I saw this technique in LEGO's Disney Castle for offsetting parts of a column by half of a stud. You can see the column on the left in this picture is shifting half a stud above a 3x3 plate:
Of course you can do it too! Here is the process:
Take your 3x3 base plate and stick 1x1 "dots" between each of the studs. The "dots" are LEGO part 4073 which ...
The LEGO Group have recently started using solvents to "weld" elements together (notably the Minifigure legs to the magnet blocks), which are fairly heavily controlled in pure forms in most countries under drug legislation.
I have discovered that LEGO is not using glue at all, but a solvent, that actually loosens the surface of the ABS plastic and allows ...
For centring a minifigure on a 3×3 plate, I would do the following (though it’s not exactly what you asked for):
Arrange 2×1 plates with centre studs as follows:
Add 1×1 panels for optical harmony:
Put a 3×2 plate on top:
Place your minifigure in the middle:
Inspired by Zhaph's wall, this one is made with 1x3 bricks. It has a radius of 12 studs (24 studs diameter).
It is connected to the base by the last two studs on each end of the arc. The middle of the wall rests on tiles. To complete the tower you can repeat this module 4 times and use 1x2 bricks to connect them (replacing the 1x1 end bricks).
This would ...
Non powered/motorized flight has been achieved
Anna Vuurzoon made a Flying machine using only Lego parts which uses a ripcord to propel a three blade propeller on a stick (see http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/288875). I was able to duplicate her results, so can validate it does work. It is really a modification of a bamboo copter. The 2015 ...
LEGO's official position on this technique was explained at Brickfest 2006. Jamie Berard, then a relatively new designer in Billund gave an excellent presentation on why certain techniques are considered "illegal" in official sets. The basics message is that building techniques should:
not stress the bricks
be suitable for the target audience of the ...
It depends on how close they need to be.
The following solution works, if you're happy to have things sticking out around the join:
"Brick 1x2 M. 2 Holes Ø 4,87", [part:32000:7]; There's also a 1x1 brick with a hole, [part:6541:7].
Which could be used as:
For tighter coupling, the Minifig Wrench [part:6246d:0] can also fit over a stud, and is deeper than ...
If you make a wall out of 1 x 2 bricks, where each layer overlaps by a 1-stud offset, and make the wall long enough, you can bend it into a smooth curve because of the manufacturing tolerance between Lego bricks.
By Eggy Pop from MOC Pages
This particular wall uses rings of 84 bricks.
I managed to put together the following set-up for the beginnings of a slightly narrower tower:
This gives me a radius of about 7 studs if I go as tight as I can, giving a diameter of about 14/15 studs. I would have used [part:3062b] but I'm not that organised (yet), so went with [part:4589:378] instead.
I'll have to see what I can do with 1x3's and ...
Tristan Lostroh did an exhaustive test of both studded beams and stud-less beams with and without connections. Here are his results:
Studless beams are better in tension than studded
Studded beams are better in transverse than studless
Studless beams are stronger in transverse with the pins on the side
Connections to other components will fail ...
This would push the pins up and down like a normal key would.
Here is the basic system. I don't have time to build to whole thing but this resolves the main problem and proves the feasibility.
The main problem was to reproduce the pins system with LEGO bricks since each pins needs to have different lengths. Early in this project, I wanted to have a '...
To summarize from the thread that Major Stackings linked, sounds like Acetone is the best general solution, as it melts the pieces together until they are permanently bonded together as one bit of plastic.
You only need acetone, no need for other products or ABS chips.
Just brush acetone on both pieces, join them and wait 5 minutes.
You will find that ...
See the instruction for that set on pages 56-59, 65 and 68/69 for the 3 different roofs of it.
they're using a different technique and different pieces for all of them, so this perfectly shows up some alternatives (technic-like parts for the big roof to the right, blocks with studs on the sides for the small 90°-roofs and 1x1 with clips for the roof to the ...
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 ...
I wouldn't recommend transporting anything larger than a 32x32 stud baseplate. Use Technic pins and 1x2 bricks to connect parts of your model in the same way as the Modular Sets have done. The technique works well for buildings, planes, boats and just about any kind of large model.
Remove as many small parts likely to fall off ...
Holger Matthes has a good page on SNOT building which includes a few techniques on how to get stud-down orientation.
Also, don't underestimate tiles, sometimes you can just lock the upside-down part into place without attaching it with studs at all (I did this when I was a kid to use a black 3943 — Cone 4 x 4 x 2 as a train chimney as the inverted part didn'...
The most common I've seen is rack and pinion:
Essentially you have two parallel beams with one fixed to the car's chassis. The other bar moves horizontally which changes the direction of the wheels. Attach some gears and you can hook it up to a steering wheel.
The steering technique has been used in the Whirl N' Wheel Super Truck (5590)
set. The ...
LEGO seems to be way too heavy and not aerodynamic enough to build a plane so the best bet would be to build a zeppelin.
There's a video on youtube that shows such a zeppelin where the nacelle is build with LEGO (not sure if it's pure LEGO, take a look at it at about 1:55 in the video).
Another, much simpler example using only 5 helium-balloons and a 9V-...
There is a website, http://rebrickable.com/, that lets you enter the sets you have, and it compares the inventories to other sets to determine which other official sets you can build with those pieces. It also includes unofficial MOCs that other builders have submitted, and it will substitute other part colors if you choose.
For example, just entering the ...
In the past, LEGO produced a perfect element for this:
It's probably hard to find in big quantities now, so I give it more for reference than anything. I wish LEGO would still produce it though (not to mention its educative value).
Considering the very limited choice of bricks, I don't think you have much options.
The first is the obvious stacking of 1x2 bricks, which the added bonus that it can bend (slighly).
The second is the obvious stacking of 2x4 bricks, which is equally boring.
What I would suggest is to build windows in it, which you can easily achieve by mixing the two ...
I have seen a number of very creative builds with the orange brick separator. Here are some examples:
Spaceship by F@bz: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabz71/12434428513/
Mech by Lewis Meeny: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tr0jinh0rse/11318913594/
Deep Sea Explorer by Keith Reed: http://www.flickr.com/photos/keithreed/12943153094/
And my favorite is this ...
If stability is not an issue, consider the following:
Put a 4×4 dish on your 3×3 plate (yes, this fits):
Put your 2×2 plate in the middle (in any orientation you like):
If you want to centre your minifigure, add a layer of 2×1 plates with centre studs:
… and place your minifigure on top:
(This also works with a 1×1 plate instead of the dish, but it ...
Another soloution if rotational stability is not too much of a concern and you don't like having studs on show.
Put a 1x1 plate in the middle of the 3x3 plate and surround it with 1x1 or 1x2 flat tiles so you have a 3x3 surface with a single stud popping up in the middle.
You can now stack a 2x2 plate on top held in place by the single stud.
The Lego Ideas Book
Recently released last month (19th Sep 2011). Written with the help of adult Lego Fans. I've had a look through the book myself. The book has six chapters focussing on transport, buildings, space, kingdoms, adventure and 'useful makes'. The buildings chapter in-particular focusses on every day objects.
The LEGO Ideas Book, hmillington @...
To keep it simple I would use hinges placed on top of the wall, connect the roof plates and angle them to fit.
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Edit: You could even add a small plate hinge at the roof ridge, under the roof plates. This would keep them from separating.
I recommend getting 15-20 small-medium tupperware containers (you can get them pretty cheap now). Separate the pieces in a way that makes sense to you. Tupperware has flexible sizing and they are transparent, making it easier to identify pieces from the side of the container.
You don't have to completely put each individual piece in its own bin. But, for ...
There is a problem with the Mythbusters building technique.
One of the first things you learn about building with Lego is that, if you want a stable structure, your bricks need to interlock as much as possible.
The Unofficial Lego Builder's Guide illustrates this rather well:
Unfortunately, to make the build easier the Mythbustes team assembled a series ...
You probably could use this, which looks exactly like it's the missing part of your puzzle:
You'll be interested to know that this part has intitially been proposed by the first four fans (MUPs, for LEGO Mindstorms Users Panel) working on the very first NXT kit and regularly ran into the same problem as yours. A lot of Technic fans now name the part after ...