knotian

I'm sorry but all I have (Firefox) is copy link location. Do I have to do something to dropbox?

I'm new to posting pictures. I copied and pasted dropbox addresses in my post. Just the links show up and must be clicked. Is there a way to have them display automatically? Would be easier for the viewer. Thanx, Ed

I' finally gotten to a stage when I can post a few pictures of a rather large MOC that I have started. It uses and EV3 as well as S-Bricks and will eventually include several more modules (Coke Furnace, Industrial Rail, Coal mine Head-works and Tipple, cooling ponds etc). I am limiting myself to a final 6 x 12 baseplate footprint, 4 standard tables. Currently it is 3 x 5 baseplates. The attached pictures show the overall current MOC, (I un wired it for a show, that is why there are wires all over the place), as well as the Blast Furnace and Pig Iron Machine, Air Furnaces, Blower engine, Primary Dust catcher, Smoke Stack, Bessemer Furnace and overhead Gantry. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ith9x7w75g8bvdn/20171207_115228.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/w0o1otgiru3r1ij/20171206_111004.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/8atqs2zwjwplwux/20171205_085925.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/xor3xb00hou5ufx/20171205_122628.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/4icacggeik469x8/20171205_145838.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/avzirbrwqs2n87r/20171205_144600.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/cuwg8b9mmjfhr5e/20171206_113237.jpg?dl=0 The original Idea came from the Sloss mill in Birmingham. The smoke stack has, partially seen, a L and an M which is for the Legonite Mining Company. Below is the one car I have built so far - a modified thermos car. Thanx, Ed

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wgemini Your question is one that anyone contemplating the entrance to robotics and or automation of Lego should ask. First of all the mindstorm language is excellent - but you have to get past the elementary stuff to really see it's power. THE MAJOR LIMIT is restrictions to using Lego sensors and motors. Granted there are SOME third party vendors that supply 'blocks' for the mindstorm programs to utilize. But some are not updated when Lego upgrades it's software. If you are not a programmer and want to stay with mindstorms it is a good choice. Now for the flip side. When you want to journey past mindstorms (staying with EV3) you will have a gazillion decisions to make as far as languages. And a steep learning curve is to be expected if you are not a programmer. If you want to start an epic adventure in using Lego and computers, you also need to consider costs. [After 4 motors and 4 sensors you will need another computer] You can do a lot better than the EV3 with Ardunio, Raspberry, PC (Scratch is rapidly advancing - I hope) etc etc. This allows you an unlimited vista to explore. One last confusion for you if you want to stay with EV3, look at the Lego Education website. The EV3 there is a better deal that includes the rechargeable battery pack and a whole bunch of parts. Now to really mess with you - I am a 40+ year computer nerd and am staying with EV3 and Mindstorms so I can use it as a teaching tool. Just consider all options.

LegoMonorailFan / JopieK Do you have a link to that video? Thanx, Ed

I've seen several turntables but I have not found any with plans. Does anyone know of any? It only has to be small as all I will turn small engines. Thanx, Ed

The lack of a remotely controlled coupler in Lego Trains, or at least the availability of easily installed decoupling points is a major limitation for the use of Lego in an industrial setting. The capability of spotting cars, making consists, and dropping off cars would be a fantastic increase in Lego utilization. The motor operated 'push' decoupler is the only viable option at this time and it make as engine too long to be used as a switcher, or yard engine.

Does anyone produce plain power function connectors so I can make some custom length cables without splicing? Thanx

I have a program with several sequences and it all works well. One of the sequences has a wait block at it's start that is waiting for an train to pass in front of an infrared sensor. All works well when the train passes. The wrinkle is that sometimes there is no train. I would like to program an interval to end after (n) seconds if the sensor is not activated. Basically an or situation, where the sequence wil end after n seconds or the sensor is activated. Any help would be appreciated. Are their any EV3/mindstorms programming forums? I found several for other languages, but I am staying with the graphical language for educational purposes.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help. I believe Saberwing brought out the killer item (slip ring). So I am going to use a mix of equipment. Both will use sbricks for control. The equipment that does not move very far/fast (Continuous miner) will have a faux cable and a reel with a twisted rubber band for power. The other equipment (Shuttle car, bolter, etc) will use the battery models like in 'real life'. Thanx, Ed

I'm looking for something like a flat cable that can be easily rollod up on a small drum.

I'm modelling underground mining equipment. Many of these are electrical ( in the real world) and use power cables that extend and retract as the equipment moves. Does any one have an idea for a mechanism to do this in a piece of lego equipment. The problem is that the Lego power cords are so stiff. I've had limited success with EV3 cables from a third party. I cannot find a vendor of PF connectors or I would build my own. Any ideas? Thanx

Quandary. First I apologize for the long post. I have finished the first stage of a large industrial MOC. So far it has 4 motors for several models AND 4 channels on an sbrick for an overhead crane. ( with more to come) I'd like some suggestions as to how to proceed with the animation/automation. I'd like to use a laptop as a central control point. I understand that sbrick is working with scratch on a pc interface. I have read that a pc running windows can communicate with an EV3 with Bluetooth protocol. Has anyone done any work with any kind of an integrated environment. Ideally I would like to make the EV3 sensor readings available to the pc and then issue commands to either EV3 motors or sbrick motors. The sensor capability of the sbrick is not versatile (at this time) to use a full range of EV3 sensors. Am I "beating a dead horse" with trying to keep the Ev3 + sbrick + pc in the loop or should I do a switch to Ardunio / Raspberry Pi / NanoPC etc? I 'was' an experienced programmer before retiring and am leaning towards a micro solution to get in a single language environment. Any help/comments would be appreciated. If you would rather continue this topic privately, drop me a message. Thanx

I use some as wheels to turn valves in an industrial setting.

Thanks for the explanation but it still makes it hard to build long walls out of textured bricks.

I saw a tire, without rim, mounted on edge at the base as a shock absorber.

Here is the left side The right side is aligned. I can't up load the two pictures. Any smaller and detail would be lost.

I was building a long wall out of 1x2 bricks offsetting each row (running bond). I was building it on a baseplate (Tan 32x32, which I hope is immaterial). As I built the wall I noticed the baseplate curling up. All the bricks had been in the same place in the room so there was no temperature differential. I finished out the wall to 32 studs long. Very noticeable curve. I removed the wall and placed it vertically on a flat (tested) surface The wall was straight and level. I then laid the wall on its side and carefully aligned the leftmost brick stud with the leftmost stud on the baseplate. The rightmost studs were VISIBLY NOT in alignment. Not quite 1/2 stud off, with the wall studs being 1/2 studs shorter than the baseplate. Each side was the same. Does anyone know what is going on? I had been wondering why I could not get large structures to fit correctly on the baseplate. Thanks, Ed Bardet

LucyCol's suggestion is good. I am an experienced programmer and they helped make the transition to 'block programming'. Ed

Without taking anything away from the excellent scale vehicles displayed in this forum------- I would like to see more non vehicle scale models. As an example I am working on a minifig scale Blast furnace and casting facility. It combines technic, remote control (Sbrick), train and and EV3 controlled elements. Having a place to show this kind of a combined build would be nice. The ones that are on the forum show excellent work and I guess I'm interested in promoting scale modelling and 'multi-media' type builds. Ed

Please disregard

I have a cast iron model of this tank inherited from my grandfather. Excellent model. Ed

Thank you very much. Ed

At a show I saw a 9 volt controller very similar to the Electric Train Speed regulator (2868b) but with multiple outputs and what looked like switches. I was not able to ask about it. Does any one know what it was called and it's item number? Thanx, Ed