Phoxtane

Now I am wondering how hard it would be to make an IR ball like the HiTechnic one. There's some round PCBs, a handful of IR LEDs, a power supply, and some plastic bits. I think if the LEDs could be made to pass through the shell, the whole shebang could be 3D printed. At that point you'd only have to get the PCBs fabricated.

Are you sure you didn't push anything too tightly against beams, such as gears or bushes? That could be sapping some power. A good way to avoid this is to test the axles by hand while assembling them, and see if they can spin relatively freely.

Alright, so I got the booklet scanned just now! Here's what the front looks like. I'll be bundling this up into a PDF so it's more shareable And bundled it I have! This link may go dead in the future, so please contact me if you're reading this later on and you can't get at the file: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/84375076/LEGO%20Dacta%20-%20Teaching%20the%20Turtle.pdf

Unfortunately I only have the one manual. I never got any diskettes with it.

I think I may have one of those manuals lying around somewhere. If I do have it I'll see about making some time to scan it for you. You're talking about the manuals that tell you how to work in LOGO?

I whole-heartedly agree with this statement.

Today I finished sorting just about most of the parts in my collection that are available for use At this point, I still need to sort out things like Power Functions, NXT, and a couple of miscellaneous bins that I haven't touched in a while. They didn't follow any general rules as to what went in them so they didn't fit into my system of sorting at all. These, and the loose parts and sets waiting for disassembly will go into the master miscellaneous bin. I'll sort that out according to the same rules I have been following. I've been at this since late October. I currently have a total of 33,265 parts! I expect this to be higher as I clean up the rest, of course. It feels good to have this done; now I can get started on the ideas I've been saving up for a while now. It's a huge stress-saver as well. Does anybody else have similar stories to tell? Please share them if you do

The more mA the better! It'd be like the V2 receiver over the V1. You may need to add thermal protection if you go for the extra power though...

While going through my pneumatic parts in my ongoing quest to sort and catalogue my collection, I rediscovered that my single pneumatic hand pump is in dire need of some work. Here's a video, as that will explain better than anything else: While this is great in terms of comedic value [FWEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!] I would actually like to be able to use it. It's the biggest reason why I don't really experiment with pneumatics as it's such a pain to keep a motorized compressor on hand for those random moments of tinkering. I believe that it doesn't really work as a result of it having inadequate lubricant. In addition to this, the two small pumps off to the side in this video are suspect as well. I know for sure at least one leaks [i had to send off for a replacement; thus why I have two] and I am suspicious of the second one as well. I have a picture of what the cylinder looks like at the moment: Notice how towards the bottom there appears to be a ring of lubricant, and how cloudy the rest of the cylinder is. So, my questions are: Is there a way to fix this so I don't have to buy a new pump? And, in the future, how should I treat this hand pump so that this doesn't happen again? When I got it a while back I was happily pumping it as fast as I could go, but I suspect that may have had something to do with it.

But this is a temperate zone!

In meinem Deutsch-Klasse, wir gelernt 'Kleine kinder kann nicht kleine nuss knacken' fuer die Ausdruck der Woche. Es ist ein Zungenbrecher! Jedoch, Lego kann nuss knacken! Ich spreche einige Deustch, aber Google Translate hilft nur ein bisschen... [in my German class we have learned "Small children cannot crack small nuts" for the Expression of the Week. It is a tongue-twister. However, Lego can crack nuts! I speak some German, but Google Translate only helps a bit...]

Those headlights are brilliant. I may to steal that idea someday! The rest of the model is extremely good as well; it just works together and looks solid and chunky.

I don't quite know what you mean. Are you talking about the gearbox changeover catch? I don't quite see how these two pieces would even work together...

I found out which set I got these from: http://rebrickable.c...et-technic-2003 I must have a different variant from what exactly is there; I didn't get any green 40t gears, and my two 6588 gearboxes are trans-clear instead of yellow, among other more minor inconsistencies.

That I can: This was taken underneath one of those true-color bulbs. Although they may look brownish, the rubber rings and the plastic piece are the same color, and it definitely is a light bluish gray color! Whether or not the rings will change color over time due to exposure to sunlight remains to be seen, however.

Both the plastic and the rubber piece are the same color of light bluish gray, yes.

Thanks! The last time I tried to use them they wouldn't stay on the axle terribly well due to the rubber ring. I'll have to try again sometime.

I found a handful of these going through my gears and pulley wheel box, and I've no idea what part they are or what they were used for. Can someone enlighten me?

This truck goes to show just how well white works in Technic models. Guess I know what to use in my next build!

Shouldn't a chase vehicle actually help with the blurriness? By doing so you reduce the relative speed between the vehicle and camera. I'd think the background may get blurred. This should also apply to a panning shot as well, if I'm imagining the scenario correctly.

Well, so much for that update... I've been sorting my entire Lego collection ever since the CoWLUG display towards the end of October last year. I managed to speed things up dramatically by temporarily banning myself from playing Minecraft [which is still Lego, right?] but it still has taken me a while to get to the point of sorting my Technic pieces. I finished off some of the beams and connectors a few days ago and have just now completed dividing up the pins and whatnot into piles that I can then sort. Of course, then I had to go and accidentally catch my arm on the cord for my headphones, dropping them straight onto the pile of black friction pins, which of course had to go flying everywhere. It shouldn't be too long for me to finish sorting up the rest of my collection, which currently sits at around 20,600 parts in a Rebrickable database. I still have to count each and every one of those black friction pins. Any recommendations on how to do so effectively?

There was a discussion over at the Technic sub-forum on this; basically, those metal-springed suspension pieces will continue to work fine as there will be little, if any, noticeable 'creep' of the spring in the lifetime of the whole piece.

This looks a lot like Sariel's Kenworth Road Train. Is that where your inspiration came from?

So this was posted on my local LUG's Facebook page today. It'll be quite the shift for such a large consumer of plastic! http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/20140218/NEWS/140219915/lego-looking-for-a-sustainable-replacement-for-abs 'Lego A/S is setting a target to use a sustainable resin in its signature bricks by 2030, replacing ABS. The search for that new resin will not be easy, though, said Allan Rasmussen, senior project manager for Lego. Not only must the selected material be able to meet the same characteristics as the locking building blocks, they must also blend seamlessly with bricks already in children’s hands. “I need to find a material that is just as good as this one,” Rasmussen said. “I need to find a material that will be just as good in 50 years, because these are passed down from generation to generation.” Speaking at Innovation Takes Root 2014 in Orlando on Feb. 18, Rasmussen said the sustainability quest is in its early stages, but the Danish company already has tested some bricks using an impact modified polylactic acid are “very, very close.” A problem with a post-molding “creep,” however, means that a few weeks after they are molded the bricks do not click and stick together as well as they should.' Any thoughts, comments, or reactions?

I ordered a 42000 Grand Prix Racer, which had been labeled as 'Sold Out'. It went through processing and shipping normally, and arrived yesterday. The whole time it was listed as 'Sold Out'. I'm not quite sure what to say about that.