Technic General Discussion

[Paul B Technic]

Do you have any pics of your solution?

Sadly no, it was inside the tray of a truck to keep some beams in position.

[Nalyd997]

Ahh I wish I had a spare $240 bucks! I just saw a brand new sealed unimog on ebay with free postage!! Oh well

[MrNumbskull13]

Just wondering... Would anyone be able to help me find a topic? It was basically about 'what technic set would you like to see', like what model do you want TLG to release in the future. Been searching the forum for a while...

Cheers!

[Alasdair Ryan]

I found two,and sorry for the delay but I have to ask where everyone else was.

Topic 1

Topic 2

Edited October 6, 2014 by Alasdair Ryan

[Technyk32231]

Has anyone ever seen a competition like this in Lego?

BTW, REX 1727 is my school's robotics team.

[rollermonkey]

I'm so disappointed!

The last black pin with a ball on one end floated up to the top of the bag with several hundred regular black pins, so I didn't get to look for 20 minutes like when I searched for the next-to-last one.

I could throw it back in and mix them up real good, but that would feel like cheating...

[PROlego]

Hi, I would want to start using any sort of actuator (to make machinery): mechanical or pneumatic. I don't have any of them but I would like to buy some. Where is the best (cheapest) place to buy LAs, mLAs and brackets(doesn't matter if they only have new style)? What's the best store for pneumatic tube connectors (both kinds), valves (doesn't matter if they only have the newest version), small cylinders, small pumps and big cylinders?

I don't have many money (I would like to spend less than 30€+ shipping) to spend so should I only buy Pneumatics or only Lineal Actuators? Which one?

As an extra information to help you decide what should I buy I designed and built a pressure gauge (for free, I already had the pressure meter) than works and mesures usual Pneumatic operating range and it's compatible with a "T" tube connector (taken from a system set) and an airtank and have got a lot of compatible tube. I tell you this because I noticed Pneumatic seems to be more expensive and with this already in my possesion it will be a bit cheaper, but if it's better to buy LAs I'll just store this things I built to use them in a future when I get Pneumatics.

Sorry for my poor English and hope you understand this and help me.

[jantjeuh]

Use BrickLink to buy them second-handed.

[PROlego]

Yes but which store? Pneumatics or LA? Both? If the store it's near Spain the shipping will also be cheaper.

[Jim]

Not sure whether you need Pneumatics or LAs, but on Bricklink you can select the country of the store. So you can limit your search to Spain.

[PROlego]

Yes I know but I found no good stores in Spain for these things. I know how to search in BL but I can't find any store that has got all the parts I need at a cheap price, could you recomend me one?

Sorry for mistyping.

[Corvette3]

Hi there, i'm pretty new to Technic, i only have a 42022 and a 42030 and i had a question about options for batteries, here goes: i have some 3.7 volt AA Lithium-ion batteries that i use in one of my other hobbies and i'm wondering if it is safe to use them in the AA battery box? I would be using 3 and 3 dummies so about 11.1 volts total, I could probably use 2 for 7.4 volts if i had to, but is it safe to use the 3?

[PROlego]

No, use two and a normal battery (if the can go togheter) or use only two and 4 dummy batteries.

[Captainowie]

I don't think it's a good idea to mix batteries of different voltages - for the same reason that you shouldn't mix batteries at different charge levels (i.e., you should change all the batteries at the same time). As I understand it, this is because the higher voltage battery will end up trying to charge the lower voltage battery, rather than power the rest of the circuit. If the normal battery is non-rechargable, it won't like this at all, and could overheat. And catch fire. And explode. This would not be a good thing.

Technic motors are just DC motors with some fancy coverings. They'll run just fine (though faster) at the higher voltage. However, they are designed for 9 volts, so they'll wear out considerably faster if you 'overclock' them too much.

PROlego - finding a Bricklink store with all you need at a reasonable price is something of a black art. Nobody is going to be able to recommend a particular store, unless they're advertising their own store. You might find you need to split your order across multiple stores to get the bargains.

Owen.

[Blakbird]

Plenty of people have experimented with 3-series lithium batteries producing 11.2-12V and claim that things seem to generally be fine. I don't think there is any risk to a motor, but electronics like the servo or I/R receiver could be damaged.

[Corvette3]

Plenty of people have experimented with 3-series lithium batteries producing 11.2-12V and claim that things seem to generally be fine. I don't think there is any risk to a motor, but electronics like the servo or I/R receiver could be damaged.

Well IR receivers and servo motors are very expensive :0 and i don't really want to break those, if only you could get more normal Rechargeable batteries 1.5/3 volts for example, buying alkalines constantly is not much fun after all, has anyone posted actual tests of problems that over-volting could cause?

[_Cookie_]

Well IR receivers and servo motors are very expensive :0 and i don't really want to break those, if only you could get more normal Rechargeable batteries 1.5/3 volts for example, buying alkalines constantly is not much fun after all, has anyone posted actual tests of problems that over-volting could cause?

I have tested a servo with 10.6V. It is the Voltage of 3 LiFePo4 in series (fully charged). Works fine, but i think 12.6V from LiPo would be to much... has anyone tested ?

[Blakbird]

Well IR receivers and servo motors are very expensive :0 and i don't really want to break those, if only you could get more normal Rechargeable batteries 1.5/3 volts for example, buying alkalines constantly is not much fun after all, has anyone posted actual tests of problems that over-volting could cause?

The quoted voltages on AA sized cells is misleading. Although alkalines are rated at 1.5V, they are really only 1.5V volts when brand new and very quickly ramp down to much less. Rechargeable Nickel Metal Hydrides (NiMH), while rated at 1.2V, actually start higher than this and hold their voltage for most of their capacity. Effectively this means that rechargeables will give you just as much or more voltage in practical use as alkalines. I use them in all my battery boxes.

[Corvette3]

Thats interesting, i did not know that, i have a NiMH charger already... i could just get some batteries and ill be good to go then! i don't really trust my other batteries anyway, Thanks!

[Corvette3]

Is it worth trying to get some buggy motors? They really aren't cheap but i hear they are quite powerful, i would mostly be using them with PF parts though, AA/AAA battery holders IRs Etc, should i try to get an RC unit too?

[Fish777]

what is the smallest circle that the big tracks from 8263 snow groomer can make?

[PhyBuilder]

In my part of the world (Europe) it's not that difficult to obtain them for little cost (15-25 Euro each), but over there I know they're hard to find and expensive.

But YES, they are worth it. Avoid Bricklink, buy a 8421 crane instead (this one has a RC-motor in it), and sell the wheels, pneumatics and rare cilinder-holders on Ebay to almost or completely regain your money. Just a tip.

[Corvette3]

WOW 8421s are $350 - $500 here... that's more than the replacement! even if the rare parts can be sold back, i can barely afford it to begin with! ill have to see if anything is going cheap i guess...

[PhyBuilder]

Hmm, sorry for that not working out either. Those 8421 are sometimes sold for 70 Euro here. Depending on condition € 80-110,- in average.

In your case I'd then stick to buying Ls or XLs and gearing them up. Like the buggy motors, a good battery is needed though if you want speed out or your model (Lego LiPo, custom LiPo or a normal battery box with the current limiter shorted).

[Corvette3]

They need an RC unit don't they? what if i got one of those?