General Part Discussion

[Zerobricks]

Just manual. I'd suggest you female CV joint if you need more torque.

[1gor]

2 minutes ago, Zerobricks said:

Just manual. I'd suggest you female CV joint if you need more torque.

I need more torque (from 2 L motors)... I plan to connect both of reduction hubs close to 5 x 7 frame (in order to maintain correct width) on right and left side and connect them with 9L beams...

[2GodBDGlory]

You can also jam a 2L axle extender into it, which is strong but questionable.

[1gor]

8 hours ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

You can also jam a 2L axle extender into it, which is strong but questionable.

I suppose you mean rigid one... sadly there is no CV axle to fit it, but as people told me once in the past that I have to consider myself lucky even to be born, Lego would probably made one that is to short or to long for my project...

Thanks

[Gray Gear]

Someone found a use for this thing yet?

Seems like someone glued 3 connectors together lol not really useful unless you want to pull on the axle holes...

Edited December 21, 2021 by Gray Gear
me being too stupid to embed the pic properly on mobile

[Jurss]

Main issue for technic is, that lenght is not some 3 or 5, but 4.

[Zerobricks]

Jus don't stick the 2L axles in it from either side...

[Gray Gear]

@Jurss yeah a equal number length will be a disatvantage in most cases. But it may be an advantage for some edge cases...

@Zerobricks Are you sure the axle holes are 2 studs deep on each side? I just assumed they'd be only 1 stud deep

[Ngoc Nguyen]

On 9/21/2021 at 9:43 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

I've just discovered that most of the black technic pins in my 42128 set are crooked. They slightly bent toward the side with the mold mark and away from the side with the center groove. Since I usually align my pins so that the mod marks are one side, after a while the model becomes visibly crooked.

Got my paws on the 42131 today, and found out that the pins in that set have this same problem.

[thekoRngear]

I do not like the black pins on my 42128 either. They are confirmed gen 3 versions. They also don't produce the satisficing strong clutch sound.

Edited December 21, 2021 by thekoRngear

[Zerobricks]

As mentioned before TLG is changing the material of the parts, probably switching to non-oil produced materials. The new material is softer, hence they are redesigning the parts and reinforcing them like the ball joints, closing up the before available pins for bars, etc... I think that's also the reason for the pins generally feelings much softer, less clicky and just more squishy.

[mahjqa]

Hate to be this guy, but: Source?

 

Even with the currently "ecologically" produced parts, Lego has stressed that while the source of the material was less damaging to the environment, the material itself was 100% identical to what was previously used. 

Source

[Zerobricks]

5 minutes ago, mahjqa said:

Hate to be this guy, but: Source?

 

Even with the currently "ecologically" produced parts, Lego has stressed that while the source of the material was less damaging to the environment, the material itself was 100% identical to what was previously used. 

Source

I don't know about exact material used or the exact source anymore to be honest but yes, they are changing materials, hence all the recent mould changes.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Zerobricks

[Johnny1360]

5 hours ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Got my paws on the 42131 today, and found out that the pins in that set have this same problem.

Damn you have the worst luck, curious, is this a visible defect or do you have to closely examine it to notice the problem. I only ask because I have not noticed this and I have been carefully scrutinizing all my black pins, since you fist mentioned it.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

6 minutes ago, Johnny1360 said:

is this a visible defect or do you have to closely examine it to notice the problem

It is visible. Just put two pins next to each other on a liftarm so that their grooves are of opposite sides, and you can see that each pin bend towards its own groove and there's gap between the ends of the two pins.

If the grooves are on the same side, the next liftarm connected to them are bent visibly.

[Johnny1360]

Well I'll be dogged, I can confirm, the new black pins do indeed bow, ever so slightly. Now I know why I sometimes can't easily connect liftarms, in my mocs. I always line the slots up so they are parallel with the liftarm, why because I'm anal, what can I say. 

Since the groove on the pin is 90° from the slots, all my pins either bow the same way or exactly opposite from each other, which is where my problem lies. Makes it slightly more difficult to connect another lift arm and I have really noticed it since the new pins have been appearing. Here I just thought I was crazy.

Thanks now I will really have to pay attention to my pin orientation disorder, lol. Maybe I should just go back to just randomly orientating my pins when I build.

Still I find this more than just a little irritating, shame, shame LEGO. Hopefully there is an actual reason or purpose for the pins to all bow that way, or it is just unavoidable, hmm.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Johnny1360

[Ngoc Nguyen]

2 hours ago, Johnny1360 said:

Hopefully there is an actual reason or purpose for the pins to all bow that way, or it is just unavoidable, hmm

The bowing seems to be a design and not a bug, as all pins from 42126, 42128, 42129, and 42130 are like that.

 

2 hours ago, Johnny1360 said:

I always line the slots up so they are parallel with the liftarm, why because I'm anal, what can I say

I have the same habit. Now because of the bowing I have to pay extra attention to make sure the pins alternate in terms of bowing, otherwise anything connected to them will bow visibly.

[Takanuinuva]

20 hours ago, Gray Gear said:

Someone found a use for this thing yet?

Seems like someone glued 3 connectors together lol not really useful unless you want to pull on the axle holes...

What possible purpose would having those 3 parts melded together serve. Wen you could just make the same assembly just with 3l axles sticking out.

Sure the 2 book sets it's in use it for a lock. But I feel like there were other solutions that could have been used instead of making a new POOP piece.

Normally I'm all for new technic molds. But I don't ever see myself in a situation where I would need this part when I could just make it with the 3 existing pieces it's composed of.

What was wrong with the old lock mold anyways?

[Gray Gear]

13 hours ago, Zerobricks said:

As mentioned before TLG is changing the material of the parts, probably switching to non-oil produced materials.

If that is indeed true isn't it also very likely that the new "ecological" parts will age faster that the old ones? I would hate that. My choice would be to go 100% china bricks.

I am happy this pin problem doesn't affect me. I only use a certain pins from china, which are stiffer and stronger than their LEGO counterparts. And they are straight too 

[pleegwat]

2 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

What possible purpose would having those 3 parts melded together serve. Wen you could just make the same assembly just with 3l axles sticking out.

There might be some cases where you want to insert something only 1u, like when you're inserting one of the 3l axle-pins, or an axle-with-stop.

[Gray Gear]

@pleegwat I thought so too, but in those cases it be better to just make these axles and pins in new lentghs. That would exite me. Axle with stop in 6L, 7L have been long overdue imo

[pleegwat]

1 hour ago, Gray Gear said:

@pleegwat I thought so too, but in those cases it be better to just make these axles and pins in new lentghs. That would exite me. Axle with stop in 6L, 7L have been long overdue imo

True. I bet those would also be simpler moulds.

[SNIPE]

20 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

What possible purpose would having those 3 parts melded together serve. Wen you could just make the same assembly just with 3l axles sticking out.

Sure the 2 book sets it's in use it for a lock. But I feel like there were other solutions that could have been used instead of making a new POOP piece.

Normally I'm all for new technic molds. But I don't ever see myself in a situation where I would need this part when I could just make it with the 3 existing pieces it's composed of.

What was wrong with the old lock mold anyways?

What if you didn't want the purpendicular connectors to pull away from the 2L axle joiner.

Edited December 23, 2021 by SNIPE

[2GodBDGlory]

5 hours ago, SNIPE said:

What if you didnt want the purpendiculat connectors to pull away from the 2L axle joiner.

Yeah, that's really about it, and I don't expect that would happen often...

[Lyichir]

17 hours ago, Takanuinuva said:

What possible purpose would having those 3 parts melded together serve. Wen you could just make the same assembly just with 3l axles sticking out.

Sure the 2 book sets it's in use it for a lock. But I feel like there were other solutions that could have been used instead of making a new POOP piece.

Normally I'm all for new technic molds. But I don't ever see myself in a situation where I would need this part when I could just make it with the 3 existing pieces it's composed of.

What was wrong with the old lock mold anyways?

Keep in mind this was designed for a low age range Disney Princess set, not a Technic set. A more intricate mechanism using existing parts would likely be too complex for the target age range, not to mention potentially serve as an undesired distraction from the playset elements that are the actual core features of the set (and what kids buying the set are going to be most interested in).