knotian

I'm doing several round towers for an industrial MOC. I'm using the semi-traditional 1x2 + round method. My question is- Has anyone seen or done a tower that had a taper to it? In other words was smaller at the top. I want to do a blast furnace and they typically have a tapered profile. My solution so far is to have several levels that will have plates across and decreasing the diameter at each level. The plates and associated railings are visible on many photographs of existing furnaces, so I don't think the 'steps' in the towers diameter will be too noticeable. I'm just looking for alternatives. Ed

AVCampos; I know that but you still have to have power to run. Having pickups from the powered rails to the pf motor would allow not having to build a battery into the train.

As a late starter with trains I am using the pf motors in MOCs. Most of the club has 9 volt track. If there was a set of 9 volt wheels in a block with a pf connector on top. With that pf trains could run on powered tracks. Ed

Amazing! Will you have plans available? Ed

Sorry- I need to be specific. I guess since I posted it in the Technic Lego site, that certain things would be assumed. I want to 3D print Lego parts and I want the best filament to use that results in a part that is as close as possible, in strength, to the plastic used in Lego. One that would allow the best clutch characteristics. VOC's during the printing process do not bother me. These will not be played with by children. Smell while printing is not critical, but being rank after printing should be avoided. I would like it to be commercially available, not an R&D specialist product. I will be printing slightly modified, or original Technic Parts.

There are several different types of filament available. Has anyone had experience enough to recommend the best filament? Thanx, Ed

Just entered my pledge. Looks great!

Great. Clean simple and functional. Ed

Thank you very much. I should have checked the scale - I thought you used some sort of 1/4 cylinder that I couldn't find Ed

One basic question please. What is the part number and name for the curved sections of the engine boiler? I need to build some large round towers and these should do the trick. Thanks, Ed

Ian Just a quicky. Robot c changes the firmware in the EV3, BUT mindstorms still runs. No card needed. Robot c is pc based, has an development environment, and you just compile and download the programs to the EV3. You can run them with a debugger, from the pc that shows the EV3 screen on the PC. Cost is $49/ year or $79 permanent. I'm just getting started but it looks good so far. Ed

Ian, I finally got everything running with RobotC and the EV3. I found good drivers and a test program. Works fine but the range is very poor. The normal Lego IR control for trains works very well and it's range FAR exceeds that of the IR-Link. Looking at the HT construction it may also have something to do with the design of the housing. Maybe you have a technical bent and can find the technical specs on the emitter and it's output power. I've looked and have had no luck. I'm going to put this portion of the project on hold and get everything else running. I was even wondering if a servo, hooked to the dial, plus another motor to push the control button combined with the Lego controller would work - very awkward. Good Luck in your project. Ed

Is there any chance of a drawing or other plans? Love to build one.

Gentlemen, I looked at the C code in Xander's drivers and it seems to support ComboDirectMode. Like I said I have not gotten that far yet. Ed

It is probably me, but attempting to follow the EV3Dev instructions to set up communications between the PC and the EV3 got me completely lost. Thats why I switched to RobotC. If I could get communications going I would rather stay with EV3Dev. Ed

Ian; Progress - of a sort. I have finally settled on RobotC. I'll have to re-learn C (it's been 25 years or so), but kinda looking forward to it. I found that Bot Bench, a RobotC support site, has a driver set that includes, I hope, all the stuff for the EV3 to use the link sensor. The drivers have to be compiled and included in the C code, so I'm pretty sure that I will have to use RobotC, not the graphical or natural language versions. I hope to have it tested out before my free trial is up. As an aside the Bot Bench download also has test program source code. I believe the site will be a good resource. Xander, the owner of the site has answered questions and blog reply's very rapidly. Ed

Ian- Welcome to the wacky world of the IRLink sensor. Using it is a 'ball of worms' that I am trying my best to figure out. First of all there WAS!!! an irlink block that was supplied by hitechnic. HOWEVER, Lego changed the firmware on the EV3 in a later upgrade and it no longer works. According to HiTechnic there is no timetable for developing a new one. Their technical support person Colton has been a great help to me. Alternatives:- 1- Robot C. That is the software recommendation of HiTechnic since it has the facilities to use the IRLink. [[[ Warning ]]] If you are planning on growing your layout and involvement in EV3, Robot C DOES NOT SUPPORT Daisy Chaining of the EV3's. Also RobotC has a reasonable cost associated with it and a 30 day trial. I made a post last week in this forum asking for help on finding a solution that would handle the sensor and chaining. No results. 2.Obtain a earlier release of the EV3 firmware and the control block from HiTechnic and see if you can get that working.I believe you have the sensor already, if that was your picture.The following was a e-mail from Lego I received yesterday. I have not tried it yet. If it doesnot work I may ask the Eurobrick community if someone has a 2-3 year old download that they would share. ""I hope all is well with you! I would be happy to provide you with a link to the 1.2.1 version of the Education software as that is the earliest version that we still have available to us to send out. Here is the link for both PC and Mac. PC https://fileshare.corp.lego.com/t/3dbht8ws MAc https://fileshare.corp.lego.com/t/zjphriam"" 3.EV3Dev - this is where I am now - trying to get it installed and communicating with the PC. Python has the necessary code to do the interaction but I have not gotten to the point of trying it yet. 4.SBrick and it's kin. I don't want to consider this yet. My hope was to develop a smaller layout similar to the Sioux.NET on Track project. Utilizing EV3's. SO! That's where I am. I have not given up---yet. Let us keep this thread going and share problems/solutions. Drop me a PM with your e-mail if you want to go private on our discussions. I wish you the best of luck. Ed PS - If any of you other readers have ideas PLEASE jump in.

I've been searching Bricklink to find this (Triangular piece included picture) piece but I evidently don't have the correct nomenclature. Does anyone have the part name or number, I'd sure like it. I'd like to build a couple of dumping cars for a demo. Thanx, Ed

I seem to have put myself in a problem situation. I have a project that uses the HiTechnic IRLink and will need Daisy Chaining of the EV3. The later releases of the EV3 programming (Drag and Drop blocks) no longer work due to firmware revisions made by Lego. There is support for the IRLink from RobotC, but that, to my knowledge, does not support Daisy Chaining of the EV3. I have contacted Lego, no response yet, about getting earlier firmware releases. There are alternative programming options through EV3Dev such as Lejos, but their (lejos.org) server is down. Has anyone used an environment that will support both needs? Any help would be appreciated. Thanx, Ed

I have tried various sorts to no avail. Is there an import duty on parts bought from Europe? Amount? Can I have a specific, recent, answer from someone who has done it? I need to order relatively large quantities of odd parts and all the vendors with sufficient quantity seem to be in Europe. I prefer to get US parts but having to split the order among several vendors becomes costly. Does any one have the code for Lego parts so I can search the federal data base? Thank you, Ed

Is there any alternative to this for EV3? The HiTechnic IRLink does not work with EV3 LabView since the EV3 Software has been upgraded. ( From Hi T Tech support) I'm not sure I want to switch to RobotC just to get the capability of EV3 wirelessly operating Power Functions with the IR Receiver.

I am working on a coal handling facility including a mine hoist and a facility for loading cars. It will use the EV3 and a color sensor (Cars have a colored panel) to trigger an animation series. Motors control the hoist, a conveyor taking material from a hopper to the cars. I'm going to try and get an rc link (third party device) established between the EV3 and an RC train to position the cars for loading. Several other items in the works are a hump yard with the EV3 controlling switches based on the color of the cars. I'll admit seeing what Sioux is doing got me started.

Brilliant - There has got to be a set of plans for this under everyone's Christmas Tree---HINT Merry Christmas, Ed

Is there a way to get rid of the dialog that comes up when I try and copy. I don't remember this happening before but I had to do a reinstall today. Also when I make a group I do not seem to be able to delete a selection from it. Any help would be appreciated.

Another reason is "Corporate Identity". Safety issues aside, while very important, are secondary to 'Corporate Needs'. Yellow for Volvo and Caterpillar, Red for Sandvik, etc. If safety were the main issue, research has proven that a eye piercing bright lime green has the best visibility in different visual conditions. If you look at large crawler cranes you will note that the also have outriggers. Their great height presents a weight and moment problem that necessitates outriggers.