General Part Discussion

[TechnicRCRacer]

  On 9/21/2021 at 3:48 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Maybe, but when I attached the side panels there's an ugly gap between the vertical 9L beam and the panels.

Expand  

In this case, I would orient the pins so the bends cancel out. Not the quality I expect from LEGO, but also not the end of the world.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

  On 9/21/2021 at 5:19 AM, TechnicRCRacer said:

In this case, I would orient the pins so the bends cancel out. Not the quality I expect from LEGO, but also not the end of the world.

Expand  

Yes. I had to rebuild the whole thing from the start, and I alternated the pins so that the bends cancel out. It's pretty annoying.

Perhaps @kbalage can make a video about this phenomenon.

Edited September 21, 2021 by Ngoc Nguyen

[kbalage]

  On 9/21/2021 at 5:22 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Yes. I had to rebuild the whole thing from the start, and I alternated the pins so that the bends cancel out. It's pretty annoying.

Perhaps @kbalage can make a video about this phenomenon.

Expand  

Interesting. Maybe it's a design choice to increase friction as the majority of the people won't care about pin orientation and use them randomly? :) 

[Ngoc Nguyen]

  On 9/21/2021 at 8:01 AM, kbalage said:

it's a design choice to increase friction

Expand  

The only thing that has increased so far for my is my frustration.

[astyanax]

Today I learned: that part 15406 exists. Looks like it could be useful in Technic builds. Anyone ever found a cool use for it?

[SNIPE]

  On 9/21/2021 at 8:02 PM, astyanax said:

Today I learned: that part 15406 exists. Looks like it could be useful in Technic builds. Anyone ever found a cool use for it?

Expand  

I only used it in ldd. May buy some.

[LvdH]

The CAT bulldozer brought a rare and expensive part back:

44809 in black

[Jurss]

I didn't knew that it is expensive. I see, that I bought some 10 from bricklink some time ago. Don't remember, that it was expensive that time.

[howitzer]

Not rare or expensive, has appeared also in black in dozens of sets, though LBG is the most common colour. The last use in black was 5 years ago though, with Xerion.

[TechnicRCRacer]

Wow, the Xerion is 5 years old already? I keep telling myself that I will get it next year, didn’t realize it came out that long ago.

Edited October 2, 2021 by TechnicRCRacer

[Jurss]

It is about black version, which really has higher price than LBG. rebrickable is telling, that f.i. lbg average price is 0.34EUR, but for black it is 5.34EUR. OK, on bricklink there are different sellers.

[howitzer]

Yes, the black one is more expensive than the LBG one, but not by that much unless you want hundreds of them or live in a place where most BL stores won't deliver.

[LvdH]

  On 10/2/2021 at 5:49 AM, howitzer said:

Not rare or expensive, has appeared also in black in dozens of sets, though LBG is the most common colour. The last use in black was 5 years ago though, with Xerion.

Expand  

I only order domestically. There are 32 for sale in the Netherlands, all costing over €1 each plus shipping costs. The majority of sellers only have one or two in stock. So yes, I consider them rare and expensive.

[Gray Gear]

1€ for ONE black connector? Damn. I am glad I don't have to buy from Bricklink or Bricks&Pieces for 95% of my bricks.

[howitzer]

  On 10/2/2021 at 8:06 AM, LvdH said:

I only order domestically. There are 32 for sale in the Netherlands, all costing over €1 each plus shipping costs. The majority of sellers only have one or two in stock. So yes, I consider them rare and expensive.

Expand  

Limiting yourself to shops in your country surely limits your options and increases prices a lot but yeah, most sellers don't seem to have many in stock. But then, how many would you need anyway? It's not a super-useful part and unless you're building something that's both repeated a lot (like I can imagine could happen for example with GBC:s) and needs this particular part, I don't think buying them is going to make anyone go broke.

[LvdH]

  On 10/2/2021 at 11:08 AM, howitzer said:

But then, how many would you need anyway?

Expand  

Well, I used about 40 (out of 50-some I have in total) of them this year. A lot of them are used for @Gray Gear’s MOCs but also for a couple other builds. 

[Gray Gear]

  On 10/2/2021 at 11:08 AM, howitzer said:

But then, how many would you need anyway? It's not a super-useful part

Expand  

I disagree. It is a very useful part imo, and I like it a lot.

@LvdH Sorry m8, and the 180SX will have 9 I think 

 

[howitzer]

  On 10/2/2021 at 12:27 PM, LvdH said:

Well, I used about 40 (out of 50-some I have in total) of them this year. A lot of them are used for @Gray Gear’s MOCs but also for a couple other builds. 

Expand  

 

  On 10/2/2021 at 2:46 PM, Gray Gear said:

I disagree. It is a very useful part imo, and I like it a lot.

@LvdH Sorry m8, and the 180SX will have 9 I think 

 

Expand  

So getting 9 of them would set you back maybe 10€. Not an insignificant amount of money, but then you'll have 9 of them which are practically infinitely reusable, and considering how expensive this hobby can get it doesn't seem like a big deal. And most of the time you could use the LBG one anyway, which I admit is much cheaper at maybe one tenth of the price of the black one.

[Gray Gear]

@howitzer yeah those few bricks alone arn't going to break the bank. But suspect there are a lot more small bricks like this that shouldn't be expensive but still are, so it is still nice to see it coming back.

  On 10/3/2021 at 9:47 AM, howitzer said:

infinitely reusable

Expand  

If you disassemble the model again, yes. But not everybody will do so, so buying more is required.

[howitzer]

  On 10/3/2021 at 10:05 AM, Gray Gear said:

@howitzer yeah those few bricks alone arn't going to break the bank. But suspect there are a lot more small bricks like this that shouldn't be expensive but still are, so it is still nice to see it coming back.

If you disassemble the model again, yes. But not everybody will do so, so buying more is required.

Expand  

Yeah, if you're going to buy new parts for each new MOC you make, that's going to get very expensive very fast, and in that case being able to get cheaper parts can make a huge difference.

[LvdH]

  On 10/3/2021 at 9:47 AM, howitzer said:

So getting 9 of them would set you back maybe 10€

Expand  

Yeah, if there was someone selling 9 for that price. Like I said: most only have 1 or 2. That means you have to order from 4 or 5 stores just for one part, which means 4 times shipping and handling costs. 

[howitzer]

  On 10/3/2021 at 10:51 AM, LvdH said:

Yeah, if there was someone selling 9 for that price. Like I said: most only have 1 or 2. That means you have to order from 4 or 5 stores just for one part, which means 4 times shipping and handling costs. 

Expand  

https://store.bricklink.com/TGS_brick?sID=1146015&itemID=262359928#/shop?o={"invID":"262359928"}

Though not an option for you if you choose not to buy from elsewhere but your own country.

[astyanax]

The planetary wheel hub was never available at Bricks & Pieces, but now for the first time I see it is!

[TechnicRCRacer]

  On 10/3/2021 at 3:40 PM, astyanax said:

 

The planetary wheel hub was never available at Bricks & Pieces, but now for the first time I see it is

 

Expand  

I bought 4 from B&P in late 2019. Guess they went out of stock for a while.

[astyanax]

  On 10/3/2021 at 3:50 PM, TechnicRCRacer said:

I bought 4 from B&P in late 2019. Guess they went out of stock for a while.

Expand  

Interesting... From time to time I looked for 42099 at B&P and the planetary hub wasn't even listed in the inventory.