Toastie

Do they know in TrainTech what you designed so beautifully? Best Thorsten

I can sure see that - but that would not impact on "what I like". I like in-house because in inherits the freedom of building. For me, this is the core of LEGO. Replications or renditions are fine with me as well - but these are not the core of the idea of LEGO, which was always advertised as "being creative". I do also fully agree with your judgement - but I had the impression this was not the question (It reminds me on: Should we apply for this grant when so many others do as well? Yes sure we should, because we love the idea ... that was my answer). And lastly: SW models are surely pieces of the art of building with LEGO. I have them as well. Improving in detail through time, as more elements become available. And as they were designed at the time they came out. But with in-house, I always go nuts. I have the feeling that they call for ... changing them ... All the best Thorsten

Welcome @Tommy C! Well, yes: All the replies above are really to the point. What I did when recovering from my dark ages - back then, which is more than 20 years ago - was a bit - less planned out. With approval from the family (money was a big issue - we moved to the US, two girls, not 1 and 2 years old, and my wife was not allowed to work - H1 visas kinda suck ...), I purchased small LEGO sets - at bargain prices - from TrU (gone), Target, other stores not that much into LEGO - just to get the pieces I wanted. That lead to "many" extra pieces I had at my disposal ... which turned into some sort of "freedom" when bricking. And it was so much fun browsing the shelves ... Today, I also take the BL route, look into eBay etc - but just because I made up my mind and know what I need. Back then, I was exploring the LEGO world. I believe this is where you are. Which is wonderful. You'll for sure enjoy it. All the best, Thorsten

I believe this is your best bet, as isopropanol can do two things in parallel: It dissolves stuff that likes to dissolve in an aqueous environment (salts etc.), as well as stuff that likes to dissolve in a non-polar environment (grease etc.). And it will not affect ABS at all. Plus: Working with it is not harmful to your hands ... not at all. All the best, Thorsten

Dear Hans, sorry, I missed that. Indeed, this renders everything much more difficult. I need to think about it - this is fun! One thing you may want to take into consideration (but this is not thought out at all!): I would move the touch sensors in parallel to the moving legs, so that the leg will close the sensor when it moves by, but it can pass it freely. I did that in my setup as well - this gives you more freedom. Also in programming as the mechanism has not to stop immediately when the sensor fires (provided you want to avoid stressing the mechanism. On the other hand, you are using an EV3 - that brick is fast enough I believe to prevent that). But more so, this allows you to position the "position sensors" anywhere on the rails = known location. When you make the rails a little longer on both sides, then moving all four legs into one direction (= "end-point" sensor 1 fires) should either fire none or some or all of the "position sensors" - then going all the way back to the other end position should fire the remaining "position sensor(s)". This requires 5 input ports though: 1 for the two "end-point" sensors hooked up in parallel (as you know where you are going on startup, when moving to the left only the left "end-position" sensor can fire) and 4 inputs for the position sensors. You could code the touch sensors using resistors but that is not a purist option ... there were resistor coded RCX touch sensors though. This would require much less programming, as you just have to a) detect the end point position and b) read the motor position upon each sensor event. Well, as said, this is not thought-out ... Best Thorsten Edit: There is another option: When you use the "end-point" sensors resistor coded (lets say 1kOhm each), you could use both "end-point" plus one "position" sensor on one port in parallel.

As far as I understand the mechanism, it has one possible "defined startup configuration": Led 1 ... 4 can move to a certain point, defined as zero, is that correct? It could be any extreme position you'll not reach during normal operation. I would move one leg after the other to this position, which is recognized by the touch sensor being pressed. For each leg this is either to the left or to the right. So upon startup move the leg - regardless where it is - first to its initial zero position. Now you know where it is and you can take care of things to come next. Best Thorsten

What? You really like Star Wars better because of that? Because Star Wars sells better? And there will be complaints for in-house? I don't get this. Star Wars is nothing more than war - on a very simple "black folks vs white folks" plot. Make that color political. The "white" storm troopers are just complete idiots and get slaughtered by really large numbers. The good folks are wearing for sure no black clothes, so we don't get confused. And the - Impire - wears black or very dark clothes - so again, we don't have to think too much. And then it is: An Impire and The Rebels. And of course that sells. It sells in fiction, as it does in reality. But that was not the question: What do you like better? Maybe creativity-wise? Go nuts on what the bricks can do? As is >space<? Will that really be Star Wars? Best Thorsten

Dear Hans, I faced a remotely similar problem with my switch drive controllers: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/154740-moc-lego-switch-drive-controller/ What I did was to drive the trolley to an end-stop (touch sensor = zero position) and then a little away from it (so it is not closed anymore). In your case you would need four sensors, right? I would use RCX type touch sensors all in parallel (simply stacking the 9V 2x2 electrical contacts and then use a 9V -> NXT conversion cable (provided the NXT cables are compatible with EV3 terminals). You would need to initialize each motor individually (to free each time the corresponding sensor). But you would need only one sensor input. With an NXT this should work, I believe. All the best, Thorsten

True - but PF is also done and over with. Maybe not 100% but close enough. As of now PUP is the way to go ... or whatever they come-up with next - they need to change because they need to sell. Best Thorsten

Very nice and very interesting approach! This will look extremely nice on any GBC layout. Fantastic. With regard to the leg position: When everything is rigidly coupled, don't these motors have internal rotation sensors? Leg position and rotation count should correlate or are the errors due to mechanical tolerances too large? Again: Very nice! All the best Thorsten

Well, it makes the company look bad provided we believe in the super natural wisdom and foresight of TLG. On the other hand, it makes the company look smart when we look at the companies business perspective: Apparently win-win. Yes, nobody at TLG has provided one good side of this - and it will continue to be like that unless they tell us why they did it. But they won't. And that is the bad thing. Not that they did this - there will be good reasons - materialized somewhere in the companies think tanks. Surely in this case they are not reaching out to AFOLs, as they already royally screwed this up. Maybe somewhere in the administration, folks were getting nervous for whatever reason (that they don't tell us). Let it be clone brands. Or stores selling current items for a fraction of the price TLG is asking for on their website. Who knows? PR wise though, this take-over has been and continues to evolve into a - bizarre thing. Some actually call a disaster. All the best Thorsten

There is - for me - a significant difference - and thus very new: That video was not made for kids. It was made for AFOLs. They may manufacture things for kids, but when they want to do research with EV3's, they should boldly face peer review. It was made with an attempt of appearing scientifically sound. And that is a very big difference. Most kids don't care about these things; there may be exceptions. But if I were to review this work for publication, my result would have been: "Reject, with the possibility of re-submission". Chances are, they would not take the risk of resubmitting. As far as I know, that buffer was not publicly tested. The same holds true for the Emerald Night. They were thrown as is at "kids", who had to figure it out. Well, I guess most of the kids never did, but a bunch of AFOLs did, as far as I read the threads her on EB. But that does not matter: They came as is and that's it. From an "end-result perspective" you are right: Nothing new. From an "approach perspective", I'd like to challenge that notion. All the best Thorsten

@Samppu Very wisely and nicely phrased. For me, this discussion has reached a level, which is far away from "all bad" and "all good". Fully along the lines of @Masked Mini and @JanetVanD. Very enjoyable, I learned already a lot, and I am very happy to not be alone with these "subtle feelings" of uneasiness. I don't trade things, I just buy. And I am trying to be as close as possible a purist. But I do for example cut into bricks, make holes where I need them (as close as possible to a true LEGO hole) and so on. Sometimes - by just waiting - the element I made before pops up in a TLG model. Purists (and I have not any - none whatsoever - hard feelings about LEGO purism) then often praise the TLG. Well. My approach is: They don't make it, so I do. Mostly electronics stuff. But from a fundamental point of view, that does not matter. And thus BL - for me - was a place that fostered these lines of thinking. This is - for me - changing now. But it does really not matter (the music is still playing). Should however the pricing go belly-up - and this is - for me - a very reasonable scenario - than I hope, there will be another place of trade. One example: TLG asks for >insane< amounts of money for their electronic stuff. I will repeat it again and again: The 10V DC power supply apparently "required" for the PF/NXT rechargeable battery was sold by TLG for at least 25 $/€. For one, the "required" 10 V was a true lie (and I am firm on this, have reported it here in EB, after I did some extensive experiments); and secondly, the abundantly available and very well suitable 12V/15V stabilized DC power supplies on the free market sell for $5 ... $7. This got me very frustrated, as some would-be so smart folks at TLG actually pulled this off. This is nowhere family driven - as the family never ever heard of it, I am 100% sure. This was driven by low-range smart business folks. And they pulled it off to the very end. The same holds true for TLG's PoweredUp stuff. Yes, it was expensive to develop that. But then: The world - as of today - partly relies on the underlying technology, which is low energy Bluetooth. Yes, they needed to develop their own protocol. But so neede gazillion other companies. On BL, you could get the new PoweredUp items for a fraction of the "original" price TLG was/is asking on their website. On BL, the PoweredUp devices sell rather cheap - at least they did. Why? Because they were some kind of "fall-out" of the sets they came with - many people did not get used to it. How do I know? I don't, but I judge that simply from free market rules: Too many items of the same available makes the price go down (provided, there are no "higher authorities counter measures"). And this is >my< personal concern. As of now, I can get a PuP device for relatively little money - I'd say for a fair price. Because the free market did that. As well an NXT or EV3 intelligent brick. Etc. etc. When this continues to be the case - fine! But why on earth should TLG tolerate the price for a current 2IO PuP box on BL - being 4 times as expensive on TLG's website? BL and TLG are now the same. It does not make any sense - in a free market world. How do they want to streamline that? We will see. Best Thorsten

HUH? There is a 9-page long (and counting) thread on 42109 - mostly talking about THE DIFF - and you - simply review the set - because you "found" a local seller? How cool is this? Good for you - and use the force - no - your source - wisely! All the very best and thanks for sharing! Thorsten

OK: Anything but an alternative source. I can see that. But you would go for that source once TLG is pulling the plug on PF? I am a bit lost here: Set not good, but electronics are once they are discontinued by TLG? Or did I read that incorrectly? Best Thorsten

I really agree with what @Masked Mini has replied in the last post. Plus and most importantly: Many have voiced concern about people replying here and elsewhere being "hostile" (or whatever) with regard to TLG. This is utter nonsense. I can only speak for myself, but do sense (it at least in other - lets call them less favorable replies with regard to TLG's move acquiring BrickLink) a disparity in LEGO front folks talk and corporate texts - and reality. And that is all there is for me: I simply don't like being addressed as - believer - in higher and almost holy forces. TLG has matured into a global enterprise. And this is what AFOLs (A as in adult) should take at least into consideration. A global enterprise can very well be a family owned company, as @Masked Mini has already clearly and very nicely illustrated (thank you again!). There may be so and so many - lets make that family members "in charge" to be 5. I have heard how many people here admire that family. That is entirely OK and I can really see that. But how many of the myriads of business decisions that TLG makes, every single day - on a >global< market with competition growing crazy - from entire (competing) >different< "toy" markets to cloning brands all over the place - do you think human beings like the Danish family of 5 can make? Within 24 hours minus sleep time, breakfast, appointments to meet with AFOLs, openings, lunch, visits to places on planet earth, dinner, talking to the media, and doing the Christmas thing? Forget it. They do the >very big< decisions. For one, because they need sleep. Acquiring BL or not - I believe this was cooked up by mid-admistration folks getting on their radar that BL sells - e.g.(!) clone stuff. >Or whatever<. The market value of BL is a small blip - not more - compared to the market value of TLG. And then, once the decision is made, and let us assume, one or all of the 5 family members were involved: This has to be dealt with. Never ever by the family. They have appointments with AFOLs or big business folks securing the next year in surviving on the global market. But by folks who know how to deal with it, because they have a BA or MA degree in business. What else? Man, they tried amusement parks and what not. All I would like to be appreciated here on EB is that TLG is not from a better outer world; it is a very big business with uncountable decision levels, that they have an awful lot of people on their payroll (and - as a family business - want to secure!), and then make decisions. And when they do, they have to use the business phrase thresher to make it look good. Everybody is doing that out there, with no exceptions. And that is not bad at all - it is a logical and natural (in a competing and cheating global business world) thing to do. And I would really appreciate that eventually, somebody form TLG - somewhere in the small print - says just that: We had to do it. I simply just don't like to be pushed around. And finally: I love LEGO. I love the idea of building with bricks - with the finesse and creativity of LEGO. I will never stop doing that. But I will never pray to them - and I will continue to tell them that acquiring BL was like removing freedom - >for me<. And only for me. And it will continue to see it like that until they tell me - or us - with none of that business bulls*it talk, why they did that. It was not to reach out to AFOLs, simply forget it. From a business perspective that is total and utter crap. Look at the sale numbers. But they won't. OK. Done. Folks: I have - well not more than but hopes - that Santa will bring me the LEGO Apollo 11 Lunar Lander. Please cross your fingers ... Rock on people and all the best!!! Thorsten

But that means that TLG is playing unfair all the time. In case you see them as the "giving entity" then it is not. But I love creativity not stopped by such an entity - provided you can do it on your own. Best Thorsten

That one is so cool ... man. You're so blessed with creativeness - and building skills - and fantastic ideas. Really nice. Yes, in house does not only win. It plays in another league - the LEGO league. Best Thorsten

Well, @ks6349 apparently lives in Vietnam - is that right? If so, then there may be some adverse storage conditions due to location on earth. Humidity, temperature ... but who knows. Best Thorsten

Why not? It will be evaluated and then people in charge will decide on it. For the perspective of reinforcing the market position. This is what the free market is about. Of course, they did make their money. I would not hate them for that. Maybe they needed money. Maybe they just wanted money. In the beginning it was all love and that - but when it comes to revenue things tend to change. Plus, they may have built on this business. Love - sure. But nothing to eat - no. One absolutely valid business model, fully supported by so many "in the free market believing countries", particularly the US (been at least there, have accompanied such a process), is: Have a cool idea. Apply for government funds to push that idea into the market. Have an exit plan to be acquired by a big company. In between, give as much return to the folks giving you that money. We all love LEGO and believe in the brick. Fine - this is how this entire community interacts. Folks making the brick and alternatives run a business. They my very well believe in the brick as well - but from an entirely different perspective. Making money and depending on it is a true game changer. Best Thorsten

I am so happy that MLCad is running as seewing machine ... For me, Studio is a cool LDraw model rendering engine. That's it. Seeing how TLG is cutting through the BrickLink garden, it will certainly remain like that. I appreciate when the software improves rendering wise. Best Thorsten

WHAT? I did not watch that video as others did and pointed out the ... way they researched. So they are pulling the environmental card? For train wheels??? Man. They should just reduce their cardboard box sizes to what is environmentally friendly and will make an orders of magnitude higher impact on the environment. I really don't like it, when someone tries to ride this wave - with zero impact: Trains - as they repeatedly said - are a niche (in a niche). What about life-time? These new material wheels do live how long? And then they are replaced? Phew. They should be careful pulling that card. In a niche. Best Thorsten

https://www.songtexte.com/songtext/madonna/material-girl-3d6953f.html (Boy or girl or in between doesn't matter) Please tell me that you did see this coming. What else? A very big company buys a comparably negligible company. Value-wise that is. Competition-wise it sucked a little - as the little one was doing nasty things. What on earth would be an alternative? Telling people that up to now, making stuff not approved by Big Brother was bad, but now, as Big Brother has acquired the place selling that bad stuff, selling it is not bad anymore? Really??? This is the most logical thing to unfold. And it will continue for sure - in the end everything will be as Big Brother wants it to be. He paid for it! Best Thorsten

I don't get the Li battery issue. There are LiPos everywhere in the house. They can all potentially blow up. Plus: Wouldn't a disclaimer like: "It is always your fault, when you buy stuff from this site" be enough? How on earth do the cell phone producers get away with this? Today, even babies to 6 years old get cell phones (only for safety or when they pee in their pants you get instant messaging), so it can't be for the "it's a toy and thus everything is getting crazy" stuff. Something is odd here. Honestly? I believe they do it to simply have their way. And that's all there is to it. SBricks gone from the site, you name it, so we buy LEGO stuff like PoweredUp - from that site. That I can readily understand. It is what companies do out there. It's normal. LEGO is not Santa, nor charity. They are a full blown corporate company acting world wide and high up with a very smart and top notch marketing department telling us again and again how much they do care. And they do - but in the end of the day, when the going gets tough, these folks need to take care of things. As Apple does. Or Aramco. Or Shell. Or Danaher. It is normal - in this world of me or you. They don't make wooden toys with almost zero profit anymore. They ride the big waves. I believe. But what do I know. I am just now making a shelf for my Black Pearl. She came from China and got a - I'd say serious - overhaul from Denmark. It works for me. And to be honest, after feeling very bad about what I did ... it is getting better and better. They close down this and that, I buy this and that form somewhere else. After all, we are living in a free world. Sort of. At least from where I live it looks like. When you don't look too close. Or even a little closer. Better look away. All the best, Thorsten

Hee hee ... two hours and counting ... Best Thorsten