Toastie

Oh, please let me know, when you do so! This will be very interesting. Good luck for your work and efforts! All the best Thorsten

But that would not solve the problem, would it? I tried that as well on my RCX controlled trains. The thing is at low power settings (regardless how you "slope" them), basically nothing happens - other than motor whining. And then all of a sudden, all hell breaks loose. OK, it is not all hell That is the problem with low torque at low power motors, isn't it? Best Thorsten

I know exactly what you are talking about. Exactly. Was the same here. For more than 30 years. OK, this will get me in trouble, but >€/$600 for this set is >equally immoral<. Totally. And this craziness - these are ABS bricks after all, and there is nothing special about them - should you not be interested in the minifigs (I am not, zero) - dragged me to the dark side. I know: You'll never ever. However: Why not trying it out? <$/€ 40 and you have a Pearl. She is wonderful. I am happy to share a photograph of here (modified with LEGO bricks) showing here sailing along ... TLG makes this set anymore, since ages. And they never will "as some golden moulds, decorated with a golden tooth of Captain Jack Sparrows are gone forever". Man. And when you feel so bad, trash her. It was a lot of money, $/€40, but then you know for sure. Did it only twice in my life; the Flying Dutchman simply dwarfs everything TLG ever made, ship-wise, and she sits next to the Pearl. And to TLGs Silent Mary. They are true Beauties. Oh well, maybe I'll be in deep trouble now. By one thing is for sure: Not one second I'll regret what I did. All the best, Thorsten Sorry, back on OP topic: The entire 12V train line. Regardless which set: This was (and still is) out of this world. The love and compassion put into this line of sets/world is - for me - the ultimate incarnation of LEGO. Best, Thorsten

Well. No. I believe - I don't have an SBrick though. However, there are two things a bit in your way. For one, the train motors expose a "light weight" motor response (cf. Philo's motor comparison page): The torque is next to nothing. Such a motor gains all its power at high speed ... the gearing in the motor tells you that right away. With that the other issue is that for program control, i.e., feedback loops, you need a sensor that tells you the actual rpm's on any train axle. As far as I know, TLG only (optionally) equipped the RCX Brick with a (TLG) rotation sensor. As far as I know. So I build this, which is however no option for you as well (beware though: >10 years old!!!) because he RCX is too big: The combination PUp hub + PUp L motor would do, when you use the "motor speed" setting in your program and not the "motor power" setting. The PUp L-motor has an onboard rotation sensor, which the hubs do read - and thus they can control the speed by dynamically by adjusting the power delivered to the motor, when you ask them to do that. Furthermore, the PUP L-motor has a gearing that gives it much more torque at lower power (per se). Programming a ramping function for the train motors (9V, RC, PF) never worked for me. The friction forces of the trains I ran this way were simply too "incalculable" by any program. But maybe others here on EB know better! Best Thorsten

LEGO Technic at its best! Wow so nice to look at. I really agree with @Gray Gear: It is kind of magical. Thank you very much for sharing! Best Thorsten

Just for fun - we loved this place despite its insanity. And then of course ... One ingenious guy on a guitar, one of the same kind on a bass guitar - and a machine on the drums ... and then all that ... calmness ...

Emanuele (@LEGO Train 12 Volts) ... your country is a place of harmony, of natural colors, of beautiful buildings ... and of history. This MOC reminds me of - Italy. Wish I were there. So many wonderful places. And I congratulate @Padlix for this fantastic creation. I don't care about IDEAS, but I do very much appreciate wonderful models. You did it. All the very best, Thorsten,

This is how it should go more often in life, isn't it? Nice! In the big EB-here * is, in the TrainTech-here and some other here's tolerance is a big thing as well, and when you don't use the bullhorn equivalent for posting (what would that be a bullpost?), i.e., when you do it, how you did it, then nothing much will happen (other than folks getting interested and hear about your experience :)) Best Thorsten

Man. Mentioning that number was so - sorry - dumb. Are you sure that you did not pay attention to the keyboard and accidentally pressed 1 instead of 2? You certainly are a very polite person! But this is of course entirely up to the mods here, like @Jim and @Peppermint_M and many others. They do a fantastic job keeping things clean here. "Clean" as in "AFOL clean". Also, please accept my apologies for making the jokes I made. No one here has >ever< paid any money to anybody to push ranks. The forum software counts posts and assigns the ranks accordingly. There is a fixed post-number-to-rank scale, I believe in the Help forum. Google knows where that is hiding. Sometimes some folks do get a favor - and that makes all the difference here. Because educated and caring people spend a considerable amount of their time to run this site. I can't think of any other so nicely and carefully organized forum as this one. For me, it is an honor to be here and to make my jokes, comments, and original posts. Was it 1 or 2? Best wishes and all the best(!), Thorsten

And that means: Rock on dude! Because you have all options! Personally I don't like to make changes inside a motor as then I need to keep track of which ones were reversed and which ones were not? So stickers are needed ... External cables are easily identified as changed. But: Do as you see fit! Best wishes, Thorsten

Just inspecting the link: Looks really good and will work. €80 is some number though. When you have that at your disposal for one crossing: Go for it. They have done all the hard work. When you are a DIY person and like to tinker with LEGO make your own. Optical detection is >principally< dirt cheap. Operating such a boom with a servo is a bit of overkill. Any rubber band/timing action will do. But you need an Arduino (or the like) etc etc pp. It will take some time. But is total fun to do. Best Thorsten

I absolutely agree. Don't want to be a smart a**, but when cutting the PF extension cable (all 4 wires), just swap the two inner wires and leave the two outer wires isolated. And there is no need to open the motor or do changes to the motor cable. As @zephyr1934 said: Use a PF extension cable. Here is some additional info on that, scroll down a bit to the entry of @UltraViolet Best Thorsten

I would turn that "doubt" into: "Never ever. Ever." Best Thorsten

Wow. This is really nice! Such clean lines - but all sorts of angles. Perfect usage of System pieces - mixed with Technic pieces. This is a true example demonstrating, why the SMF forum should be "re"merged with the Technic forum. Congratulations on your (progressing) model! Best Thorsten

Here's a paper on that - and also on the properties of repeatedly recycled/extruded ABS: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82756512.pdf - just read the five lines conclusion at the end. As @MAB said: Colors are a nightmare, as you would have to first separate the bricks into TLG's 5000+ colors - after all the other non-ABS crap has been removed. A washing cycle would be good as well. (Way far less labor would be to just erratically make the color "All Shades of Gray" and tell the SW folks that a mixed bag of these pieces does provide the ultimate authentic coloring for their MOCs) It simply will not play out financially, well not before petroleum becomes >really< expensive. Recycling back to the monomers (i.e. to the potent toxics acrylonitrile, butadiene, and styrene): No. Well. Never say "No"; H2 at insane pressures becomes metallic . Oh well, chemistry@work. Oops - that reminds me - tomorrow 10 am "Chemical Reaction Dynamics" - sh*t, I haven't uploaded the slides yet ... Best Thorsten

Could be. I doubt that though. Maybe folks on this forum have seen similar things in the past, I don't know (I just pop in here from time to time). Maybe folks on this forum are really experienced and wait for your next MOC to arrive and then become more responsive. Maybe they don't like to put a creation boldly onto a LEGO like box - there is some tension in this community about such things. It simply looks ... "off" ... here, that is. Your MOC is really(!!!) cool. And I am sure many others are sharing this notion. But posting in the Technic forum calls for patience. No reply = there is nothing wrong with EB at all. It just means: Maybe not rallying them up within this scope. Nothing wrong with that, as far as I am concerned. Does happen to me quite frequently. I am a nerd. Which certainly does not stop me from posting here on EB. We're special ... Best wishes, Thorsten

Why would you want to repair them then? Seems to be the same with a Model 101 Terminator ... they run for a very long time ... without repair (And I have NO clue what trucks do and don't - I am into bicycles ) Best Thorsten

Yes, we all had to do it. It pays off in the long run tough: You feel much better. 100 dollars will do though! Don't get @Jim more than that. He has sooo many sets. By the way, I believe that @dr_spock (and others!) got his (their) rank by spending 10 grand. I also believe that there is a calculator somewhere in the Help forum - or was it the Community forum - man. It is >sort of< an EB BitCoin thing. I believe the current exchange rate is 1 $ for 1 post. I also heard rumors that the money transfer never worked - came always back to the folks transmitting even insane amounts. Except for @dr_spock and folks of course. But they never share their approach The "post equivalent" value apparently always worked though. Crazy times, aren't they? I love this place. It really >is< fun. Here is to feeling good: Welcome again to EB! All the best Thorsten

WHAT? Your are kidding me. Just tried it: Page 2 loads - From top to bottom: Marked as unread. Found out that even page three loads . Always wondered what the numbers meant ... However, this is a little of concern: The sheer number of Technic posts (cranes, trucks, and cars) is certainly impressive. And the SMF entries will certainly not flood the Technic forum. It is the other way around, isn't it? A SMF entry may swiftly leave page 1. And then you need to find out about the page 2 secret. I believe that Technic folks will catch the SMF entries upon moving down the first page - and one comment puts them up front again! Man. Page 2. Best Thorsten

There is NTN (next-to-nothing) support from TLG - in an overall assessment make that zero. There are so many smart people out here and elsewhere - it is really hard to follow up. And stay informed. TLG left us with smart BLE devices, a protocol and is throwing apps at us. It seems they are also spreading the word to some which are meant to drive that into the public domain. We then have to figure out how the apps work and what they (can) do. TLGs programmable environment may be nice - but I'll never go there. C(++)? Yes. Python? Yes. 10 REM BASIC? FOR SURE: 20 GOTO 10. But once again: There are so many very nice approaches to achieve what you want, from volunteers. The public domain they are very smart in TLG marketing. Best Thorsten

Absolutely. When a material should "last forever" - and I believe this what you are pointing out here and so many folks want - then that material is per definition - "bad", environmentally, in the long run. Simply because when it survives lets say 100 years - and I believe ABS does, maybe a little discoloring but mostly not much (we are almost there: My and your bricks from 50 years ago still do their job), we are not even close to a half life. When we declare 10 half lives being the point that the ABS brick finally degraded (into what?), then we will >accumulate< ABS bricks for more years than the Neanderthals left this world. You can't get "forever" and "environmentally friendly" into one product or thing, as the latter means "biodegradable" or "recyclable" = bricks disintegrate while you store them, the latter means: Phew - a lot of work, which needs to be ABS specific when you want to make ABS bricks again - in a true TLG cycle industry . No idea, where TLGs overall environmental impact stands. They do make a lot of non-degradable plastic, but so do other companies as well. Plus: Bricks seem to being used for a very, very long time, whereas flat panels, smart devices required today for operating TLGs PUp stuff, and so many other "polymers" live for years. A few years. A couple. I believe we are all good. Let TLG do the bio-ethanol and maybe even more ... but we have really other - much bigger - fish to fry. Best Thorsten

You mean polyethylene (PE), which is made from ethanol, which can be made from sugar cane, right? I've never heard that ABS can be made from sugar cane using a reasonable synthesis pathway. The trees are not made from ABS. They don't have to, as they are far less stressed than any (ABS) brick is. Now with regard to texture, I believe this is purposely made during the shape forming process, not during the synthesis of PE. But I may be wrong. If I were them, I'd do it that way, so all folks see that (bio) ethanol was used as ethylene precursor and not steam cracked/refined petroleum Dehydration of ethanol yields ethylene, which in turn is used for polymerization to PE. When the (bio) ethylene intermediate is carefully cleaned, then there is no difference between (bio) ethylene = C2H4 and ethylene (C2H4). And thus the polymer should be identical, when using identical processes. Best Thorsten

these are typically the Theoretical Philosophy students. Others have a crate of beer and hand. The natural end of such a discussion is the empty crate. Best Thorsten

Never underestimate the value of philosophy! And discussions. As long as they are that: Philosophical discussions. (Usually such discussions derail after a couple of reply posts - but then they are not philosophical anymore) Best Thorsten