text:
NXT screen either flickering or blank, what do I do?
The screen on my LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT brick has just stopped working. It is either flickering, or blank. I have tried turning it on and off, installed fresh batteries, and I can even hear the selection sounds. Additionally, it responds regularly when I connect it to my computer. I've had my NXT for three-and-a-half years, so it's not new. Is there an easy/feasible way to fix it, or a cheap way to get it replaced?

Here are the two easiest options:

Replace it. Contact LEGO, and tell them of your problem. I've
hear many success stories from people who did this, and LEGO
replacing it for free. For one person, it took a week to arrive, but
for another, three days. Note that if you want to keep your old NXT,
you'll have to have the receipt. If you don't have the receipt, then
you'll have to send them your deffective NXT. Also, if you did not
buy your NXT directly from LEGO, (i.e. Ebay) they will not replace
it for free, but rather ask that you pay them to repair it.
Repair it. If you have a soldering kit, then get it out, and follow
the instructions in this video. It worked for me the first try.

I would recommend option 2 first. LEGO does have a nice customer serviec and they'll probably replace it without discussion. However, they want want to ask for the faulty part to be returned, and if it has be tinkered with, they may not be super happy about it. Keep the soldering iron for when LEGO absolutely doesn't want to replace it (never).

I disagree. Mine recently gave out when I was right in the middle of making a robot. I wanted to get back to building my robot as soon as possible, so I soldered it. It only took about ten to fifteen minutes to heat it up the soldering iron, disassemble the NXT, solder the capacitors, slightly reassemble it the NXT, test it, and finish reassembling it. It's really not that risky if you know what you're doing. I much prefer soldering it over having to wait a week or so.

As you said, "if you know what you're doing" (I sure wouldn't). Wait... you've only got one? ;)

@Joubarc No, I have two NXTs. Sorry, I should've said "one of mine" Instead of "mine". And now I understand better what you're saying.

@HaydenStudios As Joubarc said, I would swap the two steps around, especially if your answer is to be valuable for future visitors to this question.

I tried this unfortunately without any success. After the first attempt the flickering lines disappeared and the screen was all dead. I gave it another try, and the flickering came back!


text:
Is there any other way to program the Lego Mindstorms NXT other than the provided software?
I'm curious to know if there is any way to program the NXT other than the provided software.
I don't necessarily have any issue with the software.
Does the program created by the software translate into an actual programming/scripting language? If so is that language proprietary to Lego or is it a common programming language?

If you're into robotics, why not join the Robotics Proposal?

The programming interface used by LEGO creates programs which make use of the standard firmware, that is, the one provided by LEGO.
If you look at alternatives (see also this answer for more information), you'll notice that quite a lot of them use the same firmware.
This means that the programs they produce use the same language which is interpreted by the standard firmware. One advantage is that you can have a mix of programs on the same NXT brick and it doesn't matter with what they've been originally written.
If you're interested to know more about the standard firmware and how to program it, you can download the Mindstorms Software Developer Kit. One of the interesting aspects of it is that you don't always need to create programs but you can send direct commands to the NXT as well - meaning you actual programming logic can sit on another connected device (PC, smartphone,...).
Others alternate languages use a different firwmare altogether, which means you can't mix languages at all. But if it uses a language you're more familiar with, it may be worth trying. (You can always revert to the standard firmware anyway.)

As an example of the programming logic running on another device, my nxt floppy-disk machine used Python on a laptop to control an NXT running the standard firmware.

Not eXactly C is a good language to learn when transitioning from LEGO's NXT-G to text-based programming.

There are alternate text-based programming languages for the NXT. Three of the most popular ones are NXC/NBC, LeJOS NXJ, and RobotC. There are many more, all with their pros and cons, and are much more versatile than NXT-G, even on slow computers. I my personal favorite is NXC/NBC. But really it's up to you. The best way to see what suits your needs is to look at this table. It lists most of the pros and cons of the different programming languages. NOTE: it may be slightly out of date, but useful none the less.

Please help make this post better! This needs:

Clean up
Removal of irrelevant information plagiarized from copied off Wikipedia
Links
[Possibly] Pictures or Code samples

NXT-G

Graphical programming environment

Uses Blocks
Based on LabView
Parallel "sequence beams" are actually parallel threads

Comes bundled with the NXT
The language supports virtual instruments for all LEGO branded and most 3rd party sensors/components.
Community support is significant, for example, Brickshelf.

Enchanting

Graphical programming environment

Based on MIT's Scratch
Drag and drop

Based on LeJOS VM.
Fast.

Robotary / Swift

Mac IDE and robotics studio based on the Swift programming language
IDE features

context-aware code completions
syntax highlighting
LLDB-based debugger
visual debug gauges
built-in documentation viewer
various examples
Bluetooth and USB support

HELP!
The following section needs serious editing!

C# with Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio

Free tools Visual Studio Express and the Robotics Developer Studio allow you to program using the C# language.
Sample Project on coding4fun
Other languages are supported as well, including IronPython and VB.NET

BricxCC, Next Byte Codes, Not eXactly C

Bricx Command Center (BricxCC)

IDE used to write, compile, and edit NBC and NXC programs for the NXT.
Can flash different firmwares to NXT.
BricxCC has many utilities, such as:

NeXTExplorer (upload/download files, defragment the NXT, use file hex viewer)
NeXTScreen (view what's on the NXT's LCD display, and capture images and video)

Next Byte Codes (NBC)

Open Source
Assembly language syntax
BricxCC can decompile standard NXT executables (.rxe) to NBC

Not eXactly C (NXC)

Open Source.
Text based language.
Based on C.
Uses NBC as assembly language.
One of the most popular third-party programming languages for the NXT.

Robolab

Older programming environment; originally used for RCX bricks.
Version 2.9 has been updated so that it can be used to program the NXT brick
Lego has announced that it will stop officially supporting Robolab but Robolab 2.9 is still available and there are still many user forums and other sources of help available.

ROBOTC

Developed by the Carnegie Mellon Robotic's Academy
Based on C
Used on VEX, VEX Cortex, FIRST Tech Challenge, and Lego Mindstorms NXT.
Custom firmware for very fast program execution.
Compresses files to increase available space.

NXTGCC

GCC toolchain.
For programming the NXT firmware in C

leJOS NXJ

High level language
Open source
Based on Java
Uses custom firmware

nxtOSEK

C/C++
Requires custom firmware

ICON

To write files on the NXT itself

MATLAB and Simulink
MATLAB

High-level programming language.
For numerical computing, data acquisition and analysis.
It can be used to control LEGO NXT robots over a Bluetooth serial port (serial port communication is part of the base functionality of MATLAB) or via a USB connection; for example using the free and open source RWTH - Mindstorms NXT Toolbox.

Simulink

MATLAB-based environment for modeling and simulating dynamic systems.
Using Simulink, a user can design control algorithms, automatically generate C code for those algorithms, and download the compiled code onto the LEGO NXT.

MATLAB and Simulink code for LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT programming is freely available.

Lua

Port of the Lua
General purpose scripting language

Ada

A [http://libre.adacore.com/libre/tools/mindstorms/ port of GNAT] is available for the NXT. It relies on a dedicated run-time kernel based on the [[Ravenscar profile]], the same used on the [[Goce satellite]]: this permits to use high-level Ada features to develop concurrent and real-time systems on the MINDSTORMS NXT.

URBI

[[URBI]] is yet another language and is a parallel and event-driven language, with interfaces to C++/Java and Matlab. It also has a component architecture (UObject) for distribution. Urbi is compatible with many robots, including Nao (cf Robocup), Bioloid or Aibo.[http://www.gostai.com/nxt URBI NXT Page]

FLL NXT Navigation

[http://fllnxtnavigation.codeplex.com/ FLL Nxt Navigation] An open source program to help navigation on the FLL competition table.  It uses NXT-G and .txt files to write programs.

ruby-nxt

Library to program the NXT for the Ruby programming language.
Code is not compiled to a binary file; it is directly transmitted to the NXT via a Bluetooth connection.

Robotics.NXT

Haskellinterface to NXT over Bluetoooth.
Supports direct commands, messages and many sensors (also unofficial).
It has also support for a simple message-based control of a NXT brick via remotely executed program (basic NXC code included).

LibNXT

utility library for talking to the LEGO Mindstorms NXT intelligent brick at a relatively low level.
is targeted mainly at the platforms that the official Lego Minstorms NXT software overlooks, namely Linux and other unices.
It will work on any POSIX-compliant operating system where libusb 0.1 http://libusb.sf.net/ is supported.
Windows support is also possible with the win32 port of libusb.

PyNXC

Translates Python code into NXC (see above) code, to compile and download to LEGO MINDSTORMS Robots.

(Some content from Wikipedia. Licensed under CC-Wiki, obviously.)

You can program the raw hardware:
The main microcontroller in the NXT is an Atmel AT91SAM7S256 (data sheet), which uses the ARM7TDMI core from ARM. This core is supported by gcc, so you can use GNU tools to program it in Assembly/C/C++.
You can build a firmware for the AT91SAM7S256 and load it via USB, after putting the controller in SAM-BA mode by a long press on the reset button.
There is also a smaller ATmega48 controller in the NXT, but it is not intended to be reprogrammed.
LEGO provides a Hardware Developer Kit among their support files. It contains schematics and descriptions of the sensors and motors, so that you know how the microcontroller is connected to the NXTs ports.

I started coding using NXT software and later EV3 and lately I have switched to java using leJOS. EV3 software ( and NXT ) is great for quickly hacking your ideas but when things get ugly the graphical language doesn't help at all.
Just watch what I needed to do to create a playable version of Pong for one player at http://thetechnicgear.com/2014/03/playable-pong-lego-mindstorms-ev3/

You can program the lego NXT in any language you wish!  What is really the question is if you want the mindstorms brick to perform the decision making, or if you want some other device to do that for you.  This works in two ways:
You download a program onto the NXT that it can run in its native format.  Based on sensor input and the program which you've written, the NXT can operate by itself.  This is how the mindstorms modules are primarely designed to operate out of the box - where you use their "visual" programming interface to create a program and then download it to the NXT.
As listed above, there are various other types of programming languages and interfaces you can use to write programs for the NXT.  Eventually they require you to download them to the NXT - which will again be performing all the necessary calculations to run the program on-bard of the brick.  These tend to offer you more control over your program however ultimately rely on the computing power available on the NXT.
The second scenario is to use the NXT as sort of a "slave" to another device with more computing power.  This device - such as a PC or MAC, can be used to send down real-time direct commands to the NXT device to operate on.  Based on feedback transfered back to the host computer, you can send down other commands.  Using this method, you can use any programming language you are comfortable with - and simply use the NXT as a "dumb" device.  This offers you the most verstility, and you can use virtually any programming language you are comfortable with.
What's nice about the NXT is that it allows you to use such a wide array of different techniques to control it - which makes it a great platform.  One great walk-through of sending these direct commands over bluetooth to the NXT can be found here:
http://www.robotappstore.com/Knowledge-Base/Programming-LEGO-NXT-Mindstorms/92.html
I would recomend checking it out, since its a great introduction to getting started.  If your computer supports bluetooth, you can easily download realterm (free) and get your robotic project working quickly!
I will admit that sending these direct commands to the NXT is a bit more advanced than say the type of visual programming used with the supplied Lego software, but it will allow you to use any language you wish, and with slight modification you can use your code for un-related projects too!
Hope this helps!
-Ryan

You can use a python module called NXT-Python. If you know how to use python it will be very useful tool.
You can find it on GitHub. You can also use the package manager on some Linux distributions:
apt install python-nxt

Here you have some tutorials:

Python-nxt tutorial (EN)
Python-nxt tutorial (SP)

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Why do LEGO boxes have a maximum age limit?
I am wondering why do LEGO boxes have a maximum age limit printed on them?
My girlfriend has just gifted me LEGO Starfighter (8088) and it has an age range of 8-14. Why not just write 8+? Are there any technical objective reasons?

I have a memory - possibly false - of Lego boxes being labeled with ages like "8-99" in my childhood.

@Joe Wreschnig: I've seen those too!

Were you by chance a Star Wars fan and well over 14, and a bit offended to be told this is for children?  Don't worry.  There is no age limit for that.

I believe it shows the target age range of the model - perhaps kids who've been doing all the harder Technic or more complex models - for example the VW Camper Van is rated 16+ - and might find it a bit "simplistic".

Other examples include The Super Star Destroyer, also at 16+, the Tantive IV and Republic Drop Ship at 14+, and the Death Star and others at 12+:

Is this the model with the highest minimum age?

Well, I think it's the highest minimum age LEGO do - The Ultimate Collectors Edition Millennium Falcon was also a 16+, as does the Super Star Destroyer (http://shop.lego.com/en-GB/Super-Star-Destroyer-10221)

I seen toy stores with toys arranged by age group, like 0-1, 1-3, 3-5, etc, etc. It's really embarrassing for clueless adults, like me, to buy a gift for a 1 year old and give it to a 5 year old kid. I presume LEGO is doing the same.

@J.PabloFernández That's probably part of the reasoning for sure :)

This doesn't answer, or even address, the question of why there's a MAXIMUM age limit.

The first sentence reads: "it shows the target age range of the model". The question is both "why are there maximum age ranges" and " why not just write 8+". My answer covers both parts. I could probably rework that first part to make it clearer.

@J.PabloFernández: And Lego was really included in that ordering, too? At least where I live, even when "random" other toys are ordered like that, Lego is always grouped with Lego, and these one or more Lego shelves, boxes are either grouped by geometrical size or by theme.

@DaG the new lego piano set has an age of 18+ which I think is a tad extreme because the build doesn't seem so difficult to require an adult to assemble.

That's part of the new "Adults Welcome" range though. The piano, like the LEGO Star Wars Helmets are more of a display piece than a play set.

I have a memory - possibly false - of Lego boxes being labeled with
  ages like "8-99" in my childhood.
– Joe Wreschnig

That's correct. The Creator theme used to mark sets aged X to 99.
I think the LEGO marketing team were going along with the idea that you're never too old to play with Lego. The Creator product line produced brick buckets and tubs that became popular with people wanting to expand their collection or pick up from when they last played with LEGO as a child.

Todays brick buckets and tubs are marketed towards children aged 4+, which I'm sure would make LEGO hundred year old fan's happier.
The only age recommendation that should be taken seriously are the 3+ years choking hazard warnings on most LEGO sets. LEGO bricks in the Duplo or Quatro range may not have this warning as the parts are designed to be safe for younger childern.
Aside from that, the age range of a set should not be taken overly seriously but as a rough guide. A set with a higher age band tends to be a more complicated or challenging build.

The complexity of the model and the expected time to complete it will increase with the recommended age.
Lower aged sets, like the Juniors line, feature builds that rely heavily on standard stacking and more basic bricks.
As the age recommendation goes up, you'll see more advanced building techniques such as offset stacking (think stair stacking), studs not on top (SNOT technique), thinner walls (think 1x4 instead of 2x4), more plates instead of just bricks, and more.
Sets for younger children are also designed for the type of play those ages engage in. And they tend to feature brighter, primary colors, which also appeal to those age groups.
Looking at set 10672, LEGO Juniors Batman: Defend the Batcave, we can see evidence of these things:

The set uses large pieces for structure, which is  a very basic and easy technique.
The set features a car, the Batmobile, which is low on detail but structurally will hold up to the more rough play of 4-7-year-olds. Cars are very, very common for these types of sets
The set is very open, so it's easy to access from many angles for an age range still developing motor control
We see a lot of bright colors, including a blue Batman instead of a black or earth (dark) blue Batman suits we normally see

Now, we can contrast this with a slightly higher age range set, 75099 Rey's Speeder.

The Batman set was ages 4-7, and this Star Wars set is ages 7-12:

The Star Wars has more pieces, 193 vs. Batman's 150
The set itself is smaller in size, because it makes use of smaller pieces (which require more fine motor control to properly place)
The set does not come with a play area, although that's not always the case
The speeder itself features the sideways building techniques, where the tops of the elements don't point up
The color scheme is more muted, featuring dark reds and and more grays, although this is also common with licensed sets

You won't necessarily be able to apply these attributes universally across sets, especially since the age-ranges sometimes overlap, as seen in 60043 Prisoner Transport, which has an age range of 5-12.
None of this is to say that younger kids can't assemble and enjoy older-ranged sets, but the ranges given are typically where the most enjoyment and least frustration will be found.
Something else you won't see on the box is the difference in styling of the building instructions. For the Batman set's (PDF), we see there's only a single task per page, and they're often broken down into smaller steps or have large, clear arrows indicating placement. In the Star Wars set's (PDF), we see that each page has two numbered tasks and placement is less likely to be indicated by arrow for simple tasks.
These differences in instructions are because of the expected abilities and attention spans of the intended audiences. Again, this is to reduce frustration and enable the children to be more successful building the sets without relying too heavily on the adults to help.
The LEGO company does a lot of research into what types of play are better for children at different ages, because it gives them a better product. You can seem some of the information they provide parents about types of play on their Parents website, and more involvement with child education from their LEGO Education company.
This answers comes from my experience as a consumer of LEGO product for different age ranges and as a previous customer service representative. I was asked questions about the recommended age ranges on a weekly basis, and the answer I provided to customers was similar to the answer here.

It is an indication for the target audience for that set. It is mostly to guide people with little knowledge about child development toward a set. It's a rough guide, how much the child enjoys it is very much dependent on the child. But 10 year olds will be less likely to enjoy Duplo and be happier with Star Wars LEGO.
On the other hand, I really like building with Duplo especially with my nephew, or when my son is destroying my creations.

The Man Upstairs : You know the rules, this isn't a toy!
Finn : Um... it kind of is.
The Man Upstairs : No, actually it's a highly sophisticated
inter-locking brick system.
Finn : But we bought it at the toy store.
The Man Upstairs : We did, but the way I'm using it makes it an adult
thing.
Finn : The box for this one said "Ages 8 to 14"!
The Man Upstairs : That's a suggestion. They have to put that on
there.

- The Lego Movie (2014)

The age range really is a suggestion of the target range. Simplistic sets with simpler building, bright colors, and fewer pieces tend to have lower age ranges, while more complicated sets that may have over one thousand pieces, feature less color (ex. some Lego Architecture sets), and require more time and manual dexterity may be rated for higher age ranges. I'm pretty sure I could assemble harder sets when I was 12 but it was going to be a multi-day build because I didn't have the focus to work on a set for three hours and I would probably lose the little pieces. Keep in mind, as said in other answers, the age ranges are sometimes inconsistent of difficulty.
Of course, no one is stopping you from enjoying an ages 8-14 Lego set. I think older builders may even notice and appreciate the finer details and design that went into it more than a child who just wants to play with the ship.

There is a age limit because some sets are more advanced than others, and they contain some pieces(choking hazard).

Question is about maximum age limit. I'm pretty sure that people over 14 (as mentioned in the question) won't try to ingest their LEGO. ;)

Maybe they are feared to try to smoke or sniff it.

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text:
What are LDUs and how do they relate to LEGO bricks?
What are LDUs? I see technical people talking about plans and designs in terms of LDUs. I understand it's a measurement unit.
What does it mean and how do LEGO bricks relate to them? Why are they needed?

LDU stands for LDraw Unit - the basic unit of measurement in LDraw, the open standard for LEGO CAD programs, and map to the "Fine" grid setting in applications such as MLCad.
Common measurements include:
1 brick width/depth = 20 LDU
1 brick height      = 24 LDU
1 plate height      =  8 LDU
1 stud diameter     = 12 LDU
1 stud height       =  4 LDU

A 1x1 Brick as 3 Plates in LDUs (via LDraw)
The typical LU (LEGO Unit) measurements are coarser at:
Brick height = 6
Plate height = 2
Stud pitch   = 5

Based on the physical dimensions of a LEGO brick, this means that 1LDU == 0.4mm, based on a stud height (1LU) of 1.6mm.

It might be worth mentioning that this all means (along with the answer to the other question) that 1 LDU = 0.4 mm.

@Random832 consider it done.


text:
How can I create a visually appealing Castle wall from one colour?
I have a bag of hundreds of classic light grey 2x4 bricks, and 2x1 bricks.
How can I use these to make some interesting castle walls?

There are two votes to close - one claiming the question is "ambiguous [or] vague" and the other claiming it is "too localized". Does anyone who voted to close want to bring up on meta why they think this isn't a good question?

Considering the very limited choice of bricks, I don't think you have much options.
The first is the obvious stacking of 1x2 bricks, which the added bonus that it can bend (slighly).
The second is the obvious stacking of 2x4 bricks, which is equally boring.
What I would suggest is to build windows in it, which you can easily achieve by mixing the two bricks. My LDraw PC is dead, so I'll need to explain this otherwise. Let's say that the wall depth is 2L, so basically from the front you'll see either bricks of 1 or 4. Let's represent these by "1" and "4444". What you can do is as follows:
  1444414444144441444414444144441444414444144441444414444
4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444
4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444 4444
 1444414444144441444414444144441444414444144441444414444
4444144441444414444144441444414444144441444414444144441
  1444414444144441444414444144441444414444144441444414444

Notice that there is a window every 5 studs, which is exactly the same as you would have if you were using the castle wall panels.
For the top, you can have a layer of 2x4 bricks in the other direction, so that they go one stud further in front and in back. End with a parapet build of 1x2 bricks.

Great... now I want to build a castle

No probs, glad to help :)


text:
Is there a good way to build a dome on the top of a building?
How can I build a dome on top of a building, similar to a state capital or something similar?
The building has a base of 16x24 studs.

As a dome is typically a hemisphere, this topic about building spheres might be very useful for you. There's also an automatic tool to construct spheres that you could use to get an ldraw-plan.

Like oezi said you can build a dome out of cascading bricks, which is perfect for most scales of building. For smaller scale building where you'd want a less jagged approach you may want to use a combination of 1/4 dome pieces. A complete dome will take up an area of 6x6 studs wide.
This technique is common in the Prince of Persia sets.

For a true miniland scale building you may want to have a closer look at the model in Legoland Florida.


text:
What causes these 'bite marks' that appear consistently on new bricks?
I purchased a set (second hand) which has the following defects on the 75°-sloped, inverted 2x1x3 blocks:

I assumed they were teeth-marks and asked the seller for replacements, and he found and ordered some online. But when they arrived, they all had the same defect. Is this common on these pieces? Is it just a manufacturing quirk, or actual damage?

Those were caused by hungry children. ;)

I do hope you apologised to the seller.

As said, this is the point where the injection happens, usually known as a gate.
Sometimes, LEGO tries to have in a non-visible place, but the process of moulding is extremely complicated and forces specific requirements on the gate placement which mean it's sometimes impossible to hide it. The basic rule of thumb is that the gate is usually near the center of the part (in terms of quantity of plastic) so that the molten plastic reaches all ends of the element at the same time. Sometime a part even requires two gates.
In the case of your slope, it's probably annoying, but sometimes it's worse. In this glass panel for example, the gate is right in the middle. It wasn't really a problem in the beginning, since that glass panel was used in combination with a three panes window frame and the gate was hidden behind one of the bars of the frame.
Then they released Cafe Corner with full window frames and the gates were in plain sight. In the middle of windows. Now that's what I call ugly.

These aren't defects, they're a scar from the moulding process, it marks where the plastic was pumped into the brick. It's more noticeable on some bricks more then others, every brick manufactured this same way should have a similar mark.

In a similar sense, a doughnut injected with jam through a syringe will create a piercing that will be very difficult to detect; especially after being covered in glazing.

I grabbed an image off google that shows a basic molding process:

As others have mentioned, the location of the gate is where the liquid plastic flows through into the cavity, and this is the mark that you are seeing.  Some times these markings can be polished or sanded away, but for Lego, that would probably effect the texture of the part, so they can't 100% hide it.
As Joubarc mentioned, the molten plastic needs to fill the cavity before it starts to cool and solidify, so the gate is chosen based on where the cavity can be filled the fastest and evenly.  Evenly, because you usually don't want part of the piece to solidify before it fills the cavity, otherwise you could have unfilled parts or warped pieces from cooling in different spots at different rates.


text:
How can I build Victorian Style windows?
How can I build Lego Victorian style windows, like those on the White House or Capital Building?
This is one style I have done, which, as far as I know, was an original idea by me:

What size do you want?

Similar to the size I have in the picture.

You may want to include close-up pictures of the real windows too if you can find some.

The White House and Capital are technically both palladium architecture.

This Flickr user's model evokes nice victorian windows without using any glass
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgorlando/3914963760/
as does this one
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lgorlando/4099206027/
See also this amazing series on window techniques
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28192677@N06/5713290533/in/set-72157626335716516/
which includes this beaut

Also consider these stained glass designs. Stained glass is VERY victorian, although not the way you meant :)
http://www.brothers-brick.com/2010/12/04/christmas-window/

I like the last one in particular, I think it very well suits the style the OP was looking for.

It's now second to last as I moved the stained glass example to the bottom.

Welcome Larry, good to see you here!


text:
Is 'plate between studs' SNOT supported by one of the LEGO building software?
Do any of the multiple LEGO building software supports 'plate between studs' SNOT assembly?

I presume it must be considering it has been rendered on this page.

@Ambo100 I'm looking for a virtual building software (like LEGO Digital Designer or LDraw). Your link (even though I didn't know it and it's really cool) seam to be a SNOT technique listing

That's right. I was hoping to find more information on what software was used. All I know for now is that it IS possible.

...or it's Photoshopable :)

To build your example in MLCad (LDraw), I needed to switch to "Grid Fine" to move the element into the right alignment:

A couple of techniques to note when doing this when you finish with the SNOT modeling:

Set the grid back to coarse so that subsequent pieces are back on the grid.
Select a non-SNOT element (in this case the 2x3 or 2x2 plate) before placing the next element - grid alignment and rotation are inherited from the last selected piece, so this gets you back to "normal".

See also Joubarc's renderings for my Heroica Graveyard question, again from LDraw by the looks of things, with the elements are added within the clips or between grills in the radiators:

Yes, I did use BrickSmith instead of MLcad, but the same principle of using a fine grid applies. Since neither checks for validity, you can do pretty much whatever you want (including impossible things).

I'll have to check that out - it looks like a better default renderer. For simple things like this I can't be fussed opening in LeoCad, exporting to .3ds, and then setting up a scene in 3dsMax to render shineys ;)

Hmm, scrub that, it's Mac based ;)

Actually, BrickSmith is a LDraw editor only. I did the rendering with LDview which appears to have a windows version too.

Yep, I've played around with LDView - most of my models on here are just screen grabs straight from MLCad.


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Why does the Erling brick have a ridge below its outward facing stud?
Why does the Erling brick (#4070) have a ridge below its outward facing stud?

Whereas the more versatile and less common #87087 does not? The #87087 piece also has a better use in SNOT usage, as it can accomadate larger bricks.

The ridge is there to make the base the standard 5LUs wide (see also "What is an Erling Brick"), enabling it to accept the standard stud.
I believe the rest of the brick was thinned out so that the combined "depth" of the Erling brick and a 1x1 plate (its common usage as a headlight) was the same height as a standard brick.
From the HoMa's World of Bricks page on the Headlight Brick:

If headlight bricks are turned over by 90° and a plate is attached to the stud then this construction is as high as a standard LEGO brick or a layer of three standard LEGO plates.

It also helps to keep the 1x1 plate straight to the bricks edge.

Good visual explanation.  Amazing little brick.

Props to HoMa's World of Bricks for the image.

I've never seen that brick used that way.

There are a couple more uses as well.  Two Erlings one stud apart can have a horizontal brick connect them.  And you can use 8 to make a cube to which 2x2 plates can be attached (about the size of a Lego die).  Very useful parts!

@Ambo100 The Cusoo Delorean uses them in this configuration

The first use I personally encountered was in 6394: See the top left corner in step 7 of the instructions: Metro Park & Service Tower


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How do I make my own LEGO stickers?
I'd like to make my own stickers like the ones produced for LEGO sets using a design I've made in Photoshop.

What do I need to make stickers for LEGO, what kind of printer do I need?
Will the stickers be able to come of my LEGO bricks cleanly?
Can I also get sticker paper on a transparent sheet?

Related: A good way to print images onto minifig body parts?

@aedia: I was under the impression that question was about printing directly onto LEGO. It seems a little different to my question.

@Ambo100 the water decals are 'stickers' .  It's not a way to print directly (like a printer would).  It's a form of stickers.  Like sticker sheets you can buy it in plain sheet (white or clear), print your design on it and stick it on your subject.  The advantage of the water stickers is that they will conform to the surface (it will look like it's painted on, but it's a sticker)

I think this question is sufficiently different enough for me to undelete this question. I'm also desperate for an answer.

Some printing shops and specialized sellers like we are can also let you print stickers with them. We use LEGO stickers like materials that are also computer cut.

At office/stationary stores such as Office Max or Staples you can get printer friendly sticker paper. The 'AVERY STICKER PROJECT PAPER' comes in clear or white.  You can shop around for different finishes. Some are more paper like and other are more like plastic.
From experience this is only good for flat surfaces.  To ensure maximum adherence, I recommend to clean the surface with a soft soap.  After the surface is dry, rinse it with 99% alcohol and let it air dry.  this will remove any remaining oil or dust.  You can then apply the sticker to the surface.
You can print you design directly to it and cut it to size using scissors or a craft knife. For complex shapes, you can use a swivel craft knife:

The closest thing I could buy was an A4 Avery sticker sheet with four compartments per sheet. How can I cut out complex shaped stickers?

For complex shape I use a Swivel Craft Knife (see the picture in the edit). It's really good for details and curves.

The hard part was finding the right template. Avery seem to have thousands of templates. I would have preferred to have printed from Photoshop but I ended up using Avery's online service to design my sticker. I was forced to use up all four stickers.

Here's the final result

One important point that the previous answer omits: With the typical "water slide" decal paper, after printing your pattern, generally with an ink-jet printer to get the colors you want, you must waterproof the pattern by spraying several coats of Krylon clear enamel or equivalent and allow it to thoroughly dry before cutting out and trimming the decal and putting it in water to remove the backing paper.
Also, except in unusual applications, you will want to apply the decal to a WHITE brick, not one of the other colors. This is because of the subtractive nature of printing: white is assumed to be the starting color.

Varnish/Finish is mentioned in the 'previous answer' regarding Water Decals.

@Bill, This would be a good answer for this question.


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Can I use RCX sensors and motors with the NXT brick?
I have a bunch of motors and sensors from the original Mindstorms set. It seems a shame I can't use these with the more recent NXT set. Are there any unofficial modifications that allow you to convert the cables?

LEGO used to sell Converter Cables for Mindstorms NXT at a price of £8.99 / US$9.99 for 3 cables at their online shop, they can still be bought online from stores like Bricklink.

Considering the price of each cable converter it may be worth purchasing newer sensors/motors that are more advanced. The NXT system cables are separate from sensors and motors and come in different lengths.

I wish there was studs on the black adapter part!

Yes, you can use all RCX sensors and motors with a NXT brick. Don't forget about lamps, too.
The connections are different though, so as Ambo100 says, you will need converter cables. However, if you don't want to pay the full price for them, you can also make some yourself which isn't really that difficult.
The other thing you need to consider is how to use them with your programming environment; for the LEGO-provided NXT-G there is a special library of blocks which you can add. You can find it on the LEGO Education downloads site. The description of this library is as follows:

Description
  The Legacy Sensor Block Library is available for users who have purchased the LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT Software Version 2.0. The library adds support to RCX actions and sensors to the NXT Software. It includes blocks for the RCX motor, lamp, touch sensor, light sensor, rotation sensor and temperature sensor. The blocks are available in English, French, German, Japanese, and Dutch.

On a related note, if you want to use Power Functions motors and lights, you can do so by using the two converter cables (NXT-9V + 9V-PF). There is currently no NXT-PF conversion cable, but you could make one as easily as you would make a NXT-9V cable. There is also a third-party infrared link "sensor" which allows an NXT brick to control PF elements via the normal infrared receiver.


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How can I make a brick-built wheelbarrow?
I'd like to make a brick-built wheelbarrow to fit on a construction site that can be held by minifigures hands. I've seen prefabricated Duplo/Fabuland wheelbarrows as well as a new wheelbarrow in a 2012 CITY set which doesn't really appeal to me.
I don't mind using SNOT techniques and Technic elements. I've already tried making one out of Technic L shaped lift arms.

Brickshelf returns two interesting designs:

There's also a YouTube video showing yet another design which is quite simple yet elegant (although I would have put the 1x2 plate with handles under it, not on the side, but that's my own opinion.


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Are Samsonite gears compatible with modern Technic gears?

Do the old Samsonite gears (above) work with current Technic gears (below)

LEGO bricks tend to be backward compatible with older bricks, but since I don't own any Samsonite gears I cannot tell.
Image credits belong to Technicopedia.

Image credits belong to Technicopedia

I loved the samsonite gears - they were much better for flexible geartrains. The photos are bringing back great memories

This confuses old LEGO gears (positions 1, 3 and 5 with red in the center) with Samsonite gears (the uniformly colored ones in positions 2, 4, 6 and 7). I don't think they even mesh, but as I don't have Samsonite gears I can't check.

As @starblue says, there were actually 2 types of gears made in the 1970s. This page provides more info: http://www.miniland.nl/Historie/legoautos/samsonite/samsonite%20gears%20eng.htm

@Kramii: Oh, wow. It looks like the actual Samsonite gears required   a technic pin or something similar. Any ideas on what I should call these gears?

@Ambo100: See my answer, below.

The first gear wheels, or cog wheels, were designed by Knud Kristiansen around 1964 or 65; the original Danish design patent was filed on March 1, 1965.
Under licence by LEGO, Samsonite manufactured and sold these gears in the USA from 1965-1972, and in Canada from 1965-74. The gears had studs on the top and tubes on the bottom. They could be made turnable by fixing them to wheels with studs or turntables. These gears were never available in European sets.

A different type of gear, incompatible with Samsonite gears, was produced by LEGO in Europe between 1970 and 1975. Although the gears themselves are incompatible with technic gears, the axles that held them in place had the same cross-section as the axles for technic gears. This means that mechanisms can be constructed that use both types of gears.
Interestingly, the gears had a small circular spring in them to help them grip the axle. If I remember correctly, the ends of the axle had a groove that aligned with this spring, making the gears a slightly more stable fit at the ends of the axles than in the middle.

Modern Technic LEGO was then introduced in 1977.
Sources:

LEGO System by Samsonite: Gears
001 Gears?
Technica - History

They are not compatible, the teeth are completely different.
Notice that the red old gear has 9 teeth and is the same size1 as a current 24-teeth, as illustrated by below:

The axle hole however is compatible, so you could have a construction using both types.
1. Actually, the distance between axles to have two of these red gears mesh is the same as the one required for two 24-teeth ones (60 ldu).

Wow, Considering that's the smallest Samsonite gear, the rest must be huge.

I had some; the large of the yellow ones were about 3" wide or so.  I don't have one on hand to measure so I can't be more specific than that.

The visible holes are spaced like studs on plates, so the largest red one is larger than a 2x10 brick.

The red gear on the left is not a Samsonite gear. It is a European gear from the 1970s. This was different from the Samsonite ones (and incompatible with them).

@ConcernedOfTunbridgeWells  They are not that big, the red, blue and yellow LEGO ones have an outer radius of 2, 3 and 4 studs, respectively. This translates to diameters of 32, 48 and 64mm (actually 2.7mm less so they can move freely).

I had some doubts on the "samsonite" issue but I just assumed the question was correct and didn't bother to  check. My mistake.

@Starblue - my mistake.  I had lego gears, not the samsonite ones.


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Does anyone have any successful techniques in searching for lego bricks in a pile?
We typically tip our box of Lego bricks onto a giant sheet (so that it can be easily picked up) but searching for bricks becomes really tricky and time consuming. You often remind yourself, "you'll find it once you stop looking," but is there more to it than that?
Are there ways to look through the collection more closely? I guess in a sense, are there ways of skimming the collection that help you spot that particular piece? The easiest trap I find is to look for colours because there aren't that many colours... looking for the shape would be better, but it doesn't seem to help.
Likely the best option would be to spread the pieces out so that they are all visible, flat on the ground, but that isn't practical space wise.

Actually just noticed this in the instructions for one of the items...although it won't necessarily scale for a crate of Lego

Properly sorting is the best solution, although it doesn't seem like that is what you want.

Before starting, it helps to have a quick look through the pile and pick out any interesting bricks you might use. If you don't have your mind set on an exact design, it can be just as much fun to build using parts picked out before hand instead of constantly searching.
Once you start building I recommend building as much of your creation before searching - keep track of a list of pieces that you need. If you can't immediately find an important piece, then use a temporary one that has the same functionality. Once you're done, go through the pile looking for each piece you need. It will be faster to look for several pieces at the same time as opposed to one.

For the actual sorting, I use the most distinguishing feature of the piece. If it's a unique color, then use that. If it's a strange shape look for that. The method I use for searching in a random pile is to focus on a small area - once I have verified that the piece isn't there I'll separate the area from the pile and move onto the next area. This prevents looking over the same area twice.

One thing you could do is to presort your Lego bricks. Take your giant pile of Lego bricks and try to split it up into 5-10 categories.
Those categories could be color, size, or any other features, it doesn't really matter. (I'm a Technic builder, so I would sort them into axles, pins, pin-connectors, beams and gears for example.) To get the best results these categories should be as close to equal in size.
Presorting might seem to be a bit of work, however next time you need a brick it will be several times faster (roughly equal to the amount of categories) to find it since you only have to look through a subset of bricks. One you have done the presort, you don't need to do it again (until you trow them back into your box) so it makes most sense to do this during a building session where you might need to look after another brick in the near future.
Remember that your piles could contain sub-categories, if you had sorted after color you could use size to skim through the pile in order to find that brick. You could also split those up into even more sub-piles if you wanted. The more you sort, the less time you need to search after bricks, however you will spend more time during your presort. Try to experiment and find a balance between sorting and searching that you like.

In order to not presort more than necessary, do the presorting while you are looking after a brick. Like Pubby suggested, take a small area and look through that. However instead of simply trowing them into a separate pile if you don't find it, sort them into your category piles. Continue this process until you find the brick you were looking for.
Next time you need a brick, look through the incomplete sub-piles first to see if it is there. If not, continue with the giant unsorted pile like before, presorting your bricks until you find the brick.

Some hints that work for me:

Get to know your lego. There is no point looking for a component that isn't there.
Get someone to help you. Sometimes other people can spot what you've missed. Small people often have sharper eyes than big people. My 7 year old son can spot things far more qickly than me.
If you're looking for a small piece, it is almost certainly at the bottom of a collection of larger bricks. So, for small components, dig deep. This should also work when you've spread the components out, but is especially useful if you're searching through a big box. In fact, if you gently shake a box of parts to encourage the big ones to rise and then rapidly invert the box onto your play area, you'll probably find that you get a nice layer of small bits on the top of the heap.
Store parts in a big plastic container rather than a cardboard box. Otherwise you'll eventually find the part you're looking for under the flaps at the bottom of the box.
As others have said, you can't really avoid some kind of sorting, even if it is primitve on-the-fly sorting. For this reason, some of thie ideas in this answer could help, even if you implement them as you're looking for parts rather than when you store your lego.
Pull out the big base boards and any instructions etc. that get in the way of your looking for parts. It is also worth pulling out any cables or string as they can be annoying to look through, too.
When you see pairs of parts that belong together, stick them together. For example, wheels and tires, windows and glass, aircraft wings etc. That way, when you've found one you've found the other.
Similarly, when you take things apart, leave 'interesting' assemblies partially built. It is sometimes easier to find what you're looking for when it is stuck to something else. For example, leave minifigs assembled, even if you anticipate needing their parts in a different configuration in the future.
When you're looking, look for several parts at a time.
If you find an interesting part, pull it out and keep it separate, even if it isn't what you want at the moment. Chances are, there parts will stimulate your imagination and you'll want them anyway.
Start building a proper system for organising your parts. For example, my son keeps his minifigs and their gear separate from everything else.
Sometimes you can't help but look through every part in the heap. If you end up doing that, divide the heap into smaller, more managable sections and paw through them one at a time.

+1 great tips, particularly the divide into smaller portions of mishmashed bits

You may want to use a smooth surface on which elements can glide easily without being scratched This allows you to move unwanted parts around quite fast so that you can find the one you're after.
But I agree with others, ultimately you'll need to sort. The smooth surface can help here too, and one good trick is to focus on retrieving elements which are abundant first. But don't over do it, if looking for, say, 1x2 blue bricks is easy because you see a lot of them, fine, take them out first; but don't try to catch them all, these are no pokemons. Once you don't see them so easily anymore, switch to something else.

I also don't like bins of parts.
So what I do is sort by shape, in "crystals" - assemblies of each shape all connected together.
Then
you can put these assemblies in your big bucket, where they will stay
(mostly) connected together.

Here's a post from EvilMadScientist which describes the basic idea:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/2008/how-to-organize-your-lego-bricks-for-efficient-building/

I bought a desk organizer insert with 9 bins in it. I put parts with the same color in one of the bins.  If there's a lot of one color, I split it into another bin by size or type. If you're building a set, you can do this bag by bag as you work through the instructions.

if you are building a set you can build multiple sets at once so If you get stuck you can go to another set and start searching for the piece and building


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How can I build a LEGO marble pump?
All right, here's a tough one for ya'll.
How can I built a marble pump out of LEGO bricks? What would the mechanism which pushes the marbles up need to look like?
Here's an example in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBb-qyXFb5E&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Unfortunately, one cannot see the mechanism which pushes the marbles upward very well. I couldn't determine what pieces he was using - I think there was a slope, but I'm not sure as to how it moves the marbles up the pipe.

It sounds like you're looking for a lift. A pump is used to displace fluids.

@Ambo100 Sorry if I used the wrong term - the guy in the video calls it a marble pump. If anyone can confirm that the correct term is something else, I'll be happy to change it!

GBC'ers always call that "pump". Tha main characteristic of it is that balls are pushed (pumped) through a column, so the mechanism has to support the weight of a whole column of balls. A lift usually only supports the balls it's lifting. And for all intents and purposes, a stream of balls could even be considered as a fluid.

A pump is one of the most classic GBC (Great Ball Contraption) modules but is indeed difficult to get right.
One of the best illustrations I know is on this site:

Unfortunately, most of the site is in German, but the pictures are usually illustrative enough and I think it's a good source of information for ball machines in general, not only LEGO ones. The best is of course to get in touch with one GBC builder at events and ask for information.
EDIT:
Here is a picture based on the model at aforementioned site:
Here is a video showing the mechanism in action.

I created a short animation which demonstrates the marble pump in action and added a link to it in the answer.

@PeterDC Nice! Frankly, you could have made you own answer with that, considering the effort you put in making this.

@Joubarc No problem, it was the same as the design you found anyway, so I decided I would just add it onto your answer. Cheers! :)

Marbles weigh more than LEGO balls but there is a thriving community of avid "Great Ball Contraption (GBC)" builders... these move soccer balls or basketballs from their (standardized) input to their (standardized) output to the next module.
They use various techniques including stairstep, conveyor, helix, scoops, and every other motion technique imaginable.
I think looking through their designs will give you lots of ideas
This great site by Phillipe Hurbain ("Philo") should get you started, In particular, look at the Ball Pump and Jigsaw module, which have instructions included

Philo's pump is great but blocks now and then, but that's part of the GBC joy, and considering it's one of the oldest GBC modules in existence (that hasn't had parts replaced), it's actually quite resilient. By the way, if you want to see Philo or a great GBC display, I heartily recommend Fana'Briques, end of June in Rosheim (France).

I found this question and used Joubarc's and Peter's answer to guide my pump build:

The video of it's operation is here. As per Joubarc, it was very tricky to get right. Here are some subtle things I learnt/did during the build:

The blue down wedges in the ball feed are not symmetric horizontally. Putting them on alternate layers helps stop the 14mm beads getting jammed.
The ball feed needs to be narrow at the bottom (beams with a 2 stud gap, no wedges) to avoid ball jams and ensure the balls drop down with gravity into the intake.
Needed a gradual ramp in the slider/feed section (yellow) to prevent ball jams and ensure the balls would drop into the intake
Older bricks that have been nicked from drops, rough play tend to jam the slide mechanism as they brush past each other. Use newer/non nicked bricks.
Use longer horizontal beams in the slide mechanism and adjacent walls. Every vertical vertice is an opportunity for the slider to jam. Long horizontals reduce this.
Use window pieces in the slider to reduce slide contact and friction (see white slider section)
Needed a long slide (white section) to increase clutch power holding it on to the bottom plate. With a smaller slide section it didn't take long for it to pop off due to push/pull action from the piston.
a 2x1 beam with two holes was used to mount the piston. This aligned the piston just right to not jam during rotation. A single hole 2x1 beam didn't work for me.
Needed to bias the balls at the top of the chimney to pop them out into the race section. Did this with the mini cheese wedges mounted vertically.


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How can I create a simple steering mechanism for a car?
Just curious about this. How can I create a simple steering mechanism for a car? Either motorized or non-motorized solutions are fine; just not overly complex.

Related: http://bricks.stackexchange.com/q/537/132

How big will your car be?

@Ambo100 The first question is somewhat relevant, but I'm not asking for a motorized solution. To answer your second question, I don't know. This is more of a general question.

My solution doesn't have to be motorised, you can use a gear or pulley wheel to manually adjust the wheel angle.

I'm confused: the OP explicitly states in comments that he's not looking for a motorised solution, but an approved edit includes motorisation as a requirement?

Sorry, I took pcantin's comment below over the OP's comment above.

Wow sorry. I haven't been keeping up with this question. I'm going to edit my question to include both motorized and non-motorized solutions…

The most common I've seen is rack and pinion:

Essentially you have two parallel beams with one fixed to the car's chassis. The other bar moves horizontally which changes the direction of the wheels. Attach some gears and you can hook it up to a steering wheel.
The steering technique has been used in the Whirl N' Wheel Super Truck (5590)
 set. The instructions for the set show how an similar rack and pinion mechanism.


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How can I fix a flattened gear?
I have an old small gear that somehow got flattened to an oval shape. The axle hole is too narrow to slide a bar through, although it is not completely closed shut.
How can I repair this gear?

The material deformation you are seeing is called ‘plasticity’.  It happens when a material under stress is deformed and doesn’t return to its original shape (this would be called elasticity).  In many cases (and it is the case with LEGO ABS plastic), this deformation weakens the material (as mentioned by Kramii).
To fix this part you have to deform it again thus breaking it even more.   Here are two things you could do:

Force it back into shape and put small amount of Krazy Glue in the cracked areas. Hopefully this will fill the gaps and give some strength back to the gear.
You could sacrifice an axle and glue (Krazy Glue) it permanently.  This would strengthen the gear a lot but condemn it to only be used with that axle.

I have a bunch of those small gears, I wish I could just give you one.

+1 for the info on plasticity. Of course, I'm horrified at the idea of sacrificing a perfectly good axle (especially when replacement gears so easy / inexpensive to obtain), but the logic behind your suggestions is irrefutable.

One of these?

I regularly crushed these as a child.
You could try inserting something small into the hole and gently easing it open. I've had modest success with a small screwdriver.
Unfortunately, the gear will be weakened following a flattening. If it is badly squashed it is very likely break - either as you try to repair it or in use.
Your best bet, therefore, is to source a replacement. They're available from BrickLink for a few pence.
The other thing to mention is that in some cases, I've been able to use these gears even though they have broken in half. I just pushed both halves onto the axle and they stuck on well enough for my purposes. Even so, I'd still buy replacements where possible.

I don't think it's really possible to salvage it, as others said, you'll only weaken it more. Even if you can place it on an axle, there's a good chance it will break under stress.
But replacement should be very easy to find, and don't forget you could also contact the LEGO customer service for that. It sounds a bit overkill, but they will usually happily replace the part. It could also be that newer ones will be stronger, but I don't know that for sure. On the other hand, they'll very likely send you a dark grey one, since it's now the standard colour.

Here's what I did:
First I tried a screwdriver and awl, but couldn't get it to work.
What did work was pinching it with pliers to open the hole, and then sliding in a rod.
The piece is intact, but very flexible now. It is very deformed, but becomes uniform when attached to an axle. I'm going to leave it attached for a while to see if it evens it out more.


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What is the smallest LEGO component?
When I purchase bulk LEGO bricks, one of the first things I do is to tip the whole lot into a mesh bag and give them a good soak in the bath (of course, I remove all the electrical bits etc. first). This usually gets rid of most of the accululated muck etc.
However, I am concerned that the very smallest pieces will slip through the net and end up getting lost en route to the bath or even disappear down the plugh hole.
The solution is obvious: to make sure that I use a bag with small enough holes that the smallest pieces can't fit through.
What, therefore, is the smallest component that LEGO have made?

You may want to use a cloth bag, to be sure.

The screwdriver is also very small, but I'm not sure it beats the lever handle. Also, one could argue it has to be detached from the tools wheel first. But if you buy second-hand lots, there's a good chance it would be detached, and it would easily escape through small holes.

Similarly, the various plumes aren't very large either:

I've physically compared a screwdriver to a lever. For the purposes of fitting through holes, the screwdriver is indeed slightly narrower than the base of the lever handle.

That's what I call dedication.

One of the smallest pieces is the detachable handle on the 1 stud gear shift element.
The black part in this complete lever:

It is the size of a thin pencil lead.

A picture would be immensely helpful here. How thin is a thin pencil lead anyway?

A thin pencil lead (in the US at least) is 0.5-0.7mm. The handle is much thicker than that.

I had guessed that smallest piece I have owned is one of these (image courtesy peeron):

It really is stupidly small (so small that I've lost the only example that I possessed).
However, I have since discovered that the lever weighs less, and that the screwdriver will fit through smaller holes.

Update: I've recently come across some of these:

It's an antenna from the Twitch minifig in set 7599: Garbage Truck Getaway. They're pretty small.

I had no idea that even existed.

It comes with the Starwars Clone Troopers, along with a "rangefinder" type piece as well. It's a "headlamp" that attaches to a clones helmet. Rangefinder can be seen here: http://www.peeron.com/inv/parts/x1910 has a wider end than the screwdriver

I have one of these and wondered what it was.  With four kids in the house, I suspect I won't have it for too much longer... :/

@Zhaph-BenDuguid LEGO aren't distributing those pieces with the newer ARC trooper gear

@bungeshea Yeah, it looks like they're just using the "targeting scope" and visor options - for example in 9488

@Zhaph-BenDuguid I think they dropped the others in favour of the new mimi-blaster pistols and cloth leg and arm armour

Plus, they're used for Mandalorians: 9496

I was all ready to add the Twitch antenna as an answer when I saw your update.  These have got to be the smallest Lego piece I've ever seen.  I keep my Twitch in a small plastic bag because they're always falling off into the drawer.

Minifigure hands are very small:

(picture not to scale)

The treasure coin (70501):

I think its one of if not the only element that doesn't connect to any other element.

Nice! That's certainly a tiny one. Welcome to Bricks.SE!

There are many other pieces that can't connect, for example all kinds of balls (football, basketball, Bionicle, NXT). Or if we are willing to stress the definition of "connect", then a minifigure hand can grab two of these coins :)

I've always thought those flat, round 1x1 pieces were the smallest sphere-esque shape. Most of the other pieces here are longer in at least one dimension than these guys.
This is probably the smallest LEGO brick that is compatible with a stud/tube connection.
There's a version with a hole in the stud that is 'smaller' in that it weighs less, although the external dimensions are the same.

There's a version with a hole in the stud that is 'smaller' in that it weighs less, although the external dimensions are the same.

The smallest part in terms of fitting through holes in a mesh bag or sorting tray would be Technic Flex Cable, the shortest being 5L. This could fit through a hole of diameter 1.6mm (of slightly larger without friction).

If we're going for the lego part with the smallest cross-section, I'll nominate x77ac15 "String, Cord Thin 15cm":

I owned the 75cm variant, as part of set 6361 (now lost and replaced, due to wear&tear). But if memory serves right, its thickness was around half a millimeter.

The smallest Lego thing I briefly owned was a thin, extremely small, piece of a metallic substance (as far as I know). Possibly about 10 mm long and 4 mm wide, this little sliver was apparently meant to separate a small battery and a light bulb during storage, to stop the battery being drained.
Lego set: Creator 31062 comes with a light brick. I unpacked the secondhand set bought in a thrift store, and checked that all pieces were present. Then wrapped it for a Christmas present for my grandson. After the celebration and cleaning up, I found this little thing. Vacuumed it away with the rest of the crumbs not even realizing what it was.
Lol, looking up light-bricks, I found that the little insert was a tab and was probably not classified as a brick proper, but is part of a new brick's packing. I wish we still had it to eke out the battery which emptied very quickly.
I expect that there are more such extremely small but important components and so wouldn't tip everything into a mesh bag in the first instance. Get some shoe box lids and chocolate boxes and their lids. Spread new components in a single layer. Do a rough sort: big, medium, small into different mesh sized bags. The grit left will be the tinies. Use a linen bag to wash these. Good luck not throwing out tabs!


text:
In what ways are LEGO and Megabloks incompatible?
I know that the basic bricks of LEGO and Megabloks fit together, but was wondering if other elements do too.
Such as:

Plates
Rods (Ones Minifigures can hold, not Technic)
Right angle (such as Erling)
Duplo bricks

Megablocks - Ew!

There's an obvious ethical incompatibility

Does color count too, or just mechanical incompatibilities?  Because the (highly inferior) plastic that MB uses does not color as vibrantly as LEGO ABS.

The problem is that while in general MegaBloks bricks fit with LEGO bricks, the quality control on the MB bricks seems to be much lower*, so the bricks/studs and holes are not always the same size.
As an example, I recently acquired a MB HALO Covenant Banshee ship for my son, and can safely show that:

The holes in studs do not readily accept rods (in this case a "wand" element from a Harry Potter set, but identical to the lightsaber pieces, etc.) - they are generally too small, however I could just force it into the front of the "hollow frying pan" type piece that Harry's holding. Conversely the handle is thinner than the wand, so it fits into the hollow MB studs fairly well, but is very loose in the LEGO cone.
With Erling bricks your mileage may vary but shound be ok, however you'd be better off with the newer 1x1 brick with knob(s), as then there's no ridge to fit within.
Plates and Tiles seem to fit fairly well - although generally the grip will be looser if you put LEGO elements on top of MB ones - the studs seem slightly smaller.
DUPLO Bricks seem to fit as well as they do with LEGO bricks:

*I state that the quality control seems to be lower as in this set for example, there are supposed to be 4 1x1 Round Plates (you can just see a transparent blue one behind Harry). Of the 10 or 12 that were supplied(!), none of them were tight enough to stay on the angular brick you can see on the wing edge (the one that just about stays on the other side falls off this one).

I've had a similar experiences with polish Cobi brand (which is also sold via Best-Lock in USA), where while technicaly compatible with Lego a lot of pieces were slightly too small (so it was impossible to separate them) or slightly too large (so they stayed loose). What was worse, they often had flash left and from time to time wouldn't fit other bricks from the same set! It was over 10 years ago though so since then they might've improved but given those experiences I'd rather stick to LEGO personally.

My mother in law thought a set of MegaBlok duplo sized sets would be a great present, and while there are some fun elements in the set, overall the real Duplos are better quality, to the point we decided to sort out the sets and keep the brands separated. At first we had them mixed together, but the MegaBlok ones seem to be more flexible (perhaps thinner brick walls?) and not stay together quite as tightly. (For that matter, the Tyco bricks didn't stay together as well either...)
One of the most jarring differences, aside from quality, is the people figures. The legs on duplo people are designed such that they can be standing or seated on top of a brick. Megablok people do not have gaps on the back of their legs for seating them on blocks, they can only stand. For this reason, all the Megablock vehicles and benches and whatnot have flat bottoms on the part where the characters sit. So Megablok characters don't "play well" in real Duplo brand vehicles, chairs, and so forth. And the duplo figures don't play well on the swings and so forth that are designed for Megablok characters.

Also, while Duplos are usually for ages 1.5+, an equivalent Megablok set often is 3+ because it contains half-bricks and half-height half bricks, teeny tiny birds and squirrels, and so forth that are all choking hazards, so it was a lot more work to figure out which pieces need to be pulled out of the set to make sure baby brother doesn't choke on the pieces.
Additionally, while newer legos for older kids do sometimes contain sticker kits (grumble), usually the Duplo products have the designs printed directly on the bricks, so they are fully immersion washable if they get spit up on by a younger sibling and safe to take in the tub at bath time. The megablok ones? Every single patterned element except people characters require a sticker you have to apply yourself. You can't wash them or take them in the bathtub without ruining the stickers.

I can't actually offer any thoughts regarding anything but actual bricks, as the first - and only - megabloks purchase I ever made only contained bricks.  While my experience with megablocks is limited, I feel confident in offering this advice: Don't do it.
My motivation for "playing" with Lego-style blocks at age 29 is probably pretty unique - I use them to make floor toys for my sugar gliders to play on (meaning I have no interest in figures and many other elements).  For my first block purchase, I bought Megablocks because they were cheaper and I foolishly assumed they'd get the job done... let's just say, lesson learned!  I tried to build a simple "house" that was perhaps 5''x5'' and by the time I'd built 3-4 layers of overlapping 2x4 blocks, my creation was falling apart faster than I could build it.  They didn't stick together at ALL - the quality was ridiculously poor.  Suffice it to say, I returned the bricks for a refund.
Since then, I've stuck to Lego Duplo blocks and not only can I actually build things without them falling apart, my creations easily withstand a lot of jostling.  I can only assume that mixing megabloks with Duplo blocks would weaken the integrity of your Duplo creations.

I can only provide info for basic bricks. I am an avid fan of both Lego and mega bloks. That being said there is a large difference in quality in mega bloks sets older then 2010. The more modern sets have increased in quality by fare and I have not had a problem with them falling apart since. Lego and mega bloks bricks fit well together if the mega blocks are of modern age. Older bricks (for example the banshi that was mentioned above) will have a much harder time holding together capability wise. The rods as far as I know of I believe the mega bloks rods are slightly smaller then Lego allowing them to slide in normally easier than Lego's rods (don't know why but my Lego rods always get stuck in the holes and don't come out without extreme force); same goes for accessories by the way. The figures are not compatible with swapping accessories or rods, (megas rods being smaller) Lego accessories can actually break the older mega bloks figures hands meanwhile vise versa mega bloks accessories will normally fall out of Lego figures hands.

15 years ago, I had a Megabloks set (some kind of a truck) that had two baseplates that were thicker than standard (1.5 of regular plate, so two stacked are same height as a brick).

There are 2 types of Duplo size: one type has 1 big stud instead of 4, so it only fits Lego if the MegaBlock is put on top - or when using an adapter piece. The other compatible type has taller studs, which is fine. As for Micro, which is the System Lego size, the red colored pieces are dull, the blue ones are better. I did have problem with one 2×4 to hold 1×2's below.

Hi Andrew! As usual, I have attempted to make sense of your answer and edit it into a readable form. Please review my changes and correct anything I might have misunderstood.


text:
Does the basic 2 x 4 brick have a common nickname?
Some bricks, such as the Erling brick, seem to have common nicknames in the LEGO building community. As the basic 2 x 4 brick appears to be the foundation of the system, it is reasonable to suppose that it would have such a nickname.

Is this the case? If so, what is it called?

An Erling brick is actually a piece, or a component. Considering the first LEGO sets designed were based purely on bricks, we've adopted the usage of the word brick for use on other LEGO elements. Of all the LEGO 'bricks', the 2x4 seems to have the most resemblance with a typical brick used in constructing real life buildings. When people mention a LEGO brick, most people tend to imagine the 2x4 brick.

"The coolest toy on earth!"

It's called a brick.
This may sound like a weird or mocking answer, but when you think about it, it does make sense.
The 2x4 brick the most iconic brick of them all, the one which has started it all. The one for which the first patent has been issued in 1958. The book "50 Years of the LEGO brick" contains 6 of them, and the number of permutation for these 6 bricks has been the classic question to illustrate how endless LEGO construction can be (even LEGO got the answer wrong at first, by the way).
It's the one they use on the cover of collector's guides, it's the one they make bigger.
Face it, it's the brick.

I've seen it referred to as a "Rory" in brictionaries. I usually refer to it as just brick.


text:
What is LUGBULK?
I have heard that LEGO have (or had) a programme called LUGBULK whereby clubs can purchase bulk lots of LEGO components direct fom LEGO.
Is that true? If so, is it economical and how can I get involved?

The Brick Blogger describes in detail how the LUGBULKS system works.

The LUGBULK program debuted in 2009 and still operates as a pilot
  program for LEGO. LEGO realizes that AFOLs are the ones that make
  communities aware of LEGO in a wide range of venues that LEGO does not
  have the time or resources to reach. Therefore, supplying these AFOLs
  with an affordable supply of bulk pieces seems like a really good
  idea.
The logistics of this project are a nightmare though if you think
  about it. There is no way to offer this discount to every AFOL who
  wants cheap LEGO bricks. Therefore, the first organization level is
  that AFOLs must be part of a LEGO User Group (LUG). This LUG must then
  register every year if they want to participate.

I recommend visiting the original article for more infomation. In particular which LUG (LEGO user groups) are qualified to use LUGBULK.

Yes, it does exist and it is indeed a logistical nightmare, but at least it does exist.
From what I understand from the participation from the LUG I'm a member of, all participants must provide their data to LEGO and must agree not to resell parts they buy.
The participants don't buy things on their own; rather, the club is responsible to select elements it wants to buy and quantities. There are limits, but I don't know for sure which ones (I think max 80 different elements per order), so the club must find a way to make sure all its members get something they want.
The way my club chose to do it is to select some elements which are likely to please a lot of people (basic dark red bricks, for example), then they buy them with their own account and resell them to members.
The prices are somewhat cheaper than if you would call LEGO yourself (which works in certain countries, by the way) or if you used the online pick-a-brick, but I can't say by how much. And since the club as a whole is involved, it's sometimes frustrating for individuals.
As how to get involved, you will need to be a known club, in which case you're likely to already have contacts with LEGO, so use these to ask how the lugbulk works.
If you're a new club which is yet unknown from LEGO, by all means, try to make yourself known, this can bring many advantages other than the lugbulk.

LUGBULK does allow members to buy things at a reduced cost that is determined by LEGO's production pricing.
I know our LUG allows each member to pick a certain number of elements that we want and then vote on the remainder. That way, everyone is guaranteed a certain amount pieces they want. Plus we can choose from the rest of the line-up also.
But of course, you have to be a member of a LUG, hence the name LUGBULK. I'd recommend contacting your local LEGO store to see if they know any members of your local LUG (if there is one). Otherwise, you can always start your own. You do need a certain minimum of members to be able to order LUGBULK and there are monetary requirements to meet also.

This answer would have been better as a comment to another answer. As is, it does not actually answer the question.

Looks like it answers the question just fine to me.


text:
Is there a reliable way to determine what minifigure is in a LEGO Minifigures series package?
I would love to have one of each minifigure from the various LEGO Minifigure series.  Unfortunately, as you receive a random minifigure in each package, this is more difficult than it should be.  I either have to purchase a lot of extra packages and hope that I eventually span the entire set, or I have to pay exorbitant amounts on the Internet for the minifigures I need to complete my collection.
Is there a simple and reliable way, when I am in the store, to determine what minifigure is in the package?

The most reliable method known is: open the bag.

@Joubarc: I did that for every single bag in every single set.

I've also read of people trying to weight them (with high precision, I guess it makes sense), and someone with access to an x-ray machine used it successfully.

I'm not an expert on the subject, but the x-ray machines I've seen are not simple to bring into a store.

It can be done, but you need to be able to handle the packages.  Different minifigure series may require different approaches, from barcodes to patterns of dots or dimples to feeling for certain characteristic parts in the bags.  Those approaches have been documented in a number of places:

Series 6 (feel + dots)
Series 5 (feel)
Series 4 (bumps)
Series 3 (dots)
Series 2 (barcode)
Series 1 (barcode)

Also, since every box has a set quantity of each minifig, if you buy a full unopened box of 60, you will get a full set of the minifigs.  (More than one set in fact, but you'd have to look at the per-box quantities to see if it's 2 or 3.)

I did not realize each box was guaranteed to contain a complete set.  However, I imagine 60 times X dollars/euros is more than buying a set on eBay.

Bumps and dots have been the least reliable in my experience.

@Ambo100: Given that TLG has moved away from the bumps and dots, those are more for historical interest (and an exhaustive answer) than practical use at this point.

As far as I know, the contents of a box is fixed, at least for series 5 it is.

Could you try to update this for Series 6?

For series 18 and Harry Potter 2 (and possibly more, I don't remember), there is only one complete set in each box. - And mr. Gold in series 10 is of course a special case.

I managed to get the five minifigures I wanted, right every time by feeling the bags. It takes patience and a good understanding of how different bricks feel. There are some guides online that show you which individual pieces to look for.
Use the process of elimination. If you're looking for the Witch minifig, look for a bag with slope instead of legs. The Witch is the only minifig in it's series that has no legs piece.
Working in a store that sold collectible minifigures, I can tell you
that you cannot differ each minifigure by barcode.

The individual bags are packaged randomly inside a box of 60.
There is an uneven quantity of minifigures so some are rarer then
others, the quantity of each minifig is the same for each box.

In the end, nothing's more reliable then your own X-ray machine...

That's what I call dedication.

Ironically, the witch could be found by bar code, as Series 2 did differentiate by them - one UK retailer has a very religious MD, and they'd ordered their boxes without the Witch or Vampire figures :( But I've had very good success with the feel method, especially for the dwarf and gladiator figures in series 5

@Zhaph Which religion prohibits vampires?

I've no idea, but was told he was a Christian. It's certainly nothing I've ever heard mentioned in a sermon, but others beliefs may vary ;) All I know is they had a sign on the boxes stating that they didn't contain any witches or vampires, and when I asked how and why was informed about the barcodes and religion respectively.

My boys and I purchased a precision scale for nine dollars from Harbor Freight and set it to grams. We purchased ten Lego minifigures series nine. We measured the ten empty packages for a weight of 19.8333 grams and divided by 10 to get an average wieght of 1.983 grams, or rounded to 2 grams. We then weighed the ten inserts showing the 16 numbered, named and pictured figurines, they weighed 28.8333 grams and divided by 10 to get an average weight of 2.833 grams, or rounded to 3 grams. We then made a list from 1 to 16 and named each number with its respective figurine and weighed each to get the following and adding the weight of the insert plus the package for a total package weight of:
Lego Minifigures Series 9
Number, Figure Name, Figure Weight in grams,  Figure + P&I weight for total weight
-1  Waiter                   0.0
-2  Cyclops                  0.0
-3  Starlett                     0.0
-4  Knight           6.8        11.7
-5  Cesar            5.3        10.2
-6  Cop          5.4        10.3
-7  Chicken                   0.0
-8  Skater                    0.0
-9  Cleo             7.0        11.9
-10 Judge            5.9        10.8
-11 Alien            7.3        12.2
-12 Mermaid     7.6     12.5
-13 Spaceman    6.2     11.1
-14 Jekle/Hide  5.4     10.3
-15 She Shield  7.5     12.4
-16 Plumber                      0.0
Insert  2.9g           Total wt. 28.8333g
Package 2.0g           Total wt. 19.8333g
P&I 4.9 grams (this will be added to each individual figurine weight)

Note that the missing weights are the figurines we still lack. We got 3 repeats and their weight varied by less than 0.01 gram. So, what we did next was to go on our hunt and stealthly enter the toy stores, break out the digital scale, zero it out and weigh the package. We made the list from heaviest to lightest and what we are going to do is to purchase just those weights that we do not have. Following is said list:
Number, Figure Name,    Weight in grams,    Figure + P&I weight for total weight,

Mermaid 7.6     12.5
Maiden  7.5     12.4
Alien   7.3     12.2
Cleo?   7.0     11.9
Knight  6.8     11.7
Spaceman    6.2     11.1
Judge   5.9     10.8
Cop 5.4     10.3
Good/Bad    5.4     10.3
Cesar   5.3     10.2
Waiter  missing     0.0
Cyclops missing     0.0
Starlett    missing     0.0
Chicken missing     0.0
Skater  missing     0.0
Plumber missing     0.0

As we find the new weights I'll try to repost and upgrade the new information. If someone has the figures we don't have and could post just their figure weight, we would greatly appreciate it.
Lastly, the insert weights were right on the money and exact to each other, but the packages did vary above and below the average by around 0.15 grams. What would have been more scientifically significanly would have been if we had weighed each bag that came with each unique figure, but we were so much in a hurry to battle that we lost focus. I think the varience in the package bag weight has to do with sloppy manufacturing than stratigic engineering to confuse us.
@3F's

The cheapest approach is to buy a box online, keep the figures you want, and sell the rest.
The most hassle-free approach is to buy the figures you want online. Either individually or as a set.

Another option to help finish off your collections is BrickLink, sort of the eBay of LEGO.  There are plenty of sellers in the US with a large amount of reputation
Here is a link to BrickLink with a listing of the Collectible Minifigs:
http://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catID=746
Be sure to buy the 'complete set' figs otherwise you will probably not get the accessories.

Theoretically, it shoud be possible to tell the minifigures apart by weight, but you would need highly precise scales to do so.

i find it rather easy to feel for the minifigures. All you have to do, is identify a uncommon trait that only that minifigure has, and then feel for that. for example, the conquistador has a breastplate. just feel for something bendy, hollow on 2 sides. its not that hard.


text:
How to repair leaky pneumatics?
Some of my pneumatics parts, mostly pistons, have seals which no longer prevent the air from escaping completely. On some parts they are unreliable and on others they are not working at all.
Why do those parts become leaky, how can I minimize the risk of it happening with maintenance and/or proper storage, and is there any way to repair already leaky parts?

Zhaph suggested disassembling the piston and replacing the seal with an o-ring, however the seal in question was not a simple o-ring and getting a replacement is properly difficult:

From the left:

Top piece locking everything together
Top rubber seal, with a bit particular shape
Bottom rubber seal, which is just a wide rubber ring
A plastic spacer between the two rubber seals

While the top piece appears to be safe to remove, the bottom rubber seal easily gets damaged when you try to force it off the piston. The amount of pressure it could retain after forcing if off a couple a times became limited.

I hadn't realized what the going rate for pneumatics was on bricklink.

Until recently no sets containing pneumatics had been produced for years, so they had become rather rare while still having demand. I thought it would have improved by now, but I guess stock is still low...

The parts become leaky due to the seals inside the pistons deteriorating.
Typically, the seal is made with an "o-ring" - a circular rubber band (cross section as well as the shape) - if this is the case in the LEGO pistons, and then it's possible the o-rings are made with similar rubber to the LEGO rubber bands, and then they will deteriorate over time in the same way the rubber bands do.
I've not tried dismantling any of my pistons, so I couldn't say how easy they are to repair - they look like you should be able to unclip the black part and access the piston that way (there's a YouTube clip of someone doing so here, you can just see the piston head too, but I can't confirm the o-ring).
A good car spares or similar type of shop should be able to sell a selection of replacements.
From my time spent diving, there's not much you can do to stop this happening over time, other than keeping an eye on them and checking them regularly for replacement.

I have tried disassembling one and there are three rings. In the bottom of the piston is a fairly wide ring made of rubber. Then comes a small spacer of ordinary plastic. At the top there is a fairly complex part made of rubber and sadly this is the one which is normally causing trouble. Getting a replacement for this one will be difficult... I will add a photo in the question.


text:
How can I connect the RCX 2.0 to an external power source?
I want to build an auto-feeder with the RCX 2.0 for my cat. The problem is, that I often had to exchange the batteries. Is there an adapter for the RCX to connect it to a power point?

The older RCX 1.0 had a power plug inbuilt. However Philo has shown how to create one yourself in a fairly simple way:
LEGO® 9V Technic Motors compared characteristics, scroll down to the section "Getting maximum mechanical power from RCX output" towards the bottom of the page.
The idea is to create two fake batteries and draw a wire from each, creating a +9V and a ground from a separate source. You would need a voltage regulator though. WARNING: supplying incorrect voltage can destroy your RCX.

Image and technique by Philippe "Philo" Hurbain © 2000-2009, used in accordance to "You are free to use it for any purpose, just give me credit...".

If you'd rather not cut off the ends off two batteries and jury-rig in rods of hot melting glue to act as spacers, and instead have access to a 3D printer, take a look at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:122810 :-)

As the contents of the linked page have been removed, here are the original files:

And of course the STL file from the archived version of the site.


text:
Where do the pieces numbered 4255629 go in the Death Star (set 10188)
I just finished up the Death Star set, and while it comes with the usual smattering of leftover pieces, I've got two pieces numbered 4255629 (shown below) that never got used.  I've scanned the manual three times now and just can't see where I missed the pieces.
Were they just included for decorating at my leisure, or is there a specific page that shows where to use them?
The piece looks like this:

Bricklink lists only one such element, and peeron lists one, with one as extra. It's typical for LEGO to include duplicate of very small parts, and 1x1 tiles usually fit the bill. So there should only be one actually used in the set. I have no clue where though, just send me one and I'll try to find it :-)

There is one going in the small blue trolley on page 4. These pages don't show parts inventories, and the part is partly hidden, so it's very easy to overlook.
The other one is an extra, as explained in comment.

Thanks for offering me this opportunity to browse the manual (and yes, even if it's on page 4, I didn't find it at first so I had to go through it all) and drool at a great set I'll probably never have :-)

Wow, that's a great catch.  That's funny, the figures were the one place I didn't look because they didn't have inventories, and that's what I was looking at.  Thanks again!

I wasn't expecting it there either - just got lucky.


text:
Why does this program work in LabView when targeted to computer but not to NXT?
I have a program written in Labview for my LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0. When the target is set to the computer, the program works just fine. However, when I set the target to the NXT, the program doesn't work the same as when targeted to the computer.
The program makes the robot go forward until it is 30 centimetres away from an object, which is detected by the NXT's ultrasonic sensor. Then the robot will stop. If the object is moved and there is no object within 30 centimeters of the NXT's ultrasonic sensor, the robot will go forward again until it is 30 centimeters away from an object again. Then, it will stop.
This works when the target is set to computer in Labview, but not when set to NXT. When set to NXT, once the first object is detected, it will stop. But, if the object is removed and there is no longer any object within 30 centimetres of the ultrasonic sensor, the robot will remain stationary and not move forward.
Here is a screenshot of the block diagram:

Here is a link to the source code for the program.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Could you post a picture of your block diagram in LabVIEW?

There, posted it. It will reflect this as soon as the edit is approved.

I would recommend you post this question to the National Instruments Discussion Forums. We have a dedicated board for supporting the LabVIEW for Mindstorms software. Since you are using LabVIEW, you can post the question there and NI support engineers are guaranteed to help you.
http://forums.ni.com/t5/LabVIEW-for-LEGO-MINDSTORMS-and/bd-p/460

William: if you get an answer from the NI site, can you please post back here with what you find out? Emilie: it sounds like you work for NI. Is there any chance that an engineer would be able to answer the question here on this site?

Yes, I'm the Social Business manager for NI. I keep an ear out for any mentions of our products. Unfortunately, I can't assign a support request from an external site directly to an NI engineer. William will have to go through our online support channel on the NI Support Forums. But it should be very easy to crosslink to the discussion forum thread when he gets an answer there.

Remove the waveform chart and change the stop bottom to constant 'F' and try it. When you target to NXT, the programm can not compile the waveform charts and many other things to NXT.


text:
Is it possible to change the battery in a 54604 light brick?
I got 4 of these in in a bulk lot of Lego, but the lamp is getting quite dim in a couple of them.
Is it possible to change the battery in a 54604 light brick?

It looks like the brick should open, but I don't want to force one apart and break it.

Either a part is screwed somehow, either you are.

You could also use a heavy brick instead of a light brick, there is no battery to replace.

There's a YouTube video which explains how you can replace the battery in that light brick.
You can also find the owner's explanation on the Eurobricks forums.
Quoting from that site:

What you'll need:

ExoForce Light brick (obviously)
A small screwdriver (or other item with a long, thin shaft) (my s'driver was 2mm (0.07 inches) thick)
A small 3V battery.

Put the point of the screwdriver into the hole in the brick (where you'd normally put the fiber optics cord).
Using quite some force, lever the screwdriver until the 'lid' pops up at the front.
Insert the screwdriver into one of the small gaps at the side where the 'lid' pops up, and lever the lid up again.
the lid should come right off. From here, you can shake the brick and the battery should fall out. Simply slide the new battery in and
  click the lid back on.

That's exactly what I needed to know. I've taken the liberty of pasting the info from that site into your answer to mitigate against potential link-rot.

That's very wise, hopefully I'll learn to do it myself one day.

Taken from the additional notes of this bricks Bricklink catalogue entry.

This item takes one CR927 3V Lithium battery.
A very tiny flat
  screwdriver is needed to push the little clips to open up the
  assembly.

I occasionally use the minifig-scale Axe, Crowbar or Screwdriver to pry plates, tiles and other bricks. If you don't have a screwdriver of your own it might be possible to use one of these utensils to unscrew the casing depending on how tightley screwed in place your brick is.
This doesn't apply to bulk LEGO purchases, but in some cases LEGO sets will include instructions on how to replace the battery.

I did check one of the instruction books for an Exo-Force set that used one of these bricks, and it didn't include details of how to change the battery (e.g. http://cache.lego.com/bigdownloads/buildinginstructions/4499765.pdf)

It's shown in the Winter Toy Shop instructions, albeit a different type of light brick.

@Ambo100: I checked the instructions for several sets that include the brick, but there was nothing about the battery. And the I completely missed that on the Bricklink page. I promise I'll look more carefully next time!

Not to worry. I presume it's something they've added since 2006 when Power Functions were released.

Yep, the Winter Toy/Post Office and the Lighthouse all use a different brick and include instructions for using a key/screwdriver type thing to open them. These Exo-force ones apparently didn't. The "Minifigure with real torch/lightsabre" also don't include instructions for replacing the battery in the minifig's body.