touthomme

I'm still around, lol. Kristal and I always go traveling in the summer. Usually I have a few videos finished before we leave to post while we are gone, but I din't have time to do that this year. Hopefully I'll start posting videos again soon. Cheers, J

Just recently finished this working LEGO ball maze, also commonly known as a Labyrinth. It features a removable ball storage container, travel lock and interchangeable mazes. I built three mazes for it, including a space themed one and medieval themed one. I also put together a video showing how it works. And for those into CUUSOO, you can check out the project there. Enjoy! J

Thanks! Extremely happy with how this set turned out. The designers did an amazing job!

Teaser for the Pop-Up Book was just posted on the Ideas blog: https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/a4ae09b6-0d4c-4307-9da8-3ee9f3d368d6/post/f348095e-af01-4af2-8212-5da0d9626b2f So exciting! J

One thing worth trying, if you haven't already, is to clear all the cookies in your browser for all lego.com sites. I was having this problem, and that seemed to work for me. J

Thanks! And thanks to everyone who has supported us so far. We're really excited that the PFx Brick will become a reality! J

We just launched an updated campaign for the PFx Brick! You can check it out on Kickstarter here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/fxbricks/pfx-brick-special-fx-for-lego-creations We took the feedback and results from the previous campaign and made some changes. The biggest being a lower base funding goal, which should be more achievable. Be sure to check out the Kickstarter page for all the information. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! J

Not sure if this is the best forum for this, but I guess it is mostly a Technic model. I've been wanting to build a horse for quite a while, and since I've been building a lot of mechanical models recently I figured I might as well try and build one that moves. I tried to incorporate a lot of the subtle movement of a galloping horse into it, including the rocking of the body, forward thrust of the head and a little flick of the tail. I went through quite a few prototypes refining the motion. Any horse expert will tell you it isn't an exact reproduction, but I was really pleased with how well it turned out. All of the movement is driven through a single shaft that runs up through the base, which can be cranked by hand or with a motor. Details of how all the movement works is included in the video. Hope you enjoy! J

You can also try downloading it directly from my website. Here's the direct link: http://jkbrickworks.com/lego/customs/1614/1614horseV2.pdf Thanks! Glad you liked it! J

Cool, thanks for sharing our project! Was meaning to post about it here at some point, but you beat me to it. :) If anyone has any questions/comments about it, don't hesitate to ask. J

So, it only took me, like, 11 months, but I finally put together instructions for this model. :) Huge thanks to autoreverse and Ben Gee (don't think he's on here) who both sent me reverse engineered digitial versions of their models, which motivated me to (eventually) put these together. I redesigned it quite a bit for these instructions, to make it more accessible for people to build. I also made a lot of structural improvements, so it doesn't fall apart when you blow on it. :) The instructions include an alternate design for the feet, but it's easy enough to use the original Piraka heads if you have them or can source them. I also simplified the design of the head, mostly getting rid of the taper towards the nose, to use less uncommon parts. I definitely prefer the original design on both counts, but I realize not everyone is interested in hunting down uncommon parts. Those who are motivated can easily figure out the original designs for both. None of the core mechanism has changed. The building instructions, parts list, and more information can be found on my website: http://jkbrickworks.com/kinetic-horse-instructions/

Haha, yeah, I'll be okay. :) The particle accelerator always had a very low chance in my eyes. Too many things working against it. Use of power functions, use of parts no longer in production, size, limited appeal, etc. I hope at the very least it re-enforced the idea that there is interest in science based ideas. Psyched about the Saturn-V coming, and have high hopes for the Observatory next round. Also psyched that the fishing store got approved. Such a beautiful model and really excited that Ideas is continuing to evolve. I'm always excited when a non-IP model achieves success! J

Cool, what a great idea for contest! :) J

Great review! For anyone interested I'll also be posting instructions for more extra mazes in the coming weeks, as well as a mod for balancing up the tilt mechanism, over on my website: http://jkbrickworks.com/maze J

I'm pretty excited that the particle accelerator is finally close to 10,000 supporters, but I agree with the general sentiment that it won't make it through review. The out of production rails, the motor requirements, the part count, etc. It's just not feasible in its current form. I felt the same way when I originally posted it, but I think it's never a bad idea to show LEGO there is a demand for these types of projects, even if this particular one doesn't get made. I would love to see another science project get produced, especially one related to physics! I'm also getting impatient waiting for the next results. I'm really curious what will be coming up next... J

For Valentine's Day I built this clockwork style heart. The left side spins continuously, either manually with a crank on the back, or with a motor attached. It drives a piston which intermittently pushes a gear on the right side. I also put together building instructions for it, which you can find on my website: http://jkbrickworks....clockwork-heart The video shows it in more detail and explains how it works. J

Not using this method, but I've been experimenting with escapement mechanisms lately. I'll probably take a stab at building a clock in the near future. Thanks for the comments everyone. Glad you like it. J

Thanks! There is a release date, unfortunately I can't tell you when it is. J

Thanks dude! I'm obviously pretty excited about it. I'm planning to do a bunch of stuff around the release, including a review of the set and comparison between the official release and my original submission. I'll also be designing a bunch of custom mazes and putting together instructions for them. Should be fun! J

A couple of months ago someone pointed me to this fascinating video from Disney Research – (someone even posted it here last month). It's an amazing video, full of inspirational motion achieved via mechanical links and gears. Of course I was immediately inspired to build my own version of the Sisyphus model (which itself was inspired by ).I definitely wanted to add my own touch to it and, in addition to tweaking the geometry to improve (in my mind) the motion, I decided to add a boulder and extend the motion to it as well. I also wanted to give it a really nice base, decorated in a Grecian relief style with scenes from Sisyphus' life. You can see it in action in the video below. I have also put together building instructions for the core model for anyone who would like to build their own. You can find them on my website: http://jkbrickworks....etic-sculpture/ Hope you like it, J

I received a bunch of requests for full instructions for the model, and I've finally finished them. So, for anyone interested, you can find them in the original blog post for the model here: http://jkbrickworks....netic-sculpture J

Yup, it's a pair of these pieces: http://alpha.brickli...?P=32056, don't have any pics of how they connect on hand. J

Very nice! Thanks for showing the interior shots. It's always great to see how things are built! J

Cool, well done! Nice render! I really liked the Discovery and Leonov, sadly they were taken apart years ago. I've often thought it would be cool to rebuild the Discovery with the updated parts palette, and maybe at minifig scale... Hard to believe it was almost 15 years ago when I built it! I'm still working on the full Sisyphus instructions, and with the holidays coming I probably won't be able to take a look at the horse again until the new year. J

I've been itching to build another EV3 model recently and my girlfriend suggested I try to build a machine that can decorate cookies with icing. This is the result, which we call the EV Icer. Right now the program can decorate three designs - a star, snowflake and angel. It's built using only pieces from the EV3 kit (31313), plus you need some icing material. :) It's actually a bit sensitive to operate, and performance depends heavily on the viscosity of your icing. I've written a bunch of notes about getting it to work well on my website. You can also find building instructions for it there: http://jkbrickworks....-icing-machine/ We also had way too much fun filming this mock infomercial for it. :) J