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How to cross reference a part to all instruction guide pages
Built my new Millenium Falcon and took it into the office before someone managed to knock it off my desk and onto the floor. It blew up.
Having managed to rebuild it, there are a few pieces left over that I can't figure out where they originally went.
Is there a way for a given piece to find out all the pages in the instruction manual where it is used?

I don't think such resource exists. Would be great if it did exist but seems to me quite a bit of effort to update such database for every produced set. LEGO is not likely to have or publish such information, so the database would have to be updated manually...

Related: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/10021/how-to-visually-search-for-specific-parts-in-a-3d-model

Depending on how common is your part, a combination of the PDF manual and 3D models can help. I am looking for tools that can filter and locate parts within the model and indicate them visually.

I'm using the discontinued program LEGO Digital Designer where what you want to do can be done with the program's Selection Tools.
BIG NOTE:  The only thing you'll have to do is to search for your model in LDD format.  I'll give you a leg up and schmooogle a search string query for you. You'll just have to sift through and find that file.  Good luck!
Okay, Friend, shall we diiiiive in?! RIGHT! LET'S GO!!
I'm gonna step through the motions using a model comparable to the size of your busted up Falcon.
Schmooogle says there are 7,541 pieces in MF, so we have to go big with Super Mario Bros. End Stage Castle which pieces out at 7,994 bricks.

1)  First let's imagine it was knocked off it's perch:(
2)  Painstakingly rebuild what we can, but... huh, we got extras?... F***!!
3)  We got 5 stragglers in hand...err empty blue glove:

a red inverted slope,
a 1x1 white brick with a hole in it,
a yellow 1x1 tile stuck to a yellow 1x1 plate,
and finally a 2x3 brown brick.

4)  Open your model in LDD.

5)  Use the menu and place a digital copy of each extra real-life piece at the bottom of your model all in a nice neat little row.

6)  Okay, zoom out a little.  One at a time using the "Shape and Color" Selection Tool, click on each extra piece to highlight all bricks in your model that has that same shape and color.

7)  To see those pieces visually unhindered by other bricks, click "Invert" selection to highlight everything that wasn't originally highlighted.

8)  Then hide those obstructing bricks by clicking the "Hide" selection tool.

9) For remaining bricks:
Lather,
Rinse,
and Repeat.
Whoa! That's a lot of 2x3 bricks!.  In cases like this you might have to practice up , and do some old school find the difference picture comparisons, and get yourself geared up to find that missing hole in your model.  Good luck!

Here! Enjoy a troll fish...lol!  Peace!

Wow! Amazing what can be done with that software; nice tutorial on how to "reverse-engineer" to find where the missing pieces go.


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How do you support upper floors in tall buildings?
When I build a skyscraper out of LEGO and the floor above is weak do I remove the flooring from above and a pillar underneath and then put the floor back or something?

Howdy Tibor, we don't work for LEGO, but there are folks on here who can definitely answer this.

Extra support in form of pillars/walls underneath (remember that also weighs something and as such should be supported) is one (and probably the most widely used) solution, another would be to build the floor thicker, and depending on how weak the floor is and how much it has to support yet another solution might be to just not care.

Most real-world buildings will have one or both of the following features:

Load bearing columns - in tall tower blocks you'll often find the lifts, emergency stairs, etc form a central column that the floors can be anchored to.
Supporting beams - these are typically steel beams that travel from one load bearing wall to another, and the floor will then rest on those.

Where you have both these features, the supporting beams will go from the exterior walls to the support columns, or from column to column, providing both rigidity to the structure and support for the floors.
Your LEGO builds should aim to incorporate those features if you need to support plates that are smaller than your building's floor plan.

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


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Why are my pieces breaking? "3612 Arm piece straight with 2 and 3 fingers"
I've dug up my old LEGO (from 1990's) and most bricks are simply scratched and dirty.
However, the arm pieces 3612 break on touch!

Are they simply a bad, too thin, design, or is there something more to this abnormal degradation?
I don't suppose there is anything to be done to fix the bricks now?

Transparent or  not?

Normal bricks. Fully opaque.

OK,  then I have no clue.

Interesting. What percentage of these parts are breaking? Were they assembled during storage or loose?

I've had pieces with those connectors crack too, even back when they were brand new.

During the 90's I was gifted older LEGO bricks from a friend of my parents that were about 30 years old. Many were discolored, warped and specifically the blue and gray pieces would break if flexed.
30 years forward and some of pieces from my 90's mix are discolored specifically gray, blue, white, yellow, brown.  I think there is shelf life of about 30 years with certain color blends.  Note that pieces that have sat in sunlight have been affected more.  Maybe the sun's UV rays are not so good for certain color blends.
A few suggestions:
(1) Buy new.  Head over to Bricklink and buy new pieces.  Unfortunately, I've never seen this piece in Green and the site is saying that this is somewhat rare. (Site wise only two exist! Sold by a store in Belgium at $2.16 each. Ouch!).
Record keeping purposes.  After breaking out my pieces from the 90's, I have creations and designs that once disassembled would be lost.  I don't want to lose these old drafts, or the build knowledge gleaned from them that I could use in future creations. Things can get more exasperated if these pieces are breaking due to time.
(2a) Get a virtual LEGO program (I still use the discontinued LEGO Digital Designer) and preserve your builds digitally.  Label them correctly and store them indefinitely in The Cloud.
(2b) For me, I can look at a model and figure out how it was made, so it might be faster to use your phone and make a short video of your creation from all angles, and upload that for preservation to The Cloud.
And finally, those pieces I have that are at least 60 years old, a few blue pieces can be crumpled in one hand...

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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LEGO Power Function PF 2.0 specification
Does anyone have the new Power Function 2.0 specification or pin out?

I don't think an official one has been released, but there are some people who have looked into reverse engineering it. Here's one example I found: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/162288-powered-up-a-tear-down/

Why is this tagged with powered-up, are we not confusing power functions with powered up here?

I'm not sure exactly what you are looking for in terms of a spec, but here's the pinout from the Eurobricks thread mentioned by Alexander O'Mara with some help from this post:

Pin 1 - Motor
Pin 2 - Motor
Pin 3 - GND (0v)
Pin 4 - VCC (3.3v)
Pin 5 - ID 1 (UART TX for active devices)
Pin 6 - ID 2 (UART RX for active devices)

The basic spec for motors is that they are given continuous 3.3V power on pins 3 and 4, voltages to drive the motor on pins 1 and 2, and pins 5 and 6 are used to identify the type of motor that is attached. For the basic motors, I believe that this is simply a known resistance between pins 5 and 6.

LPF2 is also known as Powered Up - ref.
The Bluetooth hub is documented: https://github.com/lego/lego-ble-wireless-protocol-docs . This carries a large gh-pages branch & corresponding web site.
Philo also has useful information.
This doesn't answer the original question but I believe anyone searching for info will benefit from the connection.

The UART protocol is documented at https://github.com/pybricks/technical-info/blob/master/uart-protocol.md


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Does LEGO Digital Designer include part 4539880?
Does anyone know if LEGO Digital Designer includes the part 4539880 (often used for housing differentials) ?

Yes, but only one color choice of light bluish gray is available in the default mode.

If you switch to the "Digital Designer Extended" mode, you can choose any color for any part.

MindS1, my friend, you've just blown... my mind.  I never knew there was an  Extended Mode, and hell, a clickable tab available at program launch.  THANK YOU!!!


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Are only two new train sets available in August 2018?
I want to get started on LEGO trains. However when I look up which trains sets are available I find only two:

60198 Cargo Train
60197 Passenger Train

Does that mean I can only buy two different trains for my railway? That seems very limiting.  What am I missing here? Are there more trains available?

Welcome to Bricks.SE!

Don't forget the instructions that come in the box are just suggestions of what to do with the bricks. You can buy more pieces and build what ever you want. You're only limited by your imagination.

Those are the two City-themed trains that are currently available. LEGO is currently transitioning to a new electrical system for trains, so that may explain the relatively low number of trains available. There are a couple of other trains available if you are interested in something outside of the City theme.
There's Winter Holiday Train (10254):

And also the new Hogwart's Express(75955) (currently backordered):

These are just the sets currently available directly from TLG. LEGO has produced many, many trains over the years. You can find out-of-production train sets on secondary markets such as Bricklink or eBay.

Is 75955 backordered in a lot of markets? It's nowhere to be found in Singapore where I live (and I hear it's even a Toys "R" Us exclusive!), though I'm really just holding out for the availability of those large spoked wheels locally on BrickLink in any case...

Oh and it doesn't help that, for whatever reason, the price difference between 60197 and 60198 is USD 70 but SGD 50, which makes, locally, either 60197 terrible value or 60198 great value depending on how I look at it, especially considering the fact that I'm more into passenger trains. (I won't be purchasing the more affordable 60051 as I've already made the decision to start right off the bat with Powered Up.)

As jncraton noted LEGO is going through a transitional time now.  Sadly trains are not a huge portion of their sales so it tends to ebb and flow through time anyway.  So if you want a train definitely grab it while it is for sale widely.  If you wait a year or two it could be gone or harder to find.
There are other options however...
Buy new trains on the aftermarket
You can spend crazy money on old LEGO trains.  But there are recent trains that are available at reasonable prices:

60051-1 High-speed Passenger Train is from a few years ago and the previous "generation" of the electronics.  It is available for $100 at this point in time.
10233-1  Horizon Express is a bit older and still available from a variety of folks.

Be careful to not go too far back.  If you go far enough back track is different and you will run into compatibility issues.  The first book I mention in the next section does a good job of going through the history, but it doesn't get into the 2018 trains or their electronics.
Build with instructions
There are a few books on building trains in LEGO:
https://brickset.com/sets/ISBN1593278195-1/The-LEGO-Trains-Book

I've got the one above.  It goes into part by part detail on several train and train car designs.  The designs are flexible in that you can change the colors.  There are folks who make labels that compatible with these designs as well.  I haven't managed to build any of these yet, but I'm working on gathering the parts.
There's another book that came out this year: https://brickset.com/sets/ISBN1513261134-1/Build-It!-Trains

I don't have this one yet, but it looks like it has potential.  When it arrives I'll edit this somehow.

Anyone coming to this with detailed and functional trains in mind should keep in mind that the second book consists of LEGO Classic style toy trains that aren't at all like the proper train sets. For Classic style builders, those just getting started, and young kids - its target audience - it's indeed a good starting point for getting a feel of how to build a simple push train with carriages and everything. As long as you know what you're getting into, it does look promising.

Funnily enough, not 1 year later and Horizon Express used sets have already vanished from BrickLink   :)

The components to motorize trains with the new "Powered Up" system should be available by the end of this year. So you could pick-up some older trains and motorize them yourself at a given point... I did so recently with 10219 Maersk train (2011 set, hard to find, expensive) and components salvaged from the new train and I believe the result is fabulous.


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Is it possible to use 5 motors on an EV3 brick?
The EV3 brick has only four output ports (A B C & D) to run motors. Is there any way to use port 1 (sensor port) to control a motor?

A sensor port can't directly output to a motor. The sensor drivers can't provide enough power to supply a motor.
You have a couple options:

Daisy-chain two EV3s together. The first can control the sensors and
motors of the second.
Use an electronic motor multiplexer. EDIT: It should be noted that this requires an external power supply, which will increase the cost and complexity of your project.
Depending on your project, you might be able to make do with only 4 motors. See this response for driving multiple outputs with a single motor.

It depends on what you are making, but if you are very creative you can do many, many things with just one motor such as with this railway system. Each rail cart has a motor that provides drive for a hopper and conveyor in addition to the drive of the cart.


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Could you help me identify these vintage bricks with holes in the studs?
I recently got a bulk lot of official Lego pieces from a charity shop. Amongst my treasures I discovered a load of these bricks (about 40 or so).
At first I thought they were some of the first Lego bricks but as far as I can tell Lego have always had the tubes on the underside of their bricks. Can anyone help me to identify their pedigree and/or their age? I have a very strong feeling they're knock-offs...
Distinguishing features -

These bricks have nothing on the underside to stop them from sliding around- no tubes, ridges, nothing.
The larger bricks (2x4 upwards) have holes all the way through the studs.
All bricks have a slightly sunken profile to the studs
Every brick has a random number on the underside i.e. “43”, “78” etc
In basic colours of red, blue, yellow, white, black and clear. I’ve also got a green baseplate which has square holes on the underside.

Thanks for any help you can give me.

these bricks look similar to  the ones in this question

LEGO made plastic bricks from 1949 and didn't get the patent for the tubes underneath until 1958, in the years between they made plenty of bricks with nothing underneath.
Many (I don't remember if it's all) of the (larger) LEGO bricks from that era, has a slot in one side.
That being said, with the small holes through the studs on the 2x4 and the slightly recessed studs, these bricks doesn't look like anything I've ever seen from LEGO.
Square holes underneath I have seen though, so that's not an argument against your green plate being LEGO, but without having seen it, I can't say for sure.

This looks like an early competitor. Blue-Box and Rasti kinda look alike, but it's definitely not those. I'm fairly sure it's not Lego (I own several early Lego bricks, prototypes and bricks made under licence).
This site has a lot of info on Early Lego bricks and competitors of that time: https://www.inverso.pt/legos/


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Can you help me identify this odd fence-like brick?
This brick was found in a selection of unopened LEGO bags left with an instruction book that were donated to my mother's workplace. Bags did not correspond to the book and and as such I am left at an impasse to find this brick as it is odd enough that I have been unable to find it so that my brother and I can obtain more of them.

You have part number 64448: Support 1 x 6 x 5 Girder Rectangular

I'm not sure what color your piece is, but here is a list of sets it comes in.


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Please identify LEGO sets based on these parts
Any ideas what set they belong?

You have the fuselage of 4618 Twin Rotor Cargo:

The red windshield is from one of these sets (the yellow sticker does not belong):

70706: Crater Creeper
4621: Jack Stone Red Flash Station
4796: Ogel Mutant Squid
9320: Voyage into Space (Journey Into Space Set)

And the 2x3 slope is from one of these sets.


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XL motor and M motor on IR receiver = same output?
I am really puzzled by my small car build with balloon tires (55976).
I tried swapping between an XL and an M (PF) motor, both geared down (up?) to about the same torque (I tested by how sleep a slope it can climb), both motors virtually run the car at the same speed.
I would have thought with the same torque output (just about 3-4 cogs of different sizes in both cases till the differential) the XL would give me much higher speed, at least 1.5 times if not twice, but to the contrary it looked to me like the M motor runs a hair bit faster.
Any ideas guys? I know this is a bit generic, but what could it be?

there are frictions but in both of my cases they should be roughly the same
the XL motor is quite a bit heavier
the IR receiver (v1) has limited output or my batteries don't? (6 AA kind), there is only one more M motor (for steering, so it is off during my test) on the IR receiver, IR receiver attached to the battery box directly
I am using 2 u-joints for the drive axle instead of a cv joint - could that make so much of a difference?

The LEGO motors could be geared to produce a similar speed/torque output across the different sizes.  If that's the case going to M you're losing weight without reducing the torque.  I would expect the larger motor to keep more things turning, but they wouldn't go any faster.

It seems like you're mixing up gear ratio with torque with power. It sounds like you have the following scenario:
 - same gear ratio
 - same overall vehicle
 - two different motors
 - (almost) same final speed
And you're asking why the different motors don't change the speed much. Here's what I know:

The vehicle's mass and internal friction place a load on the motor. This is approximately constant for your vehicle, because practically the difference in mass of the M and XL motors is negligible compared to the total load anyway.
The M motor has a higher unladen speed but a lower overall torque than the XL motor. This means that for the same load, the M motor's speed will be more greatly affected than the XL motor.
So in this case: your vehicle might drop the XL motor from 200 to 150 RPM, but drops the M motor from 600 to 175 RPM, because the M motor is affected more. Coincidentally this particular load drops both motors to almost the same final RPM.
If your vehicle were even more massive, the XL motor's speed would drop, but the M would drop even further, quickly becoming slower than the XL. Add enough weight and eventually that M will drop to 0 RPM while the XL will still be chugging along.

I interpreted it differently, I think the OP DID gear down/up the motors until in his opinion they produced the same torque...
However I think his methodology to test if the motors have the same torque is widely inaccurate.
I don't think you can conclude that two motors with gearing have the same torque if they can handle the same slope when mounted on a vehicle, it would appear to me too many other factors play a role (friction of driving surface, weight, weight distribution,...)
Also quite important I think is the current consumption, could very well be that a motor is stalled earlier than te other although they have the same torque because the current is higher and the IR or battery-box protection kicks in.


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LEGO part counts on boxes without treads
I want to buy another LEGO Technic set therefore I'm trying to analyze the challenge to price ratio of different sets. I first thought that the part count may be somewhat proportional to challenge and fun of building but the winner of this category is the 42069 set (extreme adventure) and this set seems to have a lot of tread parts which probably are included in the part count on the box so I was wondering if there is the "real part" count somewhere so my calculations are more accurate or maybe there are some reviews that include numerical fun factors or challenge factors that I can compare to price.

As you're finding, overall part count doesn't really reflect the difficulty or challenge of the build - for example the Minecraft Micro Worlds had about 450+ pieces each (a good 100-200 more than similar priced models), but most of these were 1x1 plates and tiles. LEGO already have a rough guide to the challenge of set in the age range: With variants from 8-14, 9-16, 10-16, 11-16, 12+, 16+, or in the case of the Bugatti, un-rated ;)

@Zhaph - Ben Duguid: Isn't that rated 16+?

@LegoSonicBoy Ah, yes, was in such small letters I couldn't see it in the promo box shots I found.

The "realest" of the real part count for any piece is always located somewhere in the back of the instruction booklet piece manifest.
Look at middle row last piece bottom, where it says we're gonna need 108x 6014648.
Wow, this thing looks cool!  Have fun!!

Source:
LEGO instructions - Technic - 42069 - Extreme Adventure (Model 1) by LEGO instructions - Fan - Site.


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How many polypags would I need to get to have good odds of getting all in the series?
Despite helpful prior answers about squeezing polybags to determine contents, the new Unikitty! series seems pretty immune to this sort of the effort since all of them are in one of 3 shapes and there are inner bags which make it even harder to feel the parts.  So I bought a bunch of polybags from two different stores in the same town.  After buying 25+ polybags I'm still 5 short of the set.  Is it just bad luck or is my guess of the odds that far off?

It's known as the "Coupon collector's problem". To get all 12 you would on average need to buy 38. Buying a whole box (or finding someone who did and buying a set from them) seems like a much more attractive solution.

I've usually waited until after the hooplah is over to buy a complete set from someone on Amazon or Bricklink.  But we really liked this series and thought we should try our hand at it.  Now I guess I have a lot of extras to sell on Bricklink.  :-)

If you are on good terms with your lego store, you could buy an unopened box with 60 bags which will guarantee you to have 5 of each. You shouldn't have much difficulty selling the other series, even if the bags are opened, to get your money back.

Really?  Have people tried this and it actually works out?

I don't think @Michael sugested that you can get your monay back in a LEGO store, but rather that you could get them back by selling the other bags.

Yes, I ment reselling to others... people are willing to pay more if they know the contents of the bag or have immediately the entire series... I know several who managed to get their own series for free by reselling the other 4.


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Can you help me identify this set?
I have this lone bag, and I think it contains a full vehicle, but it's from a bigger set, I believe, because of the number 2. Anyone know what set? I need instructions.
(Dear Lego, please put set numbers on bags!)
Thanks for your help!

+1 Just because you asked TLG to put set numbers on the bags. I totally agree with that.

This bag is part of Set 76015-1 from 2014

Ultimate Spider-Man,
Doc Ock Truck Heist


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How to debug gears in the Bucket Wheel Excavator?
My 8 year old is just finishing the Bucket Wheel Excavator. He turned the motor on and there is a significant clicking noise. It looks as though the top gear noted in the picture gets stuck. Not sure where the problem is as he build it all himself.

First of all, let's get some basic questions out of the way:

Do any of the functions work correctly in any directions? If only some functions fail to work, then we can narrow the search to those.
Is this clicking sound present with all functions? If only some functions click, then they must be the culprits.

The surefire way would be to follow the "chain" of mechanical parts from the motor along the gears and axles. As far as I can remember the gearbox is not that complicated or hidden that it would be easier to dismantle and rebuild than to peek inside (maybe after removing some of the decorative panels). So turn on the motor and see if the gears and axles leading to the selected function are moving. Of course if the selected function is working correctly, you can assume that specific chain is complete and correct, so no need to analyze.
Or just operate all functions for a while each and any gear that did not move during this time must be disconnected from the motor.
Another way would be to locate the source of the clicking sound and seeing if that area is built up according to the instructions, as it would be the prime suspect. My model has once experienced a problem with the three parallel grey universal joints connecting the top and bottom halves (which are assembled quite late in the process) where the insert of one of the joints came loose and was turning in its sleeve without transferring any motion but producing a clicking sound. So maybe check that too.


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LEGO 42095 wheels going opposite directions
My son just finished the 42095 Remote-Controlled Stunt Racer and the two wheels go in opposite directions. Have checked and rebuilt and still can’t get it running in the same direction. Can anyone help?

I believe you forgot a critical step in the instructions, namely step 84:

It shows how to position the black switches on the remote control, they reverse directions.

It is so critical that they have even left the two circles showing it on step 85.


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How to describe a building set which is like LEGO without using the "LEGO" word?
We are sellers of building toys like LEGO online. But their website does not allow using the word "LEGO" directly to describe the products. Are there any other words that could describe the building sets like LEGO? It seems that LEGO is the representative of all kinds of building sets.

The usual phrases I've seen include some mixture of the following:

Universal interlocking bricks
Modular building system
Plastic construction toy blocks

and so on...
But don't forget adding "Compatible with leading brands" if it is indeed the case :)

I would use a mix of the above - modular plastic building blocks.

Often "bricks" is used instead of "building blocks".

@Raidri Thanks, edited!

The answer can be closer than you think. Quoting from the Bricks help page:

Bricks is a question and answer site for LEGO and building block enthusiasts.

Living in China, home to a lot of LEGO clones, the wording "blocks" is indeed the most popular here in shops and pre-schools.

...actually it’s a highly sophisticated interlocking brick system
source Lego Movie Quotes on WIkipedia

I have seen the sentence "Compatible." in product descriptions. When you are selling interlocking plastic toys, you can assume that everyone knows what this means.

Have a look at this items (first and second) and their descriptions: clip-on blocks and Building Block respectivly.


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What material is the LEGO laptop made of?
What material is the LEGO laptop piece made of? It does not feel like their normal rubber and it certainty doesn't feel like ABS.

Probably the same as other flexible parts; i believe polyethylene.

It could be polyethylene or ABS. My guess is polyethylene because it is more flexible.

"It could be" and "my guess" aren't very strong arguments. Do you happen to have some data or source of the information to back up your answer?

@Alex Yes, I do. On my LDD app, it says made out of polyethylene. Also, polyethylene is more flexible than ABS. polyethylene would be used to make the "hinge" on the laptop, to make it close.

I wasn't aware thet LDD has such information. Your answer would greatly benefit from having such information posted in form of screenshot.

@Alex Some pieces do, some pieces don't. For example, different wall elements could be made of ABS or a variety of different plastics.


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Can anyone identify these 4? (Extra 1x3 brick for scale)

I found these in with my old LEGO while sorting for my daughters, hardly been used in around 30 years, some came from my great granddad. What are these red things without studs for?

Welcome. Do these items have the LEGO logo marked on them?

No obvious logo, too well made not to be for something...

They don't look like LEGO to me.

These are Part bb300 Garage Door Counterweight - Old without Hinge Pin
from Part # 822ac02 - Garage Door Solid Assembly - Old (Hinge Pins on Counterweights - Both Sides)
which belongs to
Set #435-2: Garage Plate and Door (The Building Toy)

Thank you! Now I want to go home & check  the garage doors!

Awesome, I have a bunch of those plates with the funny ramp in the middle.


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ID for Off-Brand 1x1 Round Plate, Stud on BOTH Sides (1 is Hollow)
I have a round 1x1 plate (from a blind by-the-pound secondhand sale) with a male stud on both sides of the plate, no female holes. One stud is hollow, the other is solid with a large "C" and a smaller "3" next to it, similar to a cubed notation (superscript). I think it might be C3, (Create, Construct, Customize), but I don't know how to find individual parts for that brand.
So what is it from, and how can I get more? These things are amazing for inverting directions!

Looks like the brand is defunct: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimates

I see that the figure sets are still continued, under a different license, but I don't see part lists for them (no do I see actual sets anymore, just the figures).  Thanks for the confirmation on the brand though!

I don't know this exact brand, but please note that Mega Bloks (now Mega Construx) has those male/male studs. They appear in many of their sets and come in many different colors. They are exactly one plate tall, just like the one you have on your picture. The Mega version has a hole going through the middle to accommodate any bar shaped piece, which makes them even more useful!

Do you happen to know what the part number for the 1x1 double male plates in MC is?  I found a site that shows cropped tiny pictures of some pieces with numbers, but it's hard to tell (https://s219.photobucket.com/user/Orrex/library/Parts?page=1).
I see they have several others, like a 1x2 and 2x2 plates, as well as bricks and brackets and hinges, oh my.  I'll have to buy the sets themselves since MC doesn't do individual pieces, but I really wish I could track down these 1x1 round m-m plates; making a custom minifig for my son, and it's essential to get more!
Thanks everyone!

Eric, it's tough because Mega's part numbers are unique to both the part shape and color. For example, in the #FVG41 Destiny set, the part appears In pearl-gold, and the part number is AM76558ATH. I believe the last three letters refer to the color, and the numbers and letters before the last three letters refer to the part design.


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Makeblock and LEGO PF cable synthesis
My 10yo son and I have ventured into the realm of taking our LEGO hobby up a notch with robotics. We have built the makeblock mbot and adapted LEGO bricks and want to incorporate the Power Functions set we have.
My question is, does anyone have any insight on creating an RJ25 adapter cable that is plug and play with the PF motors? Before I start hacking, I figured I would ask and see what additional info may be available.

Possible duplicate of How to use Power Functions with Mindstorms EV3?

Given that the official cables mentioned in the other question/answer are no longer available directly from LEGO I'm ok with seeing if there is a better current answer.

Last year there was already a follow up question to see if there was an alternative... 9858. Nothing new was added then except I pointed out that LEGO is moving away from power functions 1.0 ... so no alternative except soldering your own cable, for which the original question has links...


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Bionicle parts for own bionicle figure
I need Bionicle parts to make my own Bionicle.
Any good set recommendations?
 Any LEGO set will do.  It does not have to be Bionicle.

There aren't many sets with big Bionicle part variety. I'm not sure what you are looking for. If you need specific parts I suggest to look for them on Bricklink. If you need to increase your Bionicle parts collection it might be better to look for local sales as Bionicle/Hero Factory are usually quite cheap.


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Color sensor reliable?
I am experimenting with the light sensor shipped within the mindstorms ev3 package.
My Problem is that the bot is standing quiet at one place. Each value returned by sensor is different, although the bot is not moving. Why? :-(
I am using the Red mode:
SensorMode t = sensor.getRedMode();

float[] sample = new float[1];
t.fetchSample(sample,0);
return sample [0];

I tried putting the sensor in different positions and tried different distances to the floor. When it is on a black line the values differ a lot.
Which sensor modes do you guys use for getting reliable information about underground colour? Or let's say underground brightness?

Light sensors are mainly affected by three independent variables:

Distance between the sensor and the surface
Color of the surface
Amount of ambient light

What this means is, in order to measure one of these things, the other two variables must be held constant. So, in order to measure color, the distance must be constant and the ambient light should be constant.
You can maintain a constant distance between the sensor and the floor by attaching the sensor, pointing downward, to a fixed point on the robot. Simple enough. In my experience the sensor should be about 1cm from the floor for best results.
You can maintain a constant ambient light by avoiding shadows or bright lights. If this isn't possible, you can build a shroud over the sensor to block out external light. You should also recalibrate the sensor at program startup to account for ambient light.
After doing the previous two things, you can measure the reflected light from the surface by shining one of the colored LEDs and taking a sample. Using only 1 LED should be sufficient to detect differences in grayscale, but to actually measure "color" you can quickly cycle between the Red, Green, and Blue LEDs, taking samples with each, to get a crude estimate of the RGB components of the surface.

Thanks for your reply. The three variables are stable. I set up the sensor around 1 cm far away from the ground. Robot is not moving. No Shadow is changing the ambient. When i take 10 measurements, results jump between 0.1 to 0.6...:-( I was thinking about trying a light sensor instead of the color sensor. But as far as i understood, the reflected light mesaruement  is quite the same.

What are the expected values here? Are they supposed to be between 0 and 1?
I'm not quite familiar with using LeJOS for this purpose, but it sounds like there's some option that needs to be set for this to work properly.
I found this tutorial regarding color sensor usage with LeJOS EV3. Hopefully there's something useful in there.

Yes...in reflection mode it is supposesd to be between 0 and 1, which samples the reflection in percent. I found out that shadows are really a big problem for making the sensor reliable. I will think about putting protection around do keep the sensor from outside light. I will also think about calibrationg the sensor, meaning: Measure current white and black value and use theese values as reference. Will see how far i come with that. :-)

I solved my problem:
I was experimenting with the sensor and its modes and I came up with following solution:
I am using the RGB mode and read the three samples. The samples are much too accurate, so I round them at the second place after decimal delimiter and use the red value only.
In this way I can place my robot on the paper and each time I get the same value for white or black (light or dark).
I also assembled a kind of light protection around my sensor, but this allone did not result in same values on white places.
I was now able to implement a line follower which works with intervals for light, neutral and dark zone, each one in a seperate behavior.


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Half sized block
I know a standard block is 9.6mm tall and a plate is 1/3 of that at 3.2mm.  I found several blocks that are 4.8mm tall or 1/2.  What are they called?  Are they still made and where can I get some?

Do you have any pictures of those?

Are they really LEGO bricks? (Can you see the LEGO marking on them, are they compatible with known LEGO bricks?)

I know there are some LEGO Technic parts that are half a stud tall, but they are not bricks. Is this what you are talking about?

You seem to be describing LEGO Modulex bricks.

Video of the history of LEGO Modulex HERE.
And a post on LEGO brick sizes HERE.


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Which part is this grey pillar?
I am wondering which set this part is from. I'm trying to make a set complete and this part clearly doesn't belong to it when I check the sets parts list.

This is a Lightsaber hilt (Minifigure weapon) part# 64567. The color looks like light-bluish gray in the picture, which was in 201 different sets.  You can look through the many sets on Bricklink:  (https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=64567#T=C&C=86)

These are very common parts in many Star Wars sets, but come in quite a variety of different themes.

Thx for your quick answer, any idea of set name where it's used in?

Yes, I added a link for you to look through the many sets :)

Already found the set name out, thx again JohnnyB

You're welcome :)


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LEGO Set identification?
What does this piece go to?  I bought a lot of LEGO pieces with no instructions and think there may be two sets. I have this mask, or head piece, that is part of a set that I want to look up instructions for.

It appears to be part# 64261 from set# 8983, "Vorox".

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=64261&name=Bionicle%20Mask%20Vorox&category=%5BBionicle,%20Kanohi%20Mask%5D#T=C&C=2

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=8983-1#T=S&O={%22iconly%22:0}
Instructions can be found here:
https://www.lego.com/biassets/bi/4547677.pdf

I was guessing Bionicle myself, but sometimes the category on bricklink surprises me.

Looks like a good fit for an original Predator too, nice

@chicks - My oldest loved Bionicle growing up, he still has his collection together and on display.  I don't own a single one, but have their likeness engraved into my memory :)


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Power Function IR Remote always emitting after putting batteries
My PF IR remote led indication light is constantly on after I put in new batteries. It stay on without me touching anything. A quick check with my phone camera showed that the IR emitter is emitting. It sends signals to the receiver which activates the motor even when the channel on the remote and receiver are not matching. Is there anything I can do other than buying a new remote?

The Lego Company is usually very good about replacing broken and defective parts for free.  In the case of expensive electronic parts such as this, in my experience, they will sometimes request you send them the broken/defective one.  If this is the case, they will make it easy for you and send everything you need to do so with your replacement.  Because this part is still made/sold, there is a good chance they will make it right.
If this solution doesn't work out for you then you could try fixing it.  I would recommend taking it apart, if you have the tools, and look for any obvious signs of contaminants, over-heating, breakage, etc.  If there aren't any obvious issues then try storing the electronics in a bag of rice for a couple days to absorb any moisture in them.  If none of these things work then you are probably going to need a new one.


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How to fix cracked minifig arms?
I have a few minifigs with their arms cracked lengthwise, which is a big problem as the hands constantly fall off at the slightest touch (or even fall off of their own accord). Is there any way to fix this? Sorry for any inconvenience, but I don't know how to put a picture up. Any help is appreciated.

Arms are cheap
I'd recommend just buying some cheap replacements from a site like BrickLink. You can buy an unpainted torso for example, and some sellers even sell just the arms (some of the cheapest listings are described as cracked though, so avoid those). So long as the arm is not painted (which they are not usually), this should be a relatively cheap solution with no repair work besides swapping the arms.
Plus, considering how small they are I'm not really sure there is a practical way to repair them, and still retain their full function.

I think a minuscule amount of thin glue dropped into or onto the crack (with the hands removed of course) would provide the necessary amount of adhesion, but I haven't had the necessity to test it yet.


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Which brick is the gray one?

I don't know which brick the gray one is. Can anyone help me?

The gray part is a 43713   "Wedge 6 x 4 Triple Inverted Curved".  It has appeared in 231 sets since it was introduced in 2003.  Your picture looks like light gray.  This part has only been in 28 sets in Light Gray or Light Bluish Gray.

I found it on bricklink by searching for "curved 6 x 4".  I also tried "curved 4 x 6", "fuselage", and "bow" (as in the bow of a boat) before finding the right search.


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Schematic and program listing of 28743?
Looking for more info on circuit board of 28743. E.g. what is the processor used? Would like to be able to reprogram the chip. E.g. program the train to stop on the third STOP directive strip, or reverse the train direction if it immediately follows a TOOT directive strip. Ultimately I'd like to program it from Scratch or Python code, but that may be asking too much.

If the schematic you are asking is for the LegoDuplo, Train Push & Go Motor
with the circuit board that looks like:

This schematic is proprietary information that belongs to the Lego group.
This element uses a Bluetooth Low Energy radio and has an FCC ID: NPI28743
Perhaps you could create your own schematic and post it here.

Thanks for the info.  I'll see how far I get tracing the surface mount components.

I found what I wanted at 'https://pypi.org/project/bricknil/'.  This gives me the capability to do what I want.  Thanks

@F Gruhl, That's a great find! Good job


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What kind of LEGO are these?
Can somebody tell me what are these round heads and these strange cars?  I bought these from a bazaar. The heads are round. There weren't any bodies, just heads. The cars are strange. Looks like from ninja. They look like they won't be LEGO.

These parts were used in large figures as a part of LEGO Knights Kingdom II sets.
"Strange cars" are actually torso/body piece used for these figures.
As an example Large Figure Torso KK with Santis Pattern - Series 1

Thank you very much, I am feeling know stupid

@SauleUrbo Don't feel stupid, nobody is expected to know about all the obscure themes LEGO has branched out across it's decades-long history. And I personally find your observation that the body pieces look like fancy Ninjago cars exemplarily creative :)

I agreed with the probably-not-LEGO idea enough that I added the clone-brands tag to this question.  I've since removed it since Alex has shown we both jumped to the wrong conclusion.  Good times.

There are also some Bionicle masks among the parts, e.g.
Bionicle Mask Kakama Nuva
and a Bionicle Shoulder Armor

Thank you for formatting, @Syberion!


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What is the maximum size of Lego instruction booklets?
I am preparing a shelf and, given that LEGO instruction booklets these days are often more like actual little books than the small booklets we had as children, a section of that shelf will be reserved for LEGO instruction booklets.
Therefore, I am interested in the maximum size (width and, in particular, height) that instruction booklets come in so far. To start, I'm assuming a height of 26cm (that's the largest booklets I have here right now), but maybe there are even taller ones?
Note that this question is similar to What are the measurements of the different Lego instruction booklets?, however, I am not asking for a list of all sizes, just for the maximum size I would have to reckon with. Therefore, as opposed to the other question, it is also irrelevant to me which sets are (or will be) there in particular - one level in the shelf that is tall enough to fit in all instruction booklets (standing upright, like books) will last for a while, and if that level (let's say, of 1m in width) gets filled, it's time for another solution, anyway.
EDIT: Note that I am based in Europe and, in case instructions come in different sizes for different parts of the world, it can be reasonably assumed that all of the sets will be bought in Europe.

This reminded me that the first file/folder/wallet I ever had was for storing exactly those little booklets.

Assuming that all sets bought in Europa are European sets is a bad idea. I just bough the 1960's Mustang model (10265) last week in a toy-store in The Netherlands and it was de US version (easily identified because the US version have the parts-count printed on the box.)

While there are multiple sizes of instructions and lack of database with dimensions my answer is based on personal observation.
Looking at the stash of my instructions from multiple sets (including several largest Technic models) I can state that the largest dimension I have is of A4 paper size, which is 210 x 297 mm. I'd like to note that this is for Europe based sets. There might be different sizes for other markets as LEGO provides two options for their instructions online - optimized for A4 as well as Letter sized paper.
Edit 1. As masterX244 pointed out in the comments Star Wars UCS sets may have bigger instructions. This review on Brickset of SW UCS set with highest number of parts (75192 Millennium Falcon) says instructions are 42 x 29 cm in size. This is very close to A3 paper size, which is twice the size of A4.
Picture below, from the very same review by Brickset, shows the instruction relative to side of the box (45 x 39 cm).

Edit 2. JPhi1618 found that UCS Star Destroyer 10030 set has a booklet that is slightly larger - 43 x 30 cm (landscape orientation, including the spiral)

Thank you, I incorporated the quirk about regional sizing into the question.

Get one of the large SW UCS sets. those yield a roughly A3 sized ringbound book.

The old UCS Star Destroyer 10030 has a booklet that is 43cmx30cm (landscape orientation, including the spiral).

@JPhi1618 you may want to post this as an answer. I could only find there were two versions (glued and spiral bound) but no details on the measurements.

@Alex, it was really meant to reinforce the measurements of the MF manual you posted as some of the biggest (they are pretty much the same size).  I can say that I measured my booklet, so that's first hand knowledge.


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Transparent Technic elements
I know these Technic liftarms come in clear transparent:
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32278#T=S&C=12

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32009#T=S&C=12

These liftarms come in a couple of transparent colors (not clear transparent):
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32348#T=S&C=15

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32449#T=S&C=15

Also this connector comes in transparent
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32016#T=S&C=12

And these connectors come in transparent red
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=6538b#T=S&C=17

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=32013#T=S&C=17

Are there any other liftarms, connectors or Technic elements in general that come in transparent colors?

There are far more parts within Technic category in Transparent colors and just too many parts to list them all. I suggest checking Color Guide on BrickLink, Transparent Colors section and pick first column (named Parts) Most of the colors have Technic bits in colors you are interested in.
For example, just Trans-Clear color has 23 items under various Technic categories.


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Please help me identity this part (Duplo size)
I got a lot of pre-owned blocks and there's a part I couldn't figure what it is for. There is no part number printed on it; I guess it is not produced by LEGO, probably just some clone brands instead. It is Here are the pictures:
.
It is compatible with my other Duplo blocks and I'm curious what can I build with it. Thanks.

Did you get it in a kit?

In other words, did you get it in a complete set that was never opened before you bought it? If so, you should look at the part list on the back of the manual to see what part it is (it won't tell what you can build with it). If you bought a random grouping of Lego Bricks, you should check out Bricklink and look for it there. Keep in mind you won't find third-party bricks in there, but I still recommend you look there anyway.

@mindstormsboi isn't that the whole point of this question asking YOU to go to Bricklink to find the piece since you are, probably, more knowledgeable?

I'm new to it, so I might not know where and how to find the part. But I guess I'll do it to save Since1996's time and hassle.

@Since1996 do you know the age of the block? Was it mixed with modern-day duplo blocks? That would give me some help finding it.

Wait, The older duplo blocks look quite identical to modern-day duplo blocks. Nevermind.

@mindstormsboi What I have are two huge containers of hand-me-down bricks,  some are Lego and some are knockoffs/clone-brands, all mixed together.

Oh, that could explain a few things. I didn't see the brick on bricklink, but I can't guarantee it's not a duplo brick.

Thanks everyone for joining the discussion and trying to help. It turns out that the part to be identified is designed to be used as the handle for gears.

Was it a knock-off?

Gotta be a knockoff because there don't seem to be Duplo gears with 16 teeth (only 24 and 40) and the crank looks like this: https://brickset.com/parts/4493718/dacta-crank


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2x2 macaroni pieces
I don't own any of the brick, round corner 2 x 2 macaroni  pieces. If you make a circle with them, can you fit a 2x2 round snugly within that circle?

Yes it fits as well as you'd expect. same as any adjacent brick, so there's not much friction if you want to slide it up and down like a piston.


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Horizontal connection between plates
If I only have minimum height available (one plate), how can I make a horizontal connection between two components? I need the connection to be easily disconnectable yet sturdy (like technic bricks with grey connectors).
I thought about hinge plates (4276/4275), but they are far too tight. I don't own any of the old ones (x1125/x1126), so I cannot check myself, but are they less tight?
Clarification - the components are built regularly (studs up), and sit next to each other and should be moved horizontally to separate or reconnect them.
There's no such thing as 2921 but only one plate high? I'd use that together with 4085, that would be perfect.

question: do your components sit RIGHT next to each other or is there a gap?

...was just wondering as two clips will be three studs wide, and if this layer is only one plate high how would you offset the clip?

@Uli right next to each other, yes, with slope bricks on top the "connection zone", and 2466s to the sides, so no possibility to add more space, I fear, without making the interior look ugly. If everything fails, I'll have to make the "roof" removable instead, but that will make the whole thing a lot less rigid.

so basically this is about two buildings touching each other with plain walls, each wall one stud width, can't use technic bricks because of visibility on inside, trying to hide clips in ceiling layer... right? any picture would certainly help : )

Mr. Blue and Ms. Red live next doors. Their houses are simple. The walls are one stud wide, the ceiling's one plate thick, some slopes on the roof.

Now they want to move their houses wall to wall. Mr. Blue bores a hole into the wall and happily bolts in a big peg. But Ms. Red thinks that's just a big eyesore!
So they try to hide some clips in the ceiling, but as it turns out...

...they leave a gap one stud wide.
And they don't fit onto a stud. They need at least one more layer of plates in the ceiling.

Okay. That's how I understand the situation. You cannot use Technic bricks (one can see them on the inside), your ceiling's height is just one plate.
So, why not go on top of the ceiling? Up onto the roof, between the slopes and hide some clips or hinges in a chimney or under an antenna?
Just two ideas, the yellow plates represent your ceiling layer.

Fun fact: here the amount of clutch depends on the length of the blue antenna's tip; slide it up to adjust.

Have you tried horizontal clips? They will be a little taller than 1 plate in the center, but you might be able to adapt them to your needs given that the connection point is just one plate. Perhaps these parts:
60470b

48336

Something like 4623 with a vertical clip might also be a possibility depending on your constraints:

How about trying Hinge Vehicle Roof Holder 1 x 4 with Hinge Train Gate 2 x 4?
Their connection is a lot looser (at least for old parts) than the 1x2 finger plate hinges.

Historical pieces phased out more than a decade ago ...

You've already been given a number of solutions, where the part that actually goes within the components is only one plate high, while the actual connection is a bit more. I can't do any better, but I want to suggest another option:
A combination of

or

With either

or

The right combination of these parts allow some offset (if the parts fit), and these also allow movement in more than one direction.

Modern hinges, like below, may give you desired result.
Here are Hinge Plate 1 x 2 Locking with 2 Fingers on Side and Hinge Plate 1 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger on Side with Bottom Groove


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How much energy do LEGO Technic gears lose to friction?
So, I recently watched a video by the Brick Experiment Channel about building a 1 Googol:1 reduction gearbox, which at the time of writing this question, is at #44 on Youtube Trending. At the end of the video, it makes the claim that the final gear will rotate once every 10^93 years. This seems unlikely to me; it seems much more likely that energy losses due to friction along the mass of gears will reduce the amount of energy it's receiving to 0, so it will never spin on it axis, at least as a result of this machine.
However, I'm left wondering where exactly this in the contraption energy is lost, and how much of it is lost to heat and how much is lost to noise. How efficient are LEGO Technic gears, when mounted on their standard X-shaped axles through the holes in standard LEGO Technic bricks?

If the gear at the start is turning, then there are only 2 options:  the gear at the end will turn, or a piece somewhere in the middle will deform / break.

"How efficient are Lego Technic gears, when mounted on their standard X-shaped axles through the holes in standard Lego Technic bricks?" I don't think this question is answerable, as it depends on many factors, like the age and wear of the axle and the hole, the radial load on the axle, the materials of the surfaces (usually ABS, but polycarbonate for the transparent parts), the sizes and shapes of the meshing gears, the forces that push the gears together, etc. Granted, most of these are only small factors, but given there are many, the resulting uncertainty is large enough to be significant.

@Chronocidal First the wheel at the beginning has to turn a lot (since the gears are discreet for a long time even a gear only 30 gears away from the start won't turn for an appreciable amount of time, you can even see it in the video) but second I'm guessing what you will actually get is a broken motor rather than anything else. Once it starts actually moving too many gears it will grind to a halt through friction.

@DRF A broken motor falls under "the gear at the start is not turning" :P  Yes, it may take a (very) long time - but, so long as the first gear keeps turning, eventually one of the two outcomes I gave will occur

Nice find. First of all, it is interesting to see the various techniques they use.
The short answer to your question would be: It doesn't matter. Each gear, axle and all other components bend, stretch and absorb energy. This means that even for normal large LEGO Technic sets, such as the 42055, you have to build carefully and avoid too much pressure to reduce friction.
When it comes to Googol, it will take years to move most of the gears above their tolerance of, say, 0.1 mm. This is why they put the motor to the beginning of each section to show that it works in principle.
So, starting the whole thing will increase tension and some eruptive movements of the gears in the middle will follow. But the gears further down the line will never move.

The slower a gear moves the less power (energy per unit time) is lost.
So while each stage of the gearing does lose some power this is more than made up for by the gear ratio. There should still be plenty left to drive the final stage.
A bigger problem is whether the mechanism will actually survive for 1093 years of continuous turning or whether a combination of natural degradation of the plastic and wear from continuous turning will destroy it first. I would bet on the latter.


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Can you identify the large transparent windows in this Ideas submission?
Can anyone identify the large curved transparent windows in this aviary build?

The other transparent part is
Cylinder Quarter 4 x 4 x 6

I believe this is Panel 6 x 6 x 9 Curved Top.

I couldn't find the other one that's containing the brown parrots, however.
Correct me if I'm wrong, because there were a few other parts like this which were almost identical.


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How could I make a playable LEGO piano?
I was thinking of how hard it is to make a LEGO piano.
I have already tried to use a rubber band but it did not make a good sound when I plucked at it.
My problem is that I want to make a piano but I don't know what to use for the strings. Can someone help?

And also i want to make a piano in which i can actualy play! I want a mini one that is not to big maybey a little smaller than a laptop keybord

got a hunch it might take a wrench... (youtube)

@Henrik: Questions only become untagged if they are migrated or all of their tags get deleted. You cannot create a question without tags.

@Uli That looks like an answer!

@mindstormsboi Nerd said "about the size of a laptop keyboard". Let's compare it to a 32 studs baseplate. Let's take a 2x8 plate for each key on our piano keyboard which gives us 16 keys (we'll ignore the black keys for a moment). That's 2 octaves. Is it possible to determine the position of each key over this distance of 32 studs with the EV3 distance sensor?

@Uli EV3 has a touch sensor, which is basically just a button. We could bury it under the key and when pressed down it would detect it. Another upside is that it would already provide the mechanism of popping the key back up.

@Uli Only downside is that an EV3 as well as an NXT can only hold up to 4 touch sensors, so you will need duplicate EV3s  connected together via USB if you don't want to individually turn each one on/off or something.

I've removed a number of comments from this thread. If I've deleted your comments, it might be good to review this: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment and this: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/conduct

@Uli That piano seems to be an xylophone in disguise, I don't think it's suitable. Let's... lets use mindstorms bricks instead.

There is this monstrosity as an example on the internet, which proves that you can work with proper metal strings. But your biggest enemy will be the huge tension everything is under. There is a reason that proper pianos have steel frames. As you only want one or two octaves, you can probably do without reinforcing the frame, but wherever the strings terminate will be a single point of failure. Apparently the harpsichord in the example uses some mutilated pieces there (though the only mention of glue is for the lid).
Also note the sound example. In any string instrument, sound is generated by the combination of the string and the resonating body of the instrument itself. In other words, it will always sound "plasticly" and there is nothing you can do about that.

...Which is why I keep telling the OP to use EV3 bricks instead. Makes life easier.

I came here to post about Henry Lim's harpsichord. Glad to see someone else did it already, so all I have to do is +1. :)

Donny Chen made a LEGO piano that I believe is just large enough to play. Details are available on LEGO Ideas. You can watch him show it off in a video from Brickvention 2019. He has it motorized in that video.

From your comments, it sounds like you are interested in not simply having a piano with keys that can move, but one that actually emits proper sound. I think it will be quite difficult to do that effectively using LEGO elements (string, rubber bands, etc). The best that you can probably do to deliver sound using LEGO elements would probably be using EV3 or BOOST. This would be similar to the guitar model from the BOOST set:

It is possible to tune rubber bands, but not really at that scale

Indeed, you're kinda lucky if you have 17101 and want to make a piano. I can explain how that guitar in the photo works if you don't mind: The guitar handle is covered in colored tiles, and a studded technic beam goes around it. On the other end of the stick, there is a color/distance sensor. When you move the studded beam up and down, the distance sensor detects it and sends this info to the hub, and then the hub sends the same info again to the app to operate it, which means that your device plays the sound.

The colored tiles are not detected in any way, they are just there to help you to remember the correct positions on the stick to play the correct sounds.

Personally I would recommend EV3 instead though, BOOST quickly gets boring and with EV3 you can do many, many more things. The only downside of EV3 is that it gets tricky when you're trying to make big projects like this sometimes.

@mindstormsboi So this "guitar" really has more in common with a theremin than an actual guitar, being based on distance rather than a vibrating string...

Ohhhh... thats actauly a very smart idea @Chris H , using lego boost sensors so that they detect when i push something down

And @Chris H it is possible to tune rubber bands at a scale, you just pull it or twist it until you get the right scale

@Nerd Boost app doesn't have piano sounds I think. You can record them but I think they will come out bad, so just use EV3 instead. The rubber strings don't actually matter at this point (too hard to manipulate, you might as well set up fake ones instead), the EV3 can use buttons and when it detects you pressing them the EV3 itself can play the piano sounds.

@Nerd having tried it recently (making a functional "guitar" with a biscuit tin, not Lego) I knew it wasn't going to work well.  You're technically correct, but with (fairly thin) rubber bands and using technic to put a tuning peg 12 studs from a bridge the tension one a single band was high enough to pull bricks apart by the time I got near A440.  So you'd need a lot of reinforcing for an octave.  I also found that rubber bands don't stay in tune for long.  A little strumming and they creep/warm up enough that the pitch drops.  By "scale" I meant Lego/model proportions, not musical scale BTW

Ok thanks @ChrisH


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What all fits into 4532 "Container, Cupboard"?
On Bricklink, the entry for 4532 (a container) lists several parts that fit, but it currently doesn't even list 4536 (a drawer). What else fits into 4532? Better yet, what are some "illegal" techniques that can be used with 4532? Is there something that can be used as a flat panel in conjunction with a single 4536?

The door that is listed as compatible can be attached with its handle inside to make a smooth surface at the front. It could become hard to open however.

Similarly, it is possible to insert drawers upside-down, however only the top drawer will be able to close all the way.


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Does remote control 8879 work for winter holiday train?
Can anyone tell me if the remote control 8879 will actually stop and start the 10254 Winter Holiday Train set?

Yes, essentially it was designed for applications like trains since it has an option to increase power gradually, unlike 8885 controller which is ON-OFF (basically with two speed settings - "9" and "0"). You can do this by turning orange disks to start moving your train. There are 9 "speeds" in each direction. And you have two options then to stop your train:

Hit red button below the disk to stop immediately;
Return disk to zero speed position.

The remote controller you are asking about is one of the items required to motorize the entire set as seen on the picture below. This is taken from instructions for 10254 Winter Holiday Train set.

This is all correct, assuming OP has a Power Functions train motor, battery box and IR receiver built into his train. None of the LEGO Christmas trains come with those supplied, they need to be purchased separately. Might be worth mentioning in your answer.

10254 doesn't come with a motor. If you motorize it using the "recommended" Power Functions parts, that is the correct remote to use. If you motorize it using the newer Powered Up train motor and battery box, you need 88010 to control the Powered Up Hub.


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What did LEGO bricks look like in the past?
How did LEGO bricks look like in the olden days?
Can you also show me the bottom of a LEGO brick from the olden days?

Hi Grace and welcome to Bricks.SE! Could you please clarify what do you mean by "olden days"?

The earliest LEGO bricks were made in 1949, and they had completely empty undersides with vertical notches in two of their sides for attaching windows, doors and decorative cardboard inserts:

Then in 1958 (or 1961, depending on the country) the form known today was adopted, with tubes on the bottom and without notches:

1961 is when the patent in the US was issued, in Denmark (LEGO is a danish company) the patent was granted in 1958 (and in many other countries was probably granted earlier than 1961 too), so LEGO bricks looked like what we know today some years earlier than you said.


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What LEGO set do these bags belong to?
Any idea what set this might be? Number on bags say 529R9. I have unopened bags 2-6 and one loose bag of LEGO bricks.

This is 41340: Friendship House

keyparts :

93092: Minifigure, Utensil Basket in Medium Lavender

41539: Plate 8 x 8 in Lime

2584: String Reel 2 x 2 Holder in Black

I keep being shocked at the ease with which people on this site can recognize things like this. I could probably post a mixed pile of bricks from 2 sets and you would be able to tell me which 2 sets I mixed.

@Nzall it's usually done by identifying a few relatively uncommon elements across the bags, and knowing what colours typically appear in which themes ;)


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Please help identify this LEGO set that has owls and snakes?

I cannot identify this LEGO set my grandma gave to me.  I want to help her build it for my cousin, but my grandma did not have the instructions.

That white snake appears in two sets, and in quantity either one or two. My best guess is that it was from a Pick-a-Brick wall at a Lego Store, or something very similar. I'm basing this on the many, many repeated pieces.


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12V LEGO train tracks splinter
I have an older 12V LEGO train (several actually) but of course the rubber tires wore out long ago.
The trains still run quite well (I even used them as a motor parts in some Technic designs), but the pieces for the tracks have become very brittle, meaning that re-designing tracks has become a nightmare.
Just uncoupling the dark-gray underside from the light-gray rails is not just painful to watch but often leaves you with more pieces than you intended, particularly the small pinch-like top sections of the dark-gray parts splinter, as well as where they fit in the light-gray rails.
Similar things happen with the larger change-direction sections and cross-section parts, so it's imho mostly due the design click-on system that is failing.
What would you suggest on handling such pieces? Can these parts still be replaced?

While I can't speak of the handling of these parts, the possibility of receiving official replacement parts from TLG is surely zero. That leaves us only the second-hand market, which fortunately offers genuine LEGO replacement pieces, sometimes even in brand new condition. Note though, that even though the brittleness problem might stem from lots of play or improper storage (for example being stored assembled), if it is a property of the material being used for these parts, then other pieces made the same time of the same material will exhibit the same problems.

Thanks, those are very valid comments. I always try to store the track parts in disassembled fashion precisely because of the wear-out effect of the clips. But time hasn't been kind to the plastic types of those ages. I used bricklink before but it can be quite expensive. They only improper use I remember perhaps was trying to build the ramped and elevated tracks that featured in many of those adds.


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Early 1980s snap together shop/house scene toy
Hoping someone can help.
I grew up in the 80s and LEGO was my life but one birthday my grandparents bought me a building set which included plastic panels that snap together. When all put together it made a shop and street scene.
From memory there were:
Grey path pieces that interlocked, beige panels for the house, red/brown panels for the roof.
The set also included green stems and little coloured flower pieces which when put together could fit into little holes in the grey path panels.
There were also a few other little pieces that made up the scene.
I’ve researched on google looking at old toy catalogues, I’ve looked on eBay but can’t find anything.
Hopefully someone has an idea as it’s really racking my brain trying to figure out what this early 1980s plastic snap together set was called.

Yes, I had the same sets, they formed roads for toy metal cars like Matchbox and Hot Wheels. The product name was Majo-kit, from a company called Majorette.

You legend Phil!!! That’s it!!
Appreciate it

Sylakus: One way to show your appreciation would be to click the check box beside the answer, indicating that you've "accepted" it. :)


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Are there any sets without a lot of fluff?
I'm an adult but have come to fall back in love with LEGO again after building the LEGO Apollo Rocket kit.
I wanted to buy a large set of just various LEGO bricks to build neat things. But what I am finding is a lot of the basic sets are filled with fluff pieces. Things like little men and accents and things like that. Is there a way to buy just a box of classic pieces like when I was a kid?

I'm a fan of the Saturn V also.

If you watch a few episodes of Lego Masters you'll see creative use of 'fluff' pieces. Admittedly this often requires bulk supplies of the fluff, so I see your point about wanting fewer of them in the sets you buy.

While nearly all sets these days to include a certain number of parts that you may be referring to as "fluff", the Classic line has the highest ratio of more typical bricks and plates that you may be used to and has a number of sets at quite a few price points that may be useful to you and are available both direct from LEGO and from many retailers.
A note of caution over your classification of those "fluff" pieces though: You may find if you progress to more advanced building techniques that many of those pieces you currently disdain are absolutely indispensable to accomplish some very interesting effects that are simply not possible with standard bricks and plates. Don't discount the utility of a part simply because you may not be familiar with their usefulness or that they may not be immediately related to your current project. A fairly common term in the community is NPU which stands for New (or sometimes Novel) Parts Usage and stems from people being very creative with parts that might not immediately seem to have any other purpose than their basic form might suggest, and has led to very interesting and quite stunning results.

Thank you @nathan-stohlmann. I didn't meany any offense. What would you recommend for somebody who is looking to make more technical things to get started?

You might like Yoshihito Isogawa's book "Simple Machines" (and/or some of his other books as well). That is a collection of hundreds of basic mechanisms built from Lego Technic. A great source for ideas when designing your own models. There are few words and lots of pictures. The point of the book is figuring out exactly how to build the mechanisms yourself, not copying detailed step-by-step instructions.

No worries @JacobMelon! No offense was taken and sorry if my answer made it seem like I did. Specifically which set kind of depends a bit on your budget. If 50-60USD is doable than the new 11016 Creative Building Blocks or last year's 10717 are a pretty good start and have better ratio of bricks and plates to other types of parts than 10698 mentioned in the other answer. Also 10698 is the same price as 10717 but has almost half the parts because it comes with a storage bin which may or may not be useful to you.

While I really agree with Nathan's take on this, I'd like to point out another option.  Why not just get a bucket of bricks like the 10698: Large Creative Brick Box?  You even get a decent container to keep your collection of LEGO in:

Another view:

There aren't many instructions to get in your way.  You get parts in a variety of colors.  If you want more bricks you can save up and buy another bucket and be assured you'll get more of the same stuff.
Amazon in the US currently has this on sale even.

You can buy individual bricks in any quantity you want on the Lego.com website using pick-a-brick.  There are about 1400 bricks to choose from in that system.  You buy just the bricks you want and nothing you don't.  If you feel like you need 500 pink 2x4 bricks you can order that.  Its usually somewhere around 10 cents each for the smaller bricks.
https://www.lego.com/en-us/page/static/pick-a-brick
You can also order individual bricks using Bricks & Pieces.  Its meant as a way to order replacement parts, but there is nothing that prevents you from ordering whatever you want.  Unfortunately you need to know the part numbers (or the part number of a set containing the brick) to be able to find anything (because there is no catalog for that system).  If you want to just order a bunch of gears or something like that, this is the way to go.
https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/replacementparts/

I forgot their name, but there's a brand of shops in Germany that will sell you a colour by weight.

Anecdotally, I've had fantastic success with bulk, used LEGO, which is typically sold by weight on eBay et al. This is much more economical than buying new and tends to come in a more practical variety than kits if it's from an individual (rather than a larger re-seller).
If it's from an individual, remember that somebody loved that LEGO, so be excited, kind, and also wash it.


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Quality of XSZ / KSZ sets on AliExpress
There's a LEGO-compatible brand called "Smartable" or KSZ (or XSZ, I can't tell) that appear on AliExpress. Do you know the quality of their parts?

Welcome to Bricks.SE I've edited your question a little to make it a bit more clear. Hope you don't mind that!

I've further restructured the question to focus on the brand itself and removed links and references to specific sets that infringe on TLG's trademark or copyright.

From WP KO Bricks Wiki
XSZ / KSZ:

Brick Quality: Not great. The ball joint sockets of constraction figs (Star Wars and Bionicles) can be tight and prone to cracking if forced too much. Only recommended as display models as these problems make them unsuitable for play.


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Can you identify this robotic minifigure?
I am trying to identify this minifigure.  I thought it was related to Star Wars but I can not find it there. Can you help?

Welcome to Bricks.SE. I took a liberty updating your question by correcting image orientation.

This is :
sp043 : UFO Droid - Blue (Techdroid 1)

Thank you so much!  I appreciate your help.

Hi Stan and welcome to Bricks.SE! Please take a mintue to check out the [tour] to learn how you can mark this answer as accepted, to show that you are satisfied with it.


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Can you identify this fiery orange hair?
Can someone identify the orange hair in this minifig?

That seems to be part #24787, Minifigure, Hair Spiked Tall Top. So far it has only been released in orange. It came on the 2016 Syndrome minifig, one of the Disney Collectible Minifigures.


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Were these real giant LEGO pieces on the 2020 Late Holiday catalog cover?
In a recent cover of the US LEGO Catalog we see kids playing with oversized LEGO pieces:

The toolbox (98368)
and wrench (4006) are very recognizable.
The tiara is distinctly
part 33322.
The banana is basically part 33085, but the colored tips are suspicious.

The debate my wife and I have been having about all of this is: did they really print out big parts like this or did they fake it with Photoshop?  I'm hoping that they went and did this Matt Denton-style and printed everything extra large, handed it to the kids and let them do whatever child models do.  My wife doesn't feel like the shadows work right, and she thinks they faked it in the computer.  I don't expect that we have access to anyone involved with making this catalog for an utterly authoritative answer, but maybe you're good at spotting the Photoshop signs.

In this Rebuild the world Making Of on youtube the hunter's bow looks like an actual prop...

For Lego's 50th anniversary celebrations in Australia, they made some life-sized trees. Some photos are here: https://cakeheadlovesevil.wordpress.com/2012/04/21/lego-forest-50th-birthday-celebrations/

Perhaps ask Lego customer service? I don't have the time.

With a large format 3d printer and some modelmaking skills this would be easy.  Any prop maker or model shop could do them the old-fashioned way too (even I've made a similar sword out of wood, though theirs has a better finish).  The children holding the spanner, toolbox, and banana look like they really are, but I'm not so confident about the hands holding the sword - it seems like an awkward grip and a trick of the lighting

I think that they photoshopped shadows in after setting up lighting to remove shadows so that the picture has shadows making it so it doesn’t look weird while not having shadows making the picture dark.

modelsGood point.  The lighting is quite flat going by the shadows on the kids/props, plus the background has been replaced by the cover colour. Fake shadows are to be expected, and of course it's clearly composed from at least 3 shots just of the kids, plus more of the Lego models (the elephant-panda-parrot stack is a bit too big, while the dragon, modified from overlord dragon I reckon, is huge compared to the kids interacting with them)


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Can you help me identify this LEGO Star Wars ship?
Which ship and LEGO model number is this?

This is from
75155-1: Rebel U-wing Fighter

Keypart : 6180pb115L : Tile, Modified 4 x 6 with Studs on Edges with 5 Worn Blue Rectangles and Black Lines on White Background Pattern Model Left Side (Sticker) - Set 75155


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Feathered Headdress from the Islander, female figure
Is there a way to attach the feathered head dress from the Islander, Female figure to any other headpiece? (I'm trying to make a Vegas showgirl.)

It appears to use a bar to connect to other items, so obviously you will need a special hair with clips all over it, and i doubt such thing exists. Perhaps you can look for a different part, or specify where exatly you want to attach it?

There is this hairpiece with a clip, although it's facing forwards instead of up

Sometimes ignoring a problem yields its own solution - like the Cabaret Singer.

I would suggest using part 15712 'tile 1x1 with C clip'. Just place that on top of the minifig head and then place the white part in the clip.
You could have used a bar with clip but most if not all minifig heads don't have a fully hollow stud, only solid, or semi-hollow, so the bar would not be able to go all the way down and even if it did the minifigs torso would still probably be in the way.


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Looking for older conducting train tracks
I have an old 9V era (1991-2006) train set that has conducting tracks. Is there a place that I can buy conducting tracks? Obviously I have trolled eBay, Amazon and internet without success.
I can buy unconnected tracks and glue aluminum foil on the tracks for conduction. Will it work ?
Any help in securing more conducted tracks or guidance re: modifying new tracks will be greatly appreciated.

A place to look is Brick link

Pretty sure the comment from @Dan1138 is the actual answer. For example here are all of the short curved track lots available https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3241#T=S&C=9&O={%22color%22:9,%22iconly%22:0}

From 2012 to 2015 I bought them in packs off eBay, i.e. auctions with ~100 used tracks. My maximum was always 3.50 € per straight part, 1.00 € for curves, 10.00 € for switches, 20.00 € for crosses. Based on the quality I got it was always worth the money. Cleaned them thru the years throughly, tho.

I've 1 you can have, curved.

Such place indeed exist and it is called Bricklink, a website dedicated to trading LEGO items. It has extensive history and great catalog of LEGO items found on the internet. Prices and quality are, usually, far better than you would find on eBay. And as an extra bonus, there are sellers from all over the world, so you are not limited to you own region.
As Dan noted in the comments Bricklink catalog contain all types of 9V train tracks you are interested in for sale both in Dark Gray (older) and Dark Bluish Gray (newer) colors.
Edit. Upon further investigation decided to clarify situation in terms of custom tracks. While there are few 3rd party companies producing LEGO-compatible non-9V train tracks there aren't as much options with 9V ones. ME-Models used to produced some, but the company is gone now. FxBricks has shared their plans to introduce 9V tracks at some point the future.

Thanks guys the reply were very helpful . I found what I was looking for.

In the context of conducting tracks: can you at least name (if not link) to the companies? There was one once, but it ceased to exist years ago. And didn't apply to "better geometry options", too.

I don't want any of it, but I have heard about them from fellow LEGO-fans that are not as purist and bigger train fans, but some brands are ME models and bricktrack.

Thanks, that was ME Models (conducted) and is BrickTracks (non-conducted).


text:
Ice Cream buckets
I'm trying to plan an ice cream shop. For the ice cream itself, I'm considering using the 1 x 1 buckets. Does a 1 x 1 round tile snap into one of those?  If not, can someone recommend a way to do buckets of ice cream?

Sounds like a cool idea. You also might want to consider using part number 11610 in tan as the cones with part number 15470 on top, I saw this method in an Angry Birds set and it looked very nice.

Yes it fits in, here are a few official sets that do exactly that
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=60133-23

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=coltlbm2-14


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Can you help identify this olive green space fighter lego set?
This set was bought about 10 years ago for my son. It is predominantly olive green with red trimmings. It has stickers with WARRING A-347 written on them. It has some moving parts that seem like Technic LEGO. It appears to be a fighter jet with large legs (like a star wars vessel). It may be more than one vehicle and no doubt some of its parts are in our LEGO brick bin. I'm selling my son's extensive collection and engaged in the arduous task of completing each set. Any clues are much appreciated.

Based on

6016457: Right Shell 3X12 W/Bow/Angle
6016465: Circle 90G 6X6 Roof Tile

Both in Olive Green
This is from 70164-1: Hurricane Heist

Thank you. Exactly!


text:
What is the LEGO code for this part used as a camcorder?
Can anyone help me ID this part for my son? I think it comes from when I was a kid in the 80s-90s. I THINK that it had a VHS-type piece tacked to its side to be a camcorder, but don't quote me on that.

That's Minifigure, Utensil Camera with Side Sight (Space Gun). Part number is 4360.

As name suggest it was used both as a camera as well as a space gun.
Tile 1 x 2 with Groove with Black Tape Reels Pattern or "VHS" tape was commonly used with piece above in "camera" setup.

Odd that all the references I can find are the black one. No mention of a grey one.

@Modred189 check first URL. On the right side you'll see list of known colors for the part. You should be looking for "Light Gray".

@Modred189 Click on the check mark next to a post to accept it as the answer.


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Anyone know the name of this Star Wars brick

Can someone help me find the name of this Star Wars piece and what set it came in?

This is called Windscreen 3 x 6 x 5 Bubble with Sith Infiltrator Pattern:

It came only in the 7151-1: Sith Infiltrator set in 1999.


text:
What set does this assembly with plastic foils come from?
I have this partial build, what set could it be from?

This is from 76039-1: Ant-Man Final Battle


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LEGO 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon: I need to store this set, not display it
I need to store, for moving purposes, my 75192 LEGO UCS Millennium Falcon. All I see are display cases for sale.  Does anyone know of a storage bin or shipping container that can hold this ship?  I do not want to take it apart.

Is partly disassembling not an option? Usually, you can remove large sections, put them in separate bags and put all those bags into a packing case with additional upholstery. In this case, you might even use the original LEGO box. I can store it for you, if you want :)

I recommend one of those boxes that people smuggle stuff in.

First, movers are widely varying in quality.  You might get folks that are poets and scholars or you might get somebody that drops every box.  If you've gone with the cheapest movers or this is your first move, it is probably best to assume the worst.  To me this means it is comparable to shipping something through the Post Office.
Given the size of this set it is going to be difficult to get a box that is big enough for it to fit flat.  I would plan on building a plywood box the right size.  If you go with cardboard boxes, get two of different sizes so they can be nested.  Cardboard boxes of adequate width will probably be really tall.  You should cut the vertical corners of the box to make it shorter when the top flaps are folded together.
Then you need to find a material to go between the box and the model.  If you can get foam and cut it to shape that will be easier to deal with, but you could use bubble wrap or packing peanuts.  There's glue for bonding the foam to itself.  I've also used various sizes of towels for packing material around LEGO models.
Particularly if you use packing peanuts, make sure to bag the model before putting it in.  Things that stick out like the radome could get lost, so bag them separately.

Thanks for the advice.  I had hopes that there was something pre made but that now is sounding doubtful.
Thanks
—Rocco—

I am basing this answers on your comment wanting something "pre made", which I take to mean you can buy it from a store.
Depending on what you budget is you could a try Pelican™ case or a similar product. Any brand that comes with a hard exterior box and foam padding should suffice. The foam can be shaped to what your requirements are.
I suggest Pelican because I use them to ship sensors and calibrated equipment through a ground shipper (e.g. FedEx, UPS) for work. So you won't have to worry about the moving crew damaging the set.
With the dimensions of the set being "over 8” (21cm) high, 33” (84cm) long and 22” (56cm) wide"; the case you would need to go with 1730 Protector Transport Case.


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How to connect fire to Lord Business' Coffee Mugs?
So, we have Lord Business' Evil Lair (70809-1), and we also have some two-tone flames from another set.
How can the flames be attached to Lord Biz' coffee mugs (as seen in The LEGO Movie)?

 +
The flame shaft can be connected to plenty of parts, such as a "Round 1 x 1 with Open Stud".
However...the mug part has an unusual inner diameter that studs don't fit into. So I'm wondering how this was constructed for the film - or if the animators didn't actually make a construction but just placed the flames for the shot, is there some way they can be connected to at least approximate the way they appear in the film?
(I mean, without having to resort to... the Kragle!)

Stop messing with my stuff!

They might have cheated in the movie, but an old 8 toothed gear fits snugly in the hole.


text:
Am I able to use the Chrome version of the Mindstorm software on a Windows/Mac laptop?
We currently teach Lego robots as part of our Technology curriculum, but we are 1-to-1 in a BYOD environment. So we have all different types of devices the students use including Chromebooks, Windows and MacOS.
Is there a way a Windows (or MacOS) user can use the Chrome app version of Mindstorm software?
I keep getting a message to go do "Lego Downloads" to when I try to open the app in a Chrome browser.

LEGO Education has a new programming software called EV3 Classroom that will work on Windows, Mac and Chromebooks that can run Android apps. This is probably the best option for the devices listed but won't work on all Chromebooks. It is available from the LEGO Education download page.
The retired Chrome app only works on Chromebooks.
MakeCode could be an option too.


text:
Can you tell me which LEGO set number this is?
I bought this Lego set off the internet and I can’t figure out the set number.  Can someone tell me the set number?

Thanks for the quick response!

I see some elements without LEGO logo on top of the studs, so it not entirely a LEGO set.

As @mindstormsboi pointed out, it's a modification of 60009-1 Helicopter Arrest
According to BrickLink, the only sets with both those RBrown stairs and the 100 tile are:

10218-1 Pet Shop
10232-1 Palace Cinema
10246-1 Detective's Office
10255-1 Assembly Square
10264-1 Corner Garage
41108-1 Heartlake Food Market
60009-1 Helicopter Arrest
60069-1 Swamp Police Station
60130-1 Prison Island

and that doesn't look exactly like any of them. But if you remove 60009's  vehicles and pier and add a few bits, it's a good match.
I won't say never, but Lego doesn't often (that I know of) sell sets with treasure chests where the lid doesn't match the base. But @Zhaph - Ben Duguid noted that 60009 does.

The two parts you picked make totally good sense and prove your case.  Just to add: I don't think that garage door or the tiles over the windows are in very many sets either.

I ignored the tiles because you never know if they are printed or stickered, and I've found BrickLink inventories which have some stickers in the Counterparts section, but not all stickers.
And it just takes one designer who wants to bring back some old piece (like I read happened to the old lamp post) and suddenly it's in a dozen sets, so who knows if that will happen to the garage door pieces. They've been used in Friends sets as a shower door, if memory serves.

Its a MOD of 60009 i think.

As @mindstormsboi mentions, it looks like it's based very heavily on Helicopter Arrest, which does indeed include the multi-coloured treasure chest.

@Zhaph-BenDuguid I think it might just be Helicopter Arrest with the "pier" broken off, and none of the vehicles or minifigs.

@nick012000 it's had a small bird and light added as well ;)

As @mindstormsboi pointed out, it looks a lot like 60009. I fear if I delete this answer and re-answer, this related discussion will also disappear, so I'll just edit it.

I would like to explicitly express my appreciation of how my mistake was pointed out ever so politely and gently. Thanks!


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Where can I get parts lists from sets by numbered bag?
I have a hodge podge of LEGO pieces that I am trying to organize into sets. I have most of the boxes so it hasn’t been too difficult, just time consuming. Anyway, I’m currently working on set 75093. Bags 1, 2, 4, and 5 are open. Bags 3 and 6 are still sealed. I’d like to not open them, if possible. Problem is I can’t see all the parts in the bags and I’d like a list of parts by bag number. Is there such a thing? My concern is I may be duplicating/using pieces that might belong to other sets trying to complete this set.

I'm afraid there's no registry keeping records of elements included in each numbered part.
Instructions for 75093 set show which parts of a set could be assembled from each numbered bag, including parts for each step. You can then collect elements listed under each step to combine into numbered bags of your own. Getting all extra pieces might be a little hard, since you cannot check what is included in sealed bags. However you can guess which ones should have been included in opened bags. You can check which Extra parts come at the bottom on Bricklink's page for 75093 set.

peeron.com used to maintain bag information, but hasn't been updated in a long time.

Thanks for responding. I considered what you are saying, but here’s my question: I’ve noticed that not all parts to a particular module are contained in the corresponding bag for that module and I’ve found that some left over parts often go to another module. That being the case, I was really hoping there was a database somewhere that listed parts by bag number. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to open the remaining bags to know for sure I have a complete “set.” I’m not worried about the few extras that Lego throws in. Thanks again for your response!

@Tiger37229 perhaps you mean that some left over elements (say from bag #1) that you've used further in the build were Extra parts from that bag. You would still end up with the same Extra elements in the end.

My experience backs up @Alex - I am confident I've never had, say, a part from bag 1 which was not used in the bag 1 section but was needed in, say, the bag 2 section, because there weren't enough in bag 2. This would have messed up the ability to split a big set into multiple concurrent builds by multiple groups of children when a birthday party got rained out so a big Jurassic World set got opened for everyone to build (to pick an example which happened to us in the Before Times).

It’s possible that leftover parts were just extra parts that often come with Lego sets, and it’s possible that in the act of assembling a set it just appeared as though left over parts from say bag 1 were needed in a subsequent module, but I’m trying not to open unopened bags or use parts from other sets to complete this particular set leaving me short with those sets. It appears I’m just going to have to bite the bullet and open the remaining bags. Thanks for the responses.


text:
Are these LEGO windows?
I have had these windows in my LEGO collection since the 80's and my mum bought them second hand. They look and feel like Lego but don't have the word LEGO stamped inside the hollow circles on top.

These look like "Blue-Box" , a construction toy from Singapore
From inverso.pt

Blue Box basic elements with a 2X4 LEGO brick on the right

The inside of a "Blue-Box" construction set

Nice find! I think it might be worth adding second picture from the article you are referring to since it shows two other elements provided by OP.

I don't think so; I've seen a lot of old Lego, and I'm fairly sure I've never seen these before.
BrickLink has a window category, and none of the pieces in there match.
Sorry.


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Technic Rough Terrain Crane (42082) doesn't move
After first book, crane won't roll if pushed. If this normal. I know when you free soon one wheel, the other will go opposite direction, but when I try to spin all four in one direction, it locks. It this normal until motors are functional?

Motor is only being used to operate the crane, not to drive the model. So driving/pushing shouldn't be blocked at any time. I suspect there will be an issue with position of differential - if placed incorrectly both axles will spin opposite directions. And if placed on the ground the model will simply not move.
Check steps 169 and 268 in instructions booklet to compare and confirm the position of differential housings in your model.
Step 169 has this picture:

Step 268:

Further step 273 has this picture showing that both differentials should be facing opposite directions:

It is also important to check the placement of the gears if they haven't been pushed too hard against any liftarms/beams and are not jammed.