shroomzofdoom

Thanks for the lead @vascolp! This approach took me further than I could've gone on my own and I really appreciate it. Rather than clutter up this thread with code blocks I hosted the snippet on an external site I recorded it with the terminal in the background so you can see how it worked out. I had some accuracy concerns with this approach. Although I'm pretty sure the accuracy has a lot to do with my garbage coding skills and the memory used to keep printing the results to the terminal: angle = shifting.angle() tangle = trunc(angle/90)*90 When I took the print function out, it worked better but I still have the problems that @gyenesvi mentioned. I figured it would be something like this but I was struggling with the exact implementation. This gets me pointed in the right direction. A million thanks! There's a reason that I buy MOCs from you, rather than the other way around. Not sure why I didn't think of this solution, thank you for the suggestion! I am going to redesign the location of the shifting motor to include a physical limiter to prevent the shift between 1 and 4. The transmission is rock solid and there is no slipping, however the backlash that occurs during this shift is significant (lots of power) and will likely lead to destruction while I am button mashing. BTW the truck is a modified 42070 chassis, slightly elongated to accommodate massive 11.5cm wheels. No center diff (of course) and all drive axles are fully locked. I'm using 4 Technic L motors for power, meshed through 16t gears. I was sure to use no axle longer than 7M to support high torque. A Technic angular motor for steering, and the Technic/Education small angular motor to shift.

Hello everyone. I was a bit hesitant to install pybricks at first due to my somewhat primitive programming skills. But I'm ALL IN and have installed on all 8 of my compatible hubs! I love the PUP remote, the fast startup, the fact that I don't need my phone---- it's SOOO much easier than coding with the MS and PUP apps! Suggestion: someone asked above about downloading code. It's not perfect, but I cut/paste into Notepad++, format the files as .py and keep them on my C drive. Now for the favor... I've built a sequential 4 speed transmission to control an off road truck. For shifting, I'm controlling the orange Chiron selector with a small angular motor (45607). It drives great, but now I'd like to add the ability to display the current gear (1, 2, 3, 4) on the hub matrix display using: hub.display.char("1"), hub.display.char("2"), etc I've tried various methods such as reading the motor's encoder in the main loop and I've also tried implementing display changes from within the shifting subroutine. I'm bumping into issues because of the inexact readings from encoder (-87, -267, -184, -448) and for example, the 4>1 and 1>4 shifts because of the sequential nature. I've isolated just the shifting stuff from the main program and deleted all my failed code. I can include the whole piece of code if you think it would help but figured this would be easier to read. Any suggestions or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you kindly for any suggestions! # a program to use motor with rotation sensor to control a 4 speed sequential transmission from the PUP remote # display '1' on the prime hub matrix display while in first gear (0 deg) # display '2' on the prime hub matrix display while in second gear (90 deg) # display '3' on the prime hub matrix display while in third gear (180 deg) # display '4' on the prime hub matrix display while in fourth gear (270 deg) from pybricks.pupdevices import * from pybricks.parameters import * from pybricks.tools import wait from pybricks.hubs import PrimeHub remoteControl = Remote() shifting = Motor(Port.A) hub = PrimeHub() #initialize shifting motor to zero position so I start in first gear and display '1' on the hub matrix display shifting.run_target(300,0,then=Stop.BRAKE) hub.display.char("1") while True: pressed = remoteControl.buttons.pressed() angle = shifting.angle() # upshift by turning the shifting motor 90 degrees each time RIGHT button is pressed if Button.RIGHT in pressed: shifting.run_angle(1000, 90, then=Stop.HOLD, wait=True) angle = shifting.angle() print("Angle ",angle) # downshift turn the shifting motor 90 degrees each time LEFT button is pressed elif Button.LEFT in pressed: shifting.run_angle(1000, -90, then=Stop.HOLD, wait=True) angle = shifting.angle() print("Angle ",angle) else: shifting.brake # wait for 1/10 second to allow the shift to finish wait(100)

I called today to ask about the 3x19 frames and the new blue gears. The agent let me place an order over the phone even though they weren't available on the website. Anyone really itching to get some newer parts that are beyond the '3 month rule' should give them a call rather than waiting on them to be available on PAB. Huzzah!

Since it seems that the response to 'when will 3x19 frames be available on PAB?' or 'when will the new gears be available on PAB?' seems to depend on who you ask and when you ask it....I'm wondering if we can't use our AFOL muscle to place a few calls to Lego customer service and politely ask if they can provide specifics...then record those responses here. I work in a customer facing role at one of the largest publicly traded companies on Earth and we're not allowing to give an answer like "I don't know..." that phrase must always be followed by "...but I will find out." Maybe that's they key difference between public and private companies--accountability. If you're already profitable then you probably don't much care about your customers' opinions all that much but Lego does seem to care--they ask for our opinion often enough. I find it difficult to accept a long wait followed by another wait of indeterminate duration. I'm not suggesting that anyone call and act boorish or demanding: be polite and friendly and know that the person you're speaking with is probably doing the best they can with the tools their management has given them. But ask: 'Can you please tell me when ___ will be made available on the PAB?" There are bigger problems in this world today and we're just a bunch of grown-ups playing with toys. But in times like these, isn't leisure time part of how some people cope?

I was hoping the acquisition would lead to tighter integration. It's only been 3 years, I guess they need more time... https://www.bricklink.com/r3/announcement/lego_bl_faq.page https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news/2019/november/lego-bricklink

Nice work fellow flux-huffer! A little tip for separating those little click tabs on Lego connectors, motors, and sensors: use a heat gun on low setting to soften the plastic a bit then pry apart with your little screwdriver. To avoid overheating, wave the heat source across the item for 5-10 seconds then try to 'unclip' the housing. You'll find that the item is deformed somewhat on cooling which is actually a good thing for when it comes time to reassemble. After you've made the repairs apply a little heat to the plastic housing and then hold it together for a few seconds. I've broken all the wires to my motors at least once and used 26 ga hookup wire but as you've mentioned, it's too wide for the original strain reliefs. I'm excited to try out the wire you suggested! Ordered.

I was hoping to use this thread to share things people are trying with the new 69762 & 69761 gears. Below are some things I just discovered. Curious what you might be finding? Please share! Background: I build mostly crawlers and off-roaders so I almost never use open differentials. Even on new Lego A models (42069 & 42070 for example) I design out center diffs and lock the axles during the initial build. I'm crazy like that. I know all the reasons why I shouldn't, but that means you already know the reasons why I do. So when I saw the new gears in the Ferrari Daytona set (42143) I bought my first Technic supercar solely for the purpose of checking out the 69762 & 69761 gears. While I will get around to building the car someday, technic cars just don't excite me like motorized trucks do. I had to detour for a bit to see what was possible with the new gears. Here are a few things I've found so far... The larger 69761 gear obviously wouldn't have an axle hole... ...which implies there's no easy way to lock the diff without locking one of the outputs. It does like you could easily connect up to 5 different outputs to one input if you had enough of the smaller 69762 gears. I only have two at the moment Lastly, I found this interesting... Like most things Lego, the geometric proportions seem to elegantly flow to other elements. This doesn't permit locking up the larger gear in way, rather the larger gear acts as a bearing race allowing the smaller gear to be turned effortlessly inside of it's larger companion.

I just called lego.com customer service and inquired about the lack of availability on the PAB for the 3x19 frames (6377025). I was told that 3 months after set release is not a hard and fast rule. She suggested checking back 'in a couple of weeks.' Oddly, someone on brickowl has 73 of them available @ USD $6.95 each...so I guess someone was able to get their order in on time :-(

42140 App Controlled transformation vehicle was released on March 1 2022. I anticipated seeing the following items available around now however they're not even showing in 'out of stock': 6377025 FRAME 3X19 69779 LEGO Dark Azure Gear Wheel Z20 69778 LEGO Blue Gear Wheel Z12

I'm a new AFOL (50 years of age, but 2 in Lego years) I've spent alot of $$ assembling the top 10 Technic sets and, while PF has more compact motors, I find the plugs and IR limitations problematic. The Control+ programming environment is a major buzzkill and even though I can code, I just didn't want to deal with it. I was absolutely disappointed by the Zetros because it can only climb flat smooth ramps. By far, Gynesvi's C model buggy is way more fun. I really like the programming environment and flexibility of the new mindstorms hub if I'm going all lego. You can pair a bluetooth controller from a Playstation or Xbox and you can do more with it when compared to the other hubs....If I had it to do all over again, I'd have gotten the 51515 set much sooner.

I'll bet it's about eliminating the 12T spur gear. Those things suck. I have at least 40 of them warped, cracked, chipped, or too wobbly. Since I build mostly off-roaders I almost never use diffs...but make spools with the new 28T gears. I am really looking forward to trying to break these. 12T gears are the worst.

Make sure your calendar is free... You'll probably need to write the documentation for playOS too. https://racingbrick.com/powered-up-code-block-guide/ Maybe this will be the 'one OS to rule them all' kind of thing?

Make a 'unit' of something (example: a truss of lift arms and bricks), test it weigh it, and estimate the weight of the finished design. The issue I've had building with technic on macro-scale is the 15 unit liftarms. I think last time I measured it would take 28 15L liftarms to make about 3 lineal meters compared to roughly 21 3x19 frames. I'll bet the 3x19 frames would make this easier. It'll be another month before they're available and getting thousands of them maybe difficult. Lego engineers built a life sized working Bugatti, so don't let anyone tell you it's impossible. It's Lego, everything is possible. . If you look closely at this body you can see some cool techniques https://youtu.be/n-RtJOfFlZU

On the trans discussion, one practical use I saw for the trans angle liftarms was sn off brand tensegrity of the house from the Pixar movie "Up". Impractical as it may be, it'd be fun to see something intricate like 42100 in 100% trans with different color LED lighting up functions or something. I combined the led bricks with the motor from the latest batmobile and that looks pretty cool. As a kid, I had a thing for trans parts (giggity) and would collect them from all my sets because they're so different. Separate topic, but I found this interesting given the only two sets it appears in https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=80910

Ok, I guess I spend too much time on lego.com buying parts.

The off road buggy looks cool but it's virtually useless. It can barely climb small ramps. On the other hand, it's relative suckiness encourages you to learn how to improve models. The transforming vehicle works great and is a really well thought out design.

Thank you for clarifying! I totally missed that

That's interesting. The one you disassembled has axle outputs on both sides. More like what I was hoping to get when I ordered mine. The one I got only had the axle output on the 1L thick 'wheel' side

Considering your extensive work on the subject I figured the least I could do is perform a rudimentary geek test and share the video results. Thank you for all the hard work over the years, I use your page often! I tested with a Buwizz 3.0 (on 'Slow' and 'Ludicrous'), a Technic hub, and a the mindstorms hub. All fired the motor which I found surprising as well. I bought it primarily to fire a changeover catch, so it should do the trick.

Fantastic work! PS-two pages and no Dwight?

I stumbled across the 45607 motors on lego education a while back. They looked similar to the 45603 angular motors that came in 51515. The pics on the site aren't clear as to whether there is one or two axle outputs so I ordered one to find out. I was hoping to use this to fire a changeover catch on both sides of a transmission but I'll have to modify my design somewhat. Just figured I'd share that it only has one output. I'm not really a big fan of these rotating wheel output doohickeys.

Well, this is weird...I was messing around on the BAP site before the upheaval trying to get some of the new 3X19 frames, some bricks, and black 2L axles. I was also mowing through the UCS At-At inventory so I guess I added some additional things to my bag. The site is so awful I had no idea what I was even ordering! During the ordering blackout my order number completely disappeared from recent orders so I thought they killed it because I tried ordering the 3X19 frames. My card was never charged. 6-7 weeks later, this showed up (no 3x19 frames though). Oh well, only another 53 days to go before I can order those frames I guess? 3 month delay for newly released parts

Great book! Thank you for posting it!

I bought some bags of old technic parts from a garage sale and came across these. I'm still kinda new to Technic and I've assembled 20 or so sets from the last few years. I never came across this one. The imprint on it says '50722' but my searches kinda lead me to believe this may not be an actual Lego part. Anyone know for sure?