Jetro

Most people will be able to speak English so don't worry about the language. I'll be there (I do speak Dutch but I doubt I'll use it much) in the MINDSTORMS section.

I'm off to BL for z36 bvel gears...

My real name. INitially I was a little concerned about giving any personal information on forums etc and as a consequence I stated using "linmix" (I was playing arond with several different Linux Distros and trying to find the best one for me, although LEGO seems to be forcing me to keep using Windows) but after some time I gave up on that although I am of course stuck with the name on the forums I started using it on.

I had tyhat one on my list of possibles. One less expense I guess. :)

Yeah, and that's why they prepare a video to trick us into believing it's really this complex so we'll understand the high prices a little better when in gaft they have 2 dozen oompaloompa's doing all of that in half the time while merrely siging the LEGO song. ...

What do you propose to hook the sensor up to?

Actually it's Dave Parker's ;)

A beauty and with an original steering mechanism to boot. Love it!

... like Dave Astolfo's DominoBotNXT :D

That crown gear .. ouch!! The girls are definitely the right size (and my daughter would love them), but it doesn't feel 'right'.

First place to go: NXTPrograms

I've 'played with it in a very limited space (on a table at a LUG expo) and it moves ok in 1st and reverse - didn't have the chance to test the rest of the speeds, but knowing Sheepo they too work.

I own several (and quite a few more from other publishers. To mention them in the same order you have placed them... - The art of LMS NXT programming Nice if you are 10 to 14 year old, but the book was a little too slow and 'chummy' for me - Forbidden LEGO Don't own it but read it when someone showed it to me at an event. If you don't mind cutting, gluiing and using non-LEGO parts it is a great book. - The LMS NXT 2.0 Discovery book Has everything the other LMS book lacks: interesting models, good explanations without getting chummy or patronizing, you can easily adapt it to your speed by doing as many or few of the proposed challenges as you want to... I absolutely recommend the book! I'd love to get PDF versions of the three LEGO Technic Idea books... I'd also love to have a closer look at LMS NXT Thinking Robots and Virtual LEGO

Tough choice there as I have done and intend to do several of the things you list. One thing is clear: I'm keeping the set and will apply for the service pack.

There's an interesting point I hadnt thought about - basically what you are saying is that the 'extra' length of the thread helps to keep the actuator moving linearly instead of sideways? But doesn't the top of the actuator casing do much the same thing?

Had completely overlooked the links!! The Spanish site gives very little information and the google translation is pretty accurate.

I by no means an engineer, but I work with a good number of them who are active in heavy steel industry and one of the things that have repeatedly come up is that no matter how long the thread of a screw, in the end it will always break at the thread closest to the head. the rest of them do not support the same forces and may even be completely 'idle' - in view of this I very much doubt that making the screw of the LA longer will increase performance due to sharing the contact surface, but maybe one of the real engineers here can set me straight...

Thanks for the pictures!

I was wondering about the possibility of taking those motors apart (for a completely different reason. Not all motors are glued together - I opened and fixed one of my 71427 Technic Motors without any problems. If you have a broken micromotor, now is the time to try (and take some pictures!!) What's the worst that can happen?

Very nice indeed I was wondering the same thing, although I don't seem to recall a long Technic Brick in the original set... Maybe you can post a couple more pictures with some extra details.

Getting back to the crane, it's absolutely amzing: great head and neck, fantastic knees!

Actually quite the contrary is true. Although LDD has greatly increased the number of available parts, LDraw still has many more parts - and many that LDD will never see. Also, although in the past LDraw updates were few and widely spaced, as of 2008 that has changed greatly and this year two updates have been released already with a third in the making.

A guy can't even go on a holiday for a couple of days... Great MOD! I'm not even at all sure I'll actually build the original model after seeing this.

Very nice MOC - looking forwrd to more pics of the 'innards'

Let's see what you come up with and then evaluate possibilities - should be really interesting.