hollielucas

Related to my above reply, for simple on/off operation there is no need to use the relatively expensive Lego motors. Good quality motors with tapped holes on the front face allow a Technic brick can be bolted on, plates can also be glued to the casing. Heresy? Possibly, but I'll sort that out on Judgement Day!

Hi jacey98penny, what you want to do is perfectly possible without the use of phones, ble or control apps which may lose support. I have been running fairground rides with intermittent motion for 15ish years using simple dc motors controlled via an Arduino. However Lego, in their wisdom, no longer make a simple two wire motor. If you have the confidence, strip the excess 4 wires from a PU or the outer wires from a PF motor cable to leave just the 9V and GND power wires. If I understand correctly, you are not using motor feedback, so do not need more than theses 2 wires to switch the motor on and off. The motor can now be connected to an Arduino Motor Shield (or your own H-bridge circuit). For a purely Lego solution I find EV3 Mindstorms programmed with EV3Basic (a Small Basic plugin with thread support) or Pybricks the best solution, but, again, in their wisdom, Lego discontinued EV3. For the Technic Hub Pybricks is the way to go. The program is saved to the brick and does not rely on a phone, an app or bluetooth to work. I don't own a smart phone and use a mix of the above for 1-3 day shows with no problems. Whichever option you go for it will be beneficial to add acceleration and deceleration to the on/offs. 15 years ago I found a good introduction to the Arduino in a publication called "How To Build A Robot" by Denis Publishing Ltd, London W1T 4JD. ISBN 1-78106-313-3 EV3, PF and PU extension cables are available from PV Productions (workmanship not top notch) and Green Gecko Workshop.

Hi. Do not give up on the EV3, it is closer to a small computer than a (simple) motor controller. Just because it is "unsupported" does not mean it will not work (the Amstrad 464 has been unsupported for decades, but it still works). I can't get on with block programming and did not use my EV3 for a long time, then I discovered ev3basic - a set of functions for the much derided BASIC language, and, joy of joys, it supported threading. Ok ev3basic is now officially unsupported, but my EV3 does not seem to know as it runs all its programms like a dream. Pybricks is very good and uses the "more modern" Python language, but does not handle theading - essential in my view for sensor monitoring. Interrupts should be possible but require a deeper knowledge of computing. Try drag and drop blocks, and Pybricks, and ev3basic, them persevere with your choice (that's YOUR choice, not the naysayers and outdaters and unsupproters choice). The joy of pressing the start button and seeing your creation come to life through your programming is a wonderful thing.

Trust me, Lego bricks are real world items - tread on one and find out. Children play with a mish-mash of ojects, real world and not - ie imaginary. Cost, it doesn't matter. It all came out of the advertising buget. This advert is wacky and fun, AND it achieved it purpose of making people notice it.

1. I doubt it, they're still producing and we're still buying. But no doubt some people are are finding it all a bit familiar - if you need something new then more on, nothing wrong with that. I moved on to Lego Technic from elsewhere when that started to pale. 2. I doubt it. Some MOCs are very good and highly detailed and some just would not cut the mustard for a commercial Lego release, and bear in mind that some MOCs use "illegal" connections and techniques. A tiny vocal minority will critise any Lego release, and do not seem to understand that Lego produces toys, not scale reproductions, not RC hobby products, just catch-all toys. 3. Not for me, and not for the people I meet at meet-ups and shows. A big problem for some is that if Lego produced a fully featured, fully RC controllable model but used sytem parts to produce a smooth fully contoured body those people would cry "...to many sytem parts, it's not Technic...". Considering that many System builds (have to) use Technic for mechanical features, why the fuss about crossover? My view is that Mindstorms, Boost et-al should all be classed as "Technic" and most such distinctions should be removed by Lego. My last build (during lock-down) was a mash-up of Technic / Ninjago / Monkey King / Roller Coaster with Mindstorms control (to be didplayed at shows this year). My current build contains Technic / Monorail / Disney / Monkey King / who knows what, and, for some strange reason, I enjoy it. Yee haa. PS. If jaded with off the shelf Lego take a look at Lego Robot Wars.

Yes. There are too few differences between Technic and MS to make a difference to my mind. I don't understand why there are so many forums anyway, some with many subjects within them. Why not one forum with subjects selected on tabs?

I grow a bit jaded over the many derivitive Lego builds, but this.... This is simply sublime and deeply beautiful.

Agreed. It's all Lego, why all the divisions?

Replied as best I could but didn't like the marketing speak, and told them so.

Yahoo! It' great that you guys put in so much work to operate and intergate Lego hubs with a decent written language. Thank you.

This is great stuff, but bear in mind these are toy motors. There is no certainty that any two motors will consume the same power and rotate at the same speed. Simple visual observation has shown me that a motor runs faster in one direction than the other, hard coupling can amplify the inconsistances of both motors. Also, however good a rotary encoder is, the electronics will "move" far faster than the mechanical encoder and motor can. Lego robots are great fun but, unfortunately, for industrial quality you need engineered components driven by industrial quality programming.

I wouldn't go overboard for them. Nice to have in a parts collection for completeness but they soon work loose in use, 3/4 turns of 8851 turntable, and double nuts do not lock it either. Possibly why discontinued so quickly?

Not only a great model, but great photography too.

Nice compact model, but auto loading pictures would be nice.

Is there any need for this?

Eat your hearts out super car builders

Er, I'll own up to this, and I play them

Some people cannot appreciate the difference between left and right, front and rear, some cannot distinguish between shades of grey, yellow, red etc, some have dexterity problems - yet they enjoy playing with Lego, including Technic, and I am glad they are catered for. After all, if you don't like a product don't buy it and if you want an engineered model quality you may need to learn lathe skills.

Great depiction of a classic fairground ride. Dive bomber looks good too :)

I'm a few days late on this, but to refer to the original points: Numbered bags are most likely a Lego quality control thing, correct parts in bags. correct bags in box. Distinctly coloured bricks at stategic positions definatly help builders with impared vision. However I do ignore the instruction to sort into coloured piles :)

Who said Trchnic can't be cute. A beautiful little construction. Many years ago I had endless fun with the wind-up motor, wore it out.