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Can you identify this LEGO space set?
I've just purchased a random box of Star Wars LEGO at a car boot sale and there's a few bits in there that I'd like to identify the set for.

It's not a Star Wars set, it's most of the main part from "70704 Vermin Vaporizer" from the Galaxy Squad theme.
The word "pressure" on the green tile hints that it's not Star Wars, as that would normally be in Aurebesh - the written script you see in the films.
It turns out the curved white roof tile (Circle 90G 6X6 Roof Tile) at the front was only used in three sets, which helps identify it.

This would actually not be a bad set to re-purpose as an APC for a Star Wars setup. You wouldn't necessarily need to remove the word - Roman script actually appears in the Star Wars universe as a rare-ish alphabet known as "High Galactic". Come up with your own story as to why the builders of this vehicle or the faction that configured it used that script.


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Can you identify the set for this red LEGO snowmobile?
A long time ago I got this pieces of what seems to be a snowmobile but I don't know if it is complete (with the pieces shown in the picture) or what would be the expected1 way of building it.

I have tried several configurations and none of them are completely satisfying. I don't know what was the original intention with the skis, the saws and the rear end.
Could somebody help?

1. Understanding, of course, that with a LEGO you have the freedom to try different configurations, not just the one suggested by instructions.

It's 1710-1: Snowmobile (or the variant that came in a box, 1730-1):

The chain saw piece only appears in a few sets with that color.
Here you can see the instructions.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Can you identify this set that seems to be from LEGO Star Wars? Dark grey circle pieces and clear canopy?
Can anyone help identify what set this is from please?

The curved roof tiles are a key to finding this set:
76003 - Superman: Battle of Smallville
It's missing a fair few pieces, but that's the core of the flyer:
The clone trooper and the gold chest are rogue parts here ;)

Awesome! Thank you. Yes the clone trooper and chest were added by my son - the chest contains very important jewels so I wasn't allowed to touch it :-)

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

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


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How can I read NXT logfiles?
I used the logfile feature to collect light intensity values.
How can I get a view to this data?
On the NXT brick I only found: "delete" or "send" but not "show". I tried "send" when I had an USB conection to a PC, but I couldn't find a file in the download folder. Please help.

Possible duplicate of How do you open a logfile (.rdf) downloaded from an EV3 brick?

@chicks This might be considered a duplicate if both EV3 and NXT have identical data log structures.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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What's the name of this curvy looking brick, 2x3 with an overhang
What's the name of the brick shown below?

I've searched many sites including BrickLink and Lego itself but to no avail. Help?
EDIT
I think I found the name of this brick: 47456 Slope Brick Round 3 x 2 x 2/3 with Flap and Two Studs, Modified Wing End 2 x 3 x 2/3. Is this correct though?

Bricklink refers to it as 'LegoBrick, Modified 2 x 3 x 2/3 Two Studs, Wing End'.
Lego Shop at Home refers to it as 'Plate w. Bows 2x3½'.


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What is the name/number of this Technic brick with two arms ending in tiny clips?
What is the number of the brick shown below? I have been searching, but had no success. There is no number shown on the brick, but it has the LEGO logo.

That's two Magnet Holder 2 x 3, it has part number 2607.


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What are the common uses of the roof pieces in the Sydney Opera House set?
The Sydney Opera House set comes with many curved white pieces to form the roof. I am concerned about whether buying this set will leave me with useless parts that cannot be easily applied to other builds. Are these roof parts just like the boat hulls in the pirate ships? Or, prior to the Sydney Opera House set, did they serve any common function?

The curved wedge parts appear in a large number of sets. Even in white. Browse the Bricklink catalog for those parts and you will find a lot of inspiration. If you really like the Opera House you should get it and worry about re-using the parts later. Especially when you are talking about the large 10234 set. It has many very interesting parts.

Besides, I don't think that there is a common function for 99.8% of all LEGO parts. An umbrella can become a robot foot or a space ship gun within seconds :)

You can see the inventory of the opera house on Brickset.
The majority of the roof pieces you seem to be concerned about are these bow pieces, of which you get 34 pairs and one extra left piece.

These pieces are fairly common and are used typically in cars, boats, planes, spacecraft, and other aerodynamic structures, as well as building roofs, robots, and other objects where you need a curvy shape. For example, the white pieces were used in a Ninjago copter set:

34 matched pairs is a lot of these for a normal person to have, so if you never plan to rebuild the opera house you might not use them all (though you could just consider it a challenge to come up with as many builds as you can that use these). However, the set itself has 2989 parts, so that leaves over 2900 pieces that are not white bows that you can presumably reuse in some other construction.


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Can the DUPLO My First Number Train fit on DUPLO tracks?
I have the My First Number Train set, pictured here. This set did not come with track. Other sets, such as My First Train set, pictured here, do come with track, but the wheels look different. Can this kind of track fit the My First Number Train set? Or is there a different kind of track that can be used with the My First Number Train set?

Not really - the wheels on "My First Number Train" are the DUPLO car wheels, so they will just about fit on straight and curved track, but they won't work on the points and bridge sections.
There isn't any track designed for the wheels in "My First Number Train", that's just designed to pulled around on the floor.
You can just about see a chassis in this picture - they are about to crash at the points:

But at least you can count how many trains you have now.

Thanks! I have tracks and want a train to fit but don’t like the ones with them e meganism. Too complicated for 2 year old.

Glad to help @Hazel - I know what you mean about some of the more advanced electric trains - The older Thomas the Tank Engine ones you can just see at the top of the picture were ideal - about 4 pieces to put together and then off you go!

Yes, the number train will fit on the "My First Train Set" track. But only because it doesn't include any points, crossings or bridges.
The duplo track generally guides the wheels from the inside; the insides of the wheels are the same distance apart on both trains. However the number train wheels are wider (the same as many other duplo vehicles) and won't fit through sections of track that aren't just straight or simple curves.
You can see from the picture that the wheels work fine, but overhang the sides of the track.


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Were there ever any smaller sets, marketed as being combined to create a large official set?
I recall a children's magazine running an article about how to take a few smaller sets to create a big space ship, but I am not sure if that was official.
Did LEGO ever create some smaller sets, but market them in a way to convince buyers to buy several other sets, so that they could be combined to create a single large set from those?

A US exclusive which combined 6851, 6878 and 6887. (Brickset)

Instructions can be found on Peeron.

Some of the LEGO Star Wars Mini Building sets contained additional parts that could be combined to make an additional model.
For example, the additional parts from sets 4484, 4485, 4486 and 4487 could be combined to build a TIE Bomber.
This additional model could be built at the same time as the primary model; the primary model and additional models didn't share parts.
You could buy special packs that contained all 4 sets.

Many BIONICLE sets were marketed in this way.
For example, here is an instruction booklet page showing 8533-1: Gali, 8535-1: Lewa, and 8536-1: Kopaka can be combined into Toa Kaita Wairuha.

I think BIONICLE has probably had the most combiner models, but other themes have had them as well. The earliest combiners I know of are the Slizer/Throwbot ones, though I don't think instructions were released for them.
Brickipedia has a large, though maybe incomplete, list.

The Mixels range was made this way. Here's the last page of just one of their instruction docs showing the combination of three mixels into a bigger one

There are a few Technic models which had this as a selling point, such as Race car 42011 which lists

Combine with the 42010 Off-Road Racer for a super-fast Dragster with
  pull-back motor, adjustable rear wing and opening cockpit

as a selling point. Obviously Off-road Racer 42011 has the same selling point. These were 2013 models, but there are equivalent models in the 2017 releases: Stunt Truck 42059 and Stunt Bike 42058.

It has been fairly common to provide the ability to power certain Technic models by adding a separate motor kit.
Here's an example from the PF motor kit:

And another from a set from 1994:


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What kind of track is the Emerald Night set compatible with?
According to What different types of lego train tracks exist?, there have been many different kinds of LEGO track. Which kind of track can I purchase that will be compatible with this train?

If I recall correctly, technically the gauge of the wheels is fine for the all the standard LEGO tracks, however the fixed wheelbase of the main three pairs of driving wheels was slightly too long for the standard curves.

The set is from the "RC / Power Functions Era", so it's meant to be compatible with those tracks.
Luckily for you those are the only tracks for sale in ordinary stores today.
As the answer to that question says, those tracks have "roughly the same mold" as the 9V track so the train is as compatible with those - I've also seen an Emerald Night set equipped with a 9V motor run on such track.
The gauge of that track is roughly (the profile of the rails is a little different, so depending on how you measure it, there might be a small difference) the same as in the previous eras, so the train can probably also be used on those tracks.
I remember a problem with some parts not moving smoothly through each other when driving backwards, but that is probably independent of the tracks.


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Any tips for aligning gears in LDD?
I'm trying to create the 42052 (Heavy Lift Helicopter), and other Technic sets. Aligning gears' teeth is relatively difficult, and the 'Hinge Align' tool rarely works. Please help!

Welcome to Bricks.  LDD isn't receiving updates from LEGO anymore.  You might find better luck with tools that are still evolving.  https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/1867/lego-digital-designer-alternatives

Use math.
Here is a simple example... Suppose we want to line up two 8 tooth gears. Start by placing two axles and one of the gears...

Since there are 8 teeth on the gear, we can figure out that the teeth are 360° / 8 = 45° apart. So, to put the next gear on, the space between the teeth of the second gear needs to line up with the tooth of the first gear. This space is half way between the teeth, so we need to rotate the axle 45° / 2 = 22.5° to make them line up. Select the hinge tool, then select the axle that does not have a gear yet. Notice that the hinge tool allows you to enter numeric values directly....

The axle is already at -180°, so we need to rotate it +/- 22.5° from there. Let's say, we want to rotate it clockwise. In mathematics, counterclockwise is positive, but apparently in LDD, clockwise is positive, so we need to add. We simply type in -180° + 22.5° = -157.5°...

Now, the axle is exactly where it needs to be to add another 8 tooth gear...

There are no collisions preventing the gear from being placed...

Now, the second gear is precisely aligned, making it easy to place additional gears.
Tip: All (modern) LEGO gears come with multiples of 4 teeth, so adding a gears at right angles will line up the same as gears in a straight line.


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Which are the largest LEGO ships that actually float?
My kids are frantic about LEGO ships, and I was wondering which are largest ships ever made.
Of course, they need to be actually able to float in a pool.

The largest LEGO ship that officially floats in water is the Cargo Ship that comes in 7994-1 LEGO City Harbor:

It is the only set which contains the 74 x 18 x 7 Boat Hull, which is the largest boat hull LEGO has made.

Which brings us to the question whether you can build boat hulls, i.e. water tight structures, out of non-boat parts!

@Aziraphale I tried once. Water is quite good at leaking between cracks. You could maybe connect multiple pieces that float on their own (some LEGO boat hulls are made this way).

I just found a very good question about the topic here: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/q/78/6498

You can make bigger boats that float using the boat hull segments LEGO made back in the eighties. Theoretically boats can be any size using those pieces (multiple of 8 studs I believe, as that is how long each segment is)


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How can I distinguish floating versus sinking LEGO pieces?
My kids enjoy playing with their LEGOs in the pool, and we cannot always predict which ones will float and which one will sink.
It appears to me that most pieces do float in the pool, but some, for instance a motorbike, doesn't.
How can I distinguish, if at all possible, which ones will float, before actually putting them in the pool?

Related: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/78/do-lego-bricks-float

Most Lego pieces sink. Some of them will float briefly if they have air trapped inside. Almost any construction of Lego elements will sink as there are gaps between pieces.
There are some boat pieces that are designed to float, such as the Police Patrol Boat set from 2016. A Brickset list shows some other boats that float.

Some fairly straightforward physics is your friend here:
To determine if something will sink or float in a given medium, you need to know its density. If the density of the object is less than the density of the medium it will float.
Standard pool water would have a density around 1g/cm3, salt water is higher (depends on the amount of salt in the water).
To calculate the density of the LEGO elements, you need to weigh it, and divide that by its volume.
The slight complication is as Mr Shiny and New states: Bricks can trap some air inside them which reduce their density while the air remains trapped in the brick. Items like the motorbike are almost solid ABS, and so are much more dense than a minifig with a hollow body, arms and legs.

This method quickly becomes complicated if one wishes to include the weight and volume of the air "inside" a boat piece, which clearly does float, but ignoring this amount from the calculation would probably indicate otherwise.

Indeed - that's where displacement comes in (and how steel ships float). But it's the best way to tell whether an object will float or sink before you drop it into a pool. Even a boat element will sink if you flood it with water.


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Are there any army-related LEGO toys?
I don't recall ever seen a LEGO tank, a LEGO minifigure figure or any army-related LEGO sets.
I know that there are LEGO toys that imply some level of action/fighting, from police sets, knights, ninjas, etc. I have some LEGO toy guns (from pirate sets, etc.).
But I think I have never seen an army-related LEGO toy or set. The only ones I could mention are related to some franchises like Star Wars, Superheroes or similar.
Are there any army-related LEGO toys and if not if this a conscious decision from the LEGO group?

See also my answer to "Does the LEGO Group condone war toys?"

The LEGO Group does not directly create modern military sets.
A LEGO representative gave the following reason:

Are there any chances that Lego will ever start producing modern day warfare Lego, with tanks and helicopters and what not?
We have a strict policy regarding military models, and therefore, we do not produce tanks, helicopters, etc. While we always support the men and women who serve their country, we prefer to keep the play experiences we provide for children in the realm of fantasy.
-- Gizmodo - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Lego

There have been some sets that have been military-based though.
The 7595-1: Army Men on Patrol is based on characters from a movie series who are based a military-themed toy.

A number of Indiana Jones sets have some military people and vehicles that in the movie are considered military vehicles. Notably missing though is the tank from the tank scene in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.
The Dino Attack theme (or Dino 2010 internationally) also has a tank and a helicopter modeled after military vehicles.

LEGO has a policy that they won't make military sets (unless licensed, for ex. Indiana Jones) for several reasons:

Creative imagination for children
Debate of the "good" guys and "bad" guys
Neutrality (since Lego is sold worldwide)

For reference: Youtube: Why doesn't Lego make military vehicles
However, I know of several third party and other "compatible with leading brick" companies that produce products that can be played with LEGO.
Third-party:

Brickmania
Batisbrick
Brickbrigade
Custombricks.de
Battlebrickcustom
brickbattalion
combatbrick
mechanizedbrick
modernbrickwarfare
unitedbricks

Compatible with LEGO brands

Cobi
Mega Bloks
BanBao
best-lock
kazi
kreo
oxford
sluban
taisheng
woma

"Debate of the 'good' guys and 'bad' guys" - interesting however that they propose sets with policemen and criminals (bank robbers, etc) such as in the Lego City collection. Physical violence is also a dominant theme in the NinjaGo series. Maybe their stance regarding violence is that it is tolerated as long as it is not directly lethal?

Possibly. Another view could be that in the beginning, everyone(including the "bad" guys) had happy/positive faces in themes such as Ninjago and City. However, I noticed that recently, themes such as Ninjago and Nexo Knights had some pretty sinister faces on the villains. Change of policy perhaps?

@SamuelL. Proper villain faces have been a thing since at least the 90s Western sets.

@ Weckar E. Yes. I do note that. However, what I'm trying to express is that some of the latest villain faces(See nexo knights and ninjago for examples of these faces) dont seem to be as child-friendly as earlier faces

One prominent exception regarding army-related toys is the 10024 Red Baron, also interesting in the context of the bad-guys good-guys debate. Modern warfare is indeed a no-go topic for LEGO, as explained in other answers. Violence in general, however, is quite dominant in many LEGO themes.

As Tonny pointed out, the 10226 Sopwith Camel should be mentioned as well.

There is also the Sopwith Camel bi-plane (set 10226) from the same era. Von Richthofen shot down several Sopwith Camels during his 80 kill career. His last  kill was actually a Sopwith Camel as well.

@Tonny You are right, but I guess that's about it with LEGO 20th century war equipment.

There was a time when Lego did produce Lego mini figures of western U.S. soldiers in a western setting. On the belts of all the figures are the letters “US”. This may be the only series to include a US military element. These sets ran from  1996 to 2002.

The most recent example is LEGO Technic Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey (42113).

It was announced and had a limited distribution already before public launch when LEGO pulled the plug (emphasis is mine):

The LEGO Technic Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey was designed to highlight the important role the aircraft plays in search and rescue efforts.

While the set clearly depicts how a rescue version of the plane might look, the aircraft is only used by the military. We have a long-standing policy not to create sets which feature real military vehicles, so it has been decided not to proceed with the launch of this product.

Since LEGO decided not to recall already distributed sets small amount of these reached the secondary market.


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Which set did this sealed bag of mostly grey LEGO bricks come from?
I bought a sealed bag of LEGO bricks with no box or directions and I am trying to figure out which set it is. It is all grey, black, and clear pieces and looks to be 100-150 pieces. Any help is appreciated.

This is an inner bag of a larger set, not a full set. It is hard to tell which set it could be, as the pieces are too common to narrow it down from just this one image. I did look up the 3x4 hinge-plate, as that was the most uncommon, but it still appears in 45 sets, so we would need some other clues to narrow it down further. Here are the sets the hinge-plate appears in: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=44570&colorID=86&in=A

As I mentioned in my comment to OP's original question, this is an inner bag of a larger set, not a full set. It is a bit hard to tell which set it could be, as the pieces are too common to narrow it down from just one image. I did look up the 3x4 hinge-plate, as that was the most uncommon, but it still appears in 45 sets: https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=44570&colorID=86&in=A
Upon more careful inspection, and narrowing down the pieces even further, it appears that this is the gray/black bag from the #10702 LEGO Classic Creative Building set: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=10702-1#T=S&O=
I came to this conclusion by verifying some of the other pieces in the set from the BrickLink Catalog, and also noticing that the 23mm D. x 7mm Offset Tread Black Tire only appears in the above mentioned LEGO Classic set from the list of 45 sets with the 3x4 hinge-plate.

Impressive amount of effort you put in. I just noticed that all the elements looked common and decided not to spend my time on it. It's good that someone else did.

The power of lots of eyes looking at the same image is amazing, but I still get impressed by the great set-ident answers on this site.

I was also going to pass after checking on the hinge-plate, but it was bugging me I couldn't answer right away, so I got back to it. I hate to be defeated by questions like this. :D


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Why are these bricks slightly shorter than normal?
I have two red 1×6 bricks that are slightly shorter than normal and also a bit deformed. For comparison, I here show them together with regular 1×6 bricks (the regular brick is the top one of each pair):

These bricks are shorter to the extent that considerable force is needed to connect them to regular bricks (note how much they are worn down).
I suspect that they are rather old and made from some different material, however, I have many older bricks which connect considerably better to modern standard bricks.
Thus I wonder and ask: What could be the deal with those bricks? They are part of a huge connection containing second-hand bricks, so I cannot say much about their origin, except that they are from the last century.

Any idea on the source of the "shorter" ones?  Just a guess on the "why" - they're knock-offs that completely violate/disregard Lego trademarks?  That might explain the poor attention to detail on the length quality.

@SammyB: See my edit.

For starters, having that as a production error is completely impossible, given the industrial precision of our beloved bricks.  The LEGO group has been incredibly careful for decades about the tolerance of their bricks' dimensions:

You can read this WIRED article where the author compares old and new bricks' dimensions (TL;DR: they have been making really precise bricks for decades).
Their current standard for tolerance was 10 micrometers in 2009 - see page 20 of official LEGO documentation.

I think we can discard that option.
As @SlicksterTheBrickster said in his answer, the shorter bricks seem warped.  The most plausible explanation is that extreme heat made the ABS plastic bend and get a little thicker on the walls or a little taller (floor to studs distance).  ABS is a thermoplastic polymer (as opposed to a thermosetting one), meaning that it cannot withstand intense heat and it will melt.  As an example, it's normal to wash and disinfect bricks with water at 40°C, but if you increase that to maybe 60°C or 70°C the plastic will start getting "plastic" (i.e. moldable). ABS is an amorphous material, meaning that it doesn't have a proper melting point and it transitions slowly (like glass). I would say that you can get the effect that you show by building a model and leaving it e.g. in a closed car under very hot sun with some pressure on the sides or strong torsion, or maybe close to a stove.  The bricks will slightly bend and/or deform after the episode.
If you are curious, get a caliper and measure both bricks' height and width at several points all along their length, and do the same with the walls' width.  I'm almost certain that the shorter one will have a significant variation in those values.  If your question is "But where did that material go?", it went into slightly swelling the walls.

My thinking is that since the older and shorter brick looks a little warped, perhaps it was exposed to heat which caused the plastic to melt a little. I can't say this would be a production error as the pieces are injection molded and imperfections are kept down to a fraction of a millimeter.

Thank you for your answer. Can you elaborate why melting would shorten the brick? Also, did you really want to state “I can't say this would be a production error” instead of “I can say this would not be a production error”?


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Can you identify the set that these bird-like LEGO assemblies came out of?
I would like to find out what set these pieces belong to.

This is a partial #70003 LEGO Legends of Chima Eris' Eagle Interceptor released in 2013:   https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=70003-1#T=S&O=


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Minifig wrist attachements?
I'm looking to attach a weapon to a minifig's wrist ala an Assassin's Creed hidden dagger (https://www.brickwarriors.com/hidden-blade/) or a wrist-mounted crossbow. What are my options to do this?

Minifig hands, officially, are not to be removed. Lego doesn't make many accessories that fit the arms of the minifigs. The arm is slightly larger than the standard bar piece and so normal claw-shaped attachments don't fit. The minifig handcuff piece, which does fit over the wrist, is larger than the standard claw pieces.

You'll need to look to third-party solutions like the brickwarriors piece you linked in your question, or make your own pieces.

"Minifig hands, officially, are not to be removed." I had no idea. Thank you.

That's speaking according to my personal conclusions drawn from the fact that Lego has never, to my knowledge, ever used a minifig hand separately from a fig, or shown a figure with its hand off, or sold hands separately, etc. I'm 99% certain that no official Lego product allows for hand removal. Nothing stops you from doing it yourself though, except the knowledge that doing so wears out the arms and can cause them to split.

That's probably part of why so many of the arms from my childhood are split.


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Why are pat pending bricks rarer and treasured more than patented bricks?
My mum and I share a love of LEGO, but she is a huge collector of LEGO with easily 100kg spread across the garage, her room and my nan's garage.
When she gets time to sit down and sort through her immense collection, she's always more excited when she comes across a brick which has "pat pending" written on it. She has spent hours searching for pat pending bricks to complete an entire retro set out of this brick type.
I want to know why two otherwise identical bricks can be so different in importance - a standard brick vs a pat pending one - to an avid collector of LEGO, when to me, they are otherwise the same and I'd probably mix them up by accident.

I have several pat pending bricks from the 60's. As my father worked for BX plastics in Essex at the time I know they are genuine.

As I understand it, "Pat. Pend." bricks were made in the 1960's.
Later around 1970 they removed "Pat. Pend." by carving it out of the molds, so there is a lump in place of it. These are sometimes called "Pat. Pend. removed". Those ran until 1976-ish?
I don't think any of these bricks are much more valuable than the others. Old generic bricks aren't generally worth very much. If one wanted to have genuine 1970's pieces for personal reasons, I guess they might look for these markings.
I don't think all pieces had those markings though.

They are rarer because fewer exists, they were made a long time ago, and LEGO has procuded many more elements since.
They are treasured by some because some collectors value having accurate bricks in their old sets, because they get that bit more authentic. I only care when there's a more easily visible difference like a groove on 2x2 tiles, or open/closed studs on round 1x1 bricks (and it that case I care more about using the right ones where visible). In some cases this can mean the prices for the old pieces are a little higher, but the condition of such old elements often detract from the price, so don't expect to make a lot of money selling those parts of your mom's collection.

If you're selling an old set, you naturally want it to be made of old bricks.  How would you like to buy a 1960's set, paying a vintage price, only to find that its bricks are 2010 vintage?  Such a set must be comprised of bricks of its era.  That why pat-pend bricks are important.


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How big are original LEGO bricks?
How big are/were the original LEGO bricks? What about those sold in Canada from 1970 to 1985/1990?

The same size as current ones? You can use bricks from the 1960s with current ones without issues. Are you thinking of something specific which isn't compatible?

Early LEGO bricks had grooves in the sides for windows to slide down, but they patented the exact size of the bricks so that should still be the same.


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Linear Actuator Clicking
I have just finished working on a mock-up landing gear deployment mechanism, keeping it as simple as possible of course.
However one thing that I cannot seem to get rid of, is the small linear actuator's built-in overload protector from clicking.
I have tried to add a white clutch gear meshed to an 8 tooth gear in either 3:1 or 1:3 ratios but it still clicks.
If I use a 3:1 ratio the clicking and vibrations are obviously much more rapid than otherwise.
To save space, I insisted on having a fixed, almost parallel LA rather than the typical design where the LA is also pivoting like a lift-arm.
The wheels must be retracted by 90 degrees (you'll see this if you build it/watch the video)
Does anyone have any ideas on how to eliminate this whilst keeping it simple? I tried replacing the 2 x 4 bent lift-arms with a what equates to 1.5 length lift-arms so that the LA does not fully retract and start clicking but then it does not do a full 90 degrees of movement and starts bending parts if I force it.
Here is an .LXF file and below is a video showing what I mean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOmrNr0WwWI
I'll be able to shorten or remove some beams soon to make it less clunky.

As both the LXF file and the video are unavailable, I can only guess at the problem you are facing. But if the linear actuator is clicking, it means the built-in clutch is engaging, as the forces keeping the actuator from moving are too large. This can't be solved by adding a clutch gear (even with gearing), as if the newly added clutch gear is rated to slip at a lower force, it will slip before the linear actuator, and if it starts to slip at a larger force, the linear actuator will still start clicking first.
The best way would be to redesign the linkage to require less force to operate, but it might not be possible in your case:

To save space, I insisted on having a fixed, almost parallel LA

This rules out another possible solution: doubling the linear actuators involved, as two parallel linear actuators will start clicking at a doubled force.
The only remaining advice I can give is to reduce the forces involved, either by attempting to redesign the linkage, or incorporating other means to provide force to assist the linear actuator, like springs, rubber bands, torsion bars, flexible elements, pulleys or even counterweights.


text:
When were Star Wars minifigs changed to use more realistic skin tones?
I've looked on Bricklink and searched there, but I can't determine when LEGO changed the old model of the minifigures to the new model with more details and more realistic skin tones.
Can some one help me with this? I just need the year.

The minifigures in Star Wars sets have changed many times, becoming more detailed in every step, is there any particular change ou're looking for?

Yes i know it, but i'm looking for the skin change for example. When is not be yellow for all characters, for obtain the correct color. (sorry if sound like a racists, its not my intention)

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 Yes but it not completly solved, in the set of lego where Lando Calrissian is the first to appear in the correct skin tone, the others are yellow and not with the correct skin tone. And to referent to thi "In 2004 the LEGO minifigure assumed an even wider range of skin colours when it was decided that the figures in licensed products should resemble the original characters as closely as possible."  its maybe is 2004 when start to actualitzate all Star wars minifigures? i'm not sure about that :/

That answer tells you everything. 2003: Brown Lando. 2004: Flesh tones for all licensed products.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 the answer isn't exactly correct, i searched in Brincks Links and in 2004 still existing rebel pilots with yellow skin tone, but ty for the question reference maybe it was in the middle of 2004 or something like that... In 2005 all characters have the correct skin tone.

You're right, the transition wasn't instant. For example, in 2004 there was a mix of yellow and fleshie figs in Star Wars but that doesn't change the fact that 2004 is the year the change occurred.

@Mr.ShinyandNew安宇 i press "it solved my question" or i put a bit inforamtion here or in the other question?

I've edited the top-voted answer on the other Q to include the info you dug up about the transition. Please feel free to upvote it if you like; this question can be closed as a duplicate, or you can delete it if you prefer.


text:
Looking to Identify a LEGO creator set with a hook
Wandering the Internet not long ago I saw a LEGO set that I thought my kid would like because it had a hook (they are into tow trucks these days, so things with hooks catch their interest). Unfortunately I didn't bookmark the page nor write the name of the set down, and now it is impossible for me to find it again.
These are the things I remember about the set

It was probably a LEGO creator set, because at first I thought the box contained 3 different vehicles and then I realized that you could build 3 different things with the same pieces.
It had a hook of some kind (definitely) and probably a rope for the hook.
One of the vehicles that you could build with the set was airborne, probably an helicopter, maybe a train.
Other of the vehicles that you could build was a boat or ship (due to the size it looked more like a tiny tugboat).
The predominant colors in the set were red and black (maybe dark blue?).

Note: I don't think it was the LEGO Creator Cargo Heliplane.

Possibly 31045 Ocean Explorer?

Has hook
Tugboat appearance
3-in-1
Red and Dark Blue
one model is a plane

If that's not it, you can browse Bricklink for sets containing hooks. I'm guessing you probably saw the modern "Hook with Towball" piece

From your description I would assume it was 31045-1: Ocean Explorer - Brickset

That seems like a reasonable assumption. Welcome to Bricks.SE!


text:
Which blocks are these with small round knobs?
I have few blocks remaining from the block set I got as a kid. It's not LEGO bricks, but I also couldn't find which block type are these and who is making them. Does anyone knows from looking the images who is making these and if they are still produced so I can buy them.
Sorry if this is not right place to ask. Maybe you could point me to other place where I can ask.

I saw these before, trying to find the name...

Can't find them >:(

there is a logo on last one, I tried google image search but it doesn't work

I have seen this logo being used by Märklin, a German producer for model trains, for special reseller products (https://www.mhi-portal.eu). But as far as I know they never produced such bricks.

Usually these questions are answered within hours on this site so it fun to see a real challenge come along.  Thanks for the extra pictures.

I think this is Marklin plus,
a building system by Marklin which ran from 1973 till the end of the seventies

also see http://www.metallbaukasten.de/marklin/plus.html
thanks to the comment of Jan Windemuth for pointing me to Marklin

Nice find. Didn't know they actually built something like LEGO.


text:
Empty LEGO boxes: are they worth anything?
I have 4 garbage bags full of empty LEGO boxes, at least 20+ years old. Are they worth anything? Is there somewhere to post them for sale?

it might depdend on many things. I would surf ebay or similar sites to check if these items are traded there. May not be interesting to most people, but if you happend to find the right collector they might be interested on such items.

i mean, if someone has the set and they dont have the box, buying a box for the set might get the person more money when selling their set.

@eva that's true, that's also why sometimes "pat pending" bricks can be sold for a little bit more for sets that are old

experience shows when selling old sets incl. the box on ebay or bricklink the price will be higher. same goes for me when i am buying, the box to me is absolutely valuable

On Bricklink.com vendors sell original boxes. You can see a listing of what's available here. For example, the King's Mountain Fortress from 1990 is offered for sale for about $65 USD. (I have the front and back flaps of that box, I wonder if I could list just those.)
Bricklink shows a price guide for products which have been sold recently; Some of the boxes show sales and some of them don't.  Whether you can get any specific price for a box will depend greatly on the condition of the box, how you manage your bricklink reputation, and how patient you are.


text:
Can you help me identify this LEGO set? Sand green car with crumpled hood and engine on back?
Can you please help me identify this LEGO set?

This vehicle is part of 10669-1: Turtle Lair


text:
Is my EV3 controller bricked?
My EV3 controller seems to be 'stuck' in this state:

Is the device operating properly?
If not, is there a procedure that can unbrick the controller?
Thank you

I'm sorry to see that no one has answered such simple question you have. I recommend that you look it up before you post a question about it. There are videos on how to fix this, too.


text:
Clutch gear test
I have two white 24t clutch gears, one marked as 2.5-5Ncm and another unmarked - how can I assembled them in a way to test which one "gives" first ) i.e. has torque before it slips - I was thinking to lock the axle on both and then driving them through a differential, but I am not sure how "fair" or symmetric a lego differential would be for driving them, and also noticed that they don't have a constant torque, but rather a shifting amount depending on the position, so some way to determine both the peak and average torque of them would be ideal, but I am not sure of as to design such as test, thus this question:
How can I test two clutch gears to determine their differences?

This is an example. Just replace both black gears with the clutch gears you want to test. Hold 1 clutch while turning the main black axle. Then hold the the other clutch while turning the mail black axle. In one of them you will feel more friction while turning the axle. This clutch you are holding then is tighter/ offers more friction.


text:
Sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads

The Lego Movie does not only feature sharks and lasers but also laser sharks:

However, a Lego shark only has one place where other pieces can be attached and that’s located on its belly.
Hence, I am asking: How can I attach a laser beam (or anything else for that matter) to my shark’s head?
In the above still, the shark’s jaw seems to be detached, but that does not seem very healthy and still it only provides little space to attach anything.

@Zhaph-BenDuguid: I am pretty sure. I extracted it from the movie myself. It’s in the scene where Metalbeard describes how they tried and failed to enter Lord Business’s tower. (Here it is on YouTube.)

The LEGO Agents Speedboat Rescue (8633) set has a set with laser sharks. The set uses a new version of the LEGO shark with two studs on the top behind the head.

Sadly the shark only appeared in two sets, this one and Brickbeard's Bounty (6243) and because of their limited release they are very expensive on Bricklink.
For the original shark you could use a small Technic rubber band (or any small rubber band) to attach a laser.
In the example below, The body of each laser uses a Technic pin joiner, the rubber band runs along the slot in the brick so it's kept in place. The back end of the laser is joined together with a flexible rubber axle connector.


text:
Can anyone tell me what these LEGO sets are?

Can someone help me identify these part built LEGO sets?  They may be Star Wars or Ninjago .

At least some of these parts are from 4433 Dirt Bike Transporter.

The clue is the sticker on the assembly in the top right corner of the image. Number plate stickers typically indicate the initials of the designer (for modern sets) and then the number of the set. In this case, "DM 4433", which matches the set number 4433.

The majority of the pieces in the picture are from set/item# 9780756663117 - "Brickmaster Star Wars".
https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?B=9780756663117#T=S&O=

There appears to be some customized bits, but they are still recognizable.  Then there's that one little bit from set# 4433 that Kramii pointed out.

From what I can tell the 4x4 quarter circle plate in dark bluish grey and the 1x1 yellow tile only appear together in one set, the doc ock set from 2004, and that set doesn't have binoculars in it, so you're probably looking at a mix of sets here.


text:
Programming to get data from EV3 sensor and send it to a server?
I am using EV3 with Linux V1.09 and I am doing a project in which I want to send the sensor data from the EV3 to a remote web server using POST method - is this possible?

You can use CURL for generating post requests. Provided you have the data in a readable, parse-able format (full disclosure, I've never used mindstorms so I don't know if this is actually relevant.)
https://curl.haxx.se/

Another possible method is to use I2C to communicate from the EV3 to an Arduino with a WiFi shield or module, then have the Arduino perform the POST.

Yes, it is possible.
If you are using the official LEGO firmware, you will need a computer that reads data from the EV3 using direct commands, then relays that information to the web server.
The EV3 could send the information directly if you use a 3rd party OS for EV3, such as ev3dev or leJOS.


text:
Should I store greasy tires separately?
Should I store my "greasy" tires separately from the ones that don't seem to sweat?
I'm hand-washing and sorting my bricks from a big, uncovered tub, and some of my earlier tires are really greasy, for lack of a better word... The rubber is, maybe, "sweating" something out with age? I dunno.
I read an earlier post, from 2014 or so, about tire storage, and it was helpful, but not as specific an answer as I was looking for. Any thoughts, yea or nay?

Welcome to Bricks.  https://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/6750/what-is-the-best-way-to-store-lego-rubber-tires/6751#6751 seems like the prior answer you are referring to.

Truly! Thanks @chicks! That's the post that prompted me to ask for more clarification. I was hoping to catch the eye of an engineer for greater clarification. Here's still hoping!  :D Pleased to be a part of this awesome, resourceful community! Cheers!

I really expected someone with chemistry leanings to explain to us what was "migrating" out of the rubber with time or temperature, to make them "greasy"...much like cocoa butter will migrate outside of M&M's that have gotten too hot in their package.
The question "chicks" linked to gives some good answers though, and it's encouraging that no one has had any storage tragedies.  Still, I would advise keeping them out of the usual culprits though:  sunlight and hot temperatures.

Right?! This is all prompted by the discovery of a greasy residue on some childhood bricks left undisturbed for a decade in an attic. No light, but more than a few hot, Midwestern summers... I'm not saying I think it's toxic- I just want to know if I should watch for a certain few years or so, in LEGO tire manufacturing methods, so as to store my collection appropriately... Again, so pleased to have found this resource. hat-tip


text:
IR protocol for Duplo RC Dozer (2949)
Does anyone know where to find the IR protocol for Duplo RC Dozer (2949)? I have the RC Dozer and no remote and wanted to use a universal remote to control it.

Actually, I have had some success through trial and error and found that a Spybotics remote will do the trick of controlling the RC dozer.


text:
Build-A-Bricks Building Set
When I was a boy - 1940's-50's - I had a plastic building set called, Build-A-Bricks, or some such. It was for modeling brick houses. The pieces were similar to LEGO but larger and there were cardboard windows, doors and roof elements. Does anyone remember such a product? Are there any such products on the market now?

Maybe you can try Bricklink or Brickset? Try this page:https://brickset.com/sets. Click on the drop-down menu that reads "Year".

@Alfred Welcome to Bricks Stack Exchange!

Yes, maybe called Bilda-Brix.
I was given set for Christmas when I was 4.5. This would have to have been 1951.
Don’t remember any instructions, just used my imagination to build houses, towns and even battle ships! They were mostly red, some white hence I could have opposing battle ships. LEGO with its kits to build a specific thing has always seemed to me to demand less of the imagination.

This certainly fits the description. Nice work, and welcome to Bricks.SE!


text:
How can I improve my rackless steering design?
I am trying to build a vehicle with a sturdy steering mechanism powered by the servo motor. When I was a kid I did this all the time with a rack and pinion design, but now I don't have any of the rack bricks.
The best I have come up with is an axle connected to a universal joint connected to the steering bar (see pictures - note that some of the chassis has been removed to expose the steering).
The problem with this is that the steering is slightly offset to one side. Also the axle can easily pull out of the connector if there is any resistance to the steering.
Is there a better design I can use, while still keeping the vehicle relatively compact?

You can also use a worm gear as a replacement for the older rack gear if you have any of those?

Look at the instructions for set 42048 Race Cart. It has rack and pinion steering without using a rack. It basically uses the same 2-long beam as you use on the servo, but uses it to push two pins with towball end either left or right. You can find the instructions online at LEGO.com.

Phil B. is correct. Using the rack and pinion will allow the steering mechanism on that particular lego piece will allow you to be able to get around obstacles that you need to pass.

I replicated the basic geometry of your steering build to use for illustration.  I came up with two simple solutions that will work with your current setup. The steering servo is represented with a "M" motor because all of mine are in vehicles at the moment.

The drag-link with ball joints setup can be greatly improved upon with ease, I just wanted to use examples that applied specifically to your current design.
I realize this question is old, I wanted to provide an answer for anyone that runs into a similar situation with their build and comes across this post.


text:
When did LEGO have a groove in the center tube underneath?
I have a bunch of bricks from my childhood, some have grooves in the tubes underneath, some have the old style bubble logo, some have square holes under the plates. I am interested in general ages of each.

I can give you some help, especially if you are talking about 2x4 bricks.  Last year, I embarked on a bit of a history project to trace the design changes in Lego, by looking at the 2x4 brick, from 1949 to today. (Such as changes in the tubes, like the slots you mention!) I talked to several very helpful collectors (some here on Bricks beta!), who gave me lots of helpful information.
I distilled it all down into this article:
http://snakeandboris.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-short-history-of-lego-brick-1949_6.html
(This link goes to Part 2 of the article, because it contains a link for Part 1.)
Keep in mind, though, that not all dates with Lego changes are hard-and-fast.  You will see a few "c." meaning it was AT or AROUND that time--because as Lego changed molds, they didn't do it all at once, across the whole world. They used the old molds for their normal lifespans.
There are even MORE sub-variations than what I have found, and there are links at the end of my post to some other good sources of information.
Good luck! One thing about this hobby I can tell you, there are lots of knowledgeable and kind folks to help you!


text:
What would make these store display Star Wars sets particularly valuable?
I came across this display a trade show/swap meet. Now almost all the other toys/collectibles/etc. had a price tag on them (some were even in excess of $1,000).
However these Star Wars sets had a note that read:

LEGO Store Display. One of the few remaining. NEED to sell, make reasonable offer to take home with you.

What would makes these sets valuable? Are they rare as the note claims? Are they valuable because they were a display a LEGO Store? Something else entirely?
I am not asking what a "reasonable" offer is, as that is subjective; rather is there something objectively intrinsic to the value of them?
Sets in question are:

8036: Separatists Shuttle
7754: Home One Mon Calamari Star Cruiser
8039: Venerator Class Republic Attack Cruiser

These displays are indeed rare, because LEGO demands that retailers destroy them after use, and most of them oblige. The sets inside are unfortunately glued together, so they don't have much value. They are valuable to collectors of displays, but that is a fairly limited audience.


text:
How can I find brick part number from a picture?
I found some books I like, but the book only give pictures of the parts. For example, this one

How can I know the part number (for example in bricklink) from the picture?

You'll need to start learning the nomenclature for those pieces.
For example the long straight pieces you have there with holes on top are "Technic, Brick 1 x 12 with Holes"
The pieces with rounded ends are lift arms. You can browse through the list of them here or take a stab at their descriptions using the width and number of pin holes. For example the purple on you have there is

1 hole wide

9 holes long

as think as a normal LEGO brick (some are half that thickness)

Bent with 6 on one line and 4 on the other
so "Technic, Liftarm 1 x 9 Bent (6 - 4) Thick"

I find BrickSet a bit easier to browse for parts than BrickLink
Alternately you could install LDD (Lego Digital Designer), find the name of the part, and then search with that name

It's good application for android - parts are sorted and easy to fine necessary part.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.betab.partsguideforlegotechnic


text:
EV3 switch block does not recognize text?
i am using file access to input variables into my programm.
text file is something like this:
a
b
c
..
on each loop, program access file (using File Access block) and reads a new line "a" or "b" or "c" etc. and write this into a variable. I then use this variable as input for switch block. However switch block only recognized the very first character, while all others are very much all "false"
i know file access pulls out the information (i can display such input using the display block to show it..) yet for the switch block this information does not get recognized.
i tried with numeric, but i get the same problem..
Any ideas?
thanks!

Welcome. Please update your post with a clear image of your code, or at least the relevant section(s)

It looks like you have found a bug in the file block. I am guessing that the text after the first line must have the a hidden newline character or something like that that causes it to not the switch block values.
However, I was able to get it working with numeric values.
Sample data.rtf
1
2
3
4
5

Sample code:

I also noticed that it doesn't work unless the file has Windows line endings (CRLF). If you are using Notepad in Windows, this is not a problem.

thanks a lot for this David - i guess i will switch to numeric as my list of inputs although think i tried that before and it gave me same problem.  Did you use usual windows notepad editor to create your data.rtf?

I tested on macOS using Visual Studio Code for my text editor. It allows you to select which type of line endings to use in the file.


text:
Are creative play sets compatible with Duplo?
Are are the blocks in the Creative Play sets compatible with LEGO Duplo blocks? Also, are they the same size as Duplo, or Juniors or in between?

Duplo bricks are twice (in each dimension) the size of regular bricks, and it's not hard to mix them, look for instance at the top related question (look in the right side). All the Creative Play-boxes I found in a quick search seems to bear the Duplo logo, meaning that they are Duplo, so of course they are compatible.


text:
Need help identifying these sets
I recently got a huge bag of LEGO's.  I figured out what some of them were, but there were still these left over, and I couldn't find anything about them.

The parts on the left of the top photo are from
76020-1: Knowhere Escape Mission

the part on the right of the top photo is
30156pb02 : Panel 4 x 6 x 6 Sloped with Stone Wall Pattern
based on the windows it should come from 7785-1: Arkham Asylum

The bottom one is part of 6873-1: Spider-Man's Doc Ock Ambush

You can see the distinctive riser on the left.

What do you mean by Riser?


text:
Any cheap Technic sets with a good variety of parts?
I want to start building a module like GBC Miniloop 01, but when I check the part list some are very hard to find. How should I get started with miniloops?
BTW, I got a very big set, Bucket Wheel Excavator 42055, and wanted to be able to do MOC's based on the parts in there. There are still many parts not included that I need for building this small GBC Mini loop.
Any suggestions?

The parts in the model in that video look pretty generic, it appears to be mostly bricks, which are easily substituted for other colors or even shapes. If you need a quantity of a certain piece, you can try Bricklink.

@AlexanderO'Mara thanks. but parts like 3937 rocker bearing 1*2 seems hard.

Rocker bearing 1*2 appears in nearly 1000 sets
https://brickset.com/parts/design-3937

You are in luck.  PV Productions has instructions for building a huge GBC setup out of the pieces in the 42055.

@chicks this saves me a lot of money and time to collect parts and use what i have thanks again !

42055 strikes me as being an excellent parts pack by itself - I also built a GBC module using parts of it (just a small subset), and other have too

In answer to your question "I want to build a Great Ball Contraption and have LEGO set 42055, what other LEGO sets do I need to buy?" the answer is: None. You've got all the bits needed, even a motor.
Instructions to make a Great Ball Contraption from LEGO set 42055 are available for purchase for about USD25, and advertisement for the instructions can be see on YouTube. The are other instructions available - like https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio/design.page?idModel=140147
The PV instructions are just one of dozens of alternative 42055 builds.


text:
What parts make up this mini-figure?

I need a little help in identifying the parts on this figure.
Here is what I need help with:

The Hat/plume
The Torso
The Cape (though it looks like it might be made of two capes instead of one).
The part that is holding the sword.

Hope the group can give me some help.

Pirate hat: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=2528#T=C
Plume: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=4502c#T=C
Torso: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=973pb0665c01#T=C&C=11
Capes (appear to be two standard capes): https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=522#T=C
Scabbard: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=95348#T=C


text:
How to import Rebrickable.com parts lists to LDraw?
I have exported all of the parts that I have entered into Rebrickable as a .pbg file. I also have a .xml file from Rebrickable that is for BrickLink.
I was told that I could just import the document into LDraw and then I could build projects just using the parts that I already owned.
I have LDCad and MLCad installed from the LDraw AIOI.
Is there any way to import these files as an LDraw parts list?

I don't think you "import the document into LDraw" since I don't think there is an LDraw program; it's a library of all parts.  CAD programs manipulate those parts.
I tried various CAD programs over the years and recently found that LDCad (which you say you recently installed) works for me.  So what you want to do is to import your Rebrickable parts list into LDCad as a parts library.  Then, indeed, it's much easier to play with LDCad when you don't have to paw through the entire LDraw library looking for parts; you just go through your subset of parts.
Two years ago when I found LDCad I wanted a parts library restricted to just the parts in a specific LEGO kit so I kept notes and posted my experience.  I still use it.

Export parts as "LDCad Parts Bin PBG" from rebrickable

Take the exported .pbg file and place it in %appdata%\LDCad\partBin\default\sets (and possibly add a png image too) (ref from here)
Find your parts in LDCad parts bin under "Part listings of Lego sets"


text:
Where can I get the rest of the bags for the Helm's Deep set?
I have the Helm's Deep LEGO set from The Lord of the Rings. It is supposed to have 9 bags total, but I only have 4 of those bags. Does anyone know where I can buy the remaining bags?

I don't know of anywhere that sells bags of parts for sets, but you could try BrickLink - you might be able to pick up a second incomplete set for a bargain - or more realistically, you can "Part Out" every component piece to a wishlist, remove those that you do have, and then look to buy the missing parts. It sounds daunting, but you can sort according to which sellers have the most parts from your wishlist, and hopefully get the bulk of them in one hit.
Your mileage may vary on prices. Like anything, rarity and availability dictates asking prices. Common blocks should only cost a few cents each, but anything unique to this set is likely to be hard to find and/or expensive.

Be aware that such larger sets often also contains pieces that are not in bags or are in un-numbered bags.
I'm not aware of anywhere where such bags are sold in any structured way. In the RLUG (Registered LEGO User Group) that I'm a member of (Byggepladen in Denmark), some members occasional get (or get the chance to buy) a box that contains a number of random bags from various sets, but it's rare that people bother identifying which set a bag is from, they are just opened are the parts sorted and put into the collection. If you are a member of an RLUG you might ask there, but it will probably require a lot of luck, but I don't see other possibilities.


text:
Can you identify the set for this transparent and printed orange canopy, with number 56?

Part from unknown set. Can someone please help to identify the set number?

This is from set 4587-1: Duel Racers

@Tom Awesome that you've found the set. Please accept this answer to show others this question has been resolved.


text:
Selling bulk LEGO
I have most Star Wars sets, plus the complete Enterprise.  They have been taken apart and I do not have all instructions.  What is the best suggestion to sell?  I also have the Death Star dismantled.  I do have at least 6 Star Wars ships that are intact.  If I sell those, how do I get them to the buyer?

Most of the instructions are available online.  They will generally sell for more as buildable sets than random bricks.  Selling as sets would generally not be considered selling LEGO in bulk.

For bulk selling, see: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/q/9716/56, for transportation options see: https://bricks.stackexchange.com/q/1914/56 or the [tag:transport] tag.

An Enterprise has never been an official LEGO set. Lego does not have the licenses to produce Star Trek sets. Some clone brands have offered it, so I conclude that clone or custom  LEGO is mixed into your bulk. You should filter the non-LEGO out of your bulk if you wish to sell it as  LEGO.

The Enterprise reference made me wonder as well.  I assumed they were talking about the Millennium Falcon, but non-LEGO is a good guess as well.  Hopefully Sheila will return and let us know the real story.


text:
Found a bag of pieces. Most unique to this bag is a cloth of yellow and gold stripes
Most unique piece in this bag is a cloth of yellow and gold stripes. It has a hole in each of four corners. A number on the box that held this piece is 653999. What set does this go with?

Can you supply a picture of the bag?

Based on the description on the cloth piece, the set should be the #31052 LEGO Creator Vacation Gateways https://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=26243pb01&in=S


text:
Identifying kits to find instructions, red Ferrari with white mirrors and rear engine?

I am looking for what set number this is. It has Ferrari symbols on it. Any ideas so that I can find instructions?

Looks like the red model from 8143-1: Ferrari F430 Challenge 1:17 without stickers.

You can find a link to the instructions from the link above.


text:
What are the part numbers for the original brick minifigures?
I was gifted two containers of assorted LEGO bricks that had some of these:

Apparently these were only made for a few years before the minifigures we know now appeared in 1978. Does anybody know the part number for the legs, torso, and faceless head?
Slightly more info found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_minifigure#History

Here are Bricklink entries for the:

legs (#15)
torso (#17)
and head (#3626a)


text:
How do you interrupt a MyBlock?
I have a "general-purpose" line-follower encapsulated in a MyBlock that runs an infinite loop.
Now, in a client program, I would like to interrupt that MyBlock if some condition is met; what the condition is should be determined by the client, so I don't want to put that logic into the MyBlock.
I also don't want to terminate the program altogether, and I want to keep the loop in the MyBlock.
Is there a way to break out of the MyBlock?

You can use the Loop Interrupt block. Just make sure the name used in the Loop Interrupt block matches the name of the loop inside of the My Block.

Make sure to make explicit calls to turn off the motors


text:
Billund Legoland car controls
I just visited the Legoland's Miniland.  There are numerous car models that drive around the landscape under some sort of remote control. One can see the models stop to recharge on pads with two wires sticking from the ground, but there are no visible guides for the robotic cars to follow.
How are the cars controlled and how do they follow their tracks?  Similar info on the trains would interesting as well.

There's an airport with huge moving Lego planes too.

From an unofficial Legoland Windsor fan site 'Completely LEGOLAND Windsor'.

Road Vehicles
The cars, lorries and buses all appear to move and steer on their own,
  never leaving their set paths, yet not using any rails. How on Earth
  do they manage that? Beneath these paths are cables that emit a
  low-level radio wave specific to each vehicle - the vehicle picks up
  this signal, and uses it to steer. When the vehicle reaches one of the
  charging points dotted around it's track, it stops. One of the
  computers registers this, and a timer is started. When the timer
  reaches zero, the power to the charger is cut, and this signals the
  vehicle to continue along it's path. Outside park opening hours, the
  vehicles stop on the charging points and recharge fully overnight.
Trains
The trains work in a similar fashion to the road vehicles, but follow
  tracks instead of radio signals. When a train approaches a station,
  the train passes over 'slow down bars', which tell the onboard
  microprocessor to slow the motor. When it reaches a charging point,
  one of which is located at each station, a signal is sent to the
  control room, at which point a timer is started both in the control
  centre and in the train's microprocessor. Unlike the road vehicles,
  which can only go forward at a certain speed, the trains can go
  forwards, backwards, and vary their speed.
Boats
The boats are attached to rubber loops, which can clearly be seen
  under the water. These are driven by motors controlled by the
  computers in the control centre. A piece of metal on the hull of the
  boat allow sensors along the boat's track to detect the boat, and let
  the computer know where the boat is. The computer then uses this
  information to initiate various sequences, such as raising bridges, or
  opening and closing locks and powering water pumps.

They are robotic and follow a magnetic track.
Source: I asked a LEGOLAND California Master Model Builder back in 2006.

I don't know about the trains, but I suspect they are simply electrified rails, much like the old 9V train tracks.

The cars interact with the boats. E.g. a bus boards a ferry. This means that the control system must know where the cars are.


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Is there any way to connect “sideways” to an axle?
There are some pieces whose middle part is shaped like a Technic axle, but that have elements on both ends that make it impossible to insert them into a normal axle or Technic hole:

This makes me wonder whether the axle shape here actually allows for a connection or was only chosen for stability, production reasons, or similar.
With other words, is there any piece (or combination of pieces) that connects a Technic axle “sideways”, i.e., without going over the ends?

I don't think there are any pieces LEGO intends for you to attach to the side of these axle shaped pieces. However, I'm pretty sure you could attach piece 32172 to some extent (assuming the piece being attached to is actually the right size for an axle):

It probably would not connect very well, only the clips on the sides of the socket would hold it, so it would probably slide easily, or pop of with little effort, but it could be attached.

The minifigure spanner can be attached sideways to an axle (as well as a pin and stud):

This doesn’t hold in all directions, however.

This part (Technic, Link 1 x 16 #2637) appears to be an axle with two connectors on each end. Bricklink classifies this piece as a Technic Link and not an axle because it doesn't perform most of the same functions as an axle.
I believe the decision to use the Technic 'axle' shape for the length of the piece rather than a round piece, is because it functions more like an axle than a pin. Pins connect bricks together and are two to three bricks long. Axles can be much longer, one of which is the same length as this piece.
Of the 23 sets this part appears in there aren't any sets in which bricks have been attached to the axle part of the piece, nor does there to be any obvious way to do so.

sandwiching the part between two Technic rack pieces – Would that be a valid connection in the sense that it is actually used in official sets or similar?

Hmm, now that I think about it, that probably wouldn't work...


text:
Is there a 90 degree angle brick?
Is there a brick that I can use to connect LEGO plates at a 90 degree angle?

In which direction do you want to attach them?

There are many different types. You can find them here: Bricklink - Brick Modified
There are also Brackets: Bricklink - Brackets
And you could use some of these Bricklink - Plate Modified  or, of course, these Bricklink - Hinges

This answer wins in terms of teaching folks to find the answers with the tools available.

The part# 87087 - "Brick, Modified 1 x 1 with Stud on 1 Side" could work:

But the part# 11211 - "Brick, Modified 1 x 2 with Studs on 1 Side" seems better to scale up with:

There are many. I believe the classic "Erling"/headlight brick (it was designed by a guy named Erling) is the oldest way, but there's also a number of bricks with studs on the side and a number of brackets.

I thought of this part too because it is so much more commonly seen than the ones I put in my answer, but the 4070 brick wouldn't work well for the OP because of the inset.  It would be hard to attach a plate to the side studs after attaching one to the top or vice versa.


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LEGO EV3 I2C Compatibility
I'm having difficulties with communication between the EV3 and Arduino boards.  Does anyone know if the EV3 is really I2C compatible, or is it just close enough?
Background: I can get the EV3 to send and receive I2C with an Arduino Uno, but not with MKR1000 or Adafruit Huzzah boards.  This is both with and without pull-up resisters, and also trying different values of pull-up resistors.  When I scope the SDA line, it look reasonable when communicating with the Uno.  When communicating with the MKR1000, the low logic level only reaches 1.6 V (with the 4.7k resistors desoldered from MKR1000 board, but looks worse with the pull-ups).  With the Huzzah board, the SDA line looks great for about 4-5 bits, but then also raises the logic low level to about 2 V.  The clock line looks clean no matter what it is connected to.

The same problem with connecting ev3 to rpi via i2c. A. Brown did you solve the problem?

LEGO doesn't really follow I2C standards, so "close enough" is a good description.
The EV3 hardware developer kit (available for download at http://mindstorms.lego.com) has this to say:

4.1 I2C communication
The EV3 platform supports the same level of I2C communication as MINDSTORMS NXT. This means that
  system support a maximum of 9600 bit/s and maximum 32 bytes communication buffers. All I2C
  communication is running within software drivers. External devices are required to include pull-up
  resistors on both pin 5 and 6 on 82K ohm. If multiple sensors are used on the same bus the total
  impedance needs to be adjusted accordingly.

Most off-the-shelf I2C devices use 10k pullup resistors (although it looks like it might be 4.7k in your case). These must be removed and replaced with 82k resistors to be compatible with MINDSTORMS.

David, thanks for the information.  Yes, I did desolder the 4.7k pullups for the MKR1000 and tried 82k (as well as other values).  It's still not pulling logic low down anywhere close to 0 V.  My guess is that the non-Uno boards also are not true I2C either and are loading the EV3 SDA line too much.

What are you using for ground? On NXT, both pin 2 and pin 3 on the input ports are ground, but on EV3, only pin 3 is ground.

I'm using Pin 3 as ground.

The MKR1000 has internal programmable pull-up/pull-down resistors. Are these disabled?

authors: Томшин Павел Валерьевич


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How do I install the Lego BOOST software on a phone instead of a tablet?
Officially, the Lego Boost software is only available for devices with at least an 8 inch screen:
https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/device-guide/boost
However, it would be nice to install the software on an old phone rather than a tablet for my child to use. Is this possible? How?
Edit: LEGO now officially supports tablets and smartphones. This question is now mostly irrelevant, but it could still be useful as a guide to installing the app on an unsupported device.

You can install the software using an alternative App Store such as APKPure. You can alternatively download and install the APK and OBB files directly from various online sources as demonstrated in this video. Once installed, this software seems to work for me on my Galaxy S4, and I assume it would also work on other Android devices. I can connect to and control the Move Hub without any issues, but I haven't tested all features of the software.
I was unable to get this to work on an S3. The app crashes during the loading screen. This could be due to many factors, but I suspect screen resolution could be one culprit, as the S3 has a 720p screen and the S4 has a 1080p screen.
It should also be noted that these devices aren't officially supported by TLG, so this software may be buggy and/or stop working in the future.
Devices confirmed working:

ASUS ZenPad S
Google Pixel C
HTC Nexus 9
Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2
Lenovo Yoga Tab 3
Nvidia SHIELD Tablet (LTE)
Samsung Galaxy Tab S
Samsung Galaxy Tab A
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 (Nook)
Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet (LTE)
Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact (LTE)
Xiaomi Mi Pad 2
Samsung Galaxy S4
LG G3
Samsung Galaxy S5
Google Pixel 2
BQ Aquaris X5 Plus
Huawei P10 Lite
Motorola G5 Plus

Devices confirmed not working:

Galaxy S3

The official list of devices can be found here
https://www.lego.com/en-us/service/device-guide/boost


text:
Is the LEGO BOOST kit compatible with EV3 or PowerFunctions motors and sensors?
I'm curious if I can use my existing EV3 and/or PowerFunctions motors to extend the functionality of my LEGO BOOST set. Is this possible?

While LEGO BOOST is compatible with the bricks from other sets, the motor, distance sensor, and Move Hub are not electrically compatible with current EV3 or PowerFunctions components. BOOST uses the same six pin connector as WeDo 2.0 from the Education line:

So, the bad news is that you can't easily use PF or EV3 motors with BOOST. However, LEGO plans to use this connector for PowerFunctions in the future and possibly for the successor to EV3 as well, so there may be more compatible components down the line. Here's how it's explained in the WeDo 2.0 FAQs:

Is this a new plug system?
Yes, this is the new LEGO Power Functions plug that has been optimized also to meet potential future needs.
What does that mean for the existing plug systems on other Power Function and MINDSTORMS products? Will they also be changed?
Yes, eventually we will convert to the new plug system after a transition period. The exact timing of this transition has not been determined.

While the Boost components use a different connectivity, there is potentially another way you can extend your EV3 set with the capabilities of Boost by having both communicate via Bluetooth.
Unfortunately, there are no standard LEGO-provided tools to do so, but the systems are open-ended enough that some people are working on it. For example, here is a Python library which you can use on your EV3 brick running ev3dev (a specific debian distribution for EV3) and talk with the Boost hub. I haven't tested it myself but it looks promising.

Very cool! Thanks for sharing! I've been hoping for a way to interact with the Move Hub from my laptop, and it looks like this project could be adapted for that purpose.


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Can LEGO Boost play custom audio files?
Can LEGO Boost play custom audio files on the Boost app from files kept on the device such as those downloaded from iTunes or transferred from a computer?
Are recordings from the tablet the only way to use custom sounds?

As far as I can tell, recordings from the tablet are the only way to use custom sounds at the moment. I imagine that the UI for a feature like this was deemed too complex for an app designed for children under 12. However, this should be easy to add to the app in a future update if there is demand for it.
One obvious workaround for this is to play the desired sound on another device and save it using the recording interface:

These recordings are limited to about 5 seconds.


text:
What Technic set should I get for general Technic MOC?
I want to do some small machines in these books, But the sets recommended by the author are super expensive (set 8043 8053).

LEGO Technic Sets I Recommend (December, 2010)
  Honestly, it is hard to find LEGO Technic sets which include a good variety of parts. Most include the parts you’ll need in order to make a particular model, like a car or helicopter. In addition, the sets available in the USA differ from those in Japan, where I live. Of the sets sold in the USA, I think the best set is #8043 (Motorized Excavator) ....

What are today's "equivalent version" of 8043 and 8053?

The 42055 Excavator has a ton of parts and since it is still being sold by The LEGO Group itself they should be relatively cheap compared to discontinued sets that are only sold in the secondary market.

Any large Technic set on shop.lego.com, provided it has a batterybox and a motor (or more) should typically fit the bill.

@chicks thanks, in fact I got the exact model you recommended, but too few gears.

You could go to ebay and buy a general lot of pieces, or pick up a specialist page of shop owners that can supply a range of mixed pieces set out on a page of one colour at a time, often they have 180 pieces at a time per lot Or you could go for a kilo lot of pieces- but the postage will be quite high.

You should really buy the Lego Technic Bucket Wheel Excavator. It's a great price for the parts and has a very wide variety of parts: banana gears to Power Functions Elements.


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EV3 motor control proportional to another motor when more than two motors
From what I understand, in EV3-g you can use "move steering" or "move tank" blocks to regulate two motors proportionally to each other as they have a built-in PID controller to do that.
If one motor falls behind, the faster motor will be slowed down and vice versa...
My question is how to realize this with 3 or more motors?
E.g.: I have motor A which I want to run at full speed.
Motor B which I want to run at 30% of the speed of motor A.
Motor C which I want to run at 50% of the speed of motor A.
I also want that if any motor is slowed down (e.g. because of friction), this is compensated by slowing the other motors down.
Will I need to code extensive PID loops myself?
Does anyone have any references or examples in that case?
Or is there a simpler way ?
The application I have in mind is an omni platform. This is a robot that has three wheels on axes that are 120 degrees separated. By correctly setting the speeds of the three motors, one should be able to get the robot to drive in any direction without it having to turn (although it can turn in place if needed).

I've implemented 3-motor triangular holonomic drive with NXT-G but not ev3-g so I can help with strategy but not tactics.
To accelerate in any direction you need to constantly re-calculate the power levels for each of the 3 independent motors.  By constantly I mean some reasonable number of times per second - 4, or something like that.  EV3 is considerably more powerful than NXT-G but you won't want to tax it too much with this, if the 'bot does anything else at the same time.
The built-in PID stuff won't help with this at all - in fact, you'll want to do everything you can to ensure only your code is controlling the power levels of each motor, that nothing else is affecting them.  Anything that's smoothing out the power level or similar should be disabled as best as you can.
Trigonometry is what you need - Arctan() to be specific.  I have the math jotted down on paper somewhere but odds aren't good I'll find it anytime soon.  If I can, I'll extract the logic from existing NXT-G programs and update this answer sometime.
inputs:  desired bot direction, desired power level, motor angle (0, 120,240)
output:  power level goal for that motor
You might wrap that all up in a PID loop to get 'actual' numbers closer and closer to 'desired' numbers.
Hope this is helpful.  Happy to field any follow-on questions you might have.  I'll update this answer with additional details if I'm able to pull them from the actual code, or if I find the notebook where I wrote down the math, about a decade ago.


text:
Run an NXT 2 program that will continue until no power is left in batteries
I want to run an NXT 2 program that will continue until no power is left in batteries. I want it to rotate slowly so that a sculpture can be turned for as long as possible. It seems to go for a few hour then shuts down.

If all you're doing is rotating something, could you just do it with a regular power functions motor? It will definitely run until it overheats or drains the batteries.

The NXT has a feature to turn itself of after a period of inactivity. Somewhere in the menus on it you can turn that off. I don't remember where it was, by it wasn't hard to find.

Regarding using regular power functions, they are too fast in my experience. Using gear reduction is possible, but the parts will wear down. Using voltage regulation is imprecise and I think that besides running slower, the motor applies also less torque.

Use the Keep Alive Block in your program.

This block will keep the NXT from entering sleep mode. Add this block
  if your program needs to wait for longer than the NXTs set "sleep
  time" (configured using the NXTs on-board menus).

The Time until sleep plug will take a value from 0 - 4294967296 (168) milliseconds .
4294967296 milliseconds is just over 49 days which is most likely a lot longer than the battery lifespan and much, much longer then you would/should normally be running it for.

As Ambo100 suggested, use the Keep Alive Block. Keep in mind though, that many batteries don't like getting drained completely. If you're using rechargeable batteries, this might damage them. It's been a while since I used NXT-G code, so I can't remember if there's a block that let's you check the current status of the batteries.


text:
NXT Mindstorms software glitch
My FLL team was doing some practice programming exercises this morning.  One group wrote a program using color sensors, no issue.  The next group opened a new program window and attempted to open a color sensor block, but were unable to do so.
All of the other sensor blocks opened correctly, but the color sensor would not open the formatting section, allowing for specifying what the sensor is supposed to do.
We tried everything!
And then, when the first group went back to their program to make refinements, the color sensor formatting areas had gone blank and could no longer be used.
The software broke while we were using it.  Any guidance anyone would be helpful.  Thanks!


text:
What internal electronics does LEGO Boost use?
What specific electronic components are present inside the Boost Move Hub?

Here's what the main board in the Move Hub looks like from the top:

And bottom:

The Move Hub includes the following hardware:
Motors
The two built in motors are fairly standard DC motors. They include optics in the early stage of the gearing for rotation counting.
There are two LB1836 motor drivers on the board. They are dual channel parts, so presumably one is for driving the internal motors (A and B), and the other is used for driving the external ports (C and D).
Communications
Boost uses a BlueNRG Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) processor from STMicroelectronics for communication with the control device. More information is available here:
http://www.st.com/en/wireless-connectivity/bluenrg.html
This processor is fairly powerful in it's own right. Internally, it includes a 32 MHz ARM Cortex M0 with 12KB RAM and 64KB flash. This chip is significantly more powerful than the main processor in the RCX line.
CPU and Memory
The main CPU in Boost is an STM32F070 RBT6 from STMicroelectronics. This includes and ARM Cortex M0 internally. It has the following specs:

48 MHz clock
16 KB RAM
128 KB Flash

This part is in the same neighborhood as the CPU used for NXT in terms of clock speed and available storage.
Other features
There is a single push button present on the board to turn the device on and a single RGB LED that can be programmed via the Boost app. The battery box hold 6 AAA batteries providing 9V.


text:
ev3 brick blocked during running a program
I pressed "Run my program" (a simple one), and it is stuck with "mindstorms sound_turn_on" displayed on the screen. The name of my program is sound_turn_on. I am using LabView to program it. Now LabView can't recognize the ev3 brick, because it's blocked. What should I do? Take out the batteries and put them back? Would harm the brick in any way?

Have you tried pressing the center button and the button on the left-bottom under the screen simultaneously? That should stop your running program and could get you back to "normal" use of your EV3. If that doesn't work, removing and reinserting batteries is your best option.

i tried that but it didn't work, in the end i removed the batteries and it was alright, thank you very much! :)


text:
Is there a named scale for sets such as 75055 Imperial Star Destroyer or 75054 AT-AT
I am looking for the name of the scale that most Star Wars sets use, that isn't minifigure scale as it has been scaled down to an appropriate size but still has an interior for minifigures, such as the Star Destroyer 75055 or the AT-AT 75054? Is there a specific name like there is for minifigure scale and Microscale?

Microscale is not well-defined to not include that, but LEGO also made some sets they called medium scale.

I've heard the term "ISD Scale" some times, refering to the first Imperial Star Destroyer. But I doubt that's official and it's not clear if other sets share the same scale.

As far as I can find, there are very few official "scale" terms used in LEGO. The term "Minifig-scale" is a fan term and is fairly loose, as the scale of the figs themselves don't really equate to reasonable human dimensions. Add to that the fact that minifig-scale vehicles and buildings have had variable relative sizes compared to minifigs, making it difficult to describe a standard scale that is officially used in LEGO sets.
There are a few "micro-scale" sets, including Micro Scale Space Cruiser, Micro Scale, and Micro Scale Bag End. And, if you will forgive a bit of levity, there is the Kitchen Scale.
My favorite scale that LEGO officially produced was the Midi-scale Millennium Falcon). However, they also did a Midi-scale Star Destroyer that is totally NOT the same scale as the Falcon. So, even in their official terminology the "scale" is a rather fluid thing.
For a more indepth discussion of scale, they had one over on the Brickset Forums. I particularly like MrShinyAndNew's answer (third one down as of this post).


text:
How can I use the Flex Tool easily on LDD?
On LEGO Digital Designer, I find it very hard to move the piece being flexed to the correct position.
Are there any tips or musts that I should try to help me flex it into clips etc.?

This eurobricks thread has several LDD tricks, some of which use the flex tool.
Please be aware however that LDD can easily crash from using the flex tool or the hinge/hinge align tool.
There are other tools to flex parts but they are not as simple to use as LDD's flex tool.


text:
Can you identify these LEGO animals, mountains, and minifigs?

Came across this package 2 of a larger set. I could only upload several pieces of it. Can anyone identify this for me please?

You have bag 2 of set 60014: Coast Guard Patrol.


text:
What is this piece slightly longer than a 2x2 plate with grooves and a hole?
Once again, I need the collective wisdom of this group to identify a mystery LEGO element!
I did a search for "2x2"and went through scores of Bricklink pages, but I couldn't find this particular piece.
It's the size of a 2x2 plate, but with this added grooved part that I've never seen before.

Can you find a number anywhere on the bottom of the brick? I can just about make up something that looks like '90-7' but I'm not sure.

@Ambo100 I think it's "4-06" upside down?

This looks like a PLATE 2X2 ANGLE, which is broken. There is a rough side shown on the picture.

Looks like it was intentionally smoothed a bit after cutting or breaking, possibly for some one-off custom purpose.

@RussellBorogove: I have lots of parts that are 30-40 years old that have a broken edge that is now rounded because it was in use for so long

Huh, I thought it was familiar. Good job!

Sorry for the delay--there is indeed a Lego part number on the bottom, which is 3956. On closer inspection, I think the above comments are right--the broken edge is not completely flat, but rounded! No wonder I couldn't find this in Bricklink.  Thanks to all!


text:
Are limited run sets a good investment if left unopened?
So I've been reading a lot about the LEGO aftermarket, and how many will hunt for sets that have gone out of production and will pay sometimes an x multiple of the Retail price for it.

How long does this process of accumulating value usually take?
What is the best way to select newer sets for this kind of investment?

There is an entire website devoted to this topic. It's called www.brickpicker.com. Start reading the forums as there is no simple answer.

@PhilB. Does that website cover large-scale investments, the like one would usually reserve for stocks or real estate?

That website has info for all different kinds of investors, from the casual "a few extra sets because I like the set" investors to those with warehouses, full time LEGO investor jobs and orders by the pallet-load.

Technically all LEGO sets have a 'limited run', are you referring to sets like this that were produced in relatively small quantities? If that's the case, almost every set with a 'limited run' is worth investing in.

@Ambo100 From what I've seen some sets are on the shelf for months, others for years. I would not consider anything on the shelf for a year or more to be a limited run.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

The LEGO aftermarket is changing all the time and there are no defined rules on how a set will appreciate. Over at http://www.brickpicker.com you will find an entire website (plus forum) dedicated to investing in LEGO sets.
The post-EOL rise in price of a set is driven by many factors, some of which are:
Availability
If a set is only available for a limited time on store shelves (typically a year or less), it might see an increase in price after it retires. Alternatively, if a set is available for longer than a year, but frequently goes out of stock during its shelf life, it might also see an uptick in value post-EOL.
Exclusivity
Some sets are not available via all retail channels (and some are even more limited in distribution like the SDCC sets or the Employee Christmas Gifts). Typically, the more a set is limited to specific channels, the more likely it is to appreciate in value.
Desirability
Sets with broad appeal across multiple age groups, or of a subject matter that has a very loyal fan following (think Star Wars, the Beatles, anything Science related) typically do well post-retirement.
Collectibility
A lot of the post-retirement increase in price has to do with people collecting an entire theme. Often this collecting does not happen from the start of the theme, and people play catch-up to grab older sets that might have already retired. Some examples of this phenomenon are the early Modulars (Cafe Corner, Green Grocer), Series 1 Microfighters, Series 1 Speed Champions, and the early Star Wars UCS sets. A more recent example is the Elves Dragon eggs series, which had a short run and contained one set specifically which acted as the collection base of all eggs (41178 Dragon Sanctuary), which happened to have an extremely short shelf life (4 months in the US).
Rarity of parts
Finally, some sets see big post-retirement price gains because they contain rare or desirable parts. A key example of this is set 44027 Breez Flea Machine from the Hero Factory theme. This set commands a significant premium on the aftermarket purely due to the inclusion of 3 copies of part 92222 - Hero Factory Shield with Handle for Clip. 6 of these pieces are required to make the SDCC exclusive Bat Pod, which is much desired by collectors.
BUT, a big word of warning: for each of the above factors one can find sets that clearly show an increase in value but also numerous examples of sets that should have seen a sharp increase in value, but somehow didn't. Plus, with The LEGO Group's prepensity for set remakes, a set can see a climb in value, only to be followed by a plateau or even drop off following its initial increase. There are no sure-fire winners (and don't believe anyone who says they know one).

You are absolutely right. On Ebay, prices also depend on time of the day, holiday season, quality of the description, and luck. Even age does not guarantee increase in value. Around 2000 I bought some space sets from the early 90s that are worth the same today.


text:
Turn on LEGO Mindstorms robot remotely
I'm thinking to build a robot using either NXT or EV3, then I can control it remotely via WiFi or Bluetooth from my office! It's not difficult to write the controlling codes, but how can I turn the robot on remotely? Any suggestion please?

I know for a fact (from reading the EV3 schematics), the only way to turn on an EV3 is by pressing the center button.
Here are some ideas to work around this issue:

Create another robot that presses the power button.
Create a mechanical device that causes the center button to be pressed all of the time, then create a mechanism to switch battery power.
Solder wires in parallel with the center button and attach this to a device, such as a relay, that can operate the center button electrically.


text:
How can I connect the LEGO Mindstorms NXT with an iPad?
I'm looking to take advantage of the older generation LEGO Mindstorms NXT robots by developing a companion app for the iPad. I'm aware that non-jailbroken iPads cannot communicate with the robot via bluetooth, but is there a way to send code from the iPad to the NXT robot through the USB port?
Is there another way to have kids write code from the iPad which makes it onto the robot without using another computer?

I'm going to guess that USB would most likely required a jailbroken iPad. The NXT uses a custom USB protocol, so you would need raw access to the USB via IOKit.
If neither Bluetooth nor USB works, then there is no alternative other than using another computer to communicate to the NXT.

You could implement a server somewhere which uses bluetooth to talk to the NXT (assuming NXT has no Wifi capabilities). Give this server a web interface and then use the iPad to connect to this interface. That should allow you to remotely control the NXT. LeJOS might be a good place to start should you want to pursue this. I used this approach for my (still unfinished) native Scratch to EV3 software (using EV3's WiFi capabilities with an external dongle).

How close does a server need to be to connect with the bluetooth of a device?

Bluetooth range depends on the actual location (e.g. how much interference is there?), but a typical range is about 10 meters (30 feet).


text:
Exist some piece official or unofficial of Lego with the names of the minifigures?
I'm looking for a brick like this:

Or similar with the name of the minifigures from the saga star wars, i want it for my minifigures collection. Exist some like this or an unofficial option?

That part is Tile 4x4 with studs on edge. It's available in many colours but there are only a small number of printed variants. Rebrickable shows 27 printed variants, 12 of which are Star Wars prints like the one in your question.
I'm not aware of any third-part labels or stickers but you could probably print your own if you're handy with Photoshop or the like. The black unprinted version of that part is very cheap on Bricklink.

So the viable option is a sticker? don't exist any company or service who printed it? the size of the pieces is not a problem i just want know if exist some service or similar for build it.

Sorry, I don't have any information about third-party sticker or printing services. If I were doing this myself I'd create a template and then print off some removable Avery labels or something like that. There are, of course, third party companies that would print custom sticker sheets for you, with die-cut stickers or transparency or whatever you're willing to pay for, but I have no idea where you'd go or what that'd cost.

Ok, Thanks for all the information anyway!!  I will look for a some service like this with the information you have given me.

@Gawey At least you can buy the 12 existing printed ones! :) Maybe someone else will post something.