benredstar

Thanks! Let me test this on the EV3 and I'll see what happens! Do you mind if I come back to ask more questions? /ben

Thanks. To clarify - are all those text nodes looking at the SAME external file? How do the motor nodes understand which bit of the text file is relevant to them? /ben

I'm not using any language. I'm just trying to figure out how do-able this is. I'll look at X3... /ben

Hello all I'm new to Mindstorms and I am trying to figure out whether the system will let me do something before I leap in. Here's a sketch of what I want to do, in the hope someone can help me. Is it possible to use Mindstorms to instruct a motor to follow a sequence of events it reads from an external file? E.g. - perform 10 rotations over 10 seconds perform 12 rotations over 10 seconds perform 18 rotations over 10 seconds perform 20 rotations over 10 seconds and so on and so on, potentially for hundreds of lines The goal here is to build a machine that can follow very precise programmed sequences. The data that drives that would have to be held in external files (probably just text files, or some sort of database) rather than constructing it in the Mindstorms app from potentially hundreds of blocks. Thanks in advance! /ben

Awesome! Do you know the part # for fhat 1M with friction?!

Hello Technic Wizards I am building a mechanism using worm gears https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?id=1311#T=C. However, the ones I have in my collection have no friction against the cross axle I slide them onto; they just freely slide up and down. Is this the normal behavior? I need them to be fixed to the axle so they actually push things! Thanks in advance if anyone can throw any light. /ben

So I installed the new LDD update and... ...is it just me or can you only access the new parts when running in extended mode? They don't show up in the part bins in the "normal" mode. /ben

Hello all Bricknerd has linked me to this amazing Y-Wing MOC and the builder has provided instructions and a parts list! Does anyone know a quick and easy way to get this parts list directly into Bricklink so I can buy all the bits! Thanks! /ben

Can someone please help with a BrickLink issue. I have a piece on my wanted list which I want to buy 4 of. But when I go into a store, I sometimes see many of the same parts offered for sale, such as in the picture beneath. https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing This is annoying since if I now click “Auto Fill Cart Min” I get 4 of each of these items; when I only want 4 in total. I now have to go through the whole list removing all the ones I don’t want, which takes ages. Is there a way to hide all these multiple copies of the same item? I don’t really understand what difference the store perceives in them, they’re all “new”; what’s the A-1 A-10 A-3 business all about? Also when I browse my wanted list “By Shop” I see the column “Lots (Unique)” like in the below picture. I get this is telling me how many of my wanted list items the store sells; but I don’t get what the Lots are what the Unique Lots are. https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing Can anyone help? Thanks! /ben

Hi all Can anyone tell me what sort of elements they've currently got in the pick a brick wall at the Sheffield LEGO Store? I'm wondering if it's worth a trip out there to stock up on bits. I'm building microscale space mainly, so I really need fiddly little spacey bits. /ben

Hello all With Episode VII appearing in cinemas at the end of the year, and the Millennium Falcon clearly having a starring role, does anyone else think next Christmas would be an excellent time for LEGO to release a new, updated UCS Millennium Falcon... with a *rectangular* radar dish! I for one would vote with my wallet! /ben

Hello all I'm planning to spend my VIP points at shop.lego.com Can someone tell me whether, if you use the points to buy something, you earn more points on the purchase? /ben

Hello all I've just sold a couple of sets and I have bunch of money to burn! Recommend me a set to buy - I want the set that offers the best building experience as I will inevitably sell the thing on Bricklink when I've finished it. I've been considering the UCS B-Wing; or one of the modular buildings; or that 10228 Haunted House. /ben

Hello all Firstly, apologies if this thread is deemed off-topic - I wanted to post to the buy/sell/trade forum but it won't let me for some reason (?). Anyway, here's the thing:- There's a LOT of new sets I'd like to buy and build in 2013; more than I can really afford or find space for. What I'd like to do is buy the sets new from LEGO direct, build them and keep them for maybe 6 months and then, unless they're worthy of being kept permanently, sell them on. If I could get a reasonable fraction of the original buying price I'd be happy with this arrangement. However I have a few questions and maybe some of the folks here can suggest answers... Can anyone recommend the best forum for selling used sets? Ebay? Would it make sense to sell them with their boxes and instructions et al or just as parts (saves postage too)? What sort of price should I set for a used set? E.g. if a set is £100 new is it worth £75 used (presuming no retailer starts discounting it meantime).]? Any help appreciated! /ben

Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread; especially Matt the Tuba Guy who's answer was very useful. You have high praise for this set indeed and I think I'll take your advice and snap one up before they discontinue it. /ben

In a word: yes. I think the quality of products coming out of TLG are as high as they have ever been. They've very effectively turned themselves out of the doldrums they were in 10-15 years ago and are at the top of their game. /ben

Hello all This may have been asked before; but why do LEGO sets include so many spare parts and why are they so consistent? I can understand that production processes might mean they deliberately put extra pieces in the sets to insulate against the risk of the set missing pieces. But the spare pieces are very consistent; suggesting their quality control processes are sufficient to put the exact same spare pieces in each set time and time again. In which case why bother at all; since you can apparently control the set contents so thoroughly?! Someone said something once about a weighing machine, but not sure that makes any more sense. /ben

Hello all I note on the homepage there is to be a new flagship Technic set. Does anyone know if 8043 the Motorized Excavator will be be discontinued soon?! thanks! /ben

Hello everyone I am very pleased and slightly surprised that this thread started such an interesting debate. Just to clarify what some including tedbeard seem to have thought – I wasn’t suggesting that all bricks should be 1x1x1 cubes as clearly that would be almost unusable; rather simply that the foundation of the LEGO system could have been cubic whereas in fact it’s 8mm x 8mm x 9.6 mm. From the posts here it seems the consensus, which I agree with, is simply that when the LEGO system was designed no one really thought through the implications of this; and that probably the dimensions were selected so that a 4x2 brick would look more visually appealing. Fyrmedhatt notes that in fact LEGO’s system was based on a preceding toy line called Kiddicraft; which I didn’t know. More info here: http://www.brickfetish.com/timeline/1947.html Most interestingly however several posters including Polish Guy and Call Me Pie Or Die observe that in fact the failed Modulex product line from the 60s did exactly this. (If you’re not familiar with Modulex there’s a great article here http://minibricksmadness.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Saving-Modulex2.pdf). Check out the picture here [http://images.wikia.com/lego/images/a/af/Modulex_comparison.png] to see differences with Modulex bricks and normal LEGO bricks and note that they are indeed based on a cubic system. What’s really interesting however is that with Modulex plates and tiles were only one half of the height of a brick, rather than one third as in normal LEGO. However I think my original point remains: if the bricks were cubic building would be a LOT easier. Here’s an example – imagine if you stack two travis bricks [http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/4733] on top of each other. You can’t then take a 2x1 plate and attach it to the studs on the side – because the additional height of the bricks makes the studs on the sides too far apart for the plate. If the system was all cubic however, like Modulex, then this would work and it would mean all sorts of new building combinations would be possible. Perhaps, as Dfenz observed, that would make building less of a challenge – but I don’t think the designers of the LEGO system ever intended to make it a challenge, they just wanted to make it fun! /ben

Hello all The recent LEGO Minecraft set highlights something I have often wondered: why aren't LEGO bricks cubes? A 1x1 brick is TALLER than it is wide and long, and as a consequence the LEGO system makes it comparatively difficult to build in different directions. You have to develop all sorts of tricks to match stud lengths in the vertical and horizontal and you consequently need all sorts of odd bricks (like the headlight brick, with it's brick-width cutout section) to make things possible. I can only presume that when the LEGO system was designed it was simply never imagined that anyone would ever build in any direction other than bricks stacked on top of each other; and that making the bricks slightly taller than they are wide made the 4x2 brick (the basic brick) look slightly more, well, brick-like. It is interesting to speculate what a cubic-brick LEGO system would look like and the possibilities it would offer to the builder. /ben

Hello everybody! After several years lurking on the fringes of Lego I have begun to build again and I seem to be now churning out Microscale Space creations at a surprising rate. What I'd like to ask is whether anyone has any good ideas how best to get hold of parts suitable for Microspace building. Up to now I've been just buying sets; but of course they tend to contain a lot of large elements and comparatively few of the fiddly little elements you need to detail a Microscale creation. Anyone have any good advise?! thanks! /ben