Here's my new alternate MOC!

Video

Features

• Opening doors
• Working 6l engine
• HOG steering
• Working outriggers
• 360° superstructure rotation
• Boom elevation
• Boom extension
• Hook hoisting with lock

Instruction: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-258700/paave/42175-mobile-crane

Lego Demo B to Test multiple Lego Interface B (70909)

Lego Script B: an EXE executable C# program that integrates IronPython (No need to install Python separately).

Lego Class B: A C# DLL that can be linked to VBA programs (Excel for ex.) or even Python

Lego Interface B Python module to be used with Python only.
NEW Github for Lego Interface B Python Module: https://github.com/BlissCA/LegoBpy

Lego RCX python module that manage serial communication using Serial IR Tower only (Not USB)
NEW Github for Lego RCX Python Module:  https://github.com/BlissCA/LegoRcxPy

I'm now putting my efforts more towards the use of Python.  I'm using the latest 3.13.
Some python functions are not compatible with windows 7 but until now, I've had some report that my python scripts still works on windows 7...  I do not garantee this is going to be always the case but I'll do my best to keep it working on win7...

My first goal was to make a simple programming environment that works on modern PC computer and OS and allow the interaction between multiple Lego Interface B, expanding the IO capability...

I posted first on the following thread:

https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/67665-dacta-control-lab-software/

But since I'm now expanding the project to the Lego RCX (After other members ideas), that lead to the creation of this dedicated thread.

There are README files in the above links to help you test and integrate these Python modules in your project.

Note about the Lego RCX Python Module: This is for sending commands like Start/stop motors through serial link using IR tower.  This is not to upload programs in to the RCX.  You still need programs like Brickx CC and NQC to make programs that will execute into the RCX.

To give you an idea:
A python main program user project may import the LegoB pyhton module, and import the LegoRcx python module as well at the same time along with other modules like MQTT etc...
The Main python script could have programming that allow interaction between multiple Lego Interface B, multiple RCX, MQTT (External World, Smart Home, etc)...

Feel free to comment, report bugs, suggest improvements, share your project on that matter, add other python lego modules like maybe the Interface A.  Is there other old forgotten interfaces (Serial)?

Bliss

NEW NEW NEW 2026:

Lego Interface B ONLINE Blockly type Programming:

The requirements? Well no need to install any softwares like python etc but you still need:

• A Windows PC with Internet access (I don't know if this would work on a Mac, but for a Linux, why not?)
• A Chromium browser latest version (Chrome or Edge, I used Chrome)
• usb ports available with USB to RS232 adapters (qty depends how many Lego Interface B you want to try at the same time)
  It also works with HC-05 Bluetooth-Serial TTL module and a TTL-RS232 Adapter with a PC or Androîd (NOT IOS)

Link to my Lego-Blockly page

Example Projects to download

Go to the following post for more informations

Looks like 4WD I think? Structure between front wheel looks to complicate if it has just steering only. And seems like use 4.5L axle on front wheel so it may be 4WD.

New parts

89679 panel 1x2 'comma' in lime is new

Not sure but looks like new

11478 half thick beam 5L with 2 axle hole in lime is new <- This will be wrong.

32065 half thick beam 7L in lime is new

Rare parts

15458 panel 3x11 in lime - last release is 2022, 15 in 3 set

32449  Technic Beam 1 x 4 Thin - last release is 2023, 15 in 7 set

2389 & 2387 panel 2x3 triangle #7 and #8 in lime - last release is 2023, 8 in 1 set

71682 panel 2x3 in lime - last release is 2024, 20 in 3 set

19478 pneumatic cylinder 2x11 in DBG - last release is 2024, 8 in 3 set

32017 liftarm 5L thin without axle hole in lime - last release is 2002, 6 in 1 set.

I don't know which connector used on door handle. If it is 32184 Technic Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with Centre Pin Hole, is super rare(last release is 2001, 2 in 1 set). If it is 42003, Technic Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular 3L with 2 Pin Holes, it's not rare.

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-253341/otrans/42224-porsche-911-gt3-r-rexy-ao-racing-car-rc-mod-for-power-function-buwizz-mortors/

In general, the goal was to create a contrast between orderly, architectural base and somewhat chaotic, steampunk-styled mechanism on top.

Here's a better look at the mechanism:

It consists of three major modules: Main dial with time and calendar in the front, the actual clock mechanism in the center and striking mechanism in the back.

The front dial looks like this:

The two bottom dials are day and month. Behind month pointer, there's an encoding wheel that encodes the length of particular months. The day dial has 32 divisions and at the end of the month, the hand jumps from 28,30 or 31 to 1.

And here's the striking mechanism:

The key part is the spiral-shaped "crown wheel" that encodes numbers 1-12. Gear rack (behind propeller piece) is allowed to fall on the crown wheel. Then, the mechanism lifts it 1 toth at a time, striking the bell. The number of strikes will depend on how far the rack has fallen, which depends on the crown's position. This is a varian of a more common "rack and snail" mechanism; the snail cam was very problematic to make wih Lego, hence I came up with the crown idea.

Here's the base under construction:

The internal Technic reinforcements are sturdy enough to use the arches of the bridge as handles, so that the whole thing can be moved with ease. There's also enough internal space to install lighting:

A video of the clock is here:

The Lego 60446 Yellow Bulldozer. 

Pieces 682

Price 50€.

Functions straight 3 engine, movable ripper, movable tracks, and front blade. 

Thoughts? 

Update, i have update this topic to include all technical/technic stuff on other themes. So everything is allowed as long it is technical, so have fun:). 

So, let's separate the wishes between vehicle and non-vehicle, since the latter we know have a next-to-nothing chance of appearing.

My vehicle wish-list:

- A road-grader. :wub:

- A floating boat with motorized propellers. (We need both a large boat propellor piece and technic hull)

- Cable car

- A minifig scale wrecking ball machine!

My non-vehicle wish-list:

- A working clock

- a 3000 piece great ball contraption!

- a life-size crossbow

- a Babbage mechanical calculator

- a Lord of the Rings themed catapult, ballista or Trebuchet

Polybags

7+ 30735 hot rod car 83pcs

7+ 30736 White Seaplane 82pcs

January wave

7+ 42218 John Deere 1470H Wheeled Harvester 117pcs 9.99$ 

7+ 42219 Monster Jam Grave Digger Fire And Ice Pull-Back 263pcs 29.99$

7+ 42220 Monster Jam Sparkle Smash Pull-Back 243pcs 29.99$

9+ 42221 NASA Artemis Space Launch System Rocket 632pcs 59.99$

9+ 42222 Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport Hyper Car 771pcs 64.99$

18+ 42223 1966 Ford GT40 MK II Race Car 793pcs 74.99$

11+ 42224 Porsche 911 GT3 R AO REXY Racing Car 1313pcs 149.95$

March wave

7+ 42225 - Yellow motorcycle 151pcs $9.99

9+ 42226 - BMW M4 GT3 EVO 747pcs $64.99

10+ 42227 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 723pcs $64.99

18+ 42228{Mclaren F1} 1675pcs $229.99

Summer wave

14+ 42229 Mitsubishi Eclipse Fast And Furious 827pcs 64.99€

42230 ?

18+ 42231 Fast And Furious Dodge Charger R/T Car 1516pcs 149.99€

18+ 42232 1:8 Koenigsegg Sadair Spear 4104pcs 449.99$

7+ 42233 Mighty Machines Blind Box Series 44pcs 4.99€

10+ 42234 Viper GTS R Technic Dodge 805pcs 64.99€

9+ 42235 Ferrari 488 PISTA 882pcs 64.99€

10+ 42236 Custom Garage Ford Mustang 973pcs Old rumored price 64.99€. New rumored price 89.99€

42237?

10+ 42238 Ducati Desmo450 MX Factory 457pcs 49.99€

18+ 42239 The iconic Batmobile from the Christopher Nolan movies 719pcs 189.99€

18+ 42240 Aston Martin AMR26 1547pcs 229.99€

9+ 42241 Green Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport  64.99$

11+ 42242 Mercedes Benz Unimog U5023 With Crane 

I've been busy with PF Conversion mods lately, so I'll just start with these old recent creations.

Mini 4257

Mini 42054

At first, even simple lifts felt fresh and exciting. Over time, however, it seemed to me that genuinely new mechanical transport principles became less common. On the other hand, the visual themes of modules have become more and more creative and original. This made me wonder whether it is still possible to come up with a completely new approach - something where the balls are not lifted by a marble pump, not moved by a brick-built wave, not pushed by a spiral, and so on.

Eventually, I came up with an idea that I would like to share with you.

Momentum Launcher – Proof of Concept

This module spins a ball to build up momentum and then releases it onto an inclined track, allowing it to travel upward into a basket. Almost every aspect of the module still needs refinement. The feeder is currently quite improvised, the ball tends to bounce while being accelerated, and the biggest challenge will be achieving reliable placement of the spinning ball onto the track.

Even so, the concept already shows that the idea is workable and could become a nice GBC module with further development.

Unfortunately, I have a limited number of parts and even less time, so progress toward a finished module is quite slow. The original idea has been in my head for several years, and only recently I managed to build at least a partial proof of concept. That is also why I decided to share it here even in this unfinished state - so that if the idea catches someone’s interest, they might continue exploring and developing this principle further.

The above photo was taken by Elyse Horvath in January 2023.

I decided to model a shorter bus this time because I plan to bring two bus models to Brickworld Chicago this year, one of which is my New Flyer D60HF model. Because I have already used a lot of my white System pieces on that model, I could build this model without having to order as many pieces. It also guarantees that I have enough space to display both MOCs with a good view of both, as display space can be pretty limited at Brickworld Chicago. My original plan prior to signing up for Brickworld was to disassemble my New Flyer D60HF model and have most of the pieces needed to model a PRTC OmniRide 40ft Orion V (model 05.501), which I saw at the NJ bus festival last fall.

The tentative list of functions are:

• Drive (with single PF XL motor or two PF L motors)
• Steering with working steering wheel
• Opening doors (pneumatic?)
• Detroit Diesel Series 50 engine model (removable)
• Opening engine door

I had considered powering the model with BuWizz 2.0, but my BuWizz has been having issues recently, mostly with there being a delay from when a command is sent from the app and when the motor responds. Because of this, I may just end up using PF IR receivers, which I have not used in a MOC for many years now.

Unlike my previous bus models, I am starting from the bodywork this time in the Stud.io build. This should reduce the need for last minute revisions to the chassis to accommodate the body panels. As of right now, the Stud.io model largely consists of partially built body panels with the front/rear axles and engine model to mark their locations. By being a smaller bus model, it also serves as a challenge in building compact as there is less interior space to hold all the mechanisms.

The livery will be mostly brick-built, as it is largely just two side stripes, but the diagonal section I plan to use custom stickers since it gives it a much cleaner finish than solutions using LEGO pieces, even though I try to avoid custom stickers unless necessary. The left and right side views, as of right now:

One of the things I've been most satisfied about so far is the front windshield design. The Orion V has a slanted driver's side window to reduce glare, and since using LEGO window pieces becomes more impractical when building at larger scale, I wanted to have the windshield be outlined in a way that clearly shows how it appears on the real bus. Thankfully, it was not as complicated as I thought, and I really like the way it turned out. Once I have most of the bodywork designed, I could then probably begin designing the chassis and begin the building process from there.

Here are absolutely wonderful references to already elaborate documentations and solutions for the operation of "TC1 world 4.5V machinery":

1. Apple II operating 9750 and much more: http://lukazi.blogspot.com/2014/07/lego-legos-first-programmable-product.html
2. Reengineering procedure and functionality of 9771 (in German); schematic of LEGO Interface 1 ISA bus card 9771:
   http://www.elektronik-kompendium.de/forum/forum_entry.php?id=212705&page=0&category=all&order=last_answer
3. Details on the operation of 9750 with “semi-modern” computers using the parallel port along with Windows-based executables:
   https://lgauge.com/article.php?article=technic/articles/LEGOInterfaceA
4. On the Internet Archive:
   https://archive.org/details/vintagelegorobotics (TC1 and ControlLab)
   https://archive.org/details/@magicratandbarefootgirl (TC1 and ControlLab)
5. And finally a tutorial style written 300+ page wonderful book about the PC hardware, beginning with the architecture of an IBM PC upto the Pentium CPU level, including the ISA bus organization and its signal timing:
   http://vtda.org/books/Computing/Hardware/ISASystemArchitectureThirdEd_TomShanleyDonAnderson.pdf

(Please add more to this list - I have already lost track here ...)

Introduction

In the 1991 LEGO (dacta) book “Technic Control 1 Resources Guide” (TC1RG), the introduction reads:

“Welcome to the world of Technic Control 1 (TC1) Technology! With TC1, students from middle school through high school can work in a hands-on problem solving environment to understand better the role of computers in today's technology.”

The LEGO hardware was released about 5 years earlier. As I am constantly confused with the names as well as set/item numbers TLG is using and as these LEGO Technic Control 1 sets were mostly designed for educational in-class activities (LEGO dacta) and identical “normal LEGO” and “LEGO dacta” items have different item numbers, I am using the names and numbers found in the TC1RG:

#9750 = “Interface Box”

#9771 = “MSDOS Interface Card”

Operation of 9771

This first post discusses the MSDOS Interface Card, as I still don’t own the Interface Box – should be on its way though. The Interface Box, as per references above, features 6 x 2 TMP3055 (TMOS power field effect transistors, 60V, 12 A each ... TLG didn't mess around these days) equipped drivers for digital = on/off operation of 4.5V motors and lights, as well as two op amp driven amplifiers for digitalization (on/off) of sensor signals, touch and light. There is no A/D converter present, all states of the box are of binary nature.

The MSDOS Interface Card is an ISA bus data exchange card, which allows to write to 6 latched outputs (on/off) and/or read from two latched inputs (on/off), connected to the Interface Box with a 20wire ribbon cable. The latched information is accessible via the ISA bus IOR/IOW request, respecting DMA priority. Address decoding is done with a simple TTL logic gate assembly; data in- and output is via two 8-bit transparent D flip-flop latches. This assembly is briefly described here.

The schematic was already published in 2014 (as noted by @BrickTronic , thanks again!!!) – I just did not find that one. I guess the bizarre naming was confusing Google as well … I just finished reading the entire thread (about 70 entries) on the 2014 www.elektronik.kompendium forum page (referenced above) – and I am very happy that I can fully confirm the findings from more than 8 years ago (oh man)

1. Yes, the card address is 925 (0x39D) with the bridge installed (default) and 926 (0x39E) without.
2. Yes, one can use QBasic to control the card, however, at low speed. There is actually a scanned original LEGO program listing in the thread!

It always feels - hmmm - weird to having successfully reinvented something. On the other hand, I discovered this way that I can still comprehend simple TTL logic – I did that more regularly 40 years ago as my hobby (yup nerd throughout my entire life)

I also learned that in 2014, one individual from Holland, who earlier found many of the 9771 cards abandoned in the school he was working then, still had one card in 2014 he obviously did not want to sell. He helped a lot with tracing the board and thus for Frank’s final success of reproducing the 9771; Frank only had photographs of the card. Hidden traces were giving him headaches … Now call it a coincidence – a box with 9771 in it, arrived two weeks ago from Holland at our house – and yes, name sounds very familiar … Oh my the world is really small …

Most importantly I basically just paid the postage for that package plus a >modest< amount of money. This individual is still responding to EB PMs - it is simply wonderful.

So you may ask, why creating this thread at all then? For one, the elektronik.kompendium forum is in German (yes, I have heard about Google translator). Second I had a “hard time” (OK, it was fun) to find the relevant information on 9771 in the over thread 70 entries there. But most importantly: Maybe others have more information/references on "TC1 world" they may want to share here.

Here is the schematic, my version that is. Frank’s 2014 version focuses (naturally) on card reproduction, mine on understanding the logic of the device, as I don’t need to make one:

The schematic

EDIT (2025-10-26): THERE IS A TERRIBLE ERROR IN THE ABOVE DIAGRAM: IC3a, pin 3 goes to IC1a, pin 12 and not pin 11. IC2b, pin 6 goes to IC1a, pin 11 and not pin 12. I am very sorry!!!

I am aware that many of you guys know how it works (duh); this is more for documentation purposes (for me).

I am using this notation: X# means X = L to be true. X[n:m] means from X=n all the way down to X=m. X[n] = single number. X = address, output, input line, or other signal line. ISA_A[ ] = ISA address bus; ISA_D[ ] = ISA data bus, LIA, LIA[ ] = LEGO Interface A bus.

74LS373 8-bit transparent latches: These are eight D-type flip-flop (FF) latches. The FF outputs are each connected internally to a non-inverting TTL driver with output Q, which can be in three states: L, H, high-impedance or tristate. The latter simply means that the driver is “not present” on the bus at all, so it does not affect anything happening there.

• C input: When input C = H, all 8 FF outputs mirror the logic level present at the D inputs in parallel. When C goes L (on the neg. slope), all logic levels on the D inputs are latched and then remain constant on the FF outputs until C = H again. (As a side note: 74LS374 are not transparent; they sample the D input only upon a positive slope occurring at the CLK input).
• OC# input: When OC# = H, then the TTL drivers connected internally to the D FF are in tristate. The D FF still do their work though. When OC# = L, the Q outputs have the logic level of the latched D FF information, either L or H.

IC_5 (74LS373)
OC# is hardwired to GND = L; thus the Q outputs have always a defined logic level, L or H. Q[6:1] are directly connected to the 6 input lines of the 9750 interface box. When the correct address is present on the lines ISA_A[9:0] AND ISA_AEN = L (the PC’s DMA controller is not using the A or D bus) AND IOW# = L (CPU signals an IO write request), the C input on IC_5 = H. This means that the logic level of the 8 ISA_D[7:0] data bus lines are mirrored to the corresponding Q outputs and thus the 9750 box via the LIA bus. When IOW# = H, C goes L and the 8 data bits from the ISA bus are latched and remain present on the Q outputs: 9750 turns on/off the corresponding drivers in the box and thus lamps or motors.

Note: The outputs Q[5:4] are not used at all (nc), nor are the inputs D[5:4].

IC_4 (74LS373)
OC# is not hardwired to GND, it is directly connected to the C input. In essence, the outputs of IC_4 are only in a logical defined state (L/H) when an IOR# request is issued by the CPU: When the address is correct, ISA_A[9:0] AND ISA_AEN = L AND IOR# = L, then OC# and C go from H to L. Which means that the two inputs D[5:4] of IC_4, which are connected to the two output lines of 9750, are both latched and become visible on the ISA data bus. Furthermore, as the remaining 6 D inputs D[8:7, 4:1] of IC_4 are connected to the corresponding outputs Q[8:7, 4:1] of IC_5, the current input settings on the 9750 box (status of the box drivers = motor, lamps) are also present on the ISA data bus. The CPU thus reads the status of all 8 active 9750 lines (2 inputs, 6 outputs).

IC_1 (74LS30, 8-input NAND), IC_2 (74LS27, 3x 3-input NOR), IC_3 (74LS86, 4x 2-input exclusive OR)
These three ICs are wired as a logic network to a) decode the address bus ISA_A[9:0], check for DMA access on the ISA_A/D bus, and detect the IOW#/IOR# request of the CPU. Although the I/O address range of an 8088 CPU is 64k (&0000 to &FFFF; the memory address range is 1M, &00000 to &FFFFF), only 10 address lines are decoded by the 9771 card. This should be taken into consideration when doing super fancy programming in the upper IO address range of the 8088 CPU, as the card will not only respond to its default addresses (&39D, &39E), but also to all addresses with a non-zero A[15:A10] signature, regardless what this signature is (all L for &39D/&39E). On the ZX Spectrum this really was a nightmare, as IO address decoding was restricted to only a few internally well encoded addresses.

Specific address decoding

The card address is mainly determined by IC_1, the 8 input NAND gate. ISA_A[9:7, 4:2] are directly connected to the inputs of IC_1. The output of this gate will only = L when all inputs = H. ISA_A[6:5] are connected to IC_2b (NOR), which means that the output of IC_2b only = H, when all inputs = L. This results in: The output of IC1 will only = L, when ISA_A[9:7] = H and  [6:5] = L and [4:2] = H and the remaining third input of IC_2b is also = L. This input is “prepared” by IC_3a+b (XOR):

• Case 1: Bridge is installed. This pulls the inputs of IC3_a[2] and IC_3b[4] = L. XOR requires the inputs to be of opposite logical level to become H. The output of IC3_a is directly connected to one input of IC1, thus needs to be H for correct address detection; as IC3_a[1] is connected to ISA_A[0], it needs to be H. The output of IC_3b is connected to the remaining input of IC_2b (NOR). As all NOR inputs need to be L for output = H, the input IC_3b[5] = ISA_A[1] thus needs to be H for correct address detection. This all results in ISA_A[A9:A0] = H H H L L H H H L H = 1110011101 = &39D = 925 for correct address detection, i.e. the output of NAND gate IC1 = L.
• Case 2: Bridge is removed. This pulls the inputs of IC3_a[2] and IC_3b[4] = H. With the same logic as above, this results in 1110011110 = &39E = 926.

Further handling of ISA_IOW# and ISA_IOR# is done by IC_2[a,c] (3 input NOR gates). The outputs are only = H when all inputs are L. IC_2[a]: Output of IC_1 = correct address = L and ISA_AEN = L and ISA_IOR# = L (valid CPU IO read request). IC_2[c]: Output of IC_1 = correct address = L and ISA_AEN = L and ISA_IOW# = L (CPU IO write request). The two remaining gates IC_3[c,d] are wired as inverters to match the OC# and C input logic of the 74LS373 latches.

And that’s basically it. Lots of words for nothing much.

There must be many errors in the text above – I’ll try to wipe them out, so frequent edits may occur. Once again this is for documentation purposes only. Once I finished such a project, I forget almost everything about it within days.

By the way, on another note :D - During the annual PTChem lab cleaning frenzy this surfaced:

As no one had interest in these mostly TTL chips, as well as CPUs, memory chips and other stuff – I "rescued" them from being trashed. The hardest part was to organize them in some sort of way. What helped me in doing that was this book, I purchased in 1979, one year after it was published; it organizes the more than 2200 TTL-, DTL-, ECL-, CMOS-chips (among some others) listed, into the categories:

G = gates, F = flip-flops, M = multiplexers/demutiplexers, Mf = mono-flops, Z = counters (guess why ;).

Among the "Gs" is even a 74LS133 – a 13 input NAND gate. I’ve never heard before of such a TTL chip – it makes perfect sense for address decoding :D

Yes, I am happy

Next: As I don’t want to fry the 9771 card, I am planning to hook up a TTL driver (74LS06 or so) to the outputs of 9771 and illuminate some LED’s using QBasic. Will report here.

Best regards,

Thorsten

*** (See the specifications of the vehicle below - it is at 10th post) ***

After my previous trials with 4x4 and 6x6 Legos, I was planning to build this:

Sbarro Windhawk

https://www.6-wheel-drive.org/vehicles/sbarro.html

-

Later, I discovered this creature by chance:

Hydraulic extending Rock Buggy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbPYj7Zd_vk&t=22s

-

Then this one popped out:

-

So I decided to combine last two to solve the problem of Lego vehicles sinking into the sand:

All the best

Hi everyone, I don't visit here often but I modeled a pneumatic air tank more suited to modern Technic dimensions and I'm releasing it to the wild here. I am aware there are a couple of other 3D printable Technic air tanks online but I wasn't satisfied with their design/dimensions personally.

Hopefully this is useful to someone. :) 

https://shorjok.gumroad.com/l/airtank

I've had numerous requests asking that I include my journey into LEGO here so here it is.

In 1983 at the age of 19 I had a motorcycle accident which left me a C4/5 Tetraplegic. I was paralysed from the chest down with no use of or feeling in my hands and very impaired movement of my arms.

After over 9 months in hospital I went home. From then on most of my days were spent with friends & Family or listening to music, reading & 'tinkering' about on my computer. Anything to pass the time. I was happy but, looking back, I wasn't content. I was doing nothing productive with my life

In 2008 I had another accident when the anti-tip device on my electric wheelchair failed while I was going up a step and my wheelchair went over backwards. The impact of my head on the concrete paving  damaged my hearing such that I was no longer able to enjoy music. Also, I was left with severe tinnitus. My moods changed completely and was later diagnosed with clinical depression.

One day my Grandson Jake, who was 4 at the time, was playing with a little LEGO Police car but he dropped it on the floor and of course it broke into lots of pieces. He was really upset & asked me to put it back together for him. I told him I couldn't do it. Time and time again he asked & each time I told him the same. He kept saying you can do it Grum, you can do it, I know you can. He really did believe that I could fix it for him. Not wanting to disappoint I told him I'd try. He gathered up the pieces, sorted them out into groups on the table in front of me.

After half an hour or so spent staring at the pile of pieces wondering how on earth I was going to do this, I leant forward, took a piece of the Lego in my mouth and after much trial and an awful lot of error I managed fit it onto another piece. Jake was so excited. I can gear him even now, 'I knew you could do it, I knew you could do it.'

After almost a week I'd put the 20 or so pieces of the car together. Jake was over the moon and to be honest, so was I. I was really proud of myself. As an added bonus, I found that the concentration really helped my tinnitus.

Over the next few months Jake bought me several more of his broken LEGO models to fix, each bigger than the last & in time fix them I did. Little did I know he was deliberately breaking them! Somehow he knew that I needed this, that it'd help me. How right he was. From those sets I went on to build him other sets, usually Police and Star Wars themed.

With these 'under my belt' I thought I'd give myself a challenge and try something a bit bigger to build. This is when I came across Technic and decided to give it a go. I had a look on Amazon and saw 8258 Crane Truck. I'd not seen anything like it, was it really LEGO? I thought it was such a great looking set and one I thought would give me the challenge I was looking for so I bought it. Boy was I was right.

It took 22 weeks, building for roughly 4 to 6 hours a day for 5 or 6 days a week but I did it. 1800+ parts all done by mouth. The satisfaction and pride I felt upon completing it was undescribable. The stickers were the only things I didn't do. 

Since then I've built:

8110 UniMog (full PF RC)
42009 Mobile Crane (Ultimate)
9398 Crawler
9396 Rescue Helicopter
8725 Bulldozer
8043 Excavator (Ultimate)
8053 Mobile Crane
8421 Mobile Crane
8461 Williams F1
8674 Ferrari F1
8458 Silver Champion
8285 Tow Truck
8466 4 x 4
8274 Combine Harvester
8416 Fork Lift
8048 Buggy (Full PF)
8262 Quad Bike
42007 Dirt Bike
42048 Race Kart
42040 Fire Plane
10220 VW Camper
10242 Mini Cooper
10252 VW Beetle
21307 Caterham
8880 Supercar
42054 Claas Xerion 5000 Trac Vc
7662 Star Wars MTT
42030 Front Loader
42056 Porsche GT3 RS (Pimped)
42082 Rough Terrain Crane (Ultimate)
All the Racers 1:17 cars
42083 Bugatti Chiron (Pimped)
42042 Crawler Crane
42043 Mercedes Benz Arocs

42070 6x6 All Terrain Tow Truck

42069 Extreme Adventure (Full RacingBrick RC)

Jake, his young brother George and little sister Penny, still bring me broken sets to rebuild. They just don't take so long now.

I relish the challenge building LEGO, especially Technic, provides. I get a massive sense of accomplishment with each and every set I build and can honestly say that LEGO has completely changed my life.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

If you're still awake here I am with my WIP Topic. I will collect all my WIP's in this topic.

Let's start with the 9396 Helicopter.

This set has been in storage for around 2 years and on the racking in my shed for the last few months so I thought it well overdue to be built.

As with my previous WIP, the Ultimate 42009, this won't be a deeply technical review type thread, I'll leave that to those far more qualified than I to do so (you know who you are ). This'll just be a few words here and there to describe any problems or thoughts on the build.

I'll keep a tally of how long I build each day, the total build time and at the end of each day's building take some photos (apologies in advance for the quality of my photos).

Today was the first day of building & here's photos of progress.

Build Day 1 - Days build time 4hrs / Total build time 4hrs

As always, all comments and constructive criticism is welcome

Thank you for viewing.

We also have a tiltable bed and rear differential wheels.

I used powered up for first time and I have to learn a lot but it was useful to can controlate the speed. I have the instructions with different scheme colors but this one was the most I like.

The measures are 25x41x29 studs and it has 936 pieces, you can see the size compared with mine other MOCs, trucks and loaders.

I did a little video and I hope you like, thank you.

Mining truck

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-255215/otrans/42222-bugatti-chiron-pur-sport-hypercar-rc-mod-for-power-function-buwizz-mortors/

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-258226/otrans/42228-mclaren-mcl39-f1-car-rc-mod-for-powered-up-buwizz-mortors/

Hello! My name is Michael. I'm a Builder from Russia, I love muscle cars!

Dodge Challenger 2008 SRT

Hello everyone! I'm presenting the updated Dodge.

The color remains the same, but the car's sides have been rebuilt from scratch, taking into account the correction of proportions.

The buggy motor has been relocated, providing additional passenger seating.

Description:

- Drive - 1 Buggy motor
- Steering - Servo
- Brain RC brik
- Independent front suspension
- Rear suspension bridge with four-point mounting
- The steering wheel turns with wheels
- Open the doors, hood,
- Well-designed interior and under-hood space
- About 2000 parts

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lego_muscle_garage/

Join my group in VK: https://vk.com/legomusclegarage

Welcome to my garage LEGO!!!

Hello! My name is Michael. I'm a Builder from Russia, I love muscle cars!

URAL 4320 6x6

The legendary Soviet truck, which has been produced since 1977 to the present!

I started collecting in parallel with Dodge at the beginning of the year.

Initially, I put ordinary hubs on it and drove around the house very well, but before photographing the finished model, I decided to test it on the street, as a result, it was very hard for the engine, (the old version is on the video)

after which, over the past week, I went through the chassis, put the portal hubs, abandoned the fake engine and moved the buggy motor under hood (to make a direct gimbal on the gearbox).

As a result, it became slower, but more passable!

Description:

-Drive Buggy motor

-Steering Geek Servo

-Managing RCbrick

-Permanent ALL-wheel drive 6x6

-Bridges with planetary gearboxes

-2x high-speed transmission (the lever is duplicated in the cabin)

-The steering wheel turns with wheels

-Doors, hood and tank open

-Detailed interior and under-hood space

-Weight: 2.6 kg Length: 68 cm.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lego_muscle_garage/

Join my group in VK: https://vk.com/legomusclegarage

All photos on the link: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Michael217/ural-4320-6x6

All photos on the link: https://bricksafe.com/pages/Michael217/ural-4320-6x6

I have had some unfortunate experiences with LEGO pulling app and literally removing them from my Android device, but since this is on the laptop I suspect it will stay there.

Nevertheless I really don't get why LEGO is not making provisions (as it did with the NXT and EV3 apps to ensure it can still be downloaded. The unfortunate side effect of having this app in the Microsoft Store is that the isn't a single .exe that you can save somewhere for future reference. Add to that that much of the value of the app is in the additional downloads which even now don't work anymore!?!

I've been in touch with LEGO Customer Service, and they have assured me this download glitch will be fixed, but that is a very short term solution and the app is still going away. Ideally I'd like to have an option to download an installer with all the additional content included. I accept that that will be an app with no support or warranty - that's fine, but at least we still have access to something. Moving to the Spike app is not really an option as the programs made in the RI app are not compatible with the Spike app 

Since LEGO only appears to listen when fans make a LOT of noise, maybe you can take a moment to let them know how you feel about this. 

The direct email for Customer Service is: hello@support.lego.com

Some things you can tell / ask them:

- does this mean the app will disappear from my computer? (it won't )

It will be very simple, only 2 axles steering and bed tipping but I had some problems... the angle and weigh of the bed due the lack of room when the steering work, bed itself also was a problem with technic parts and the scheme color will be a imposible to solve problem at least for the real MOC. I think I do not have to say which the truck is.

My usual design process is pretty simple. I'll start in Studio trying to create a general mockup, see what problems could occur and how difficult they could be to solve, then order parts I might be missing and start test-building it in real life. Most of the times my Studio calculations are correct, but there were times when I was totally wrong. One of that type of situation was when I thought I could do a cantilever pushrod suspension with the big shock absorber (from the 1:5 bikes) on a 1:10 scale car. That shock absorber is way harder than I thought, and requires a crazy strong structure. In some of the ideas I had here, you can see me trying to add that suspension for the rear, but now that I know what that takes, I'm probably gonna stick to the normal hard shock, especially since the suspension is not gonna need to hold any weight, since the car will be mounted on a stand (because it won't have wheels)

I love finding ways to add all sorts of interesting details, like pipes and connections. Those 3 barrels in the front (which I'm guessing they're containers for the brake and clutch fluids) were initially designed using 1x1 round tiles, but they seemed too small, so instead I tried a minifig head + a saucer on top and I think it looks really good now. I'm also happy with the radiator and with that pipe connecting to the radiator, even though that bionicle tooth is pretty rare in dark orange, but worth it. Also 2 more air intakes on each side of the radiator, which I have no idea what they're for (extra cooling for something)

At this stage, I haven't physically built anything yet, so I'm still at the mockup stage, but I consider the front half solved. As in, I don't see any issues I might have when I start cleaning up the design and considering the final structure for the frame. You will, however, see a lot of messy connections and part collisions in these renders, because this is still in the early stages, and it's not cleaned up yet.

The most interesting idea so far is the design of the side panels, that needed to have a certain roundness (a bit oval, I'd say), but stacking 2 curved panels on top of each other wasn't enough, so I had to come up with something that gave me a higher, relatively continuous curvature.
I say relatively continuous because this is Lego and you can't always have multiple panels creating perfect surfaces with no gaps.
I still have to find a geometric solution to reinforce the two side panels with a top connection between them. Shouldn't be that hard, now that I've learned so much from designing the frame of my Harley Chopper MOC.

The front suspension was pretty straight forward. Added the extra oblique arm using the Pythagoras triangle. It won't be this simple for the rear suspension, unfortunately.
I'm gonna also try adding the anti-roll bar (at least just visually, since I don't think it would be functional, because I don't want to stress and twist an axle to recreate it just like in real life - or maybe add a bar as resistance instead of an axle, since a bar has a strong grip but doesn't have a fixed connection like the axle has - we'll see)

The seat and steering are pretty straight forward. The steering wheel will have an angled frame for support, and will use a universal joint to connect to the rack.
The only thing I find slightly problematic here is reinforcing the structural frame past the seat area, as there seems to be little space due to the unusual position of the exterior side panels + side panels of the seat assembly.

The engine, I believe, will be the most impressive part of the whole build. I really wanna get as much detail as possible. Below you can even see me trying to hook up ignition cables using strings. I will also try to find a good structure for those exhaust pipes. A bit challenging to get the transition from 3 pipes to a single, final one.
I was thinking the pipes would look better if they were thicker than 1x1, but that means I'll have to stack a ton of parts to create such long pipes. Part number 35186 comes to mind, but I'm not sure it's even possible to stack that many of them. I'm thinking 1x1 will have to do.

The biggest challenge remains the rear suspension, mainly the long arms that attach all the way near the cockpit area. I really wanna use those 16L links for that, but I want the geometry to work, so that no parts will be under any stress when compressing the suspension.
Hopefully I'll have time to regularly work on this, and post constant updates.

Hope you enjoy!

whenever I don't know what to build next or stuck with a current MOC (looking at you, pesky crane); I build a Tractor.

This time I tried to improve on my Fortschritt ZT 320 and wanted to add AWD and a front hitch. As Deere Tractors have a longer nose, it was my choice. And as a new 8R came around, this will be the loose aim, especially the 8R 410:

Currently I am waiting for a new Li-Ion battery for the buwizz as the last battery died on the shelf, forgot to load it for half a year... :-/

The functions, powered by a Buwizz 3 are:

- Drive (PU-L-Motor)
- Steering (PU L-Motor)
- rear PTO (PF L-Motor)
- rear hitch (PF L-Motor)
- front hitch (PU L-Motor)

The front axle gave me the most headache. Made it even harder as the aim was to give it a 0.5 stud offset to the chassis, as I wanted it to be more leveled with the selected tire combination. I settled with a solution that unfortunately has an illegal building technique, the front pnedular point is 2 studs below the rear one... but this is way sturdier than all the other solutions to build around and as the pendular motion is limited in travel, I don't feel that there is too much stress on the frame.

For the rear drive, the reversed portal axles give a little more space above for the PTO and rear hitch

Here is a view of the mechanics and real pics.

Not quite happy about the front hitch... hopefully can cover it to get the nose shape etched out a bit more. Pneumatic solution with a autovalve would be even bulkier, though.

As there are no curved panels in green color, I will go with a brick-built solution on the hood. But first, the function test with Buwizz next week :-)

This time I'll just go for something quick and dirty just for fun. I'll use the 42121 as a base and modify it into a mini 42215.

Rear lights:

As for the model, I just did some quick work on the undercarriage of 42120. I mostly extended it to make it fit the scale of the EC500. Interestingly, the width of the base of this model should be 14 studs, and the width of the base of 42120 is also 14 studs, so there's no need to work on that dimension. The sprocket technique is taken directly from the new City excavator 60420.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PPT11QN/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&amp;th=1

I know there are plenty of guides out there but I've always been frustrated by them.  I've been making my own Lego 9v wires for over a decade and soldering for over two decades.  I wanted to pass on all I have learned in a somewhat rambling video  .  I only solder the connections to the back of the sensors, everything else uses the same system Lego used.  I hope the Lego community will find these videos useful.  Any constructive feedback is welcome.

Are you working at a desk, or do you build on the ground and how you store your lego.

A lot off greetings.

Edwin.

This is mine lego working space.

Hello, this is my first proper thread so forgive me if it’s a little amateurish in layout. With that said i’d like to begin by saying i’ve been working on this project on and off for a few years to get my 75054 AT-AT walking, having tried out the mechanism for the official LEGO walking AT-AT i’ve found that it is not stable enough nor satisfying. 

Since then I have been through multiple iterations of trying to get each leg moving but with only one off the ground at a time. 

As you can see in the pic from DK’s StarWars Vehicles book the mechanism for connecting and moving the lower leg relative to the upper leg seems to be similarly joined enough that it can be replicated using a linkage but making those linkages move in the correct sequence is the difficult part. The ankle on an AT-AT keeps three legs at a time level in the ground as well as lifts one other leg by moving it up when it takes a step. I have only ever found one person who has managed this in a non LEGO model so it’s possible:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=34tgu7ULkeM&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.uk%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo

That was 15 years ago.

Here are some of my attempts: 

These two images use two sets of half beams to raise, lower and flatten the beams holding the leg, allowing up down movement, connected to the lower half beams are some linkages to move the leg back and forth, the fault of this one is it was not smooth nor stable.

front

Back (blue and red beams provide strength)

This mechanism uses clutch gears going in a forward direction to move the bars down, half beams make them move up and down in turn, this reduced vertical space taken up, the failure of this is lack of connection points and strength as well as clutch gears probably not being able to support the weight.

This was the most promising one, strong too but was unfortunately not quite walking in the right motion, it was not fully stable either.

From further study I have noticed that the legs only bend in one direction so i’ve placed a stopper on each one to mimic this, I imagine this will add to the challenge. But i’ve seen people on eurobricks work magic with technic so I figured I should ask here for some help to find a solution. 

A 29 cm tall figure of American astronaut with moving wrists, elbows and shoulders. The helmet is equipped with two PF lights and both arms are operated by PF M motors. The model is remote controlled and powered by rechargeable LEGO battery.

still making headlines all across the country, LEGO’s Technic Control set #9771 (ISA card for IBM XT along with a 20 ribbon cable, from 1986) is at it again – this time at the famous dance club “The Rose” … no – wait ... (Who you gonna call?)

Executive summary:

1. Added external computer control for accessing LEGO Technic Control Center II set #8485, without compromising its built-in keyboard functionality, button motor control and manual programming.
2. Programs can be uploaded to LEGO Control Center II using BASIC or any other programming language on 8-bit (or the like) computers of the 1980’s (external program storage) – and on any emulator on modern machines with an interface providing 6(8) bit parallel output port.
3. Only vintage hardware is used (1980’s), fully compatible with LEGO’s DACTA Technic Control 4.5V robotics line from 1986 (PC ISA card #9771 or equivalents)

Figure 1: LEGO Control Center II (left) and LEGO Train Speed Regulator (right), the latter only used as enclosure for my little hardware addition, see below

After that stupid intro, allow me to start over: One of my favorite LEGO Technic sets is Technic Control Center II, #8485, from 1995. The dinosaur simply blew my mind – it is both a brilliant Technic set as well as a wonderful display model. I took it apart about 10 years ago, as most of the flex cables had become brittle and simply snapped where they were exposed to light over the years. Around 1999, I hauled the box from Germany to the US (as my XMas "present"), where we lived for some years; Southern California’s sun was apparently too tough for the flex cables, I guess. Yes, you can replace these, but I did not know then. The actual Control Center II controller (I call it LCC II from now on, and believe this is part #2840c02?) itself is a follow-up of Control Center I, part #2840c01(?) – the only noticeable difference being an additional AC/DC plug for the former (yes, it says 9 – 12V AC, but - naturally - it works with up-to 15V DC without any harm; it lies in the nature of bridge rectifiers and classic voltage regulators). And the 9V electrical outputs are differently color coded; on LCC I it is blue-yellow-red, on LCC II it is red-yellow-yellow, from left to right.

Manual programming of LEGO Control Center II (as it comes out of the box)

What I found out is maybe not entirely documented, at least I could not find such detailed information on the behavior of LCC II regarding its programming. So the following is probably very well known to many of you guys. I apologize for not referencing that information, just let me know, and I will edit this post accordingly!

The LCC II keyboard consists of 12 keys: N, S, W, E, A, and B, corresponding to motor A forward (AF), motor A reverse (AR), motor B forward (BF), motor B reverse (BR), motor C forward (CF), motor C reverse (CR), in addition to the following combinations: NE (AF + BF), SE (AR + BF), SW (AR + BR), and NW (AF + BR). Then there are the keys STOP (ST), PAUSE (PA), PLAY, ON-OFF, PROGRAM 1/2, RECORD.

Programming LCC II is done – what a surprise – using its buttons = keyboard. In programming mode, LCC II records individual button actions (or “events”). An LCC II event is represented by

1. a change of any motor status (from off to on, and from on to off);
2. tapping the PAUSE button (off-on-off);
3. tapping the STOP button (off-on-off);

Upon throwing an event, LCC II records the nature of the change as well as a corresponding timestamp.

There is one exception: When all motors are off, and then one motor is turned on for some time, then turned off and after a delay turned on again, the delay timestamps are not recorded; the motor spins continuously for the added times without stopping inbetween. If one wants to record “all motors off” delays, the PAUSE function has to be used.

The PAUSE function is operating in two different ways:

1. Record a defined delay when all motors are off. This is done by tapping the PAUSE button once (timestamp recorded upon off-on change of PAUSE button, PAUSE LED turns on) and then tapping again, when the delay is over (PAUSE LED goes off). When you then don’t press any button for some (delay) time, this is not recorded; only another event, e.g., turning on a motor, will create another timestamp.
2. Automatically record all timestamps for all events occurring, even when all motors are off. This function is invoked by a) tapping the PAUSE button anytime during programming, e.g., right at the beginning, as first event (in this case, the PAUSE LED turns on and stays on until any other event occurs), or b) when one or several motors are on. In this case the PAUSE LED remains off as long as any of the motors are on, but the PAUSE function is activated.
   When all motors are off, the PAUSE LED automatically comes on, and all timestamps are properly recorded. This function is turned off again by tapping the PAUSE button a second time during the programming cycle.

(I prefer using the latter function, as all my “delays” during programming, regardless whether motors are on or off, are usually placed intentionally. But: It is up to you!)

What bothered me back then (as it did recently, when I broke out my LCC II for the hundredths or so time – and desperately tried to figure out what the hell to do with it – with no dino around anymore …), was that the LCC II is a “closed” system. Which is exactly what TLG designed it to be: A beautiful, programmable, “self-contained” controller box for three 9V motors. No computer required, two programs can be stored - with a total of 51 programming steps/events (41 max. in one program slot). That is perfectly fine (!) - but not with me. About three weeks ago, I began seriously searching the web for a circuit diagram for LCC II – to no avail. I did find a thread in the (German) “microcontroller.net” forum (https://www.mikrocontroller.net/topic/461564), which deals with an - unfortunately unsuccessful - attempt to fix a broken LCC I, with a focus on the microcontroller. This controller is apparently of the type “mask programmable Motorola 680X microcontroller”. Whatever that line is, I did not find out. In that thread, user “hinz” posted a pinout of this chip, which was very helpful for my interrogation of the PCB of my LCC II, but I still had no diagram ...

Without any diagram available - I had to make one, simple as that (I bet there is such a diagram out there; I am an expert in reinventing the wheel). Or better: a diagram of the “keyboard” layout. Which means: Grabbed my multimeter, put it on beep-beep mode and traced the tiny tracks.

Figure 2: The PCB of LEGO Control Center II; my button numbers (blue sharpie marks) are entirely arbitrary, and just for me. Note the rotten 9V cables ...

And now what? Da plan:

Solder wires in parallel to programming relevant keys, route them to the outside world and use external, computer controlled switches to program/control LCC II.

The LCC II buttons are of the usual “conducting rubber mat” type used anywhere in el-cheapo world: There are two separated but close sections of blobs of conducting material (the black surfaces in Figure 2) for each key on the PCB, which are “closed” by the conducting material applied to the rubber mat representing a button. Now, what if I can solder tiny wires to each of the two button contacts on the PCB, route them to the outside world and close them with relays or the like? Well relays are not exactly 1980’s, they are more 1900’s – but analog CMOS switches, like CD4066 are! Sounded good to me, but when I looked at these tiny “feet” of the MC680X microcontroller, I almost gave up. On that scale, my 0.5 mm soldering iron tip looked like a device for roof repair, rather than for soldering wires to an SMD type microcontroller:

But wait: There is more (there always is): It appears as if each of the LCC II buttons has at least two tiny “test points”, sort of arbitrarily distributed on the PCB’s traces, each represented by a tiny blob of solder. And BINGO! Each “button test point” is traceable to the micro controller’s little feet, and even better, each trace goes to an I/O port, should the pinout of the above referenced MC680X be correct, which I do believe. I copied that pinout into the picture below:

Figure 3: Traced lines from buttons to microcontroller

That looked pretty confusing, so I tried the usual stuff, when it comes to multiple button operation: The button contacts are often arranged in “rows and columns” and the microcontroller simply parses these: Raise a column/row to one logic level and see, which row/column responds with the same logic level = key identified. Go on with the next column/row and so on. I arbitrarily assigned the first 5 shared contacts on the MC680X to “columns”, and the 3 other shared contacts to “rows”. This results in the following key matrix:

Figure 4: Traced lines rearranged to columns (C) and rows (R). The numbers correspond to the pin numbers of the microcontroller as shown in Figure 3.

Next step: soldering (tiny) wires to the corresponding (tiny) test points and route them to the outside world.

Figure 5: Wires soldered to corresponding button test points. And yes, hot glue is not my thing, but the wires needed to be fixed in place - somehow. Note that the original 9V output wires TLG used, which were also rotting away of course in a closed case, are replaced; compare to Figure 2.

Figure 6: C3PO tapping into the keyboard of LCC II - the 8 ribbon cable connects to the little interface discussed below. White dot = pin 1.

With that, the hard work was done. Now on to making external switches. As mentioned, I tried CD4066 (4 x CMOS analog switches), but that totally failed: It worked for some time, then motors attached to the LCC II outputs began to turn erratically, and then they worked again. I have fought with these ICs for decades now, just to fail again ... CMOS seems to be above my head, lower league TTL is my league. That left me with mechanical relays … and … good old 1980’s opto couplers! These have a “direction”, though, as the internal “switches” are transistors. Well, column/row testing has that direction as well, either H or L is to be sniffed. With my arbitrarily assigned columns/rows it worked, when columns are tied to the collector of the opto coupler transistor, and rows to the emitter (but not the other way around). This resulted in the following schematic:

Figure 7: Circuit diagram of the #9771 to LEGO Control Center II interface. ILQ74 (quadruple optocoupler IC) can be replaced by any single or double optocouplers such as ILD74 or whatever you have at hand. 

Applying 5V to the photo diodes of the corresponding opto coupler via a 1kOhm resistor closes the LCC II button, and leads to the expected response.

Next challenge: There are now 6 "remote" buttons available for motor control: AF, AR, BF, BR, CF, CR. Outputs A and B (the two yellow 9V terminals) are either forward or reverse; both cannot be (mechanically) turned on. Regarding output C (the red 9V terminal) it is different: When button A is pressed and held and then in addition button B and then both are released, motor C remains “on forever” (forward) – until button A or B is pressed again. The same holds true the other way around: Press and hold button B, then in addition A, release both and motor C is “on forever” (reverse). I initially thought that this feature should be kept functional with external control. Well, not required; a computer holds any line up, as long as you want ... Outputs A and B don’t have that feature, which enables two more key actions: If both outputs are externally turned on (N + S or W + E), this case is decoded by a TTL chip, which in turn activates the switches “PAUSE” or “STOP”. So with only 6 “exclusive” button cases in manual control, 8 “program buttons” can be controlled. And that is sufficient to comfortably program LCC II, see below.

Here is how it works:

• The external control interface is a #9771 card or equivalent circuit, providing 6 TTL outputs. Its 2 TTL inputs are tied to ground, so it does no flip out upon collecting electrical noise.
• Bits 4 and 5 are directly routed via 1kOhm resistors to the photodiodes of the opto couplers controlling buttons A and B of the LCC II (= motor C). When bit 4 or 5 is H, the photo transistor in the corresponding ILD 74 opto coupler becomes conductive (“switch closed = button pressed”).
• Bits 0 and 1, as well as 2 and 3 are routed to the A and B inputs of the two 2-to-4 decoders of 74LS139. Their outputs Qn are permanently activated since their inverted enable gates (“/FE”) are tied to ground. The inverted outputs Q1 and Q2 (H=off, L=on) are routed to the opto couplers mimicking the buttons N+S and W+E (motors A+B), respectively. When the inputs A and B of the decoders = H (that would be N+S or W+S=on, which is impossible using the big yellow button on LCC II), then the outputs Q3 are activated, which in turn are used to drive the opto couplers mimicking the buttons “PAUSE” and “STOP”. These are very useful when programming the LCC II, again, see below.

This setup assures, that

• all LCC II buttons remain manually operable (if they are not “closed” externally), so when this little circuit is not powered, LCC II is entirely on its own and works as coming out of the box
• LCC II is electrically completely isolated from the outside world. The power for the little interface comes from #9771 or equivalent, as done in Technic Control world as well.

The other buttons (ON/OFF, RECORD, PROGRAM 1/2, PLAY) could also be controlled by further opto couplers, but #9771 and equivalents only have 6 TTL outputs. I really want to use this original LEGO robotics approach from 1986 for LCC II control. Note that the ON/OFF switch is not part of the keyboard matrix, it connects directly to the reset input of the (speculated) MC680X chip.

Computer controlled programming of LCC II

How to upload a program stored on an computer into the LCC II? Well, connect that computer equipped with #9771 or equivalent to the little interface board (with a 20 ribbon cable), and connect the 8 opto coupler outputs to the “extended” keyboard matrix of LCC II. Turn everything on. The PROGRAM 1 LED of LCC II blinks, indicating “ready for programming” – provided there is no program already stored in that slot. If you want slot 2 for programming, press PROGRAM 1/2 and PROGRAM 2 LED blinks, same as above. If you want to overwrite an existing program stored on LCC II, press and hold the RECORD button until the LED, which is steadily on begins to blink, indicating “recording”. And then run a program on the computer (e.g., written in BASIC) that emits the corresponding “button states” to #9771 and then into the little interface. The last command should be STOP. You can use precisely adjusted PAUSEs, as this key is also remotely controlled, see above. Here is an example written in QBASIC, that builds on my QBASIC code for operating #9750 - and now also #8485! And yes, the sub routines (e.g., LLC.OUT "XY") are somewhat elaborate ...

  LCC.PAUSEF.ON      'turn on PAUSE function - all program delays
                     'are recorded/timestamped
  LCC.OUT "AF"       'A on forward, button A pressed and held down,
                     'timestamped
  Delay 1            '1 sec delay
  LCC.OUT "BF"       'B on forward (A remains on), timestamp recorded
  Delay 1            '
  LCC.OUT "CF"       'C on forward (A+B remain on), timestamp recorded
  Delay 1            '
  LCC.OUT "ASBSCS"   'all outputs off, timestamp recorded
  Delay 2            'with LCC.PAUSEF.ON, this 2 sec delay is
                     'recorded (equivalent to no buttons pressed)
                     'PAUSE LED is on
  LCC.PAUSEF.OFF     'from now on, delays to be recorded must
                     'use LCC.PAUSE, as all motors are off. This is
                     'exactly the same in manual control
  LCC.OUT "AR"       'A on reverse, stimestamped
  Delay 1            '
  LCC.OUT "AS"       'A off, timestamped
  LCC.PAUSE 2        'PAUSE is recorded, although all motors are
                     'off
  LCC.OUT "BF"       'B on forward
  Delay 1            '
  LCC.STOP           'end program download; this also stops all
                     'motors without recording the motor stop
                     'event

Example of a "user program" that runs within my 9750/8485 QBASIC control program. "User program" is just a fancy phrase for a subroutine containing subroutines ^^. Note that the dots are in no way any modern object stuff - QBASIC just does not accept underscores or the like ... but dots ... in a subroutine or variable name. XYZ_NM does not work, but XYZ.NM does. Calling a subroutine in QBASIC is also a bit weird: You need to use "CALL XYZ", when sub XYZ has its arguments placed in brackets: CALL XYZ(PARAM), but you can omit CALL when deleting the brackets: XYZ PARAM.  

I am happy to share any further QBASIC (or whatever BASIC dialect you speak) programs I come up with. Just give me a note.

Note, that when AC/DC power is removed (= hells bells ringing) from LCC II with no batteries inserted, programs 1/2 are immediately lost. Well, from now on, this is no problem at all, as you can upload these programs from any suitable computer

Lastly, I needed to make a case for the little interface board, as usual, that somehow “blends in” with the appearance of LCC II. But all these slopes and angles … so difficult. But wait: There is more, there always is: There is #4548, the “9V train speed regulator” (which does not regulate train speed, but the voltage supplied to the tracks ^^). The outer shape of the enclosures of LCC II and #4548 perfectly match, as if they were designed to marry. I happen to have a couple of the latter, so one got an “upgrade” - there is ample of space inside! Well sort of, my clumsy perfboard layout needs a lot of space as well, it really should have been much smaller. So, the rather big 2000 uF capacitor had to be relocated (these bastards hot-glued it to the PCB, for whatever reason, dang-it!), and about 3 mm of aluminum had to be removed from the heat sink; should not cause any problems, as I will run only one 9V Technic motor from that regulator. It now features two new ports: One for the 20 ribbon cable from #9771 and one 8 line port connecting to LCC II. And yes, on both LCC II and #4548 the 9V cables had to be replaced ... but this procedure is so well documented by Brian, it worked very well.@BatteryPoweredBricks

Figure 8: Lots of space! The 9V train speed regulator enclosure ...

This is the backyard:

Figure 9: Left: #9771 equivalent (Arduino Nano USB to 8 bit parallel converter; center: #4548 as enclosure for my little interface, it does not pay any rent for using #4548's electronics; right: new LCC II port for accessing the buttons used for downloading programs. 

Is this monster enclosure approach reasonable? No, not at all, not for such a tiny board, but it looks good … to me. If the board was made on an actual PCB and the chippies were not socketed, it would easily fit directly into LCC II. But: It would look far less impressive … after all, I have something, I can brag about …

All the best,

Thorsten

Video

Features

• 3 motorized functions gearbox
• Arms lift
• Bucket tilt
• Drive
• Robust construction
• Easy access battery box

Instruction: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-257654/paave/42082-skid-steer-loader/

Recently I have decided to develop a new battery box with controller for Lego Technic stuff. An idea emerged when I was developing brushless L Motor with integrated ESC, i.e. LMX (Lego Motor eXtreme)

This motor demands more powerful power supply then ordinary Lego battery can provide. There are of course alternatives to Lego battery (e.g. Buwizz), but this motor can have even higher peak current than those batteries are comfortable with.

So I have decided to set some basic requirements for the new battery system:

1. Replacable LiION cells. One can swap batteries in the field with new charged ones when needed. Look, a whole day of playing with Lego:). For storage, just remove the batteries and no worries.

2. 2S battery topology. Peak 8.4V, because most brushless motors of this size are specified for this voltage. 

3. 2xPF connector and 2xPU connector. 2 LMX motors and 2 PU motors, acting as servo or not.

4. Full BMS and Charger integrated.

5. Open Source Firmware - direct connection to standard game consoles or phone (acting as console).

6. No, and I mean NO Android or Iphone app. Those apps need to be regulary updated and who has time to do it;)

7. Low price - of course.

I came up with preliminary design and look for the new battery and I would like to discuss pros and cons. 

This is my first iteration of mechanics. Some details are still missing. I have deliberately omit battery cell cover in favour of easier replacing of batteries in the model. And it looks cool IMHO, especially with some fancy cells:) I chose the LiION cells instead of pouch LiPo due to high current demand and obtainability. Also 18650 format is somehow standard and you can buy those cells almost everywhere.

Battery pack is 10x5x4 studs, a little bigger then Buwizz, but it has more then twice of energy (with 3000mAh cells 25Wh).

Have fun.

This time i will show my first ever bulldozer moc:).

After the catastrophic launch of the mini 8043 i didn't want to touch any more mini/remastered models. Until I got an idea to make an anniversary model for the 8275 because in 2027 it will celebrate its 20th anniversary and with my current relationship with mini/remastered models. I didn't feel confident that I could make it. I have fears that if I botched the anniversary model for 8275 I would get even more hate. But I decided to do it anyway under an immense amount of pressure to not to botch the 20th anniversary model of the 8275 and the anniversary model had to have similar design and feel. So I got to work to create the anniversary model for the 8275 and now finally it can see the light of the day:). 

A little design secrets:). 

When I started to design the Mechatech Mechadozer. I had a few of my own created chassis ideas. But they didn't satisfy me enough so I made the final model use 90% the same chassis as on the real 8275. So when you start to build Mechatech Mechadozer the drivetrain assemblies and chassis assemblies are pretty much the same as on the 8275:).

The 8275 has yellow stairs on the sides, and so does this model as well:). 

If you are curious. Yes, this is my very first attempt to build a bulldozer and I'm really happy and proud of how my first bulldozer turned out:). 

The 2027:).

In 2027 Lego Technic will be 50 years old. But we probably will not see any cool interesting unique anniversary stuff since technic is now a car wasteland and lego wants to run it to the ground. But the Mechatech Mechadozer will bring some fun memories when technic sets were fun and not trying to be display sculptures, and Mechatech Mechadozer was designed for functions first then the looks. So this model’s functions aren't the bare minimums like in the current technic days the steering and engine. But a whole fleet of unique functions like the ripper and blade tilt. So I wish you to have a massive fun/enjoyable time playing and building the Mechatech Mechadozer:). 

Specs:).

Model name Mechatech Mechadozer. 

Pieces, 1292.

Release year, 2026.

Instructions, Free Gen3 Instructions. 

7x Small Linear actuators. 

Building time, 7 days.

Instructions developing time, 1 and a half day for the 3d model, half day for the instructions. So in total 2 days.

Functions:).

Unlike modern technic sets where you only get the same steering and engine functions under a new shell with a mandatory yearly price increases for the same functions on a different shell. This model instead has 5 unique functions which are completely designed for this one, and they aren't and will not be recycled over and over again under a new shell with a new more expensive price tag each year:). 

Functions:). 

Blade lift,

Blade tilt, 

Ripper lift, 

Ripper tilt, 

V6 Engine connected to both tracks, 

Brick build motor, which spins with the tracks and the engine:). 

Functions video:). 

Looks:). 

Free instructions:). 

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-256685/Auroralampinen/mechatech-mechadozer/#details
 

If you made this far, have a nice easter:). 

Along with the proportions fix and exterior changes, I put in a differential and swapped the HOG for a direct connection to the steering wheel. Also removed the lever for the front hood, which no longer opens.

Features:

• Working steering linked to the steering wheel
• A working V8 with moving pistons and bundle-of-snakes exhaust
• Rear-wheel drive with differential
• Openable doors and engine cover
• Brick-built racing stripes
• Gurney Bubble, Gurney Flap, fire extinguisher, fog lights, and suspension detailing

My absolute favorite technique from the original set was the angle of the roof and the construction of the doors that give the roof cutouts a matching angle. I'm happy to say that those two design techniques are retained, as well as the use of some of the larger Technic panels on the exterior. The angle of the engine cover is slightly different from what's in the set, and all four mudguards got moved to the front to form the rounded front fenders. 

It's fully test-built and stable, but I'll plan to take nicer photos once I can get my hands on some stickers. In the meantime, I hope you like the renders!

Instructions are on Rebrickable: https://reb.li/m/256087

A question to those who have already used the Lego Wireless Protocol to control Lego PoweredUp hubs. As far as I understand, PU motors have two positions. An absolute angle relative to an external fixed zero point (the point marked on angular motors), between -180 and 180 degrees, and a position relative to a preset value, which starts out as 0 when the hub is turned on or when the motor is connected to the hub and can remember multiple complete turns (not limited to 180 or 360 degrees). It is possible to query these values from the motors as sensor inputs (corresponding to 'POS' and 'APOS' input modes, APOS being the angle, and POS being the position relative to the preset), and I can confirm these work as intended, I get the absolute angle correctly, and I get 0 for the relative position on startup, and they change appropriately as the motor rotates.

In the protocol, there's an output command called GotoAbsolutePosition. I'd expect by the name that it moves to a specific absolute angle, but instead it seems to move to a specific position relative to the preset value.

My question is how to move the motor to a specific absolute angle? I know that I could use the preset to set it to the angle at startup, and then just use GotoAbsolutePosition, but for that I need to do querying/setting of motor modes/values, which I want to avoid on startup (also, I want to be able to switch output modes while having the motor input query set to a fixed more). Ideally, it should be possible to do this without switching modes and altering the preset value, since the motor does know its absolute angle internally (as confirmed by the querying). Does anyone know what commands achieve this? It should be similar to all other output commands, without requiring any querying. Thanks!

BTW, if you think this question has a higher chance to be answered on another part of the forum, please let me know!

Please welcome my new MOC.

I understood suddenly, that I want to build a Tractor puller model. Observed some YT videos and created this:

Two Buwizz for propulsion, M motor for the steering. 1:1 gear ratio. Built just for fun. Not a record braker etc.

Ah, and 4 V6 engines :)

https://bricksafe.com/pages/Aleh/tractor_puller

Building instructions should be available soon

The set has such high playability, so many fun vehicles (though it could use a Unimog), and stories that never end.

I have always wondered what it would look like to update this set in the world of Technic. The ships, the crane, the truck, and all the containers moving around with more technical functionality. What would a fully integrated Technic version of this set look like? What features would I add? What scale could it be?

About two years ago, I was fooling around in Studio, wondering what a bigger version of the set would look like. I considered the size of 42062 Container Yard (7 wide), but it looks clunky, and didn't really seem to add anything from the original set. So I went a little bigger, thinking 11 studs wide for the containers would be nice. This seemed out of scale of many of the builds I do, and would be a weird truck size. So then I tried the Mack Anthem scale (roughly 1:21, and 15 studs wide). This seemed to work well, and could integrate well with other LEGO 1:21 MOCs.

I built a little mocup in Studio, using my Vintage Tractor, to try out the idea.

I liked the idea, but the full build would be huge. Roughly 4 times bigger than 6542.

I'm not sure I am ready to commit to purchasing all the parts needed for the full project. The dock alone would need 250 5x11 LBG panels. This image is about 300 studs wide, by 190 studs deep, by 90 studs high.

But I am curious to see where this will lead. I love integrated projects, and this is certainly that. Each container will need to be the same size, moveable by both crane and forklift, and rest on a truck and ship. I think I'll be able to build all the containers and the truck, and I think I would like to get the ship done. We'll see what else I complete.

I hope to keep the feel of the original set consistent, but the look may be updated a little bit to work well with scale and current vehicular design.

For instance, making a mockup for the trailer, two axles looked silly, so I went with a three axle design. Right now the trailer is done.

The trailer has working front support, and two locking mechanisms to lock the containers to the bed. Each axle has a simple suspension. It also fits the Mack Anthem Standard.

The container standards are set, as this was crucial to get size, lifting, locking, and cargo standards set, so I'll post more about those soon.

The White Boxes are about done, as is the Tractor (Thirdwigg Farm Approved!) container. 

With each update, I'll post the current full build. Today we are at 2782 parts.

We'll see where this goes, so feel free to follow along. Maybe we'll even find a way to include a Unimog!

I am back with yet another WIP topic.

In search for a rather special classic vehicle about a month ago, I have found this one. What can be more splendid than a one-off coachbuilt Rolls-Royce in a spirit of art deco is?

Equipped with its eye-catching circular doors, it is sometimes referred to as the Rolls-Royce Round Door Coupe.

More info about this vehicle can be found on the website of Petersen Automotive Museum.

As I intend it to be somewhat monumental, the largest wheels and tyres in production are the clear choice for me.

I also planned to use a 3D model for reference, yet I have faced some issues when exporting the model as a new part to Stud.io.

Therefore, I went with another option - let Studio generate a sculpture (or whatever it is called) form basic parts and use it instead.

The whole frame is being designed in modules (differentiated by colour) and bodywork can be easily separated.

The current version:

• approximately 102 cm long
• weighs about 8,5 kg
• about 7.000 parts (note that the car is now mostly hollow)

I do not have any firm list of wanted features, howewer, I do not want the model be enormous just for the sake of being huge, so some functions can be expected.

• Steering - now via a medium linear actuator
• Suspension - the original has leaf springs, I have opted for an imitation with classic shock absorbers
• Openable doors, hood and trunk
• Openable individual sunroofs
• Removable bodywork in one piece - this vehicle will in fact be a 2-in-1 model, as I would like to be able to show the chassis separately - the 'rolling chassis' is everything you would have got from Rolls-Royce in this time period anyway
• Manual gearbox

On the other hand, my main concerns are:

• Model being too heavy for wheel hubs to handle - this proved to be very true after about first meter of rolling the car along, 3 wheels just came off 
• Bodywork looking too flat and blocky
• The whole model being large for the sake of being large

Too bad that the light bulb does not come in tan  And yes, I am aware that the Spirit of Ecstasy should not be an angel, yet the broom is so perfect for this purpose 

In order to compensate for such a heavy car, I constructed both axles to have a small positive camber angle (though it didn't help that much).

And a comparison with my recent (still WIP) Bentley Turbo R LWB.

I am pretty sure I would like to write a few more lines, even though I cannot remember, what it should be about 

Anyway, thanks for reading & suggestions and critique is welcome.

DEVELOPMENT

Even though it is based on the original 42145, I don't like the original color scheme, because neon yellow is a dreadful color in real life, and white ages horribly. Thanks to the release of the 42154, I can build this color scheme instead.

The original 42145 has a body of 11M width, and I want the mini model to be motorized as well, so I made the mini fuselage 9M wide. That means it wraps around the battery box completely. and that is the root of the main challenge of the design process. To ensure structural integrity, I have to essentially build a skeleton that wraps around the connection points of the battery box. I even have to use the switch axle hole to connect the vertical support. I also added the diagonal support for the tail to prevent it from bending down, a phenomenon that happens to the tail of the original 42145.

The placement of the motor is also problematic. It has an effective height of 4 studs, but because of the 0.5 stud bumps on both sides. the axle hole is offset by 0.5 stud. And the only place to put it is right above the battery box. The bright side is that thanks to the 0.5 offset, I was able to get a 8/16 gear ratio right off the motor. There is space for only two motorized functions, so I decided to motorize the rotor blades and the landing gear, while the winch will be manual. Since the blades only spin in 1 direction, and I'm not really a fan of the 2-speed gearbox, I gave made the switch for the blade work only in one direction. On the other hand, I want the switch for the landing gears to be bidirectional, so I put a direction reversal in the middle.

The transmission for the rotor blades is as follows. The axle from the switch will go through a 20/12 gear ratio to the tail rotors to make it spin faster, while it goes through a ratio of 12/28 to the small turntable that drives the main blades, so there's a noticeable difference between rotation speed.

The landing gear function is achieved through a linear actuator that pushes the linkages of the front wheels. The linkages of the front wheels are connector to those of the rear wheels through a 13L beam running in the middle, above the battery box. Both front and back wheels use past-the-midline lock mechanisms.

This is the whole thing in one photo. As you can see, even though this model has a fairly generous body width (unlike the mini Osprey), things squeeze pretty tightly together. Every cubic stud is premium, and no space goes to waste.

In terms of appearance, I think the original 42145 just looks odd. It doesnt look like or even looks closely like the real H175. Therefore improving the look is also a goal of the design process, and Im very happy that I can pull it off.

FUNCTIONS

Most functions and details of the original model are replicated:

- Motorized landing gears
- Motorized rotor blades
- Manual side winch
- Diagonal front doors
- Sliding side doors
- Side rescue light
- Pitot tubes

Demonstration:

FREE INSTRUCTION:

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-192494/nguyengiangoc/mini-42145-airbus-h175-rescue-helicopter

To start of, I want to get everyone a picture what we need to power our models with brushless motors:

• Brushless motor - for example A2212 1000KV 2-3s (A2212 - meaning model type and dimensions, 1000KV - how many turns does motor make when we power it with 1 volt , 2-3s - which type of battery does motor support).
• Transmitter - for example DumboRC X6FG (good starting transmitter that often comes with suitable receiver, which supports gyro function - it helps the model go in straight line using countersteering).
• Receiver - like mentioned above.
• ESC - heart of brushless setup. Think of it as lego technic hub that you connect all motors and receiver to it. The ESC must be bidirectional, usually for mentioned above motor 30-35A should be enough. You may go with SurpassHobby 35A ESC.
• Servomotor - GeekServo, simple, does it job and is easy to implement in lego models due to pin holes in it.
• Battery - usually we can choose between 2s and 3s. Second option is more powerful but often simply bigger. My choose was GensAce LiPo 1800mAh 3s 11.1V 45C, but I find it now too big.
• Battery charger - for example iMAXrc B3. It is cheap and simply does the job, but you can get a better one, suited exactly to your battery capacity and number of cells.

If you have any doubts what to choose or how to start, feel free to ask, that is especially the case why this topic was raised. There are some things that you need pay attention one, like matching connection plugs of your ESC and battery, how to transfer RPMs from motor's shaft to lego gears, how do you plan to hold your motor in lego model (usually screw the motor to the liftarm using M2 or M3 bolts).

Just to not leave this topic without any questions or discussion I want to ask mentioned above guys few more things:

1. @FriedlS you mentioned one of previous posts that you are using carbon axles, may I ask where do they come from?
2. @Daniel-99 are those housing of A2212 brushless motors are available as printable files so I can try to print them on my own?
3. Do you guys know what other cool brushless motors we may use in our setups?
4. @FriedlS do you know the dimensions of those ball bearings that you've been using in your recent model? Maybe we can fit them in technic liftarms or frames if we would additionally drill slightly bigger holes in them?

00:15 Suzuki Jimny

04:42 Chevrolet K5 Blazer 1981

10:43 Dodge Charger Offroad

14:44 Jeep Cherokee XJ

19:33 Suzuki Jimny SJ

22:40 Land Rover Defender 90

27:17 Redneck (my truck)

29:12 Jeep Grand Cherokee

32:55 Hummer HX Concept

Enjoy!

When SBrick was introduced in the 2010s, it was revolutionary in that it allowed us to use Bluetooth to control our MOCs, instead of relying on the PF IR receivers that barely work in sunlight. However, the SBrick app is no longer on the App Store, and based on what I've heard it's been removed for quite some time. Thankfully I still have the app installed on my phone, but last time I used it I remember it always failed to fetch control profiles for a new MOC, which meant I had to use an existing profile on my device. I am planning on using BrickController2 if the SBrick app no longer works. However, I have heard that the creator of BrickController2 has also lost interest in his app, and it no longer works with BuWizz on their latest firmware. Speaking of which, my BuWizz 2.0 which I've had since late 2020 has been glitching since the latest firmware update which I discussed more in this topic, but it looks like BrickController2 won't be an option now.

Also, it's been 3 years since the last LEGO Control+ set with the Bluetooth hub and individual motors. All Control+ sets since then (Porsche, Lamborghini, etc) have been the integrated hub. With as much drawbacks as it had compared to PF (e.g. no stackable plugs), it at least allowed for some modularity instead of just building similar vehicles around an integrated hub. I fear that LEGO is planning on doing away with this system in the future, and once no more updates are provided (and as third party solutions like BrickController2 and SBrick/BuWizz lose interest), I'm afraid our SBrick, BuWizz, and Control+ hubs could all end up being expensive paperweights in the future, as @ritztoys put it. If that's the case, I might very well have to return to old-fashioned IR control for my MOCs in the future. 

Ps mods if you feel this topic is not required feel free to remove. I just made this seeing there was no general discussion on pneumatics.