right direction. It should be the point of the wheel that does not slip when turning - the outer edge will slip one way and the inner edge will slip the other way.
Measuring between the middle of the wheels will be a good first approximation. However the exact value will depend on the tire texture and their mounting alignment. You can test how exactly it turns 180 degrees and fine tune the value to larger or smaller.


Brick labels to be printed I am new to the LEGO "business". But I am building up my inventory, getting close to 100.000 pieces now, and before shooting off, I want to have my "system" organized. That also includes print off labels for every small part, to glue on the separate box/draw for item. This makes it easier, and more safe for proper work by several people, assuring that the right part is picked.

But, where do I find info about this? My wish is to print a few, important key words about the part - part.no., picture...

Any suggestions?

Tom Alphin has a template of labels you can download and print with the appropriate label printer.

Sample:


Problem With Bionicle Joint Sockets Cracking, Repair Options? I'm pretty sure that serious Bionicle fans have all dealt with cracking of the joint socket pieces. However, is super-gluing the broken parts a solution? I'm worried that the joint  socket won't be elastic enough for the joint piece to enter, or even that it might crack again.

The socket joints from around 2008-2010 were poorly designed. They were both too thin and too tight, so cracking was a very common problem.

Because the issue is the shape of the part, super glue doesn't do much. I tested it out on of my broken joints and the parts cracked again the first time I connected it. So don't bother with that.

What may help is sanding the inside of the socket's prongs down to make it less tight during insertion. I tested this out on a few of my sockets. Sanded sockets took 100 insertions without cracking while the ones that weren't broke after 20-30. However, I've also heard that the 2008 joints crack after sitting too long in a connected state, which sanding may not prevent.


Technic 8858 Rebel Wrecker alternate model impossible to build? I don't mean "difficult", I mean it appears to have an actually impossible instruction.  Or am I missing something obvious?  Here's the deal (pardon my lack of standard names for parts):

I recently dusted off my 8858 Rebel Wrecker, and decided to build for the first time ever the alternate model, a quad bike.  It's fine, despite its fondness for difficult-to-separate brick combinations, until I get to the steering linkage, which involves a connecting bar with a socket on either end.

One socket connects to the rack (a toothed plate with a ball on both ends; this happens in Step 8), the other to a ball on a part that forms the wheel mount.  The catch is that the connecting bar has little flanges in the sockets that (a) make it so the ball won't immediately pop out the other side, but crucially here, (b) make it so the both balls must be inserted from the same side.  The model has the balls on opposite sides.  I cannot figure out how to make this work without breaking the flanges.  Any advice?

Welcome to LEGO Answers! That's a great question.

I don't actually have this set, but I believe the issue is that the linkage piece that you are using comes in two separate variants:

The variation is subtle, but the small flanges that you mention in your question were added in a variant that came later than the set you are trying to build. This is what prevents you from connecting ball joints from different sides, and is one of the cases where part variants are not equivalent for particular building scenarios. You really need to use 2739a here rather than 2739b.

Hopefully you still have the original 2739a parts around, but if not, you can pick them up on Bricklink relatively cheaply.


LEGO or DUPLO ringing doorbell Does anyone know if this piece can be found anywhere or what it is called?
My kids had a ringing doorbell appox 28 to 30 years ago, where you push down a red button that sits on top of a curved yellow DUPLO or LEGO piece. (similar in shape to an eyeball piece)

I think you mean this part: Duplo Brick 1 x 2 x 2 Rounded Top with Bell

It comes with 3 different prints.

There are several sellers on bricklink selling the part.


Why do gray axles appear black and black axles appear white and black in this manual? I've been looking through the parts of an old manual I have and I noticed the odd-length gray axles appear black and the even-length black axles appear white and black.

Is this just an artifact of the lossy compression and thick outline colors? It appears gray parts are outlined in black and black parts are outlined in white. I'm pretty sure this set came with standard axle colors.

I don't have this set, but used 8421 as a test. This set is also released in 2005.
Looking at the PDF you see the same color scheme of the axles, were the black appear to be gray and vice versa

When looking at the instruction manual

You see the normal colors, so indeed your set came with the normal colors and due to some bad scanning and compression the pdf got discolored


How does the remote control on the 9398 4X4 Crawler work? Been looking for a good option for creating a remote control car but it seems Lego released an "official" way via the 9398 4X4 Crawler but it's expensive. How does it work? And that's really two questions . . the "how" as in the mechanical part and the "how" as in, does it feel like a regular remote control car? Supposedly there are a few new technic parts in this kit according to this site which I assume are to make it act like a regular remote control car.

You'll want to read the TechnicBricks review of that set, which is quite detailed.

In short, there are two new motor types; one of which is a servo motor used to control the direction. As the remote used is the usual on/off one, it means you'll be able to steer right or left, but with no granularity (you can also go straight ahead, of course). The other motor is a regular one, but again the lack of granularity on the remote means you can't modulate the speed of the car.

TechnicBricks also has an article dedicated to the two new motors themselves.

Having never really used remote controlled cars, I can't say how it compares to the real stuff. I suppose the lack of speed regulation can be a problem, but you should be able to build a better remote using the IR Speed Remote Control .

Edit: according to LEGO the new motors will not be available separately before march 2013, which I suppose means they will be available separately.


Uses for tracks in 9648 Has anyone used the Tank tracks (429139) from Lego education set 9648 for anything other than a tank?

The tracks are fixed in size, and I've found the application rather limited (driver belt, track) so far.

At this stage they seem to be a bit of a novelty - so any feedback welcome!

My FIRST LEGO League team likes to use them as clothing accessories, like belts, headbands, sashes, etc.

More commonly, though, they are used for conveyor belts (for example, in a great ball contraption). You can also use them for a chain drive when 3711 is not strong enough or big enough.

I also saw this recently where small carriages were attached to the links and it was used as a vertical parking system for matchbox cars.


How can you estimate the value of a LEGO collection? I might get a chance to buy a big LEGO collection of an old colleague of mine, but before I even come out with this suggestion I'd like to know, more or less, how much it should be worth?

The last time I remember his collection took about half of the volume of a 100x100x30 (cm) box.

This isn't an easy one: collections can vary considerably in value according to the rarity and desirability of their component parts. There are several approaches you can take to valuing a collection, but it really depends on how much work you're prepared to put in.

Of course, the only true indicator of anything is the amount that someone is prepared to pay for it. However, as a lot of people are buying and selling LEGO, we can get a lot more specific than that.

The Stupidly Fancy Method

Now, at the extreme end of the spectrum, you could go to the trouble of cataloguing every component in the collection and coming up with a price for each piece - based on BrickLink or something similar. There are 3 problems with this approach:

Prices on BrickLink are a fair guide, but remember that these are selling prices, which may not match the price that someone is willing to spend. For common components the prices are probably about right, but for rarer ones the vendors may be asking unrealistic prices.
It isn't all about the parts. Complete sets may be worth more than their component parts, especially if boxes and instructions are present and in good condition. Mint, unopened sets are often worth more than opened sets, but how much more depends on the set.
For anything but the smallest collection, this approach is prohibitively time consuming for us mere mortals.

The Easy Way

At the other end of the spectrum is another approach: weigh the collection, and base the price on weight. People often sell by weight on eBay, so by looking at a few listings it is fairly easy to come up with a figure for price per kg (or lb). The problem with this is:

There is a fairly wide variation of prices on eBay.
It doesn't take into account complete sets, manuals etc.
Some parts are quite heavy - motors, weights etc.
This approach doesn't take into account the difference between collections with lots of small parts vs lots of larger ones.
Some parts are worth more because they're rare or particularly desirable, e.g. minifigs tend to be more desirable than regular bricks, star wars components are more desirable.

Despite these issues, this general approach seems to be fairly common on eBay. They might sell for more by parting-out, but the effort and time involved just isn't worth it.

My Way

Of course, you can do something in between.

So, here's what I would do if I were selling:

Guess the value.
Figure out your price / kg by looking at recent sales on eBay.
Pull out any complete sets.
Pull out any remaining paperwork and heavy stuff (motors, battery boxes with batteries in).
You should be left with a pile of bricks. Pull out all the minifigs (don't worry too much if you miss a few, and ignore their accessories) unless they're already holding them.
Weigh the remaining loose bricks, and use your price / kg to value them. If you think there is non-LEGO in there (megablocks etc.) either pull them out or reduce your price a bit.
Weigh the complete sets. Use your price / kg to value them and then add a % based on how desirable you think the sets are. Castle, train, space (inc. StarWars), pirate and technic tend to be worth a bit more.
Assign a nominal value to each minifig. Regular city people are worth quite a bit less than "interesting" figs. Starwars are favourite, followed by other "fancy" ones. (If I were selling, I'd probably sell the figs in separate bundles).
Add this lot up.
Compare the difference between the guess you made in 0 and the answer you got in 7, and pick a price somewhere in between.

Of course, if I were buying I'd knock 20% off this price and insist that the seller do the same!

Notes on Pricing

When setting a price, consider the following general rules:

Although the age and rarity of a set or component has some relation to its desirability, they are not the most important part of price.
Quality of the parts matters a lot. Scratches or other marks lower price considerably. For example, I've got some old bricks from the 60s that are really poor for building because they're not made from the same plastic as newer bricks. As a result, people don't seem to want them, despite their relative age.
"Cuteness" of models matters a lot. Some of my oldest sets are quite rare, but they're also quite boring (e.g. sets of roof tiles). As a result they're no where near as valuable as a relatively common but fun set from the same era.
People like figs, so the pre-minifig era sets are not so desirable.
Many buyers like sets from their childhood, so nice space-themed sets from the late 70s - early 90s generally do well on the second-user market.


Looking for custom EV3 block to control LEDs independently The EV3 brick has 2 LED sets, one on the left side of the button panel and one on the right.

Software such as python for ev3dev let's you control them both individually, the normal EV3-G LED block however only allows to set them both to the same value.

Has anybody created a custom block that I can import into EV3-G that allows me to control the left and right LEDs individually?


Please identify this broken LEGO Technic piece This piece is from LEGO Technic 8070 Super Car. Can anyone please identify its name as it's broken and I need to get a new one.

Sure looks like one of these: Technic, Steering Gear with 4 Ball Joints, Complete Assembly with Black Base

It comes in a handful of sets


What prevents a 12V motor, when pushed by hand, from providing DC electric out? This question is somewhat related to a similar question I asked about whether pushing a 12V train motor (such as the one below) would damage it.

See title "Set 7865: six wheeled Lego® train motor (12V, 1980 - 1990)" on this page for the specific motor I'm referring to.

Irrespective of whether damage occurs to the motor when being pushed, I'd like to know why, given it contains a DC electric motor, when the gears are pushed by hand, electricity isn't generated by the motor in order to provide current to any connected load (e.g. the lights on the train).

I've noticed that the connected headlights in the train don't illuminate when pushed by hand -- is there some sort of electronic protection to prevent it being used as a generator?

The 12v train motor uses 2-pole 3-slot technology.

Because of thinner, but longer wire which results in a greater resistance and will create higher voltage, but lower current the current output isn't enough to drive on-train lights.
Since the resistance of on-train lights is constant this will drag down the generated voltage as well.


Minifigure Torso Cracks So I recently picked up the new Star Wars AT-AP and I was quite please with what I got, but after not even a week The awesome Commander Gree Figure had a torso crack that went from the bottom of the left side to About halfway to the top. It was put together and put on a shelf. No kids played with it or anything.

Is this because of the legs stretching it out or has the quality of LEGO decreased? Also how can I fix this without using glue?

Given that this is from a new set that is currently in production, you should contact LEGO customer service and they'll probably send you a replacement torso at no charge. LEGO has a pretty simple site to handle this:

https://service.lego.com/en-us/replacementparts#BasicInfo

You just have to enter your age and the issue that you are having, then you enter the set number (75043 in this case) and find the piece that is broken from the parts list. I just checked, and that torso is currently listed, so you should be in good shape. I've had this same torso issue, and they were happy to send a replacement.


How to estimate the pieces of a construction from just one photo? My teacher is handing points to anyone who could guess how many pieces are in the construction shown below. I’d say there are about 350 but most people are saying thousand or more, which is insane to me. The only clues are that it is 43 cm long and 24 cm wide.

How can I best go about such a task, i.e., how can I best estimate the number of pieces from a single photo?

In this case, knowing that the model is 43 cm long and 24 cm wide isn't particularly information. It's very difficult to give a rough average of parts when all the parts vary in size and the model isn't in a single primitive form (cube, sphere, pyramid).

With the exception of the eyes and mouth, this particular model appears to be built almost perfectly symmetrically. If you can imagine a flat plane bisecting the model in two vertically you can count the bricks on the visible side (minus the details) and duplicate that number to get a rough guess.

The model could be mostly hollow, but there are bound to be certain pieces that you don't see on either side of the model that add to the physical structure. In particular the bricks that attach the eyes and mouth and the SNOT details on the arms.

In some places it can be a bit hard to visually count the bricks (particularly around the mouth). You can use basic image editing software to sharpen the image and get a clearer idea of how many parts are used.

There are also some unusual aspects in this model where three pieces have been used where a single 2x4 brick would do as shown at the top of the front side of plant pot.


Scooby Dum LEGO character? I like playing with LEGO sets a lot. I especially like the Scooby Doo sets.  I'm wondering if LEGO has ever made a Scooby Dum character? Scooby Dum is Scooby Doo's cousin.

One can never be certain about everything Lego has ever produced, but If you search on Brickset or Bricklink for the word "scooby" you don't, at this time, find anything except Scooby-Doo.


Is there a website that has close-up pictures of minifigs? I am looking for pictures of minifigs to use for my profile pictures.

Searching Google turned up lots of results but most have a bunch of minifigs in them which requires extensive Photoshopping. I am just looking for a website with a bunch of pictures of minifigs or maybe a database if there is one!

Brickset.com has minifies entries for the majority of sets. here's an example.

http://brickset.com/sets/60120-1

Click on the minifigs tab. Some are on a plain white background, some not.

There's also heaps on BrickLink.com

http://www.bricklink.com/catalogTree.asp?itemType=M


My LEGO character's helmet keeps falling off... Is there any way to fix? My figure won't keep its helmet on and if I get it on it is very loose and will spin around.

The best and most effective technique I've come across is to use a bit of nail varnish on the inner anti-stud of the helmet piece, as Tonk explained on his blog TonksToysBlog. Just be sure to apply a very tiny amount and give it plenty of time to dry.

Also, if it matters to you, the helmet you have pictured does not go to the figure pictured. The figure is Jay Legacy from 2019. The helmet, on the other hand, is 98133pb02 from 2012-2016.


Identification of light and sound part Found the following car/space craft body this weekend. It takes two AA batteries and has three buttons for different sounds and light sequences. It is marked k8. The part is about six inches long, has LEGO embedded on proper spots but no part number.  I can send a picture if anyone has an idea.  Thank you for the responses it is exactly what is shown in the first answer, and inspectors body.  Now I know.  Next time I will work on imbeddong a pic.
Ted

Sounds like electric, light & sound 4 x 20 x 5 insectoid stinger.

Part# top: x239top

Part# bottom: x239bottom


Slow down the mindstorms EV3 motor so target position is not overshot I have Debian jesse installed on a mindstorms EV3 and I'm using the ev3.lego library: https://github.com/topikachu/python-ev3

I want to be able to slow down the motor as it reaches its target destination because if it's going full speed when it gets there, it overshoots its target proportional to how fast it was going.

Example Python code: When I use this code to spin the motor:

from ev3.lego import Motor
b = Motor(port=Motor.PORT.B)
b.run_position_limited(position_sp = 100, speed_sp = 300)

The motor spins to position 100 on the tachometer with speed of 300.

When it gets to its destination, the momentum carries it to position 125 or so.  So next time I tell it to go to position 100.  It spins up, then overshoots to position 75.

What is the best way to try to minimize this error so I can tell the motor to move to position 100, and it either slows down before it reaches its target, or otherwise freezes the motor when it reaches the destination?

There are two attributes in the python ev3dev Motor class called:

ramp_down_sp
ramp_up_sp

Link to documentation: http://ddemidov.github.io/ev3dev-lang-python/

ramp_down_sp Ramp Down SP: read/write

Writing sets the ramp down setpoint. Reading returns the current value. Units are in milliseconds. When set to a value > 0, the motor will ramp the power sent to the motor from 100% duty cycle down to 0 over the span of this setpoint when stopping the motor. If the starting duty cycle is less than 100%, the ramp time duration will be less than the full span of the setpoint.

ramp_up_sp Ramp Up SP: read/write

Writing sets the ramp up setpoint. Reading returns the current value. Units are in milliseconds. When set to a value > 0, the motor will ramp the power sent to the motor from 0 to 100% duty cycle over the span of this setpoint when starting the motor. If the maximum duty cycle is limited by duty_cycle_sp or speed regulation, the actual ramp time duration will be less than the setpoint.

Example:

from ev3.lego import Motor
b = Motor(port=Motor.PORT.B)
b.ramp_up_sp = 1000
b.ramp_down_sp = 1000
b.run_position_limited(position_sp = 0, speed_sp = 300)

What the ramp_down_sp does is when the motor is 1000 milliseconds away from its target (doing its own estimations) then ramp down the power from 100% to 0% over exactly 1000 milliseconds.

ramp_up does a similar thing, except ramps up the power from 0% to 100% over 1000 milliseconds.

This helps avoid unnecessary strain on the motors for applications where building up momentum is important.


How to prevent discoloration or parts in storage? I recently moved into a 1 bedroom apartment, and I am storing my Lego sets out in the living area. There is one problem: one wall is practically all window. Since it is unrealistic to have the blinds closed all of the time (since the lighting isn't great), and I don't have the space or money to buy display cabinets with the special glass that filters UV light, I installed UV film to the windows.

Will this be enough to save my Lego sets from suffering from discoloration, or should I be doing something else? This situation is only for a year or two, then I hope to buy a house where my sets can safely live in the basement, away from sunlight.

Product description says:

  UV protection helps reduce fading on flooring, furniture, portraits, blinds and draperies

Reduce, not eliminate, because such film cannot remove 100% of UV, and regular light can also participate in fading a bit.

If you want to store them, not to display them, then box will do. One that isn't transparent. There are opinions that airtight boxes help, too, but I haven't tested that. Regular dark box did a pretty ok (not perfect) job for me when I stored my bricks for many years.


EV3 won't connect through bluetooth anymore I was using VS2015 (C#) to write simple programs for my EV3 using a bluetooth connection.  This was working fine for several days and then suddenly stopped.  I can't for the life of me figure out why.  It's not my code, I don't think, because the sample program that came with the API also won't connect.  However, I can connect with LEGO LabVIEW just fine.

What I've tried:

Flashed the brick and updated firmware to 1.09H
Reinstalled BT devices and drivers on host PC
Reboots of brick and PC

I'm not receiving any exceptions on instantiating the brick, ConnectAsync(), nor any DirectCommand calls.  Connections with USB do work fine.

Any ideas?

EDIT:  I had typed firmware v1.06H (I believed this is what it was).  It's currently 1.09H, although I did manually update to 1.07H to no effect.

You should always be using the latest firmware. If you have an EV3 brick that was produced in mid 2015 or later, it may have a newer Bluetooth chip that requires firmware v1.07 or higher. See https://bricks.stackexchange.com/a/7237/3498 for an unofficial firmware changelog.

If updating the firmware does not fix the problem then the name of the comm port probably changed. This is something like "COM1" or "COM5". Look in the Device Manager to see what comm port is assigned to your EV3 and make sure it matches your C# code.


How can I identify LEGO stickers? What steps can I take to identify LEGO stickers/sticker sheets and which sets they belong to?

Using the full sticker sheet for #60150 Pizza Van set as an example, there are a few options.

If you have the full sticker sheet, you might be able to find a part number for the sticker sheet (in this case 29583/6174606), it can usually be found at the bottom and/or near 'LEGO GROUP'. Use either Bricklink sticker search or Google to find the original set. Older LEGO sticker sheets might only use the set ID.
A lot of sets, particularly those released in the last two decades and particularly CITY sets will use the set ID on vehicle number plates. Usually for number plates, the first two letters will be the initials of the set designer and the following number would represent the set ID. They can also be found in more creative places such as a tail number for a helicopter.
Google Image Search has a function called 'Search by Image', this can be found be pressing the camera icon in the Google Images search field. Take a picture of the sticker sheet, or a single identifiable sticker. Ensure that the photo is in focus, well lit and from directly above and upload.

Google will try to find keywords to match the image uploaded, this isn't always helpful so you may need to replace the keywords with 'LEGO', 'Sticker' and if possible, the theme that the set might belong to.

If everything else fails, you can use the registered trademark year to narrow down the year it was produced/released. In this case, the release date must be during or after 2017. It's possible that a sticker sheet could be reprinted in following years to correct a flaw in the design and that the year could change.

Tips

The first sets to have stickers were released from 1971 onwards.
[Source]
Steps 2 and 3 can also be used to identify some printed parts.
If you find a sticker attached to a rare part or a part produced in a rare colour, it might be worth finding that part on Bricklink and finding the sets that it is used in.


Why is the LEGO IR Receiver V2 not widely produced? Or are they? Basically, there are 2 different major versions of the LEGO IR Receiver, the unmarked V1 and the labeled V2. I've also read somewhere there was also a small hardware upgrade to the V1 Receiver at some point, also unmarked, dubbed V1.1.

The V2 IR Receiver came in the 2012 set 9398-1: 4x4 Crawler, and is apparently a much better piece of hardware than the V1 series. However it has yet to appear in any other set, or by itself, at least under that label. Some people have speculated the hardware was again silently upgraded, and the hardware on new ones is the newer hardware, without the V2 label. On the other hand, I know someone contacted LEGO customer service about it, but got an unconvincing response that the one they sell by itself is not the same as the V2 (unconvincing, because they didn't seem to know anything about it at first, and were possibly using the same internet resources we have available).

So my question is:

Is the V2 hardware widely available in new products? If not, why is it so rare?

No, the V2 receiver isn't available in any new products. It's only available in the sets you mentioned.

The most likely reason it's not available in new products is that the production cost would be higher and hence also the set price which would make the sets less attractive for most lego customers.

Also there is an issue with the V2 receivers when having more than one M-motor on one output port while this is not problematic for the V1 receivers.
It has to do with the high capacitance of the M-motors (for noise reduction) that tricks the V2 receivers into believing the motors draw too much current.

On the box of the 42030 set, V2 receivers are depicted, while the set itself only contains V1 receivers. I contacted lego support about this, they said that actual V2 receivers would likely cause the motors to possibly damage the set and that late in the design process they switched back to V1 receivers without updating the box art.

Performance wise, a good alternative for the V2 receiver is an sbrick.


Please help to identify spaceship-like LEGO set It looks like the framework of a spaceship. Does anyone know what set it's in?

Between the blue pin and the grey plane nose bottom pieces there is a characteristic white wedge piece, which I have searched for. This piece exists in three different designs, each of which is only contained in sets that don't resemble anything like the build your image depicts:

https://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-4264027
https://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-4614247
https://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-6249584

On another path, I searched for the 2x2 brick with two balls, under the golden plate at the back, with the same results:

https://brickset.com/sets/containing-design-17114/
https://brickset.com/sets/containing-design-57908

So this leads me to think that your build is not part of any official sets, or it could be a somewhat modified part of a set.


Alternate builds for classic space sets I'm looking for a full list of the alternate builds on the boxes of Classic Space.  Any ideas?

It looks like someone has 'reverse engineered' them from the box images in this eurobricks thread.

Hope that helped.


Technic Medium Hub - What is the difference between Voltage L and S? As a computer science with limited Electrical Engineering Knowledge, I wonder what the VLT L and VLT S modes (and the Current counterparts) in the TechnicMediumHub (Control+ Hub) Voltage device are?
I am in process of writing a .NET library for PoweredUp where I want to present a human readable interpretation of it.
Below the dump of the Port(Mode)Information messages.
Port: 60
    IOTypeId: Voltage
    HardwareRevision: 1.0.0.0
    SoftwareRevision: 1.0.0.0
    OutputCapability: True
    InputCapability: False
    LogicalCombinableCapability: True
    LogicalSynchronizableCapability: False
    ModeCombinations: []
    UsedCombinationIndex: 0
    MultiUpdateEnabled: False
    ConfiguredModeDataSetIndex: []
    Mode: 0
      Name: VLT L
      IsInput: True
      IsOutput: False
      RawMin: 0
      RawMax: 4095
      PctMin: 0
      PctMax: 100
      SIMin: 0
      SIMax: 9615
      Symbol: mV
      InputSupportsNull: False
      InputSupportFunctionalMapping20: False
      InputAbsolute: True
      InputRelative: False
      InputDiscrete: False
      OutputSupportsNull: False
      OutputSupportFunctionalMapping20: False
      OutputAbsolute: False
      OutputRelative: False
      OutputDiscrete: False
      NumberOfDatasets: 1
      DatasetType: Int16
      TotalFigures: 4
      Decimals: 0
      DeltaInterval: 0
      NotificationEnabled: False
    Mode: 1
      Name: VLT S
      IsInput: True
      IsOutput: False
      RawMin: 0
      RawMax: 4095
      PctMin: 0
      PctMax: 100
      SIMin: 0
      SIMax: 9615
      Symbol: mV
      InputSupportsNull: False
      InputSupportFunctionalMapping20: False
      InputAbsolute: True
      InputRelative: False
      InputDiscrete: False
      OutputSupportsNull: False
      OutputSupportFunctionalMapping20: False
      OutputAbsolute: False
      OutputRelative: False
      OutputDiscrete: False
      NumberOfDatasets: 1
      DatasetType: Int16
      TotalFigures: 4
      Decimals: 0
      DeltaInterval: 0
      NotificationEnabled: False

L and S very probably refer to load and supply voltage.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_load for details.
Experimentally, I have not observed any significant differences between these values in use (possibly because the source resistance is small).


Does Power Functions 88002 fit a gray-era train and run on gray-era tracks? Is the Power Functions Train Motor (set 88002) the right height for a gray-era train (set 7745)? Does the Power Functions Train Motor run OK on gray-era tracks?

As seen in this video, it is possible to add Power Functions to set 7745 and run the train on gray tracks

Lego Train 7745 with Power Functions

photo from Brickshelf gallery

Another video
Lego 7745 powerfunktion


Can you identify this torso assembly Can anyone identify this torso and arms?
I did a search on Bricklink for torsos with 'fur' and 'belt' but couldn't find it.

I found another listing for the same minifigure on Etsy with extended description, which doesn't mention LEGO parts have been used. Otherwise that would be a selling benefit. Also, two sentences below, extracted from description, make you assume minifigure is built from non-LEGO parts.

  This custom Minifigure works with any building block set.

  These figures are custom figures and are only compatible with LEGO® but are not in any was associated or endorsed by them.

Now if you are still in doubt, we could check if Bricklink has them. Torso and legs seems to be in Light Bluish Gray color. While such legs exist as LEGO item, checking torsos, assembled torsos, body parts (arms) in this color it can be be concluded that torso and arms have non-LEGO print. These still could be made of genuine LEGO parts, but print is custom.

Hair looks to be in Dark Orange, which exist both in LEGO form as Minifigure, Hair Female Mid-Length with Braid around Sides and a color.


Yet, another part ID question: Large blue dish Does anyone have an idea what the circled piece could be? Picture from this Flickr gallery.

I'm thinking it's circular so I've been scouring BrickLink for dishes and disks but have not been successful so far.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Set #4417- Aero Pod.

Top. Part #4767 - Blue
Container, X-Pod Top Cap 9 x 9 x 1 1/3.
Middle.  Part #47674 -
Trans-Yellow Container, X-Pod Barrel Section 10 x 10 x 3 1/3.
Bottom.  Part #47676 - Blue
Container, X-Pod Bottom Cap 9 x 9 x 1.


Can you help me identify the set this dark grey pedestal sub-assembly belongs to? Can anyone help me identify the set this sub-assembly belongs to?


Can the BrickStore part database be updated? Is there a way to update BrickStore database with new element numbers, sets, and pictures of the elements? How would you do this?

I found this on Eurobricks from 2014:

  I recommend to try BrickStock instead of BrickStore. Brickstore is old and is no longer supported and updated. BrickStock is a fork (using the source of BrickStore) of brickstore.

I use Brickset.com which is very up-to-date and suits the needs of me and my sons.


Accidently Deleted System files on Nxt 2.0. How to restore system files? I have accidentally deleted the system files from my NXT 2.0. It is making a continuous clicking sound. How to I restore system files. I have the system files, but my computer can't detect it!

Please help soon!

You need to reload the firmware. If you use NXT-G, this can be found under the Tools->Update Firmware menu.


LEGO retiring old sets? Why does The LEGO Group stop producing/selling older sets when they can still be hot items? I understand that they might affect the sale of future models but older models are rarely replaced by their newer counterparts.

As a fan of LEGO Trains, I cannot find anything for these ones:

Level Crossing:
7834
4532
7936
10128

Train Crossing:
7996
7857

These are just examples. There are a lot of other items, both train and non-train related, which are discontinued and are sold on eBay etc. for the price gold. Obviously if LEGO would keep on producing them, they will definitely benefit.

In order to sell older sets, TLG would have to either:

(1) continue a production run even when the demand for a set has dropped off

Production capacity is limited to a set number of components / sets at a time, and it makes sense to focus on newer, more profitable lines. For example, the moulds which produce LEGO parts are unbelievably expensive, but each mould can only produce a certain number of parts before it needs to be replaced.

or

(2) reproduce older sets

TLG has tried that in the past, and it hasn't proven particularly profitable for them. The problems are similar to (1).

or

(3) store sets longer in the hope that demand will pick up again

Which is risky, and typically less profitable than focusing resources on making new sets.

You can bet that TLG spend a lot of effort figuring out how to maximise the profitability of the company. Of course, it is possible that TLG has occasionally made the wrong decision and retired a set too early. I imagine, however, that these occasions are relatively rare (and even if they aren't, I don't suppose they'd tell us anyway).


Are LEGO elements safe to use in an aquarium with fish? Are LEGO elements safe to use in an aquarium with fish? I've never seen LEGO elements in a working fishtank.

The main restaurant in the LEGOLAND park in Windsor has quite a lot of LEGO creations in fishtanks. In the same park, the Sealife attraction 'Atlantis Submarine Voyage' has 50 species of sharks, rays and tropical fish that happily coexist with the LEGO models.

Keep in mind that LEGO is safe from children saliva, which I'm willing to bet is more aggressive than fishtank water.


Tall red piece with coffee cup, phone and gas picture? I have a few of these taller red pieces with logos of gas, phone, and a coffee cup on them. I've been searching online for days and cannot find a gas station, store, or anything with these pieces in it. Can you help me identify the set this came in?

This brick comes from set 6393: Big Rig Truck Stop from 1987.

The official BrickLink name of this brick is 3755pb01 Brick 1 x 3 x 5 with Cup, Phone, and Water Tap Pattern


Help identifying Star Wars and maybe one another set(s) Got these as a gift.
This is supposedly Star Wars, and maybe one other set, possibly some car.

Thank you.

The top left picture is a fragment of set #9442 "Jay's Storm Fighter".
The top right looks like another fragment of set #9442.
The bottom picture is the base of set #75053 "The Ghost".


Can anyone identify these 4? (Extra 1x3 brick for scale) I found these in with my old LEGO while sorting for my daughters, hardly been used in around 30 years, some came from my great granddad. What are these red things without studs for?

These are Part bb300 Garage Door Counterweight - Old without Hinge Pin

from Part # 822ac02 - Garage Door Solid Assembly - Old (Hinge Pins on Counterweights - Both Sides)

which belongs to

Set #435-2: Garage Plate and Door (The Building Toy)


Are all stickers on a sheet used or do you sometimes have spare? Dino HQ set 5887 I built Dino set 5887 recently, but the sticker sheet contains one extra sticker: one of the 'D' things, the pentagram one. One went on one of the walls, the other two round 'D's went on the chopper. I went through the instruction manuals 17 times to find it but for the life of me, I cannot.

Is it correct that I have one spare sticker on this one?

You occasionally get "extra" stickers, especially in the Police sub-theme of City, where the sheets have both "Police" and "Polizei" variations:

Police Plane Sticker Sheet on Peeron


What is the "Module" of a LEGO gear? Module, m this indicates the tooth size and is the number of mm of
  pitch circle diameter (p.c.d.) per tooth. For gears to mesh, their
  modules must be equal. Gear ISO standards and design methods are now
  normally based on the module. EG a gear of module 3 has 16 teeth, its
  pitch circle diameter is: 3 x 16 = 48 mm.

Source: Plymouth University. Gear Tooth Nomenclature.

I am curious as to which non-LEGO gears will mesh well with LEGO gears, but this is one of the more important numbers as far as figuring that out, yet I don't see the concrete number mentioned in any of the various LEGO gear descriptions/tutorials that show up when I search for it

To be very clear, all I am looking for is either single number, or an answer of "LEGO doesn't follow the mentioned Gear ISO standards".

Quick answer: LEGO gear module is 1 (metric).

See Section 3.4 at this link: http://bdml.stanford.edu/Main/CrawlerNotes

The consensus seems to be the following:

Lego gears have a metric module of 1, which is the same as a pitch of 25.4 teeth per inch of diameter.
Pressure angle is likely to be about 20 degrees. (This is the most common angle with modern gearing.)
Face width is approximately 1/8 inch. Perhaps more precisely: b = 0.14 inches? - according to a measurement somebody took with calipers in 2011. But note that not all LEGO gears have the full face width. In particular, the crown gears (LEGO's version of bevel gears) do not have a full face width.

From http://orionrobots.co.uk/Lego+Specifications:

  In the Lego system, technic gears have a ratio that the number of
  teeth are 8 times the diameter, or 16 times the radius in stud pitch.
  Conveniently - the number of studs, and Diameter in Millimeters seem
  to be the same. Note: one "stud" is 8mm. So: 16 tooth gear is 2 studs
  = 16mm => diametral pitch = 1mm.

Also, I have personally 3D printed custom gears with a pressure angle of 20 degrees and a module of 1, and these meshed perfectly with my other LEGO gears.


Flash update breaks the Mindstoms NXT viewer After udating to the lastest version of Flash on my Macbook Pro (OS X 10.7.4) The Mindstorms NXT software that comes in the box no longer displays the build instructions. It does load up, but the build instructions pages are blank.

Is this a known issue, and is there a fix available?

This is fixed using the NXT software version available from http://www.lego.com/en-us/mindstorms/downloads/software/nxt-software/ instead of CD that came with the NXT set.


Programming The Lego Mindstorms T-Rex from EV3 Laboratory I bought the book The Lego Mindstorms EV3 Laboratory fron Daniele Benedettelli. I buid the T-Rex chapter 15 and when I tried to programming the T-Rex (chapter 16) I have a problem. I'm not able to make the last connection when I build the MoveAbsolute block.
I send a picture. Do you know why?

According the book the last input of the MyBlock is a Logic input, instead of a Number (default setting).

Make sure you changed it to Logic and try it again.


How can I make controller ports round for my "Lego Gamecube" Found my wife's old 2001 "Nintendo Gamecube" and then it sparked an idea. Once I was done it looked very nice but I still feel there is something missing! How can I make round controller ports?

Perhaps something like this using 1x4 arches could work?

This does work out to being 2 modules too wide for 1:1 scale with a GameCube, but the trade-off in accuracy may be worth it to you to get the round ports. It appears to be only 1 module wider than your current design.
Here's more detail of the build steps:
Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Final Build


3x3 black Technic bracket piece needs identifying I need some of this part but I’m struggling to find any sets they came in:

BrickLink calls it Technic, Pin Connector Toggle Joint Smooth Double with Axle and Pin Holes.

It comes in a number of sets listed here.


Can you identify this yellow translucent snake piece and sets it may come from? Piece shown here a yellow translucent snake found in stacks of Lego. Wondering what it is and what sets it may come from so I can try and locate the rest and build it. Thanks for your help

It is part 98348 Minifig Weapon, Whip Bent with Snake Head and Pin Hole.

On this page you can find more info about this part, what colors it exists in, and all of the sets it appears in.

The part exists in this color in 3 sets: 41518 Glomp, 41519 Glurt, and in 9557 Lizaru Polybag.


Help Identifying a minifigure head I have looked everywhere I know to look but can't find this minifigure head listed.  Any help appreciated.

I talked to a Lego expert on the lego.com online chat.  He told me that this particular lego head was an exclusive part for the Build a Minifigure bin and gave me the part number for it 6257472 mini figure head #2829.  I didn't know there were exclusive parts in the minifigure bin, I wonder if this is something new.  He seemed quite surprised when he found it in the lego database as being exclusive to the build a minifigure bin.


How can I reuse LEGO part bags? I go through so many of these annoying plastic bags. Unfortunately, not many places recycle them. Are there any ways they can be re-sealed?

One way of resealing the bags is to use a laminator. Most laminators aren't designed to seal anything other than lamination pouches so you'd want to be particularly careful using them to re-seal LEGO bags.

No matter how careful you are when you open them, most polybags tear slightly and leave rough edges that cannot be fed easily into a laminator.

I suggest cutting a straight line with scissors or a ruler/box cutter, just below the original seam.

Start up the laminator to get it warmed up and fill your polybag, I don't recommend you fill it up more than 1/2 or 2/3 of the bag as it can be difficult to feed the laminator.

Don't let it run too long as it will be quite difficult to remove (as shown in my example, I left it about a second too late, the second time I fed it into the laminator), it doesn't take a long time for it too seal completely and it takes a few tries to get it work well.

After the bag expands, it should be airtight and you can turn of the laminator, and remove it when it is safe to do so.


What is the name of this 2x2 curved piece with a lip? What is this piece called, and what are its degrees?

This is part number 30602. Brickset refers to it as "Front 2x2 Sport" and on Bricklink it is "Slope, Curved 2 x 2 Lip, No Studs".

The top is curved, so it doesn't have a clean angle like some slopes do and it's name doesn't include an angle measures in degrees.


Can you change the sensitivity of an EV3 Touch Sensor? My son is making a LEGO pinball machine and is wondering if it is possible to increase the sensitivity of an Ev3 Touch Sensor as when a ball hits it?  Or does he need to use Color Sensors?

It is not possible to increase the sensitivity of the touch sensor in-programming. Generally, you can use a lever to decrease the amount of force required.

Here the "load" is the touch sensor button, the "effort" is the ball hitting the lever, and the beam is a lego beam.

If the ball you're using is too light, you still probably won't be able to depress the touch sensor, regardless of how long the lever is. You can experiment with a heavier ball and a lever arm to try to get it working.

If you can't get a mechanical solution working, or if it is required that the ball is only detected when it hits a small target, a light/color sensor might be the next thing to try.

Side note, I think it's really great you're helping your son with his project. Feel free to post back here if you have more questions!


How can I stop the LEGO Cargo train 60052 wheels from skidding on track? I have the Cargo train 60052, it's only around a year old and lately I've found on starting it (on both straight and curved track pieces) it isn't moving, the wheels seem to skid on the tracks and I have to give it a little nudge to get it going, even then it tends to stop further down.

I'm wondering if this is an issue with the tracks or the wheels?

I have taken them off and tried wiping them and 'rotating' them but no luck. I have looked online but haven't found any resolution, can anyone help me? :)

Replace or reset the rubber bands on the wheels. This trick works on the 80s era trains so should work here too.


Can I build a faster LEGO train motor? I was going over LEGO Power Functions train motors, and I was not satisfied with the speed. Speed seven is fast enough to derail the train on the curve, but not fast enough realistically. I am thinking that if I open the motor and put in bigger cog wheels, it will hopefully make my train go fast enough (I'm trying to get at least 10 mph.) Will this work? Where can I get bigger cog wheels?

Mathematically, the largest driver wheel you can buy for LEGO is Big Ben's XL driver, with a diameter of 36.8mm.  To reach 10 mph, that wheel will have to spin:

36.8 mm diameter -> 115.6 mm circumference -> 7.2 x 10^-5 mi/revolution -> 2320 RPM (!!)

This means that you have to gear up a motor to run at 2320 RPM.  An XL PF motor with no load spins at about 220 RPM.  I just don't think that's going to happen.

And if your goal is to use the smaller wheels, there's no way to accomplish what you want with LEGO.

Don't forget, the TGV (and other high speed trains) are incredibly complex and well engineered machines.  It requires a specific track layout, curve radius, rail width tolerance, surface roughness tolerance, and we haven't even reached the train itself.

Honestly, accomplishing a scale-equivalent speed using only LEGO bricks would lead to a revolution in transportation design, because if you can do it with LEGO at L-gauge without blowing up, you could easily do it with steel, plastics, and composites at people-scale.


What is the brown ship in the Star Wars 2012 advent calendar? The brown boxy ship is shown in the ad, but I have no idea what it is? My son was waiting all day for me to get home and tell him, but I can't figure it out!

According to BrickLink it is a Trade Federation MTT


How can I connect the LEGO Mindstorms NXT with an iPad? I'm looking to take advantage of the older generation LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots by developing a companion app for the iPad. I'm aware that non-jailbroken iPads cannot communicate with the robot via bluetooth, but is there a way to send code from the iPad to the NXT robot through the USB port?

Is there another way to have kids write code from the iPad which makes it onto the robot without using another computer?

I'm going to guess that USB would most likely required a jailbroken iPad. The NXT uses a custom USB protocol, so you would need raw access to the USB via IOKit.

If neither Bluetooth nor USB works, then there is no alternative other than using another computer to communicate to the NXT.


Yellow cross-shaped LEGO piece ID I have had this for a while and was wondering what it is.

It is a Propeller 4 Blade 5 Diameter with Hole for Rotor Holder - used in 71 sets, but only in 5 in the yellow color you have.

It was produced by LEGO until 1994, and would have fit on Plate 2x3 with Helicopter Rotor Holder.

Together they would have made the rotor of a helicopter, such as in 1469-1 Helicopter Polybag.


Which pieces were used to make the flexible mesh skin for the life size Lego Bugatti? In the linked video, around the 1:50 - 1:55 mark, a person can be seen picking up a flexible hexagonal mesh, and bringing it to the side of the vehicle. Also, close ups are visible around 2:03 - 2:37. Last, the are apparently two styles of mesh being used, one light colored one dark colored.

What are the Lego parts used to build these two meshes?

There doesn't seem to be a difference in a shape of triangles (that's how they mention them in the video) seen in Dark Azure as well as Dark Blue colors. However there are two shapes - bigger and smaller triangles. Smaller triangle's edge is half the length of bigger one - you can attach two of these to bigger triangle.

Larger one requires parts listed below. I didn't include half bushes seen in some images (funny thing is that half of same assembly had them, while the other didn't) as they put too much stress into assembly. It is also worth mentioning LEGO used a lot of parts which cannot be found in any of sets.

Smaller one needs these:

Then they are connected together with either of two following parts (both seen in use). First one is made of rubber so it allows some twisting and stretching which is what allows the skin to take shape.

Warning. I've built both versions and some parts here are a bit stressed (definitely illegal connections involved) which means they could deform over time.

Note. I've missed 3 pieces of 3L half thickness Technic beams in smaller triangle in my assembly to cover some axles, however part list has correct amount.


What is this technic pin? In  Kooberz' video, he uses a techinc pin that looks like
What is it called?

BrickLink says that it's called the  "Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise WITH Center Slots."

However it may also be the "Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise WITHOUT Center Slots."


How to switch an NXT sensor port by a motor port? Me and my partner are finishing up our robot for the RobotCup and we desperately need one more motor port. We will only use 3 sensor ports, so my question was if there was even the slight chance that we could switch one for the other.

That's not possible - sensor ports don't have the hardware to drive motors. That said, you can buy a motor multiplexer like this one to do the job for you, if competition rules allow this.


How can I build a LEGO marble pump? All right, here's a tough one for ya'll.

How can I built a marble pump out of LEGO bricks? What would the mechanism which pushes the marbles up need to look like?

Here's an example in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBb-qyXFb5E&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Unfortunately, one cannot see the mechanism which pushes the marbles upward very well. I couldn't determine what pieces he was using - I think there was a slope, but I'm not sure as to how it moves the marbles up the pipe.

A pump is one of the most classic GBC (Great Ball Contraption) modules but is indeed difficult to get right.

One of the best illustrations I know is on this site:

Unfortunately, most of the site is in German, but the pictures are usually illustrative enough and I think it's a good source of information for ball machines in general, not only LEGO ones. The best is of course to get in touch with one GBC builder at events and ask for information.
EDIT:

Here is a picture based on the model at aforementioned site:

Here is a video showing the mechanism in action.


Which set does this part belong to? Which set does this part belong to? Thanks very much!

Here are all the possible sets: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=30382&in=S

To me, that piece looks dark blueish gray, which would suggest either set 4209 or set 8095.


Is there a way to buy LEGO houses without minifigs? Why are there so many LEGO Friends minifigs, but barely any houses? I have made about 10 families and I still only have one house.

LEGO Friends are essentially the same as minifigs when it comes to building things like houses. The main difference is the colour palette. If you don't mind that your Friends live in houses that use primary colours instead of pastels, you can just buy any regular Lego house (the Creator line has many) and put Friends in there. Previous houses from the Creator line from 2007-2010 did not include any minifigures, but current houses typically do include some minifigs. Feel free to mix them with the Friends mini-dolls or keep them in storage or give them away if you want.

You can also download the instructions for any existing model and the recreate it using Friends-coloured bricks if you prefer to use those colours.

If you're curious about sets that might be available now that feature houses, Brickset allows you to search sets tagged "house" or sets containing the word "house" in the name. You can sort the list by year of release in descending order, to show you sets more likely to be available in stores.

Some houses that were for sale in 2014:

31012 Family House

7346 Seaside House

10228 Haunted House


In what colours can I build my whole model? Is there a tool which, given a list of parts, will tell me the common colours, i.e. the colours that all the parts are available in?

I could not find a tool with this ability, so I made one using the Rebrickable API. You can find it here:

https://gist.github.com/ali1234/836ba792390c1a5feca9a3dcb35c14af

It parses an LDraw file and selects all the bricks of a specified colour (by LDraw colour number, eg yellow = 14), then for each unique piece it requests all available colours. Finally it calculates the intersection of all colours and prints a list.

Optional rarity parameter can be used to avoid very rare parts.

Example output:

./colourswap pirover.ldr 14
Parts:
3665, 2730, 3660, 3455, 3005, 3002, 3702, 3703, 3700, 3701, 3895
Common Colours:
Blue, Yellow, Black, White, Light Gray, Red, Light Bluish Gray

./colourswap pirover.ldr 14 20
Parts:
3665, 2730, 3660, 3455, 3005, 3002, 3702, 3703, 3700, 3701, 3895
Common Colours:
Black, Red


Will The Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine come back in stock at retailers? I see this set, 75902 the Mystery Machine, from 3rd party sellers on Amazon for $10 or more above retail, but it's out of stock at most retailers I have looked at.  I'd like to know if there is a way to tell if it will come back in stock.  If it won't, I'll buy it at the slightly inflated price before it goes up any further.

And in general does anyone have info about the timeline of current sets?  For example how long they continue to make them?  When they go out of stock at most places, does that usually signal "the end"?  Is there a way to know if a newer version of the Mystery Machine (or of any set) will come out soon?

Regarding the set 75902 Scooby Doo Mystery Machine - it is a retired set according to the UK LEGO Shop at Home site:

The US LEGO Shop at Home site has not yet applied the "Retired Product" label, but shows this set as Sold Out:

As a general rule, it is best to check both US and EU Shop at Home sites (one of the many EU sites is enough) as set retirement information is maintained separately for both markets. Alternatively you can look at the Brickset page for a given set, it shows availability information for all markets (though it doesn't give a definite "Retired" status).

LEGO set retirements are rather unpredictable. On average, sets are available for around 2 years - but it greatly varies. Some sets have retired after 6 months on the market (76039 Ant-Man Final Battle is a recent example). Some sets stay available for more than 5 years (10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van is an example of this, and so was 10188 Death Star).

As you mention - getting Out of Stock at retailers (including LEGO Shop at Home) is often a sign of a set retiring, but it could also mean a temporary shortage of product. Finally, there are sets that are produced seasonally and those will go to Sold Out for longer periods of time at LEGO Shop at Home, only to return closer to the season - for example 10254 Winter Holiday Train.

Back to Scooby Doo - I do not think that LEGO has the Scooby Doo license anymore (though they could always opt to renew it at some point) and as such, most AFOLs consider this line to be done. As The LEGO Group is a private company, outsiders can typically only guess the plans - TLG could always surprise us.

And maybe some hope: Since the Mystery Machine set has not been retired for long, at least in the US, you might still be able to find one in places like Toys 'r Us or KMart, where they typically do not get rid of their stock very fast.

UPDATE: Not even 3 hours after posting this, the set has now gone to Retired Product status on the US Shop At Home site as well:


Substitutions for vintage hinges I've recently gotten back into LEGO and I'm trying to restore old space sets (late 80's era) by buying parts on Bricklink. I've noticed that some of the hinge pieces are extremely expensive (e.g. parts 4275 and 4276), often making a single hinge assembly cost over 5$ if using "new" parts.

It seems that Lego has discontinued these parts some time ago, so I was wondering the following:

Why were the parts discontinued? Were they prone to breaking?
Which newer parts can be used to substitute these and are they really better? I don't mind if they don't look exactly the same as long as there is functional equivalence.
I'm assuming that there is no substitutions possible for the old canopy hinges (e.g. part  4315)?

What I remembered of those parts was that force was needed to snap them together, and I believe I also have some that are broken over the years.

The part was introduced in 1983, updated in 1985 and the last sets were released in 2002 with one set in 2004.

In 2003 the parts are replaced by Hinge Plate 1 x 2 Locking with Dual Finger on End Vertical' (44302) and Hinge Plate 1 x 2 Locking with Single Finger on End Vertical' (44301). These parts have a number of fix angles in which the hinge can be placed. This finger shape is also added to al kind of other parts, like the canopy

There is also a version for non fixed angles Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Clip Horizontal on End and Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Handle on End - Closed Ends and these can also be combined with other parts


Which Lego Technic sets are officially combinable? Lego sets 42058 Stunt Bike and 42059 Stunt Truck can be combined together to build a bigger truck. We can find official instruction on the LEGO site.

Are there other pairs (or larger groups) of sets like that?

I am particularly interested in Technic sets released in the last couple of years, but it would be great if there were a comprehensive list of such sets or a way we can search them.

Whenever a LEGO Technic set is officially meant to be combinable with another set, it is mentioned right on the box, as well as in the instruction booklet, and also in the official set description at the Online LEGO Shop. The combined instructions are posted at the LEGO Technic website.

As far as a list, I don't know of any place that has a comprehensive list like that, but I agree it would be very useful. I do know, however, that the two LEGO Technic Pull-Back Racers released each year since 2013 can always be combined with each other with downloadable instructions. Here is the list of the sets:  https://brickset.com/sets/list-15258


how to send direct command to ev3 brick I am new to ev3 python but am working on a project. I was reading about NXT-python that " It works by sending the direct commands detailed in LEGO's "Blue-tooth Development Kit" to the NXT brick" I was wondering is it possible to do the same with ev3 brick. Please answer in layman's terms. I am using ev3-dev and I was hoping I could use it to drive the robot.

This isn't exactly sending direct commands to your robot, but LEGO Education recently released a python stack for the EV3 brick.

I haven't tried it; but as I understand it, it's an alternative firmware which should allow you to have python scripts running natively on your EV3 brick, allowing for full autonomous robots programmed in python.


Best Way To Make This 8x8 Grate Plate Flush With The Wall? I would like to use the 8x8 grates on the side of the building (studs out) as window pieces so there is nothing behind them. I'm wondering if there is a better way to have a more stable connection. I'm kinda stumped if I can pull this look off. Of note and not easily seen in the picture: There are four panels used in this section.

JMK!

This is what I came up with:

Studless overall look.

Studless (Gray) window paneling and thickening.

(Black) window pane connecting pieces Part #6541 Technic Brick 1x1.

(Flame Yellow) window frame connecting pieces Part #87087 Brick, Modified 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side.

Bird's eye view.

LEGO Digital Draw build file: HERE.


Naming a program in EV3 software? I have figured out how name a project but cannot figure out how to rename a program.

Just double click on program's name in the tab.


Stacking motors on the Powered Up hub or Boost hub The way the Boost/Powered Up connectors are designed, it's not possible to have multiple motors on the same output of a hub like it was possible with 9V or Power functions. However, since I only want to stack the straightforward M-motors, the electronics should be simple enough for a DIY solution. Does anyone have a tutorial or pointers?

All you should have to do is connect pins 1 and 2 between the two motors. One motor will have all six wires connected and serve as the primary in order to give the hub something that it can properly identify. The second motor can simply piggyback off of the primary and share control voltages that are meant for the primary motor. Essentially, you can leave one set of identification circuitry in place, and then wire just the motors in parallel.

I'm not sure if Powered Up compatible connectors are available anywhere, but it's not too hard to open up the motors and connect to them that way. Here's what it looked like testing this out:

I paired pins 1 and 2 here and things worked as expected.


Help needed on identifying parts and assemblies, yellow Technic pieces and teal lobster? I have the following pieces and sub-assemblies and would like some help determining what sets they are from.  The green/turquoise crab has a 993-1 mark on it, but have not been able to find anything about it.

The right assembly is from set 8225 - Road Rally V from 1995.

The middle assembly is likely a MOC, there is no set that I can find which includes this build with the 2 1x4x2 Fence pieces with only 2 studs in either Dark Gray or Dark Bluish Gray.

The crab-like item on the left is from set 8268 - Scorpion Attack, also from 1995.


What is this Mandalorian helmet/jetpack from? I found this flat silver & blue Mandalorian helmet & jetpack in a mixed bag of minifigs. I'm pretty sure it's not LEGO - there's no LEGO mark or part number and the only thing printed is the number "2" on the inside of the helmet.   There is no color on the jetpack.

All the LEGO Mandalorian parts I found online have the helmet and jetpack as 2 separate parts - this one has them connected.

Can anyone find what non-LEGO set or figure this is from?  I didn't think anyone else had the rights to make Star Wars parts.

This is part# x50px2

Minifigure, Headgear Helmet SW Rocket Pack with Jango Fett Colors Pattern

it belongs to Jango Fett (Balaclava Head)

From set 7153-1: Jango Fett's Slave I


Are these ATC bricks from the 1970's LEGO? I have some Lego compatible basic bricks from early 1970s or late 1960s. Bought in Finland or maybe Germany or Sweden. Can anyone tell me more about them?

As you can see, the interlocking mechanism is different, but fits with normal Lego bricks. The colours are normal Lego white, blue, yellow, red, and black, save for one piece that is bright green.

Here's another photo where you see the logo and interlocking mechanism nearer:

ATC is the Asahi Toy Company from Japan. Here are the pages from their 1971 catalog showing some of their construction sets:


Technique for multifacteted roof without 3049 I'm working on a project with a fairly complex roof in Dark Bley. In many areas, it seems to be necessary to use part 3049:

Unfortunately, this part doesn't appear to have ever been released in Dark Bley. Are there any alternative building methods to achieve the sort of effect that I'm looking for without using 3049?

For clarification, here's one simple example where I'm not sure how best to finish the roof peak without using the missing part (shown in red):

Would it be possible to just use a black one, or old dark gray? It would add a little variation to the roof, which is not a bad thing - it would look more natural. Perhaps the other color could be added to some other places here and there as well, so the colors all pull together nicely.

Other than that you could always add a chimney, but as you mentioned you will have several places where you will face this issue. I can't think of any other piece that could serve the purpose exactly like 3049. You might also consider angled plates, which are other commony used pieces for roof-building. But without seeing your project it is hard to tell if that would work.