I just got an e-mail from LEGO that was the real fix:

  Make sure the NXT brick is unplugged from the computer and take the battery or batteries out.
  On the fourth battery holder down from the top, there is a black rubber button.  Using a paper clip, please press down and hold this
  black rubber button for at least 20 seconds.
  Put the batteries back in and then press the orange button.  If the brick makes a clicking noise, this is a good thing.
  There is a silver button on the top right connector peg hole on the back (there are 6 on the top and 6 on the bottom).  Using the paper
  clip, please hold this silver button down for at least 20 seconds.
  If the brick is clicking, please plug it into the computer and open up the NXT software.  Go to 'Tools' then choose 'Update NXT Firmware,'
  then proceed the update the NXT firmware.   If you get the error
  "Cannot Locate," then please go through the following steps:
  With the brick plugged in and clicking, go to your computers device manager.  To do so you can search your computer and type in device
  manager and hit enter.
  In the device manager, find the 'Ports (Com & LPT) and click to expand this.  You should see something that says 'Bossa' which you
  will right click and choose 'Update Driver Software.'
  In the next window, choose 'Browse my computer for driver software.'
  In the following window, choose 'Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.'
  Choose the options that says 'NXT' or 'LEGO NXT' (one of the options will say something along those lines) and click 'Next."
  Once the update is complete, please open the NXT software and try running the firmware update again.
  Please note that the NXT brick needs to be clicking the entire time as there is a timeout function on the NXT brick which turns the brick
  off after a certain amount of time.  If the brick is clicking, you
  know it is on


Is there a time mechanism that can be added to an NXT program?

To get the actual time of day, you can use the mindsensors.com Realtime Clock Sensor.


Can you help me identify this grey part?

Minifigure, Hand Armor - Partnumber 28803 or 15407 Pearl Dark Gray


Which old Technic set included large yellow motor?

I actually managed to find the exact set while refining the question. It's set 744, released in 1980.

Here are the reasons why the research I did prior to writing the question didn't lead anywhere:

The yellow motor does not show up when searching parts on BrickLink. It's probably because on the list of set 744 parts, it has a note saying "Part colour code missing."
While the set contains lots of gears and axles, bricks and plates with holes, a motor, etc., it's not a Technic set, but a Universal Building set, so it doesn't appear when searching/browsing Technic.

What eventually led me to the correct set was focusing not on the motor (which I had previously considered the most unique part), but on the control box. Listing all sets where that one appeared also showed 744.


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

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


Can anyone identify this white air/spacecraft please?

This is part of the Justice League Javelin
from 76028-1: Darkseid Invasion


How can the A and B models of the 42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator be modded to fit together?

I have found someone in this video doing that mod.

The modification consists of removing a part of the hopper wall to let the BWE drop it's output into it from the side.

These are the relevant pictures:


My LEGO character's helmet keeps falling off... Is there any way to fix?

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.


What's the best way to link two (or more) LEGO Power Functions (PF) train motors together?

If the motors are far apart, you could simply connect them both to the same receiver using some extension cables. To the best of my knowledge, there is no problem connecting two motors on the same input of one IR receiver.

If you're using Technic motors instead of train motors, as Zhaph said, you'll probably want to have them coupled through a differential so that no motor can stress the other. That's the standard way of doing it in any Technic creation, and since it effectively adds the two input speeds (from the motors), it means you can create some variation in speed very easily.

I did that to power a PF-modified 7740 engine with two medium motors when the only remote available was the simple on/off one: one motor had its speed reduced to 1/3, so the range of available speeds where 4/3 (both motors on), 3/3 (regular motor on, 1/3 motor off), 2/3 (regular motor forward, 1/3 motor reverse), 1/3 (1/3 motor only), 0, and the same in reverse. Was awfully complicated to use the remote to go from one speed to the next, though. And then LEGO produced a speed-control remote and I didn't look back to that idea again.)


How to send through Bluetooth motor angle position and mirror that position on another motor?

Yes it's definitely possible. See the motor functions here. I would try the following:

Receive the controller's position over bluetooth.
Use MotorTachoCount (byte output) to get the position of the steering motor.
Compare controller's position to the steering motor's position.

if(controller > steering) drive steering forward.
else drive steering backward.
Repeat 1-4.

There are a few enhancements you can make as well, once you get this working. For one, it may help to set the steering motor's power proportional to the difference between the positions. For example, pwr = 0.5*abs(controller - steering) . Adjust the 0.5 by trial and error until the steering is responsive, but not over-responsive. This will make the steering faster if the difference is large, and slower when the difference is small. It may also be worth looking into the motor PID functions to make the steering even smoother.


Is the visual.ly infographic information about the minifigure reliable?

Please forgive the length of this but I was careful to check all the facts from the graphic and include source information.

All information in this infographic, except for those that follow below, can be confirmed from the Wikipedia.org page devoted to minifigs:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_minifigure.  I would not deny that Wikipedia can contain errors, however, knowing the importance that the LEGO group puts on its reputation as a company, it would make sense that they had at least checked the page for blatant errors.  I'm only guessing of course, but as Wikipedia is a crowd sourced tool, well monitored, it can be reasonably relied on for good information.

The following points had to be confirmed through other quoted sources or other articles on Wikipedia.

According to this thread: http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/911/production-oddities user davee123 indicates he learned in a meeting at LEGO, by an exec, that the heads were given holes as a safety measure against choking.  Now they have changed that policy in order to accommodate putting the LEGO logo inside the recessed stud.  They apparently felt the hole for not choking had not provided any true safety advantage.

The claim that the Police is the first minifig to have been released is difficult to positvely confirm.  In the Wikipedia page it is noted that the first minifigs were “police officers, astronauts and pirates”.  Hispa Brick Magazine: http://www.hispabrickmagazine.com/en/content/hbm003-lego%C2%AE-minifig-or-life-doesn%C2%B4t-end-30 in its article on the history of minifigs notes that the Police were released in conjunction with “a fire man, a street worker, space figures, knights...”.  The first female minifig nurse is noted to have been released two months after that of the above listed.  This article also confirms that the police officer is to date the most popular and that there are indeed 41 different variations of them.  The article also states the number of minifigs sold per year to be 122 million in accordance with the graphic as well as the claim that with the number of parts there are a possible 8 quadrillion combinations.

This LEGO wiki site: http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Indian gives information on Native American minifigs being first to have distinct 'racial features', however the drawing on of the nose I was not able to find definitive confirmation of through reliable sources.

The Wikipedia page concerning LEGO video games: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Lego_video_games lists 43 different games, not 42 though this could be due to a new release after the making of the infographic.  Most release dates for games licensed to non-LEGO media checked out except for the LEGO Indiana Jones which is here dated 2008 instead of 2007.

According to this article at Gizmodo which claims it was created in collaboration with the LEGO Group: http://gizmodo.com/5070884/exclusive-the-lego-minifig-timeline, the 1990 appearance of the ghost is correct with its specialized appearance.  This article also confirms that licensed minifigs began with Star Wars and the character Luke Skywalker, though the infographic merely states “a Star Wars character”.

According to the LEGO Professionals:  http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/lego-group/the_lego_history/ , the Indiana Jones line license was signed in 2007, though the sets are noted as being released in 2008.  The release of Prince of Persia is also noted as being one year later (2010) than the infographic though does not note the time of contract which may be 2009.   As for the Batman series, I found a website called Brick Superheroes: http://www.bricksuperheroes.com/lego-batman-minifigs.asp which delineates the different Batman minifigs and states the first release to be 2006 as indicated in the graphic.

This article by Cory Doctorow on BoingBoing http://boingboing.net/2012/05/15/history-of-gendering-in-lego.html gives his personal count of gender ratio which he shows in pie graph and states that for the five years he studied he came up with an overall ratio of 3.74:1 but he notes that the first year he took account for, 1989, had its own ratio of 13.5:1.  He does say, “The imbalanced ratio of masculine to feminine minifigs persists today, though it has lessened over time. I have seen several different numbers for this ratio, so I decided to do my own count” which would indicate the ratio shown in the graphic would be difficult to confirm or deny.  I was unable to find definitive proof either way myself.

Wikipedia has this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Homemaker for the Homemaker line which confirms the dates of those sets.

This Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_timeline confirms the Paradisa dates, but lists the first release date of the Scala line as 1979 not 1997, however, the LEGO wikia page on Scala: http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Scala indicates it was first released from 1979 to 1980 and then it was re-released again from 1997 to 2001.

The Wikipedia page devoted to LEGO Belville confirms the release year as 1994: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belville_(Lego).

Wikipedia also has an article devoted to the LEGO Friends line which confirms not only the date but most of the information on the graphic about 'mini dolls' vs. Minifigs.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Friends whereas this article: http://www.brickset.com/news/article/?ID=2110 at the Brickset site confirms that according to the fact sheet for Friends, the size difference is 5 millimeters.


The easiest solution, provided that motor is still in production, is to contact the LEGO customer service using the "broken part" button, or via telephone directly which might be easier for a part such as a motor.

They'll usually provide a replacement without problem, but be advised that by opening the motor yourself, you probably voided any sort of warranty and may need to pay for a replacement.


Where can I find a LEGO tube piece that is ridged on the outside

Try BrickLink, a site which can solve all of your lego needs. It's pretty useful and relatively easy to navigate. Takes a while to get used to, but it's personally my favorite third-party lego site out there.
Here are a couple screenshots of some of the items in the 'hose' categories. You can buy any item that has been listed by any of the thousands of sellers on the site! It's much better than Amazon, eBay, or LEGO.com/pickabrick in terms of variety, price, and convenience.


Are there LEGO sets designed for adults?

I don't think there's any LEGO set for which the age target goes any further than 16+.

Within the 16+ range, you'll find several sets, mostly in the exclusive sets (series 10xxx): mainly modular houses and some Star Wars UCS sets. Usually these are sets with a high parts count and a price to match.

There's a functionality to filter sets by age on shop.lego.com, but it doesn't seem to work properly. Neither Brickset or Bricklink appear to offer such a functionality (yet).


What's this weird blue 8-long thin hinge piece?

This is part 4218 Garage Roller Door Section without Handle:

As you might imagine from the name, these can be connected and used for garage doors as seen in Century Skyway, for example:


I would not recommend pushing the motorized train base for extended periods of times. When you turn the motor, it will generate electricity. Unless that energy has somewhere to go, it will turn into heat. It's probably not an issue to do this a little bit for short periods of time, but I wouldn't do it a lot.

If you wish to make your train a push train, you could replace the base with another non-motorized base.


What would total cost of the LEGO® Star Wars collection be in MSRP to date? [Dec 2015]

According to data collected from Brickset, the total MSRP of all Star Wars sets to date is $18,933.76 USD. This includes a total of 508 sets. I simply used the CSV export feature on Brickset to put this together.

Here's the raw data if you'd like to explore it further:

https://gist.github.com/jncraton/68beb88e6027d9321373


What is the max current for the LEGO EV3 motors (pin 1-2)?

The amperage drawn by any motor depends on the voltage supplied and the resistance (load) on the axle. Even if you provide the motor with more ampers than it could safely take, it will only consume as much as the voltage and load require.
As for the maximum value that each motor can draw when supplied with 9V, potentially unlimited amperage and given an unlimited load to move (stalled), see the comprehensive component characteristics comparison compilation by Philo. Here we can see that when given 9V, the EV3 large and medium motors will consume 1.8 A and 780 mA respectively when stalled, so those are the maximum values they can draw from any 9V power supply.
See also this Q&A over at Electronics.SE about motors, the relevant values and their relations.


Are these ATC bricks from the 1970's LEGO?

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


Identify set for Star Wars parts, dark grey base with 4 studs and embossed Star Wars logo

This is Tile, Modified 6 x 6 x 2/3 with 4 Studs and Embossed 'STAR WARS' (30566):

It appeared in 4 sets back in 2000, always in dark gray. The sets are:

3340-1 Star Wars #1 - Sith Minifig Pack
3341-1 Star Wars #2 - Luke/Han/Boba Minifig Pack
3342-1 Star Wars #3 - Troopers/Chewie Minifig Pack
3343-1 Star Wars #4 - Battle Droid Minifig Pack


EV3 PID line follower with medium motors

From a programming perspective I can't help you since I haven't programmed anything since the Mindstorms NXT.  The simplest solution I can think of, without seeing your set-up, is to offset one of the motors and add a 1:1 gear drive using 16 tooth gears that would simply reverse the motor output on that side.


Why does LEGO avoid 2x4 plates on these occasions?

While it's unlikely that we would get a somewhat official answer on this, there can be a multitude of reasons for that, some logical, some economical, some motivated by marketing. Of course, there are some more obvious reasons for the sake of the build and the art of LEGO, but they might not apply in the case of a calendar:

Design. This isn't necessarily the case for using 2x2s over a 2x4 in a calendar. But for example think of something as the Architecture Robie House, where they used 1x2 and 1x1 plates, about 1000 in sum, to simulate the actual brickwork of the real house when they could as well have built it from much fewer bricks. While this also significantly increased the part count, I would still argue this was primarily done for its aesthetic value and it works.
Reusability. Again not too relevant in the case of a calendar, but a lot more important for something like a Creator 3-in-1, when building something else from the pieces is not only encouraged but intended and part of the product's appeal (you could say it's implicitly part of the appeal of LEGO bricks in general, but that's not necessarily reflected in the actual marketing and business philosophy anymore).

A more economic look at the situation opens a few more possibilities that might apply more specifically to your case. While LEGO certainly has more freedom by basically holding all the cards, I found it sometimes helps to think about your own MOCs and why you'd choose one part over the other. When designing a model the first intuition is to use the most fitting part, but there are various considerations to switch them out, almost all of them economically motivated:

Available colours. This is certainly the strictest consideration since you can't use a part that's just not available. While LEGO would have the freedom to simply create the part in that colour, there are still considerations of bringing yet another unique colour-shape combination into production, especially if you don't need it in too many other sets, above all something as much of an afterthought as a calendar. Though, this might not apply so much to something as simple as a 2x4 plate, there's still a ton of exotic colours that don't even have that, even if white is anything but exotic.
Item price. Now for MOC designers, this is motivated a bit differently, since the price of a piece isn't driven "naturally" by actual material cost rather than "artificially" by the demand and supply created from its availability in official sets. That's why 2 2x2s can be much cheaper than a 2x4. But even for LEGO, who basically could mold as many parts as they want, this isn't really driven by material. The material really costs about zero, no matter if you print 2 2x2s or 1 2x4. It is the factory configuration, the logistics of bringing pieces to together, the use of the piece in other produced sets. These all figure into the production cost.
Lot count. In fact when designing a MOC, especially if I intend to build it myself, another consideration is keeping the lot count down. If you already need 2x2s anyway and you don't need a 2x4 for structural integrity, then it might improve your model's acquirability if you have to shop for 1 lot less, since someone offering 5 2x2s is likely offering 7, too. I'd think this isn't too much different for LEGO if you consider the above points about the logistics of molding parts and then packaging them into a single set. Better mold two more than bringing another machine configuration, production lane or, god beware, factory into the mix. And in fact, I often observed that in official sets, where I wonder why they'd use two parts instead of a more fitting one only to see that there's already 20 more of those two parts in the set and it starts to make sense.

All these factors are driven by purely economical reasons and based on the assumption that production and logistics make much more of the cost of a piece than just its material, especially when amortized over tons of pieces and when the difference in material between 2 2x2s and 1 2x4 isn't that big to begin with. But of course there could be another, still economical but less directly, reason based on marketing:

Part count. As noted in the question, this might very well be to just amp the part count of a set, or a calendar where the individual part count of the models isn't too high anyway and you can basically increase it to quite some degree with just adding a few more pieces. A higher part count makes the set seem more valuable (since it suggests more material and a more complex design). This can be the truth but doesn't have to, depending on what factors you measure value by and how it's practically implemented.

Though, I would agree that structural integrity should prevail over all these reasons since a model that just doesn't stay together is of no use at all. But it can still be relative how fragile is too fragile and you also have to figure into the matter, that the advent calendar is somewhat of a side thought that might not be driven by the highest of quality and design considerations from LEGO, especially regarding the buildable items when many people seem most interested in the figures.


Help identifying piece - wheels on arched base

this is: Part # 48394base

Bricklink:

Sports Promo Skateboard Base with Four Wheels from McDonald's Sports Set Number 7, Set 7921

Brickset

Set 7921-1: Skateboarder, Grey Vest


How can a brick/color combination exist but not be part of a set?

Some of these pieces are released as collectors items (Gifts for Lego employees) or sold as novelties at LEGOLAND parks or stores pick a brick areas, others are from official Lego events (grand openings of stores, new LEGOLANDs, etc.) they are often given as gifts to people attending the events.  Some are test bricks that somehow made their way out of the factory to the Lego community.

They often have unique colors or images (there is a whole series of transparent/sparkle bricks that were made as tests for new colors and manufacturing techniques.)

The LEGOLAND parks and builders also have access to parts and color combinations not available to the general public for use in making new sets, if they are not used in a set I imagine some of these could also make their way to the larger community of Lego enthusiasts.


This is part of Set # 10198-1: Tantive IV

based on the Dark green Panel 1 x 2 x 1 and
Tile 1 x 2 with Avionics SW Copper, Red & Silver Pattern


Why is LEGO kit name not on the box or booklet?

Most-likely it has to do with localization.

If they printed the names of sets on instructions, they would have to print a different instruction booklet for each language the set name is translated into, in addition to translating the boxes (and possibly the stickers).

You will notice that instruction manuals are usually free of any written instructions, which would need to be translated, and instead opt for imagery when possible. If they do have substantial text, it is usually translated into a number of languages, like the game rules in the back of the manuals for the large Orient Expedition sets had.

Of course, simple things like "Click" get a pass on translation.

Sets whose name would not change if localized sometimes have names printed on their instructions though.


How can I make a brick-built wheelbarrow?

Brickshelf returns two interesting designs:

There's also a YouTube video showing yet another design which is quite simple yet elegant (although I would have put the 1x2 plate with handles under it, not on the side, but that's my own opinion.


Which set is this bag 2 from? White airplane pieces?

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

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

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


Which parts have no-friction Technic axle holes?

One possibility is the Technic, Gear 8 Tooth without Friction. It was specificially designed to allow axles to slide through it. It can be held by 4 other 8-tooth gears, one of which could allow for the mechanical connection:

 o
o+*
 o

+ This is the frictionless 8-tooth gear your axle can be inserted into
* This gear is used to transmit the torque via another, fixed axle
o These are gears pinned to the frame but connected only to the central one

The above solution does violate the 2 studs width requirement, but it still might be possible to use the gear with the fixed axle inserted by half a stud and the removable axle occupying the remaining half stud. This would require a way to fix the gear in place, since both axles would have the same amount of clutch, and depending on your definition of "moderate torque", the interface along the half stud length of gear and axle might prove insufficient.


For drying, I've used a salad spinner to remove the excess moisture:


It seems to me drawn item might not represent existing element accurately. It is very close to Minifigure Armor Shoulder Pad Single with Scabbard for 2 Katanas. Could be pictured at an odd angle.

OR
Some modification of Minifigure Armor Shoulder Pads with Scabbard for Two Katanas and Bar Hole

The only one I could find for holding single katana is Minifigure Armor Shoulder Pad Single with Star Lettering and Scabbard for 1 Katana, but shoulder piece is covering minifigure's right side.

There are some other elements that could hold two katanas:
Minifigure Armor Shoulder Pads with Scabbard for Two Katanas

Minifigure Scabbard for Two Katanas


I don't think it would be practical to evaluate every LEGO motors sound output, almost all LEGO motors are fairly noisy so I think it is best to address the problem of a noisy motor in general.

My first suggestion would be to remove the source of the noise first, by using a purely manually operated dolly, if this isn't an option (perhaps you would prefer to have the precise motion given by motors) then I would consider moving the motor as far as way as possible from the microphone, perhaps using axles to distance the power drive (similar to the long steering axle used in the video I linked above).

The faster you run a motor, the louder they will be, so it might be possible to run the motor at a fairly slow speed, using a high to low gear ratio from input to output you can increase the speed without loud motors. However the sound of too many moving parts (gears, axles, etc...) may contribute to the noise.

As others have suggested in the comments, could you use a separate microphone instead, positioned away from the motor? Think about how you could possibly insulate the motor from producing too much noise using sound absorbing material.

Consider using video or audio editing software that can remove the noise. Adobe Audition for example has an amazing Spectral Display feature that allows you to visually identify certain frequencies and remove them, the results will vary based on the quality of the audio.

Motor noise will always be a problem, consider 'out of the box thinking'. In summary:

If you can build something without a motor, do.
Move the noise away from the microphone
Reduce the speed of the motor (adjust speed with appropriate
gearing)
Use a separate microphone (or dub audio)
Use software to remove motor noise


Help identifying window frame with hinge pin holes

That would be 821 Garage Door Frame (Old style).

As the name implies, it was for the old garage door in these sets from the 50s and 60s.


What is the length of a DUPLO train bridge?

Based on the layouts from this answer, a half-bridge seems to be 2 straight tracks + 1 quarter-circle (split mid-track at the end, because the middle of the bridge is centered with the crossing track below it).

From this guy's measurements, a quarter-circle of the newer DUPLO tracks is about 18x18 studs. Straights are 8 studs long.

So, a half-bridge should be 32 studs (16+8+8), or 4 straight tracks. The full bridge would be 64 studs, or 8 straights.

Note: I don't have the pieces to confirm these measurements.

Note 2: I now have the pieces and can confirm these measurements, as shown in the picture below.


These are promotional items. Not from a set. They can be related to a store-opening, a give-away, other special events, etc. Looking through the Bricklink catalog I found one listing with a stormtrooper torso that you might be referring to: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=973pskac01

If you can add a picture we can probably identify them more precisely. Hope this helps some...(c;


Which Lego board games come with minifigures instead of microfigures?

Various minifigures are in included in:

LEGO Chess Sets:

Castle - 24 minifigures
Giant Fantasy Era - 33 minifigures
Knight's Kingdom - 24 minifigures
Pirates - 24 minifigures
Vikings - 24 minifigures

LEGO Tic-Tac-Toe Sets:

Castle - 10 minifigures
Police - 10 minifigures
Pirates - 10 minifigures

Other LEGO Games:

Ludo (a variant of parcheesi) - 16 minifigures
Creationary - 1 minifigure
Time Cruisers Game - 5
minifigures
Creator Board Game Deluxe - 4 minifigures
Constructionary (a variant of charades) - 2 minifigures
Knight's Kingdom the Game (never released in English) - 5 minifigures


Where is an instruction sheet for Ausini set 25418 guitar?

Attack on the Clones: The Purist Punch-Back!

I'm posting up these clone brick instructions at the very bottom below, but I'm going further by offering a free digital instruction file to build this model with official LEGO bricks through Bricklink.com instead.

This model has 3 pieces that aren't direct clones,so they don't exist in LEGO, but we can easily use alternative pieces and make their need a non-issue.

2 x 2 plate with Inverted Studs.
2 x 2 1/3 Curve Top Brick.
Roof Tile 2 x 2 x 2/3 Plate.

The only left over issues are the stickers (the "wow" text, blue flame effects), and the screen printed 2x4 black tile, which represents the six round yellow tuning pegs on the headstock of the guitar. I haven't looked for equivalent official LEGO ones, which may or may not exist.

I just used an alternate build to replace all printed art that came with this set.

These clone knock-off brands are straight up shameless.  It would be just to reverse their blasphemy, knock them off financially, and offer plans to their designs in official LEGO for free.

I wouldn't mind finding the most interesting/popular Clone Brands, and just go to town on them. I realize in most cases it will be more expensive, but at least there will be an alternative for the purist who might be less inclined to patronize these clone pirates.


Under what conditions are the LEGO boardgame dice unfair, and by how much?

Conditions for unfairness:

Different shaped tiles applied to each side resulting in different weight wich maked the dice "biased."

Example:

The maximum difference in weight (when all studs get covered) is one side using a 2x2 tile, and another side is using 4 1x1 tiles. the weight difference in this case is calculated based on using these measurements. To show the difference:

X X X X X X X X X X
X       . .       X
X       . .       X
X       . .       X
X . . . . . . . . X
X . . . . . . . . X
X       . .       X
X       . .       X
X       . .       X
X X X X X X X X X X

X = borders
. = border from the 1x1 tiles that are missing using a 2x2 tile

So there are ~ 28 legounits³ = 44.8 mm³ difference in material used. ABS, the material used for LEGO bricks has a density of between 1.04 and 1.12 g/cm³ so 44.8 mm³ have a maximum height of:

1.12g/cm³ / 1000mm³ * 44.8mm³ = 0.050176g

0.05 g would be way too much for a precision-dice used in a casino, but for a "toy" it's almost nothing (it's less than 1% of the die's total weight - I'd like to calculate that, but I can't find information about its weight), so I won't expect anyone to notice the LEGO-dice is "unfair".

EDIT:
Found the dice on bricklink. weight: 8.02 g, so the 0.05 g are just ~ 0.6 % of the total weight.


You can find downloadable copies of LEGO instructions for any set (there might be a few exceptions but not for standard retail sets) at the LEGO web site: https://wwwsecure.us.lego.com/en-us/service/buildinginstructions


That depends on which version of the Education Software you purchased:

LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 Software Single UserAs the name implies, this is only allowed to be installed on a single computer: "The single license version of the EV3 Software allows you to install and run the software on one computer."
LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education EV3 Software Site LicenceThis version allows you to install the software on a number of computers within a single location: "The site license version of the EV3 Software is necessary when installing on more than one computer. It allows you to install and run the software on all computers located at the address of the purchasing institution."

If you're planning on installing this on more than three computers the Site License is the way to go.

Note that the Home Edition is a separate download, and would have it's own licensing, but appears to be freely available, and installable on as many computers as you like - details of some of the differences can be found in this answer to "What is different between the EV3 Home and Educational sets?".

In response to Alex's comment:

Without seeing the full wording of the license, it's hard to advise you correctly, however:

Usually you can reinstall software on the same computer after an OS reinstall - depending on the validation mechanism you may need to contact Customer Services to get it reset, but I doubt this will be the case with this.
Again, this is typically supported by most software licenses - it's often things like transferring ownership that are expressly excluded.


Which Lego Technic sets are officially combinable?

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


Towards a different sort of set-identification

40205 LEGO Holiday Little Elf Helpers. :)


You can derive detailed part geometry using the LDraw parts library. LDraw provides freely accessibly models for nearly every part that Lego has produced. I'd recommend parsing these parts rather than rolling you own models if you're going to be using many parts.

Here is the relevant content of the file representing a 1 x 1 round plate:

1 16 0 3 0 -1 0 0 0 -1.25 0 0 0 1 stud4.dat
1 16 0 3 0 -6 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 6 4-4disc.dat
1 16 0 3 0 -2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 2 4-4ring4.dat
1 16 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 10 4-4cylo.dat
1 16 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 4-4ring4.dat
1 16 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 4-4ring3.dat
1 16 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 stud.dat

LDraw uses its own custom file format. Units are in LDU and represent about .4mm.

I won't try to describe the format in detail, but lines starting with 1 simply include another file that is translated, scaled, and rotated based on the included transformation matrix.

Base cylinder

We can break the part definition down to its components. The outside of the base cylinder corresponds to:

1 16 0 3 0 -1 0 0 0 -1.25 0 0 0 1 stud4.dat

stud4.dat represents a ring that could fit a stud inside of it. It's present in many parts (e.g. underneath 2xn bricks and plates). It looks like this:

Its outside is represented as (from stud4.dat):

1 16 0 -4 0 8 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 8 4-4cyli.dat

The primitive 4-4clyi.dat (4 fourths of a cylinder) is a basic open cylinder:

Most LDraw primitives including this one are normalized size 1, so we start with a cylinder with height 1 and radius 1. A transformation matrix is then applied:

1 16 0 -4 0 8 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 8 4-4cyli.dat
            |               |
            +-------+-------+
                    |

                8   0   0
                0   4   0
                0   0   8

Now, it's a cylinder of height 4 and radius 8. This was also transformed by the original inclusion of stud4.dat:

1 16 0 3 0 -1 0 0 0 -1.25 0 0 0 1 stud4.dat

We need to multiply its height by 1.25 to get a cylinder of height 5 and radius 8. Here's the final result:

Base height = 1 * 4 * 1.25 = 5 LDU * .4mm = 2.0mm

Base diameter = 2 * 8 LDU = 16 LDU * .4mm = 6.4mm

Middle ring

If you followed all of that, the middle ring is easy. It's outer wall is represented by:

1 16 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 10 4-4cylo.dat

So, it's a cylinder with a 10 LDU radius and 3 LDU height:

Middle ring diameter = 2 * 10 LDU * .4mm = 8mm

Middle ring height = 3 LDU * .4mm = 1.2mm

Checking our work

The height of the base and the middle ring sum to 8 LDU, which is good because this is the correct height for a plate like this.

As you noted, you expected the outer ring to be 7.8mm, but I calculated it as 8.0mm. The reason for this is that LDraw uses the ideal sizes of bricks for its library. This is convenient for collision boxes in the theoretical world, but in reality, Lego has to make parts slightly smaller so that they fit between each other easily. As you mentioned, this tolerance is about .1mm per side, so we're in the right neighborhood with our calculations.

In addition, most things in LDraw end up rounded to 1 LDU, so measurements have a tolerance of around +/- .2mm. Most Lego parts fit very nicely into a 1 LDU grid, so this isn't usually an issue. I'm not sure what level of precision you require, but my hunch is that the LDraw library will get you close enough for your needs.

Good luck with your project, and let us know if we can help with anything else!


Can I use the EV3 IR Sensor with a power functions remote?

The EV3 IR Sensor is compatible with Power Functions8885 remote the but not the 8879 remote.


EV3 brick not turning on, nothing on display?

Each time I experienced what you are describing, replacing the batteries with fully charged ones addressed the issue...


Indentify old LEGO kit, classic car with bird driver

Looks like it could come from one of two Fabuland sets, Bonnie Bunny's Camper or Charlie Crow's Carry-All. The radiator piece also comes in The Fabuland House.

Given your bird man as driver, I'm going with Charlie Crow's Carry-All.


Do these bagged GUDI pieces make up a single set?

So, I just Googled "GUDI" + "catalogue" and it brought me to the knockoff's parent company "Guangdong Xinlexin Education and Culture Co.,Ltd" or Xinlexin.com.

Xinlexin's GUDI product line has two subcategories that match the color scheme of these pieces.

Princess Alice line.
Modern Girls line.

Below are pictures from both lines that comprise of around 23 sets.  If you'll notice, each set has many unique identifiable pieces that just don't appear in the current six poly bags above.

The only piece that comes close is that blue translucent piece in BAG 06, which sorta looks like the minidoll dress from Elena's Studio.

I don't think it's this dress, but regardless if it were, the poly bags are still short critical pieces to solidly decide on this set.  In fact, we're short critical pieces to decide on any of the other 23 sets.

Another point: We don't know how far back Xinlexin website goes when listing their knockoffs.  This could be a complete set before GUDI decided to list their wares digitally.

Conclusion: We could safely say that these 6 poly bags are not from any of Xinlexin's current line of 23 sets, but due to lack of documentation, we can't say that these pieces do, or do not, form a complete set.


Can you identify this white, blue, and green train body?

I do not know much about LEGO, but that what you show in the photo looks like an airplane to me. Perhaps I'm right, perhaps I'm wrong.

Edit:

It's from A.I.R. Operations HQ (4620).


Easy way to get the weight of a Bricklink order

Click on the MyBrickLink tab on the top row, then My Settings in the second row of tabs, then the My Shopping Settings link. Check the box next to "Show Weight in Shopping Cart". Then, when you view a cart full of items in a particular BrickLink store, scroll to the bottom and it should tell you the calculated total weight.


Does the basic 2 x 4 brick have a common nickname?

It's called a brick.

This may sound like a weird or mocking answer, but when you think about it, it does make sense.

The 2x4 brick the most iconic brick of them all, the one which has started it all. The one for which the first patent has been issued in 1958. The book "50 Years of the LEGO brick" contains 6 of them, and the number of permutation for these 6 bricks has been the classic question to illustrate how endless LEGO construction can be (even LEGO got the answer wrong at first, by the way).

It's the one they use on the cover of collector's guides, it's the one they make bigger.

Face it, it's the brick.


Are Chinese clone brands considered to be safe for children?

Is there some kind of official source regarding the safety of bricks
made by brands other than LEGO®?

As far as I am aware, no.  At least not specifically for construction brick toys.

Some brands (Xingbao, CaDa, Mould King, Happy Build, ...) have some
really nice sets (original designs of course) and are officially
available for purchase in the EU/Germany so they need to have a CE
marking and possibly passed other tests like TÜV.

The CE marking indicates a product has passed health, safety, and environmental protection standards for sale within the European Economic Area. The individual tests vary between industries but are not necessarily a certification of quality. The CE marking is also found on products sold outside the EEA that have been manufactured to EEA standards.
LEGO products adhere to the EU Toy Safety Directive and the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. The approval process involves 'simulating things like children biting, dropping, and stepping on LEGO elements to ensure they don’t break'*
In regards to the concern of chemical safety of LEGO clones, CE is a good indicator that a product passes certain safety criteria, there are of course other certification marks covering different regions.
If a LEGO clone has no credible certification mark does that mean it is unsafe? We simply do not know. The effort to test the safety of all these uncertified brands is too great. Parts vary widely in their colour (each individual colour has a unique chemical composition) as well as material (whether they are hard plastics, soft plastics, transparent, opaque or even glitter plastics in some cases).
You could always clean your new bricks as a precaution, if you suspect that there might be any surface level contamination, such as oil or plastic residue used in the manufacturing process. This will not make a difference to any toxic chemicals in the composition of the bricks.
In summary, if you do not see a certification marking that you can trust, there is no guarantee of safety.


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

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


Disclaimer: I have never used the EV3 interface, only the text based programming languages for the NXT. Therefore I might be proven wrong.

  I need a reliable way to read the gyro sensor readings

I think the gyro sensor should have come with the appropriate instructions to do that. If not, you can find many tutorials online, such as this: http://robotsquare.com/2014/06/25/tutorial-gyro-ultrasonic-sensor-ev3-home-edition/

  while taking into account any bias in the sensor.

Bias can be accounted for by using a previously known position to calibrate the sensor. You could start your program with the gyro (and your arm) in one of the extreme positions and measure movement relative to that.

  Second, I would also like the sensor to read the rate of change in my arm and translate that into power for the large motor.

This sounds like a simple differentiation task. You measure the angle and store it along with the current time (in milliseconds or whatever the most precise measurements available). In the next iteration you make another measurement, take the difference of the current and the previous angles, and divide it by the difference of the current and previous times. The result is the rate of change. This can be translated to motor speeds by using either trial and error, or calculations based on the characteristics of the motor, the gearing and the gyro.

However, I would rather use a command to turn the motor a specified number of degrees to match the measurements of the gyro.


Can you identify this LEGO Space build from the early 90s?

Based on Slope 33 3 x 6 with MTron Logo Print - Red which only comes in 1 set: 6956-1: Stellar Recon Voyager this is the set you already mentioned.

I see a part that looks like: Flexible Hose 8.5L with Tabless Ends (Ends same color as Tube) in trans yellow. which come in several sets. I think it's 1968-1 - Space Expressssic Space 1968-1 as this set also contain some white wedge pieces, which look like used at both sides.

Based on Windscreen 10 x 4 x 2 1/3 Canopy - Trans-Red and Hinge Vehicle Roof Holder 1 x 4 - Blue 6886-1 - Galactic Peace Keeper is also is the collection

The rest parts is a lot harder to identify.


Looks like:

Part #47458 - Brick, Modified 1 x 2 x 2/3 No Studs, Wing End.

Part #4081a - Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Light - (Thin) Ring.

or

Part #4081b - Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Light - (Thicc) Ring.


What minifig configuration has been included in the most sets?

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

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


What piece has one prong on one end and four on the other?

It is called Plant, Tree Palm Top. It used to be green or brown and was a part of the palm trees found in the Pirate kits. It was the part that the leaves joined onto. The four prongs pointed up.


How can a Mindstorms robot lift something very heavy?

I'm assuming that you meant "the motor is not powerful enough".

Surely you can use a gearing ratio & leverage to assist? Essentially you want the motor to turn many times for each small amount of distance traveled by the lifting arm. This means a small gear on the motor and a large gear driving the lifting. You may need to connect several gears together to get enough of a reduction, like the graphic here.

See the graphic "Reducing Gear Train" here.


Mega Bloks: the well-known Canadian brand
Oxford toys - review
Hasbro KRE-O
K'Nex - yes, they do bricks too (not sure about compatibility though)
Cobi
Best-Lock
Character Building from The Character Group, a range of licensed products including Dr Who, Deadly 60, HM Armed Forces and Ben 10 to name a few.

Disclaimer: some of these retrieved from the lugnet off-topic/clone-brands group; they also mention "Art Asylum’s C3 Brand" but the site doesn't seem to work.


Is there a public library of LEGO parts ready to be imported to 3d editor?

Most, but not all, existing LEGO oriented 3D modelling systems make use of the open source LDRAW libraries. Downloads, specifications, and more information can be found at https://ldraw.org/


Issues connecting the EV3 on Windows 8.1 64bit

I'm going to assume this is a Bluetooth connectivity issue because connecting the cable is trivial, and I've found connecting with Bluetooth quite tricky.  This may not be the only way, however it has worked for me.  The main issue is that you first need to "pair" the EV3 with your computer.

Setup (you have Bluetooth, and it is turned on):

Make sure the computer has Bluetooth turned on.  On my Win8 computer, there is a Bluetooth icon on the task bar when it is active.  If you don't see that icon, or don't know if Bluetooth is on, go to: PC Settings > PC and Devices > Bluetooth (also under: Network > Airplane Mode.  If you can't find it, try searching for Bluetooth on the computer)
set the EV3 to have Bluetooth Visibility checked true.  This is under the tools tab (far right) on the EV3.  Move the cursor to the Bluetooth line, and click on that to see the Bluetooth details.  Both "Visibility" and "Bluetooth" need to be checked on boxes on the right (ignore the icons on the left, they look like radio buttons but are not).  Once those are checked, the EV3 will be visible to the computer's Bluetooth.

Once you've confirmed that visibility is on, and Bluetooth is working, there are a few different ways you can pair your computer with the EV3.

from the computer's Bluetooth software
under the Control Panel > Devices and Printers, you can "Add a Device"
from the Bluetooth Icon on the task bar ("Add a Bluetooth Device").

No method is better, whichever you find first.  Once it starts scanning, it should display the EV3 within a minute or two.   When the EV3 when is found, choose "pair" or "connect".   Now, switch to the EV3 which should display:

"Connect? (your computer's name)"

Move the cursor to the check box (default is on the "x" as in "No"), then you will be shown the passkey: 1234.  No need to change that.  Click that check box too.

Now, switch back to your computer, where you'll be prompted for the passkey.  Enter 1234, and it should complete the pairing.   If you are interrupted (I believe you have 2 minutes) it'll lose the connection and you'll need to start again.

After all of that, you should be able to start the Mindstorm software, open a project, and in the lower right, choose "Available Bricks" tab, and see your EV3 (if not, click the "refresh" button in that window and it should show up).  Once there is a check box for your EV3, click that box to finally connect.

The hard part is the pairing.  Once paired, it is simple to connect in the future.  I just make sure the EV3 is on before the Mindstorm software is started.  If the EV3 is turned off, I have to click that "refresh" button telling the computer to find it again, then check the box to connect.

Final note: on the Bluetooth menu of the EV3 (where you check Visibility), there is another item "Connections."  This isn't merely a title.  Click on this, and it will display all computers that it has paired with in the past.  You can click on these and have them removed.  I've had to do this occasionally to re-establish connection with a computer.  This is how you would remove old connections too, if you wanted to clean things up, or just want to make sure there aren't any left-overs from earlier connection attempts.


Lego Duplo Train Track Switcher washable? / Best way to clean them?

According to this page it is glued together and can not be opened without damaging the part

You are correct about it containing a metal spring

I would just wipe it with a slighty wet towel


Based on this information from Brick Owl, the Imperial pauldron would fit in a rectangle of dimensions 2.7 x 2.3 centimeters. The center hole on all capes must be able to clear the neck diameter of approximately 4.88 mm as was quoted here backed up by my own measurements.

If you are looking to make a pauldron for yourself, you might consider finding a trace of the desired pauldron and adjusting the scale until the image is 2.7 cm at the widest. Making a 5 mm hole will suffice so the piece does not fall too low on the shoulders. Hope this helps.


Where did "LL 928" and "LL 929" come from?

928 was the original set number of the Galaxy Explorer - so the numbering of that one is following the LEGO tradition of using  the set number.
As Joubarc points out, at that time the sets were branded LegoLand, which is where the LL comes from (in recent years LEGO often uses the Designer's initials).

I'd say that as Benny is a rather well used Classic Spaceman and his Spaceship is clearly a throw back to that style, his ship is numbered in homage to the Galaxy Explorer.


Three of those sets are from "Legends of Chima" series and one is from "Hero Factory".
CHI Gorzan (70202)

CHI Fluminox (70211)

Frost Beast (44011)

CHI Laval (70200)


Help identify mystery piece and set it could go to

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


How do I get started with Mindstorms NXT 2.0?

As was pointed out, this question is not specific in nature, so it's hard to give a definitive answer. If you haven't already done so, it would probably be helpful head over to Lego.com and grab get the NXT 2.0 User Guide and perhaps begin looking through the sample programs.

This book may also be helpful to you:

The LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0 Discovery Book: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Programming Robots

If you run into specific problems as you are getting started, feel free to create a new question, and we'll try to help you out.


Do I have to worry about breaking any gears due to excessive torque?

LEGO Gears are one of the strongest LEGO components. When you apply great amounts of torque, they may slip or grind, but never break.

  Do I have to worry about gears slipping (skipping teeth) due to high
  torque?

If you apply high amounts of torque, your gears will slip. This happens even with moderately high amounts. They may also slide down the axle and grind the side of the other gear, or the axle.

  Has anyone performed experimental (destructive) tests to quantify the
  maximum torque these gears can withstand? Order of magnitude is OK -
  will the gears break at 1 N.cm, 10 N.cm, 100 N.cm, ... ?

Your gears will withstand the torque quite well - it's probably other components, like the axles and beams, that will give way first. Don't worry about breaking the gears - the worst situation might be that an axle or two might bend.


The set is 8364, and you can see it here: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=8364-1

The motor is part 5313a: (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=5313a)

Unfortunately, they do not seem to be widely available. The current inventory has one guy selling one as-is (untested) for $10 in the US, and one guy selling a working one for $40 in Israel. You can replace the whole set for a substantially higher price. Sorry I couldn't be of more help for replacing it, but hopefully now that you know the set and part numbers, you can search elsewhere.


Technically you don't ask what that element is, but I'm guessing that's what you want to know.

I think it is:
LegoFabuland Container, Side Bags / Saddlebags


How can I emulate this wheel from the mowing unit of a ride-on mower?

My first thought would be to try and build this using 2x 32017 - Technic Liftarm 5 Thin and the following combination of a 1/2 bush and a tire (same tire you have on the wheel on the black part of your build, though the front tire might fit too).

If you use a 2L axle (in red!) this should look quite sleek. Not sure if the tire is going to be tall enough to support the mower, but it would definitely be sturdy, given that you're using Technic.


How to fit lego power function LED lights onto cargo train (set: 60052)

The cargo train (60052) is not out-of-the-box able to be converted to using LED lights. The light bricks (1x1 round bricks) are fitted on the front bumper of the train with no space left for the light plugs. You would need to make modifications to the train to embed the lights - for example by mounting an additional light on top of the train, or by putting different lights on the front bumper. But you would need special transparent headlight (aka Erling) bricks for that - part 4070 or 30069 is typically used in other train sets.


What are the new elements released via the LEGO Friends sets?

As well as the new colours (two new shades each of blue, purple and green), there are actually quite a few new parts in the friends sets. I think this is the complete list, but it's possible I missed one or two. (Let me know of any corrections. It's a big list!)

Accessories (44)

Friends Accessories Cupcake Holder
Friends Accessories Cutlery Fork
Friends Accessories Cutlery Knife
Friends Accessories Dish, Rectangular
Friends Accessories Dish, Round
Friends Accessories Frying Pan
Friends Accessories Hand Mixer
Friends Accessories Measuring Jug
Friends Accessories Spatula with Holes
Friends Accessories Comb with Handle and 3 Hearts
Friends Accessories Glasses, Heart Shaped with Pin
Friends Accessories Glasses, Oval Shaped with Pin
Friends Accessories Hair Brush with Heart on Reverse
Friends Accessories Hair Decoration, Bow with Pin
Friends Accessories Hair Decoration, Butterfly with Pin
Friends Accessories Hair Decoration, Flower with Serrated Petals and Pin
Friends Accessories Hair Decoration, Flower with Smooth Petals and Pin
Friends Accessories Hair Decoration, Heart with Pin
Friends Accessories Hair Decoration, Star with Pin
Friends Accessories Hair Decoration, Tiara with 5 Points and Pin
Friends Accessories Hair Dryer
Friends Accessories Hand Mirror with Heart on Reverse
Friends Accessories Basket
Friends Accessories Lipstick with Light Bluish Gray Handle
Friends Accessories Bag Round with Bright Pink Ruffle
Friends Accessories Medical Clipboard
Friends Accessories Medical Feeding Bottle
Friends Accessories Medical Ice Pack
Friends Accessories Medical Nurse Hat
Friends Accessories Medical Otoscope
Friends Accessories Medical Pen
Friends Accessories Medical Spoon
Friends Accessories Medical Stethoscope
Friends Accessories Medical Syringe
Friends Accessories Medical Thermometer
Friends Accessories Award Ribbon with Number 1
Friends Accessories Award Ribbon with Number 2
Friends Accessories Bow
Friends Accessories Bow with Heart
Friends Accessories Brush Oval, Large
Friends Accessories Brush Round, Small
Friends Accessories Comb, Small with Heart
Friends Accessories Sponge
Friends Accessories Spray Bottle with Heart

Animals (9)

Bird, Sparrow with Red Beak Pattern
Cat Standing, Looking Left with Light Green Eyes, Dark Pink Nose and Mouth and Dark Bluish Gray Stripes Pattern
Dog Small Standing with Blue Eyes, Black Nose and Mouth Pattern
Dog Small Standing with Patch over Eye and Spots Pattern
Dog Small Walking with Blue Eyes and Black Nose and Mouth Pattern
Horse with 2 x 2 Cutout, Blue Eyes and White Blaze Pattern
Hedgehog with Reddish Brown Spines Pattern
Rabbit Sitting with Blue Eyes and Pink Nose and Mouth Pattern

Flower/Fauna (5)

Friends Accessories Beetle / Ladybug with Stud Holder
Friends Accessories Butterfly with Stud Holder
Friends Accessories Flower Rose with Pin
Friends Accessories Flower with 6 Rounded Petals and Pin
Friends Accessories Flower with 7 Thin Petals and Pin

Other Parts (2)

Door 1 x 5 x 3 with 3 Studs and Handle
Panel 1 x 2 x 1 with Rounded Corners and Central Divider
Minifig, Utensil Handlebars with Angular Handles

Printed Parts (11)

Slope 45 2 x 2 with Red Cash Register and '+15' Pattern
Brick 1 x 1 with Oranges Pattern (Juice Carton)
Brick 1 x 1 with Cow and Flower Pattern (Milk Carton)
Tile 1 x 2 with Cell Phone / Music Player Pattern
Tile, Round 2 x 2 with Brown Paw Pattern
Brick, Round 1 x 1 Open Stud with Paws and Heart Pattern
Tile 2 x 4 with 'Andrea' and Music Notes Pattern
Tile 1 x 4 Lights with CD and Speakers on Light Aqua Background Pattern
Tile, Modified 4 x 6 with Studs on Edges with Blackboard Pattern
Tile 1 x 6 with Ruler Pattern
Tile, Modified 4 x 6 with Studs on Edges with Clothes Design and Swatches Pattern

Total: 71, (non-printed parts): 60


Is this grid fin piece a standard LEGO brick?

I think that is
Part# 30046 :
Window 1 x 2 x 2 2/3 Pane Lattice Diamond with Rounded Top


Doubt about minifigures of LEGO Star Wars on BrickLink not having accessories like weapons

As you've noticed, the Starwars Minifigs don't come with accessories - this probably makes it easier for the sellers and buyers in terms of sorting: for example the battle packs often came with 3 or 4 different characters along with 2 different weapon styles - there's no definitive "this character has this style of weapon".

The weapons can be found using the Parts - Minifig, Weapon category - there are (at present) 4 guns tagged with (SW), as well as the various different lightsaber hilts (listed as Weapon Lightsaber Hilt), various generic weapons (pikes/spears) and the newer "Shooter Mini with [...] Trigger" that is appearing for more play value over authentic weapon styles (another reason why you might want to buy the weapons separately).

In terms of lightsabers, the beams themselves are listed as Bar 4L (Lightsaber Blade / Wand) under the Bars category (there's also Kylo Ren's Bar 4L / 2L Crossed).

If you're after more "realistic" weapons, then third party producers may be what you're after. BrickArms do a nice line in Sci-Fi weapons that include Han's DL-44 and the Imperial issued EL-11, DC-15, DC-15S and D9-AR.


Trying to identify an old 2 x 7 white LEGO plate with a hole in the middle and 4 holes on the side

This is

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

It appears in 2 train sets from 1966


I can't identify the black parts.

The toothed wheel is a string reel spool.

The rest of the parts appear to have come from a Robotics Invention System set from RCX-era Mindstorms:

The grey wheels with a different material on the inside are part 2983. None of those sets have 5 of these, though.
The grey bricks are touch sensors.
The white wheels are conveyer belt wheels.


Pass sensor or motor port number as a parameter

Yes, it is possible to pass the port number as a parameter to a sensor or motor block via data wire. It's just that it's manually selected by default. To change this, go to the port of the sensor or motor block, and select the top-most option which has the plug icon on it:

It will then create a data port for which motor port you want to use:

The same principle applies with sensor blocks. The input for both sensor and motor blocks is read as number, and you can validly enter a number 1-4 to represent which port.

In the above example, a variable is created, and that variable is then passed to both the motor and sensor blocks. Since it was set as 1, it will move motor connected to port A, and wait until the touch sensor connected to port 1 has been touched.


Is the LEGO BOOST kit compatible with EV3 or PowerFunctions motors and sensors?

While LEGO BOOST is compatible with the bricks from other sets, the motor, distance sensor, and Move Hub are not electrically compatible with current EV3 or PowerFunctions components. BOOST uses the same six pin connector as WeDo 2.0 from the Education line:

So, the bad news is that you can't easily use PF or EV3 motors with BOOST. However, LEGO plans to use this connector for PowerFunctions in the future and possibly for the successor to EV3 as well, so there may be more compatible components down the line. Here's how it's explained in the WeDo 2.0 FAQs:

Is this a new plug system?
Yes, this is the new LEGO Power Functions plug that has been optimized also to meet potential future needs.
What does that mean for the existing plug systems on other Power Function and MINDSTORMS products? Will they also be changed?
Yes, eventually we will convert to the new plug system after a transition period. The exact timing of this transition has not been determined.


What is the Bluetooth PIN for the LEGO train PUP remote (88010)

The remote control uses Bluetooth Low Energy rather than Bluetooth Classic. This means you do not pair the device and there is no PIN.
The remote control is not an HID input device, but rather uses a custom protocol that is documented at https://lego.github.io/lego-ble-wireless-protocol-docs/.


I am desperate to find the name of this brick

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

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


Where can I download the Samantha Field Control System?

This guy appears to have used the Samantha Field control system and has a download section.


Why are my pieces breaking? "3612 Arm piece straight with 2 and 3 fingers"

During the 90's I was gifted older LEGO bricks from a friend of my parents that were about 30 years old. Many were discolored, warped and specifically the blue and gray pieces would break if flexed.

30 years forward and some of pieces from my 90's mix are discolored specifically gray, blue, white, yellow, brown.  I think there is shelf life of about 30 years with certain color blends.  Note that pieces that have sat in sunlight have been affected more.  Maybe the sun's UV rays are not so good for certain color blends.

A few suggestions:

(1) Buy new.  Head over to Bricklink and buy new pieces.  Unfortunately, I've never seen this piece in Green and the site is saying that this is somewhat rare. (Site wise only two exist! Sold by a store in Belgium at $2.16 each. Ouch!).

Record keeping purposes.  After breaking out my pieces from the 90's, I have creations and designs that once disassembled would be lost.  I don't want to lose these old drafts, or the build knowledge gleaned from them that I could use in future creations. Things can get more exasperated if these pieces are breaking due to time.

(2a) Get a virtual LEGO program (I still use the discontinued LEGO Digital Designer) and preserve your builds digitally.  Label them correctly and store them indefinitely in The Cloud.

(2b) For me, I can look at a model and figure out how it was made, so it might be faster to use your phone and make a short video of your creation from all angles, and upload that for preservation to The Cloud.

And finally, those pieces I have that are at least 60 years old, a few blue pieces can be crumpled in one hand...


Please help me identity this part (Duplo size)

Thanks everyone for joining the discussion and trying to help. It turns out that the part to be identified is designed to be used as the handle for gears.


EV3-specific bricks missing from Lego Digital Designer 4.3.11 (Win)?

I think I might have a more elegant solution rather than downgrading to LDD 4.3.11 :

You just need to replace "Assets.lif" file in the 4.3.12 installation folder with the same file from 4.3.11 version. I happen to have this file archived here.
After you replace the file and restart LDD, all bricks will be available and all your previous creations will open without errors.

Notes:

If you don't trust my version of the file, you can do it yourself easily, since the "setupldd-pc-4_3_11.exe" distributive is essentially an archive and the file can be easily extracted with tools like WinRar or 7-zip from there.

Why choose file swapping instead of downgrading: in version 4.3.12 LEGO has removed the Flash dependability (or Silverlight, i don't remember now). That resulted in more convenient install on latest Win 10 systems, which is nice, since I personally had trouble installing 4.3.11 on a fully updated Win 10.
Unfortunately LEGO developers also somehow corrupted the Assets.lif file that contains the brick library. It seems that the file got simply truncated at some point, which is obvious when you compare the file sizes of the 4.3.11 and 4.3.12 versions.


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.


Brickipedia (A.K.A. lego.wikia.com) list unreleased sets and themes in the form of an article and category of articles. It does mention CYBOTS and Europa in addition to Seatron, although there is no guarantee that the list is complete.

CYBOTS

  Contained action figures using both System and the first TECHNIC
  ball joint parts. Several prototype models were created but final
  versions were not made. This theme was made mainly to test the first
  LEGO ball joints, which would be later used three years later on the
  Slizer theme.

Europa

  Set in the 18th century. The most likely reason that the theme wasn't
  released is that it was too close to both Castle and Pirates, both
  very similar themes.

Seatron

  The theme would have been set on an alien planet, with underwater
  astronauts. Many new monorail parts and colours were made for this
  theme, but when Futuron's monorail failed to make money, development
  of Seatron stopped.

Unnamed prototypes

Here's a space theme using purple and trans neon green from 1989:

And another 1989 space prototype with a distinctive color scheme using both light and dark gray with trans-red elements (dark gray would have been a new color at the time):

Brickipedia has a similar list for prototype sets and themes.


How do the various LEGO springs compare?

Over the years the LEGO group has made a number of different springs, dampers and suspension components. The most widely known ones are the springs in the 731 series, such as the above mentioned 731c04 (Hard Spring) and its cousins 731c05 (Normal Spring) and 731c06 (Soft Spring), but there are other more specialized springs as well, such as 32181 (which comes in a soft and normal spring version) and even this “cute” little brick-sized spring (part 2695c01 Brick, Modified 1 x 2 x 2 1/3 with Spring Unit (Shock Absorber)):

Let’s take a look at the two springs from set 42107, and compare them with a few of the above mentioned ones, namely 731c05 (Technic Shock Absorber 6.5L with Normal Spring in Light Gray), 731c06 (Technic Shock Absorber 6.5L with Soft Spring in Teal) and 32181c04 (Technic, Shock Absorber 10L Damped - Soft Spring in Trans-Clear).
Here are these 5 springs side-by-side:

As you can see, there is some variance in dimensions. From left to right, the springs length in studs is 11, 6.5, 6.5, 6.5, and 10 respectively. Note that the three 731-series springs are 1 brick wide, whereas 32181 and 65151 are 2 bricks wide at their widest point, with 65151 being asymmetrical due to the top connection point sitting 1 brick lower than the top, and offset by 1 brick from the main shock absorber shaft.
Now let’s look at how far these springs compress:

It was quite the struggle to get this group picture taken, as the power exerted by each spring was almost too much for the Technic pins holding them in place (and the half-a-stud offset of 731 is a bit of a challenge). As you can see, the compressed length of these shock absorbers is (from left to right) 9 studs, 5.5 studs, 5.5 studs, 5.5 studs and 7 studs.
So there are more differences: while the 731-series only compresses by 1 stud, 65151 compresses by 2 studs, and 32181 even compresses by 3 studs (even though the uncompressed shock is 1 stud shorter than 65151!).
Finally, let’s see how stiff these springs really are. As I am not a physicist, nor a mechanical engineer, my test setup is a bit archaic, but using baking weights I hoped to get an idea of how much weight it takes to fully compress the spring in each shock absorber. Here are some shots of various shocks undergoing testing:
The new absorber from 42107 (part 65151):

One of the 731 series springs (part 731c04 in this case):

As you can see, some shocks needed more weight to fully compress than provide by my wife’s entire collection of baking weights, so I had to resort to more drastic solutions, such as adding dental guard cleaning powder jars.
The results of this test surprised me - it turns out that (at least with the springs I tested) the normal and soft spring versions of 731 both take about 500-600g of weight to fully compress. I had expected the soft spring version of 731 (731c06) to be able to carry less weight than the normal spring version (731c05), but my test shows it was able to carry a bit MORE weight than its Normal spring cousin.
With my methodology (placing too much weight on the springs, and then slowly removing weight until the spring started lifting the contraption up again) both 32181c04 and 731c04 handled up to 1.1kg in weight, while the other springs handled about half that weight.
Net, the front shock absorbers (there are 2 shocks in the front fork) in 42107 have the same combined strength as the single shock absorber in the back, but they have different features - the front absorbers can travel 2 studs while the back absorber only travels 1 stud), and due to its offset connection point the front absorber (65151c01) has a rotational ability that the traditional 731 series shock absorbers miss. Also, as 65151c01 is manufactured with 3 different colors (pearl gold for the upper part, dark bluish gray for the shock and light bluish gray for the lower connection point) it blends better into the build of the Ducati Panigale. So why did LEGO create this part? Likely because it needed to look like the actual bike’s suspension, and no existing and in-production spring had the characteristics and looks needed to make the front assembly look proper.
Finally, a few notes about part 32181. Did you know:

Even though it has a soft spring, it is able to withstand the same weight as the Hard spring version of 731?
It is a damped spring, so where the other springs jump back to their uncompressed state almost instantaneously, 32181c04 (and 32181c05) take about a second to do so.
Out of all the springs I’ve tested, 32181 is the only spring that allows for rotation on its main axis, which allows you to turn the lower connection point out of alignment with the upper connection point. This can be very useful for constructions where the shock absorber needs to connect to 2 parts that are perpendicular to each other.

Here are the full test results, for those who are interested:

Transcription:
         |                                                     | Spring Type
65151c01 | Technic, Shock Absorber 11L with Internal Spring... | Gold
731c04   | Yellow Technic, Shock Absorber 6.5L - Hard Spring   | Yellow
731c05   | Technic, Shock Absorber 6.5L - Normal Spring        | Grey
731c06   | Technic, Shock Absorber 6.5L - Soft Spring          | Teal
32181c04 | Technic, Shock Absorber 10L Damped - Soft Spring    | Clear

         | Length (studs) | Length (cm) | Compressed (studs) | Compressed (cm)
65151c01 | 11             | 8.8         | 9                  | 7.2
731c04   | 6.5            | 5.2         | 5.5                | 4.4
731c05   | 6.5            | 5.2         | 5.5                | 4.4
731c06   | 6.5            | 5.2         | 5.5                | 4.4
32181c04 | 10             | 8           | 7                  | 5.6

         | Platform Weight (g) | Load Weight | Total Weight (g) | Notes
65151c01 | 19.82               | 513         | 533              | Offset connection
731c04   | 19.82               | 1126        | 1146             |
731c05   | 19.82               | 531         | 551              |
731c06   | 19.82               | 643         | 663              |
32181c04 | 19.82               | 1081        | 1101             | Slow release (damped), able to rotate


How should I model a Heroica Banquet hall?

I fear I have delusions of grandeur on this one, since this is my starting point:

One table partially built to show the fences underneath. You can also add a third table in the centre, but I felt it would be weird to have only one bank for two tables.

It's too big anyway, isn't it?


Can I get a JSON value from the internet without flashing a custom FW on EV3?

The easiest way to do this is with a 3rd party operating system. On the EV3, these generally run from a microSD card and do not touch the firmware in the flash memory of the EV3, so technically, you are not flashing a custom firmware (think dual-boot). The major 3rd party OSes are ev3dev, leJOS and MonoBrick. All of these have Internet access from the brick itself.

To do this using the official firmware only, you won't be able to access the Internet directly from the brick. So, you will have to have an application on a computer or a smartphone that accesses the Internet and relays information to the EV3 using Bluetooth messaging.


Help identifying utensil looking round support piece with 2 bars

This piece is called Space binoculars or electrobinoculars and has part number 30304.


Finding out what sets these bags belong to?

Based on

PLATE OCTAGONAL 10X10 W. SNAP
PLATE OCTAGONAL 10X10
Scrolling through the instructions

First bag 2, first bag 3, bag 4 and first bag 5 (pictures 1, 3, 5 and 6) are from 75953: Hogwarts Whomping Willow


I believe that this is a non-LEGO custom turban piece:

It is manufactured by BrickForge and is available for purchase directly from them. It's currently not available in Sand Green though, so if you're hoping to get your hands on this exact piece, you'll need to check BrickForge resellers or secondary markets such as Ebay.


How do you store your built models for long-term display?

This may sound odd, have you considered using an upside-down fish tank? I've actually seen this used in the past after the former occupant died. It was only a smaller model on a baseplate, but the width of the glass for the tank managed to fit inbetween the studs on the baseplate and worked quite well. Granted, stacking them could produce an issue, and you might want to try plastic tanks instead of glass ones but depending on the size they might start quite cheap.

Something like this (but upside-down, and not containing fish):

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigelguy/4208026780/in/pool-lego/


Can someone please help me ID these parts?

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


Accessing ARM Processor Memory Registers through NXC

NXC creates bytecode for the standard (or NXC upgraded) NXT virtual machine. The idea of this virtual machine is to create an abstraction layer to prevent malicious low level calls such as accessing memory registers on the processor.

So, without a low level compiler, such access would not be possible.


Having checked various different parts (including severely underestimating how widespread Trans-Light Blue Brick, Round 2 x 2 with Axle Hole is) I believe that this may be LEGO Friends: Pop Star Show Stage, based on Bright Light Orange Plate, Round 4 x 4 with Hole, which only appeared in 10 sets


Can't identify this LEGO set with large angled brown plates

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

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


Identify Floor tiles on the great pyramid of meereen

They are indeed quite beautiful tiles but unfortunately not official LEGO decals.
I believe they are his own original custom designs, as in another MOC for Portal 2 which can be seen at LEGO IDEAS he does confirm that he uses his own custom decals.

I based my design on the amazing 2012 Lego Cuusoo “Thinking with
Portals” by Brickthing. I took his original design and added elements
from Lego Dimensions and my own twist with custom decals and details
from the Portal games.

There seem to be many more examples on that Flickr account.


How to switch an NXT sensor port by a motor port?

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.


Sometimes, the piece connecting your two white plates in Step 2 might be bent or not completely flat. An rounded LEGO piece can have other pieces that it connects falling off because it can't hold on to the studs as usual. This could happen to the white wing piece itself.

Two, they can be a hassle. Normal pieces can sometimes just be a pain in the back. I got a set with pieces in perfect condition and they still come off. Make sure you squeeze those pieces really tight to each other to prevent and pieces from falling off.


Is there a Technic set that is just an assortment of parts and not a specific vehicle?

Lego sells several kits of parts through their Lego Education line. You can buy them online in the US here: http://www.legoeducation.us/

The direct link to the Technic kits is here:
http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/characteristics/ProductLine~Machines%20and%20Mechanisms

They have a $50 "Simple Machines" set, a $140 "Simple and Motorized Mechanisms Base Set", a Pnuematics add-on set, and a very cool Renewable Energy set (yes, there is a Lego-branded solar panel!).

Also, if you look under the parts and accessories section (http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/characteristics/productType~LEGO%20Spare%20Parts%20and%20Accessories), you can order variety packs of various parts (e.g., 5 each of each length of the studless beams).

Caveat emptor: I have not compared prices to Bricklink.com, where you can also buy pretty much every Lego element ever molded in bulk quantities.


Can someone please identify this 2x2 round dome part with 1 stud for us?

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


Most Power Functions pieces will run in classic 9V mode. The IR receiver can't, but motors and lights can.

A hacky solution:

Many people have done this by cutting up an extension wire, and connecting the two outer cables to their power source of choice.

From: Lego PF Hacking – Wire Hacking

  GND – ground wire – Always connected (0V regardless of battery pack direction)
  C1 – control wire 1 – 9V when battery pack is forward, 0V when in reverse
  C2 – control wire 2 – 0V when battery pack is forward, 9V when in reverse
  9V – power wire – On when battery pack is on (9V regardless of pack direction)

A purist solution:

If you prefer a purist solution, you could get a classic 9V battery box that takes a single regular 9V battery.

They have the classic 9V wire connectors on the top (a little hard to see in the image, but there are 2x6 studs with metal connectors). Just pair that with a Power Functions extension wire (which has a 9V connector adapter) to connect your Power Functions elements.

That will give you a purist solution which doesn't require chopping up your wire.


Ordering of Pages in Printed LEGO Catalogues

I think this is just basically something they did on purpose. I would suggest that you check more like this to confirm your suspicions, but as far as I am concerned, different countries maybe have different styles of doing things related to counting.


What is the total number of sets that LEGO has released?

It might be impossible to give the precise number simply because some older sets are yet to be found and new ones are being added with a slight delay.

These three are the major websites having the most details about sets:

Bricklink catalog has 15824 sets in its catalog.
Brickset has 16378 sets.
Rebrickable has 15432 sets.

As you can see numbers are similar, but yet differ slightly. This is due the fact that each site has its set of rules. For example, it may treat some sets as accessories, thus including/excluding them.

All numbers are up-to-date as of the time of this answer.


Can custom content be imported into LEGO Creator?

Unfortunately, that's not a factual statement.  I contacted the Wikipedia user who added that content, and he informed me that that statement was in error.  You can add custom models, but not directly from LDraw, LDD, or similar tools.


Is it possible to build a full-size house with Lego bricks?

James May built a full-sized LEGO house for his TV show James May's Toy Stories on the BBC back in 2009 using around 3,500,000 bricks. Whether you'd actually want to do this yourself...

During the episode they spent some time with engineering students working out the most load bearing configurations of bricks especially for the upper floor, as well as working on the general structure.

To get around the insurance requirements, in the end they resorted to building the house around a wooden frame including floors - and although they did continue working on the beams, and James did stand (rather nervously) on the final designs, they don't appear to have been released.

With regards to the rest of the house (i.e. fixtures and fittings) there were some issues as I recall:

Comfort - obviously lying or sitting on LEGO bricks without any covering is uncomfortable.
Water Proofing - at one point in the show James shares a LEGO "glass" of wine with Oz Clarke - only to have most of the wine leak out of the glass. Without some sort of sealant, or multiple offset layers the gaps between the bricks aren't water-tight.
Clutch Power - LEGO bricks are held together by friction (Technic pins not withstanding), and tend to break apart under incorrectly placed loads quite easily. This may be an issue when it comes to chairs, doors, etc.

Wikipedia article
Show on YouTube (part 1/5)


How can the new LEGO pneumatics be used for trains?

The first thing that came up in my mind when reading your question is: operate switches on your track using pneumatics. You'll require a lot of hose, and would need to experiment a bit with how long the tubes can be without losing too much pressure, but the actuators could operate the switch handles easily, and you can route the hoses under buildings or even under your train table.


The main problems I see are the following:

The value in the numRight variable is wrong for two reason: The 'right' sensor is not reseted at the proper time and you read the 'left' sensor value instead of the 'right'.
The angle calculation is faulty
The half rotation is performed in the wrong direction

Here are my code comments:

//Move forward until you find black
[...]

//Move forward until you are not on black anymore
[...]

//Reset the rotation sensors
[...]
//   WARNING: The right sensor is reset for no reason
Right.resetTachoCount();

//Turn left until you find black
[...]

//Get the left rotation sensor data
[...]

//Turn right until you are not on black anymore
[...]

//Get the right rotation sensor data
//   ERROR: This action should not be done until you have turned all the way to the right
//   ERROR: At this stage the right sensor should be reseted
//   Note: ...and the 'left' data was put in the 'right' variable
numRight += Left.getTachoCount();

//Turn right until you find black
[...]

//Get the right rotation sensor data
//   ERROR: This data should come from right.getTachoCount();
numRight += Left.getTachoCount();

//Calculate the half angle
//   ERROR: The calculation should be: numberTurn = ((numRight + numLeft) / 2 ) / 2;
//   Explaination: By adding the two rotations and then dividing by 2 you get the average of the two.
//                 The result is then divided by 2 again to get the half angle.
numberTurn = (numRight-numLeft)/2;
//Rotate back (should be to the left) to half the angle
//   ERROR: Rotation is performed to the right when it shoud be to the left
Left.rotateTo(-numberTurn,true);
Right.rotateTo(numberTurn,true);

Recommendation: When dealing with multi steps processes like this one, add the steps one by one while re-testing each time. The test should validate that the previous steps are still working and  that the added step is working as planned.


What can cause programmed NXT 2.0 motors to misfunction when small resistance is applied?

It turns out that the issue is a faulty/weak motor connector socket.  While randomly trying to troubleshoot, I found that if I did nothing more than press or move the cable, the motor would act bizarrely.  Initially I thought it was a bad cable, but after trying additional cables it seems that it is more likely just a poor connection at the motor. I suppose it could also be a bad motor.  The actual cause is proving very hard to pin point.

And while one motor is definitely more problematic than the others, I noticed that all of them can be made to act randomly just by pulling on the cable ends.  I am now wondering if this is common issue with the NXT and I'm considering posting another question about it.

In answer to my own question, it seems that a faulty motor connection can cause erratic behavior.


Welcome to Bricks.SE. Yes, you can use the Power Functions equipment to teach robotics. I would recommend you stick with the original PF instead of PoweredUp, as the latter has more complicated electronics and control schemes, however, others have already built custom control software for PUp so tinkering with software is definitely possible.
Regarding Power Functions, the components have a 4 wire cable with 2 providing a constant 9V and ground, and 2 that are used for sending control signals (fluctuating values between 9V and 0V). Device identification is done through resistors, which is easy to mimick should you want to build your own motors, but this might not even be necessary as you want to build and configure your own controller. And the cable is easy to split and modify.
@Philo who is a regular here maintains a site (www.philohome.com) on which you can find a wealth of information regarding PF. This would be the best place to start.
If you are planning to use an RPi, make sure you get a suitable motor driver. You can power the motors via the driver at 9V, and use a buck converter to give your RPi 5V directly via the GPIO, just be careful because there is no overvoltage protection if used this way. Powering an Arduino or compatible microprocessor is also an option.
One word of warning: Power Functions components are retiring this year, so make sure you get your component order in from LEGO ASAP.
Good luck!


Issues with my LEGO Land Rover Defender - Low rear

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

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

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

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

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


What is the range of the LEGO Powered Up remote control system?

Your mileage may vary, but according to LEGO, the range is about 10m (33ft) in open air.

  The Bluetooth signal distance is usually around 10 meters/33 feet in an open area, but it can vary, depending on a few things: Low batteries in the remote control, and obstacles – concrete walls, for example – may decrease the signal distance. Try to remove obstacles, or find another place to play with your train, if it seems like the distance is shorter than expected.


Am I able to use the Chrome version of the Mindstorm software on a Windows/Mac laptop?

LEGO Education has a new programming software called EV3 Classroom that will work on Windows, Mac and Chromebooks that can run Android apps. This is probably the best option for the devices listed but won't work on all Chromebooks. It is available from the LEGO Education download page.
The retired Chrome app only works on Chromebooks.
MakeCode could be an option too.


Help identifying a Megabloks set - grey and black mass

That is the fuselage of 9962 Supersonic Fighter:

However, it appears that the stickers haven’t been applied.


How to receive response from direct_command_reply from EV3 using Python?

Reading files is better done by system commands. Here is a class EV3, that sends direct commands and system commands. The program sends a direct command (does nothing) and uses the system commands BEGIN_UPLOAD and CONTINUE_UPLOAD to read file /bin/usb-devices from the EV3 device:

#!/usr/bin/env python3

import socket
import struct
import time

class EV3():
    def __init__(self, host: str):
        self._sock = socket.socket(
            socket.AF_BLUETOOTH,
            socket.SOCK_STREAM,
            socket.BTPROTO_RFCOMM
        )
        self._sock.connect((host, 1))

    def __del__(self):
        self._sock.close()

    def send_direct_cmd(self, ops: bytes, local_mem: int=0, global_mem: int=0) -> bytes:
        dir_cmd = b''.join([
            struct.pack('<h', len(ops) + 5),
            struct.pack('<h', 42),
            DIRECT_COMMAND_REPLY,
            struct.pack('<h', local_mem*1024 + global_mem),
            ops
        ])
        self._sock.send(dir_cmd)
        self.printHex('Sent', dir_cmd)
        reply = self._sock.recv(5 + global_mem)
        self.printHex('Recv', reply)
        return reply

    def send_system_cmd(self, cmd: bytes) -> bytes:
        sys_cmd = b''.join([
            struct.pack('<h', len(cmd) + 3),
            struct.pack('<h', 42),
            SYSTEM_COMMAND_REPLY,
            cmd
        ])
        self._sock.send(sys_cmd)
        self.printHex('Sent', sys_cmd)
        time.sleep(0.1)
        return self._sock.recv(1024)

    def printHex (self, desc: str, hex: bytes) -> None:
        """Print a hex-String in human readable form"""
        print(desc + ' 0x|' + ':'.join('{:02X}'.format(byte) for byte in hex) + '|')

DIRECT_COMMAND_REPLY = b'\x00'
SYSTEM_COMMAND_REPLY = b'\x01'
opNop                = b'\x01'
BEGIN_UPLOAD = b'\x94'
CONTINUE_UPLOAD = b'\x95'

# direct command
my_ev3 = EV3('00:16:53:42:2B:99')
ops = opNop
my_ev3.send_direct_cmd(ops)

# system commands
path = '/bin/usb-devices'
cmd = b''.join([
    BEGIN_UPLOAD,
    struct.pack('<H', 1012),      # SIZE
    str.encode(path) + b'\x00'    # NAME
])
reply = my_ev3.send_system_cmd(cmd)
(size, handle) = struct.unpack('<IB', reply[7:12])
part_size = min(1012, size)
fmt = str(part_size) + 's'
data = struct.unpack(fmt, reply[12:])[0]
rest = size - part_size
while rest > 0:
    part_size = min(1016, rest)
    cmd = b''.join([
        CONTINUE_UPLOAD,
        struct.pack('<BH', handle, part_size)
    ])
    reply = my_ev3.send_system_cmd(cmd)
    fmt = 'B' + str(part_size) + 's'
    (handle, part) = struct.unpack(fmt, reply[7:])
    data += part
    rest -= part_size
print(data.decode("utf8"))

You find additional details in
Lesson 11. Or look in github. I hope, this helps!


The boiling temperature of water is 212 Fahrenheit (100 Celsius). The melting point of ABS plastic (the material LEGO is made of) is 176 Fahrenheit (80 Celsius). Therefore LEGO should NEVER be put in water that reaches boiling point or anywhere close to it.

If you want to clean your LEGO, the best way is to just put it in a tub with luke-warm water and a mild soap. Let is soak overnight, then rinse it off with clean water. Here are some further references you can use:

http://thebrickblogger.com/2010/12/cleaning-dirty-lego/ and
http://thebrickblogger.com/2010/12/cleaning-dusty-lego/


There are partial reverse engineered schematics done by Mark Bellis here


The pole itself can be rotated on almost every level, so that’s nothing you need to worry about.

Additionally, you may want your cables to be parallel. To achieve this, you need to increase the width of your bars, or more specifically, the distance between the cable supporters.
If your distance between the supporters for a straight line is d and you want an angle of θ, you need a distance of d/cos(θ/2) at the angle, which can be obtained using trigonometry:

So, for an angle of θ=45°, you need to increase your distance by a factor of 1.08. For θ=90°, it’s a factor of √2 = 1.41.

The obvious items to adjust the distance are 1×1 round bricks and plates. Also, you obviously can only approximate the perfect distance with bricks in most cases, but the inaccuracy will be negligible.


You can find some of The LEGO Group's financial information in their annual report. Note that the financials are in Danish kroner, so you'll need to do some currency conversion. For example, the net profit for 2012 was 5.6 billion DKK, which works out to about 1 billion USD.

I'm not aware of a reliable way to get official sales numbers for individual products or even product lines. The Mindstorms RIS 2.0 set was the best selling individual product as noted in this article from 2008:

  The Mindstorms RIS 2.0 is the #1 selling product in the company's history, and there are over 1 million RCX bricks that have been sold.

TLG does occasionally release some product sales information, as shown in this Brickset post.

If you are interested in the current bestselling sets, there is a page on LEGO.com with this information. Brickpicker also has a section for the current bestselling sets on eBay.


The LEGO Group have advertised the EV3's excellent backwards compatibility with NXT.

As the cables are the same, the EV3 will work with NXT sensors, motors and, of course, LEGO Technic bricks. RCX sensors will work with the aid of converter cables.

Software designed for programming the NXT will not work for the EV3 as the NXT runs firmware, but the EV3 runs Linux. However, the graphical software that ships with the kit will be able to program older bricks.

From the official EV3 FAQ:

  Q: Can NXT sensors and motors be used with the EV3 P-brick?
  A: Yes. LEGO® MINDSTORMS® EV3 uses the same LEGO® TECHNIC elements and RJ12 connector cables as the MINDSTORMS® NXT, so all your existing sensors, motors and building elements will work  with the new platform, and the software will recognize them as NXT sensors/motors when they  are plugged in.


Unknown brick/piece information (curved, decorated slope)

It would be a Slope, Curved 2 x 2 Lip, No Studs with Island Xtreme Stunts Logo and Flames Pattern.