text:
What are the best sources of information for upcoming LEGO sets?
LEGO sometimes offers me a "LEGO Calendar" with upcoming events, sets, sales, and coupons.  Whether or not I get this calendar is hit/miss and it only notifies me of the next month's news.  I've searched the internet for new release LEGO sets and have had problems finding a reliable single source for all sets.  Usually a site focus on one series, E.G. Ghostbusters.
What is the best place(s) to go to find this type of information?  I found the official catalog.  It doesn't go as far ahead as other sites.  Preferably information covering the next year.

The LEGO store calendars are available online about a month ahead of time. It lists the upcoming promotions, specials, new sets, store events, etc. They are the exact same ones as what you would get in the mail. You can find them in the right-hand side-bar here: http://stores.lego.com/en-us/
As far as going as far ahead as the following year, you are not going to get official information on this, as LEGO doesn't reveal their future sets more than a few months ahead the most. You will have to follow rumors and leaks, which may or may not be correct. I would suggest that you become a member of either Eurobricks or Brickset and follow the discussions on possible upcoming sets.
Also, it is a good idea to follow LEGO news at the beginning of the year, as new LEGO sets get revealed at the various toy-fairs in January/February. Pretty much all LEGO fansites will closely follow the news coming from these events. The sets displayed are usually go as far as the summer, but they will not include the large exclusives, which usually get revealed separately.


text:
Minimizing brick loss during play
Lego bricks are obviously made for playing---and should be played with. But, as a parent who strives to keep the set collection in order, it is not fun when bricks get lost after play and sets become incomplete.
What strategies can be employed to minimize brick loss, while still allowing children to play with the sets?

If you're talking about young kids keeping sets together, good luck--once they're mixed, they're generally gone. If you want to keep sets together, consider doubling up.

At my house there are two (well, three) Lego collections. Mine, and my kids'. The rules are stricter for mine: the Lego isn't meant to be thrown around, dropped pieces should be picked up, it isn't to be left on the floor, it doesn't get brought all over the house, and it gets put away every time.
The kids' collections they keep in plastic boxes and they can play with it how they want. Sometimes pieces get lost. I try to impress on them the importance of keeping the pieces together and putting things away where they go, but it isn't always possible. It might be a lesson they need to learn the hard way. My kids are extremely respectful of my Lego collection but not so much of their own. So it is possible to enact rules they can follow, but there are limits.
One issue that can help with missing parts is keeping track of where the parts should be. Keeping all the parts in one big box makes it harder to tell what's missing. If you keep your kits assembled as per the instructions, you'll know the parts are all there. Of course, this dampens your ability to create your own things, so maybe some other organizational method will help. You could sort the parts into ziplock bags by colour. You could put all the minifigs and their accessories in separate bags. Having enough smaller containers that lets you see when pieces are misplaced (i.e. not lost, but in the wrong container) helps you find pieces when you need them. Being able to estimate if a certain bag is missing pieces, or plainly recognizing that a certain piece is gone gives you the motivation to search for it now before the vacuum gets it. Keeping organized helps prevent problems. But it's also a buzzkill for many people.
That said: pieces will get lost. They will get broken. They will change colour in the sun. They'll lose their clutch power. So how do we cope?
The easiest solution is to order replacement parts from either Lego itself or from vendors on a site such as Bricklink. Some pieces are rare and hard to replace, but other pieces are easy to find and cost just pennies. Bricklink is intimidating at first but it's reasonably well structured and you can eventually find what you need.

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text:
Eneloop NiMh batteries not powering 42030 loader
Is it because the batteries are only 1.2V? It works fine with Duracell alkaline batteries.

Should work in general with the 1.2v batteries, as I see it you would need to use 6 of them, which would put you at 7.2v - philo has tested most motors at 4.5v and 7v and they all run just fine- also the lego li rechargeable pack runs from ~6-8v, so it doesn't seem like it would be a voltage issue. Does it work with no load connected to the motors?

hello, thank you for your reply -  the battery case module (its the same as the standard 8293 Lego Power Functions Motor set) ie. takes 6 batteries, so yes, the eneloops give out 7.2v rather than the duracells giving 9v.. Nothing happens at all - the little green led on the battery pack case doesn't light up either...

I use Eneloop batteries in most of my models and they work fine, including in the 42030. So it can work, the problem is specific to something you're doing (or not doing). Have you checked the obvious things - charged batteries, good connections etc?

Most likely, the manual states you should use 1.5V ones.
There's also a review on lego.com that states there may be a problem with the battery terminals with some makes of batteries. Worth checking.

thank you.. yes.. the eneloop has slightly different 'proportions' to the duracells.. need to be careful in inserting batteries...

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text:
Are DUPLO gears compatible with LEGO gears?
Can I make a transmission from DUPLO gear (Early Simple Machines Set 9656) to regular-sized gear?

To the best of my knowledge, the gears are not compatible in any way. The teeth on the DUPLO gears appear to be far too large.
One option could be to use one of the included DUPLO pulleys and create a connection to the Technic system that way:


text:
How many pneumatic actuators does one air tank support
For example, I want to use air tanks to supply pressure to up to 18 pneumatic actuators (19475c01), but I don't know how many air tanks I should buy to supply the air pressure required by all of them. Does it have something to do with load? I suppose that I don't have too much load.

An air tank (at least LEGO low capacity ones) are not meant to directly supply actuators. Their main purpose is to smooth out the pressure of air flow produced by a pump (manual or motorized).


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Can anyone help me identify this Fabuland figure?

I found 2 of them in a box of LEGO I had as a kid, it fits the LEGO baseboards/bricks but I don't have a clue what it is or where it is from!
My daughter is now the proud owner of my Lego (along with a ton more!) and wants to know more about this piece before we release it into a Geocache (keeping the second one at home)
Any help would be much appreciated!

Since you like the answers, please accept one of them by clicking the checkbox beside it. :)

This is Boris Bulldog a.k.a.
fab2c: Fabuland Figure Bulldog 3 with Police Hat
it appears in the following sets
3603: Boris Bulldog and Mailbox
3786: Boris Bulldog
3793: Boris Bulldog and Mailbox

You are an absolute STAR! Thank you so much!!You are an absolute STAR! Thank you so much!!

@MrsMawbs Since you like the answers, please accept one of them by clicking the checkbox beside it.

It's a Fabuland minifigure like the one found in this set:

Here's a link to the specific figure on Bricklink:
http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?M=fab2c

You are an absolute STAR! Thank you so much!!

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text:
Why does display output affects motors?
I'm making a simple program with LEGO EV3 Education. It makes a little tank to follow a black line over a white-ish floor.
Here it is:
[]
This works very smooth: it makes the tank follow the EDGE of the line and substantially takes in account the amount of light the sensor recevies.
Black is 11, White is 75: if the light is near 75, then take the power of the B (left) motor higher than the C (right) motor. if the light is near 11, then take the power of C motor higher than B. Otherwise, make C and B power similar.
I want now to add some output on the display, like this:

The idea is: if B power is between C+10 and C-10, then show a forward arrow. else if: if B < C show Right arrow, else Left arrow.
Problem is that, adding this code, the tank doesn't move straight anymore! C and B motor ,on a stright line, alternate power making the robot zig zagging the line.
Why does an output operation on the display affects motors power?

Because it takes time to write to the display. The motor speed cannot be changed until the display blocks have finished and your loop repeats.
Try this instead... create a second loop in parallel to the first that handles the display. You will need a new logic variable to send information from the motor loop to the display loop.

I tried, same result! What do you mean with "new logic variable"? I used the same "B-Power" and "C-Power" variable that I'm using in the main motor loop

I have added screenshots to show what I mean. I imagine that it would be better to move the math blocks from the motor loop to the display loop, then you wouldn't need the "Forward" variable.


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LEGO Color Sensor - EV3
My son is using his EV3 with a color sensor. He is using the sensor to test the reflectivity of different materials. Can you please tell me what the letters "PCT" stand for?

Based on this API reference and this discussion of the color sensor it looks like "pct" is short for percent as in a ratio with 100.
David added in a comment:

EV3 hardware developer kit provides a bit more info on what 100% means:

The output from the sensor within light sensor mode is a value between 0 – 100 where 0 equals no reflected light measured and 100 equals full light reflection.

The EV3 hardware developer kit provides a bit more info on what 100% means: "The output from the sensor within light sensor mode is a value between 0 – 100 where 0 equals no reflected light measured and 100 equals full light reflection."


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Identification of Batman / Joker Set
I went through the DC Comics Super Heroes and Batman categories of Brickset without being able to identify the origin of this bag of pieces.

The only information are 135149 and a year, 2011, written on it, but, apparently, this does not give any concrete information. The number 6062861 is written on a white box, and numerous pieces should give hints to identify it (Joker, Batman, 4 wheels, dynamite, flame, a big red "catapult").
It looks that it is not inappropriate to ask here for such an information (cf. Jourbac comment), and I don't know how to use Bricklink.
Is it the first part of a larger set?

This specific piece, a Tile 2 x 4 with Batman Logo Pattern,

turns out to be one of the first piece that comes out when looking for Batman at BrickLink, and appears only in one set, the "Batman: Defend the Batcave" set:

Hurray for solving your own question :) Well done.

Can one select their own answer as the correct answer?
(Montgomery Burns fingers)
"Excellent..."

@gev You can and should - but you have to wait 2 days IIRC

Yes, accepting my own answer is possible, and I will as soon as I can (48 hours after posting it).


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draw program for LEGO MOC models?
I want to design a MOC digitally. I can do this with ldraw, but
are there any drawing programs better than ldraw to make models of LEGO ?
kind regards,
Peter

Why not use the Lego digital designer (http://ldd.lego.com/nl-nl/)?

@nebu support for this program has been ended.  http://www.brothers-brick.com/2016/01/21/lego-digital-designer-officially-defunded-and-unsupported-news/

I've found LDD to be effective under MacOS.

Even though support has ended, the LDD software still works. Alternatively, you mention LDraw but LDraw is only a catalogue and a standard - there are different software packages that allow you to draw on top of the LDraw catalog such as MLCad and LEOCad - have you tried these to see which one works? I use MLCad extensively - it looked daunting at first but the tutorials at http://www.holly-wood.it helped a ton - worth spending a few hours doing those tutorials.
As per @Philo's suggestion: another program worth looking at is LDCad, which promises to be more convenient and more powerful than MLCad or LEOCad.

I would suggest to give a try to LDCad, also using LDraw parts library, it is MUCH more convenient and powerful than MLCad (and LeoCAD that I used before). http://www.melkert.net/LDCad

I found BrickLink Studio quite good, but only worked with LEGO Digital Designer (LDD) before. Has also the ability to create instructions as PDF, though the process of creating all the steps is manual. Missing parts can be added by exporting them from LDD or placing additional LDraw models in a specific program folder. Comes also with an additional program (Part Designer) to create custom bricks or to put custom pattern on existing bricks or minifigs.

There is also the Google LEGO building app that you can use to design LEGO sets and MOCs.
Here is the link:
https://www.buildwithchrome.com/builder#pos=170623x401445&load=ahFzfmJ1aWxkd2l0aGNocm9tZXIsCxIFQnVpbGQiIXRpbGV4XzE3MDYyM190aWxleV80MDE0NDVfem9vbV8yMAw
I hope this helps.

As of March 2019, the Google Lego Chrome site has been closed.


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LEGO clone identification with letter B on studs

What LEGO clone is this?
It looks like LEGO, but I can't seem to find anything more.
Could you please help identifying this?

Is this a lego clone brick? Do you have more pictures of other parts? Also, I'm not sure I understand the sentence in the question regarding fabric. Is there a reason you suspect this has something to do with fabric?

I think this might be a bad translation from a non-native english speaker. "Fabric" could have been "Material" or even "sample" or "item". Especially the Fabric<->Material crossover is one that could easily be made by a Germanic language speaker.

Interestingly, Bayer used to produce test bricks on behalf of LEGO, and some of these had a B on their studs (apparently different letters indicated different stickiness or 'clutch' between bricks). That said, I don't think this is a Bayer brick.

@PhilB.: On the other hand, the German word "Fabrikat" means "brand"/"make", which can easily be mixed up with "fabric", as well.

I couldn't find anything with Google in any reasonable amount of time, but here are some things it isn't:

BanBao
Best-Lock
Cobi
K'nex
Kre-O
Lite Brix
Mega Bloks
Tyco Super Blocks
Sluban
Wange
NanoBlocks
PlayMobil
Star Diamond

Other than super obscure Chinese LEGO direct-steals, there aren't really any others.
But here is a legitimimate idea nowadays: They're printed. Face it, the top of each brick definitely has the trademark plastic lines of an untreated 3D -printer job. People are printing and/or selling bricks all the time these days!
And if you love them that much, you could have somebody make some for you!

Isn't the top of the brick too uniform and shiny for a 3D-printed brick?

@MarkStewart Not with standard acid treatment.


text:
What is the biggest base plate available?
I'm looking for as large a base plate as possible. Below is a 48x48 stud base, it's the largest I've seen.
Are larger plates available? Either the thin type (as pictured) or the regular plate thickness will do!

As  a kid, I remember longer but narrower green, thin plates. The full set included streets. It was midseventies. Of course, I was a kid, it might not have been longer, but it took up a big portion of my room.

The largest baseplate (thin kind) is 50x50 studs: http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?P=4186a#T=P
The largest regular plate is 16x16 studs only: http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?P=91405#T=P

The largest official baseplate that I'm aware of is 50x50 modules.

It's only slightly larger than a 48x48, and it's a bit more difficult to use in large setups since most other common baseplates have side lengths that are a multiple of 16, so you might actually be better off with a 48x48 depending on what you are trying to do.
This part hasn't been available since the 70s, but you can still pick it up on Bricklink.
You may be interested in this answer which includes other raised baseplates:
What is the largest single LEGO piece?

There is a 48 by 64 Lego-compatible baseplate available.

From whom? How do you know this?


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What's the maximum pressure one airtank can withstand and how to tell its limit?
I bought a airtank and using it to support many v2 pneumatic cylinders, while I'm using a v1 pump and one motor to pump air to this air tank. Since another airtank or a lego pressure gauge is very expensive in my area, I'm trying to continue with my current installation. I also noticed that the speed of the motor is getting slower while air continue being pushed in.
But is there any way to tell if the airtank is at its limit, and can it explode by using just one pump and one motor? And what's the pressure limit approximately if you have a gauge to measure? Thank you very much!

You will not destroy the air tank using standard LEGO components. I don't know what it's structural limits are, but I can tell you that the weakest link in the pneumatic system in my experience is the connection between the rubber pneumatic tubes and plastic inlets. Under high pressure, the tubes will simply pop off before any of the components will actually break.
I believe that the most pressure you are going to be able to achieve using standard LEGO components is around 40psi. All of the components can easily handle this pressure.
If you'd like to do some exploration of this on your own, you might want to get your hands on the pneumatic pressure gauge that has been available in the LEGO Education line:

If you really want to know the maximum pressure limit of the tank itself, you'd probably need to somehow attach it to real compressor and wait for it to break. I like my pneumatic components too much to do this myself. :)

The pneumatic system's limit is three bar (40psi). After that point, the hoses will pop off the ports. I don't think you could explode the airtank very easily with a real compressor. My guess is that it would start deforming around the 5-10 bar range, and only explode once it was bordering on spherical :P.


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Printing an actual suit on a LEGO figure
I love LEGO bricks, and I'm always looking for more unique figs. I go on eBay all the time, and one person named onlinesailin makes AMAZINGLY detailed and cool guys. I want to know how to actually PRINT on costumes like the Joker's suit, or Batman's armored suit from Arkham Knight. What do I need? A certain printer or what? Thanks for answering guys!


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Java BufferedImage with Lejos NXT: Java Heap Space
I'm trying to write a program for my Lego Mindstorm NXT, the program is simple, drawing some lines and saving the image in a .png file. So, I thought I'd use BufferedImage and use getGraphics to draw on it, the thing is; if I write the code:
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;

import lejos.nxt.Button;

public class Main {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Test\n");
        BufferedImage bimg = new BufferedImage(300,300, BufferedImage.TYPE_3BYTE_BGR);
        Button.waitForAnyPress();

    }
}

When I run the program, it freezes for a while in "Linking..." and gives me the following:
Java Heap Space
Java.Lang.OutOfMemory

So the question is this: How can I use BufferedImage with Lejos without having this problem? And if there's another method of drawing lines and saving the image on a file, it would be very helpful.
EDIT:
The Java Heap Space is caused by the line
BufferedImage bimg = new BufferedImage(300,300, BufferedImage.TYPE_3BYTE_BGR);

I've also tried using ImageIO:
import javax.microedition.lcdui.Image;
*
*
Image img = Image.createImage(300, 300);
ImageIO.write((RenderedImage) img, "png", monFichier);

It gives me the same thing. I don't know but maybe this isn't the right way to create an image with Lejos. What do you think?

You shouldn't cross-post the same question here and on stackoverflow, it's spammy.

Any solution is going to be specific to LeJOS, so it probably belongs here.

Where are you getting this error? Edit your question to show the exact steps to reproduce.

When I launch it, I gives me the following:
Initializing LeJOS JDK at /home/LeJosPath
Linking ...
Thank the Java Heap Space comes up. I've edited the question.

It's been awhile since I looked at LeJOS. Is this error coming from the brick? The max heap is set to the size of the ram on the brick, I recall, and is not easily configurable.

Ok. I'ill try to look into it then. Thank you.

I'm a little puzzled by how you are getting these results, but I am assuming you are getting an error when you run the equivalent of nxjc and nxjlink on a supported platform. i.e., you are probably invoking nxj -r ...
Furthermore, I am assuming you are basing these commands on a recent Java compiler from Oracle; version 7 or 8.
First of all, it is my understanding that java.awt.image.* is not even present. The example showed here should not even compile because the only AWT classes we have access to are java.awt.Point and java.awt.Rectangle.
Furthermore, only some of the javax.microedition.lcdui API is implemented, so you should check the documentation to see if Image is supported in the manner you want. So, for example, ImageIO is not present.
So, the example programs you show here are not going to even compile (never mind link) with the as-shipped latest version of leJOS NXJ.
At any rate, the size of the heap for leJOS is basically all of the RAM on the brick, but it is shared with the stack and static RW memory. But I'm not convinced the message you are seeing is related to the leJOS VM runtime heap, but rather the heap of the thing that is trying to create the classes and link them into the "TinyVM" before sending them to the brick.
We don't know because you have not described exactly how you are getting this message, with what command(s), with the full output of the exception(s)!
So, if you want to solve this, we need:

The platform you are running leJOS on.
The output of %LEJOS_NXT_JAVA_HOME%\bin\javac -version (assuming Windows; you know what to do for OS X or Linux)
For that matter, what is %LEJOS_NXT_JAVA_HOME% or ${LEJOS_NXT_JAVA_HOME} set to?
The output from the command you are running. Try capturing what comes out of nxj -v -r Main
The version of leJOS NXJ you are running

Place this in the body of your question, please.


text:
How to convert a model from "LEGO Digital Designer" Extended into non-Extended?
I'm using LEGO Digital Designer. My LEGO model I've designed uses parts that don't exist. This is a bummer because I am trying to buy the parts to realize my design in actual, physical LEGO bricks!
I hypothesize I created this file not noticing which mode it was in. My only recourse now is to somehow "scrub" the design of these invalid parts.
I'm using LEGO Digital Designer 4.3. When it starts up, it shows 3 tabs:

LEGO Digital Designer
LEGO Mindstorms
LEGO Digital Designer Extended

As I understand it, LEGO Digital Designer Extended is a distinct mode from LEGO Digital Designer. The distinction is, Extended lets you use pieces that aren't in production. For example, you could pick a shape and color combination that have never been manufactured by LEGO.
How do I convert it to non-Extended mode? Alternatively, how do I figure out which pieces in my model are "illegal?"
One solution I've been experimenting with:

Export a .ldr file
Importing the .ldr export file into another program
The invalid bricks will be dropped, and from there they can be replaced

I'm on OSX so the ones I've successfully tried are:

LeoCAD
Bricksmith

Copy and paste works:

Open the model in Extended mode
Copy the design
Close the model
Open a new, empty document in "Standard" (non-Extended) mode
Paste the content

The bricks that does not exist in Standard mode will not be shown, leaving gaps in the model.

If I understand your suggestion, you are prescribing:

open the model in Extended
copy the design
close the model
open a new, empty document in "Standard" (non-Extended)
paste the contents of the clipboard

is this right?

Yes. Bricks not in standard will not be shown, leaving gaps in the model

1.View
2.New themes
3.LDD/LDD MINDSTORMS/LDD Extended


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EV3 Installation failure on OSX El Capitan 10.11.3

Hi
This is the first time I've tried to use EV3 software since upgrading to El Capitan.  Before then, it worked perfectly.
When I tried to launch the application a message pops up saying it has detected a problem during application launch.
I uninstalled the software, uninstalled the silverlight plug-in.
I installed the latest Silverlight plug-in, see screenshot
I downloaded the EV3 software and tried to install it, but it didn't complete and didn't give much of a useful failed installation message, see screenshot
Interestingly, the silverlight plug-in has now disappeared.
Any advice?
Thanks
Rob

Did you contact LEGO technical support? Are there any error messages in Console.app?

I just had the same problem when updating the Education Software from 1.2.2. to 1.3.1. on a Mac with OS10.12.6. Actually the Silverlight Browser Plugin was missing with me, installing Silverlight separately was fixing the problem even though the reinstallation of the Lego Software also stopped and mentioned an unsuccessful installation. But then I could still launch the software and now it is running. Thanks for the tip!

I tried several approaches. Uninstalling and installing Silverlight, uninstalling and reinstalling EV3 and none solved anything. It looks like the installer looks for Silverlight and ends in error. Furthermore, launching EV3 resulted in a crash. No matter I reinstalled version 1.0 and started to update it.
El Capitan is very rigorous with plug-ins. First, launch Microsoft Silverlight in the Applications folder. In the Application Storage tab confirm that Enable Application Storage is selected (ticked). Close Silverlight preferences. In Safari, select Safety and confirm that Enable plug-ins is selected. Press Manage Plugins Settings button (or something similar, my computer is localized in Spanish). Confirm that Silverlight plug-in is checked. In the lower right (when visiting other web sites) select Always Allow (I also selected Execute in non safe mode but I do not counsel it) and Apply.

Now launch Mindstorms EV3 and should not crash and be the latest version. Mine one is now functional:


text:
Conductive "App Brick" without human contact
This may not be entirely LEGO-related, but more related to touch screen technology.
I'd like the LEGO app brick (http://brickset.com/sets/containing-part-6103777) to register a touch on a touch screen even if I'm not touching the brick. I'd like to put a LEGO construction with such bricks at the bottom on the screen, and register a touch event.
Is that at all possible?

My initial feelings are "no" because it requires the capacitance of the human body to make these go. But such hypotheses should be tested.

Saw something similar to this on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/legomindstorms/permalink/614663002015263/

Are you trying to set up a model where you can push a Lego brick and it pushes something that touches a button on a screen?

I want to do this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CgvnIYSiTE) with minifigures

If you are planing on physically touching the brick that will then touch the screen then you could use a trick similar to that used by capacitive gloves
There just needs to be a conductive medium between your finger and the screen so you could add a thin strip of copper tape or anything metallic to bridge the gap between your finger and the touch screen that is created by the insulation of the plastic brick.

Now, I'm having a little bit of a hard time understanding what you mean, but then again it is a harder problem, so bear with me here.
What I'm getting here, and tell me in the comments if I'm wrong, is that you want your phone to "hear" that you touched the brick, without having actually interacting with the brick at all.
Rather, you want to modify the program so that you can touch a GUI button and the program will "hear" the touch event as broadcast by your phone, rather than by the brick.
This will be entirely program-based, and will not require any "hacking" of your brick. But it does mean that you will be required to make a new version of the program to include this function, the false touch, and that really depends on how good you are at programming ios, or whatever language your touchscreen device is based on.
I know this isn't completely as helpful as you might desire, but this might not be the best place to ask about programming, and programming is what it will come down to. We do have an SE site for that!


text:
Where are the 2 by 2 turntables in LDD?
I just updated to LDD to 4.3.9 today and I can't find the 2 by 2 turntable pieces. What section are they under now?

Can you use LDD's search?  Then again, it can be difficult to know what exact name they are called, but turntable sounds about right.

@Gliderman I tried that but only the 4 by 4 turntables came up that is why I asked here.

You'll find them in the hinge parts category (next to minifig one) under the name "Turn Plate 2x2", number 3679 / 3680. Brickset uses LEGO names for parts, this can help finding them in LDD

I agree with SMS von der Tann... I'd upgrade LDD to 4.3.9 and the turn plates 2x2 ARE NOT in any category anymore (I seek it everywhere more than twice). My solution was to save a 2x2 turn plate, from another LDD model I made before upgrading, to the templates and then re-use it when I need.
Regards

Yeah, I personally copy-pasted it from other models.

If you temporary change your theme to the extended LDD, the turntables are still in the hinge section, this way you can paste them into your build and color them, after that you can change back to the normal theme of LDD


text:
How can I find the directions to this LEGO bag?
I have a LEGO bag unopened but we lost the directions!  Can someone help?  I think it's Minecraft.

We'll need more information to help you identify it. Can you post a picture or a link to a picture?

You can look for lego instructions at a couple of websites. Here are the links.
http://letsbuilditagain.com/
http://www.brickowl.com/catalog/lego-instructions
http://lego.brickinstructions.com/

In addition to the 3rd party sites listed by Samuel L, LEGO also publish most of their building instructions on their site - you can search by set number, theme or year. Currently searching for Minecraft turns up 18 sets.

Agreed. You have a very good point! XD


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How big is a LEGO torso in Microsoft Paint
I am trying to print decals, but I don't know how the size of the torso or any other parts are supposed to scale in my Microsoft Paint.

Assuming you have Microsoft Paint, you can use Microsoft word to size your creation to match the torso size. Make sure your original decal is cropped to remove all whitespace first, then resize and print it in Word.

The size won't matter in Paint, what will matter is the resolution of your printer.
For example, if you want to print 1 inch by 1 inch, and your printer is 800 DPI, then you need an 800x800 image.

This link for decal specs.
But honestly, the issue is mostly about your program of choice. You can't resize in anything but pixels, and as the other responder said, your dpi really means the entire problem, because each dot is a pixel, and it can print waaay off. There is a free, proven-safe program (I have it on all my school computers too,) called Paint.net, which allows you to choose your size in centimeters/inches for your graphic. Now all you have to do is measure your torso, and put the art at normal size onto your paper.
In Microsoft Paint? Sorry, man. It just won't cut it. To use a measure, you need to have a program that understands a measurement.


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Where is this round blue BIONICLE figure from with circular hands and a transparent head?

Please help me identify this blue BIONICLE figure.

I'm pretty sure donutsftw's answer is what you're looking for. You should accept that answer when you have a chance. :)

Where's tje picture?

The set in question is 8562 Gahlok. It's missing the legs and parts of its head.

The cover also appears upside down.

Every LEGO brick has an ID printed somewhere on it. Grab the ID from any piece and then head over to http://brickset.com, then do a search (top right) and select "parts" from the dropdown list. This will show you all the sets that part is used in and you can go from there.


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BPA in older LEGO
I have some older DUPLO sets. I am concerned about the BPA that might be in them. Do any current sets of DUPLO or LEGO contain BPA? Did they in earlier sets?

Most LEGO and DUPLO parts are made from ABS plastic. ABS does not contain BPA. Here's a statement from LEGO about the safety of ABS:

The majority of LEGO elements are made from ABS plastic (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), a high-quality plastic that meets our extensive list of safety and quality specifications. The colors and materials in ABS plastic do not rub off or leach and, in fact, meet the same material standards for safety that are required of plastic eating utensils.

A few LEGO elements are made of other materials. Polycarbonate, for example, is used for transparent elements because it provides much better optical clarity than ABS. Polycarbonate may contain BPA. I haven't seen an official statement from LEGO about this, but I'm guessing that some elements do contain BPA or have in the past.
This is a bit beyond the scope of the question, but I thought it might be worth noting that the World Health Organization, US Food and Drug Administration, US Environmental Protection Agency, and the European Food Safety Authority all maintain that there is no health risk from BPA exposure. Here's a statement from the EFSA:

EFSA’s comprehensive re-evaluation of bisphenol A (BPA) exposure and
  toxicity concludes that BPA poses no health risk to consumers of any
  age group (including unborn children, infants and adolescents) at
  current exposure levels. Exposure from the diet or from a combination
  of sources (diet, dust, cosmetics and thermal paper) is considerably
  under the safe level (the “tolerable daily intake” or TDI).

People are obviously free to form their own views on what chemicals they are choosing to expose themselves and their families to, but I just thought that it was worth noting that most government agencies view BPA as being fairly benign at this point.


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How do I make instructions from my .ldr/.lxf files on OSX?
I'm on OSX and I've got a bunch of models made in Lego Digital Designer.  They look awesome!  Now I want to make instructions.
Q: how do I get from my .ldr files to images or PDF?
I'll take anything!
There are a couple questions here on stackexchange that are similar, but years have passed and some of the references seem out of date.
From my research I believe (one) workflow is:

build a model in CAD of choice (I'm using LDD, but there is also LeoCAD)
import the model into Bricksmith
in Bricksmith group the parts together to make "steps"
export the steps from Bricksmith, which makes a .ldr for every step!
now it's time to render: bring it into LPub
... this is where I'm stuck.

The fundamental problem seems to be: LPub is... suboptimal

LPub needs parts files
LPub hasn't been updated in a while
The parts files are generated with Windows-compatible scripts
the parts files I've used so far just crash LPub

So, is the answer

"here's how to fix LPub" ?
Or "Stop using LPub" ?

Here's what I've found so far:

Making Lego Instructions - outlines the workflow I described
LDraw parts.lst - this is the "missing file" that gets generated.  Points to many other files.
LDMakeList - the script that generates the list
Lego Instruction Creator - stagnant project that was an alternative to LPub.  Has complicated dependencies.

Update: I'm exploring the print options on LeoCAD, as suggested by aphink.  I'll update here with more details.

Have you taken a look at http://stud.io? It's a Windows and Mac app that works with both ldd and ldr formats based on the LDraw parts library.

I'm using LPub on Mac since quite a few years. LPub is indeed not updated, but then again, it works... If this is still a question, can you be more specific to what doesn't work? I can try figure it out.

LDD will produce printable instructions on its own.  You can print these into PDF files.  Do you not like the LDD-produced instructions?

Yes, that is a diplomatic way to put it!  ;)
Not only can you not design sub-assemblies in LDD, but the piece sequences LDD picks are a bit random -- LDD often picks pieces to "assemble" which aren't connected to anything.
See the comments here for a particularly egregious example.


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How to make a regular pentagon from technic bricks
For the purposes of this build, we need a pentagon (figure with 5 sides), that is regular (all sides have equal length), and it needs to be able to be mounted on a build (like a wreath) by a technic-friction-pin, (the little black ones).
This may be hard to achieve, with the given possible angles. The pentagonal shape must maintain its shape, no warping, etc. It must also be made of "properly fitting pieces."

Do you allow for the use of non-current technic pieces?

Absolutely. Old pieces are always fun.

About what size and thickness are you looking for?

I'd really like to know this as well. I can think of several ways (will post one as answer) but I'd like something more elegant and compact and can't think of anything better

Using the same length ratios as in the construction that Philo posted in his answer I created this:

It uses length 5, 6 and 7 thin liftarms (5 of each) and 30 half-pins
I'm quite happy with it!

A solution, using a (quite precise) approximation:

Granted, it's a bit bulky, but it could be reduced by half using 7.5 stud long stiffeners (eg. using Technic brick 1+ Technic brick 8 +plates)
Link to LDraw file: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Philo/misc2/pentagon/pentagon.ldr

I see the pentagon outer angle created by triangle with sides 15, 12 and 6 for a 108.21 degree which is indeed a good Approximation, but you could make it a third as small with a  5,4,2 triangle!

Recently came across this problem again, so I'd like to post another answer (2 answers actually).
I figured out how to create an "exact" pentagram (no approximations) using only swivel plates and turntables (blue in the picture):

The math very shortly: cos(Pi/5) = (1+sqrt(5))/4 and sqrt(5) can be created with a (2,sqrt(5),3) righthanded triangle.
I posted this in the FB group "LEGO math and patterns", one of the group members mentioned a paper "Mecanno math" by Gerard ’t Hooft which can be found here, which has several elegant solutions, e.g. figure 7 in the paper lists 6 solutions:

It should be straightforward how the Meccano strips can be replaced by Technic liftarms (as the original poster asked).
Another response I got in another FB group is that this constructions works quite well:

I tried it and they are correct, the pentagon is rigid and the elements do not seem under undue stress.

"figure 7" right above a picture of 6 constructions that are labeled with letters?

I would suggest you use 10 of either one of these: 4273 Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Toggle Joint Toothed  or 4273a Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Toggle Joint Toothed - Without Slots, together with 5 equal length axles and 5 pins. Creates a sturdy pentagon. Use the pin connector hole to attach the pentagon to other structures.

If you don't want axles, but bricks, you can mount connections onto the bricks to mount these 4273s the same way.

It's impossible to create a pentagon with 10 Axle and Pin Connectors. The reason is simple, each angle of a pentagon must be of 108°. But pin connectors can only have the following angles: 90, 112.5, 135, 157.5 and 180°. So it's impossible to create a pentagon with these connectors.

You could argue that 112,5 is close enought to 108 degrees. The pentagram is indeed under a bit of stress though, axles are slightly bent

A right triangle with sides 3 by 1 has as largest angle 71.5650512 and smallest 18.4349488 degrees.
That is reasonably close enough to 72 and 18 degrees which can be used to create a pentacle. Lots of right angled connectors or beams you could use then...


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Best adhesive to fix a model for long term display?
What is the best adhesive to make a model into a permanent display like into a Christmas decoration or an ornament? I want for this model to withstand being packed and unpacked year after year.

I would suggest standard Elmer's glue (also referred to as school glue). It won't harm your LEGO so you can later remove the glue if you need to, but it is strong enough to keep a set together under normal use.

Have you used it with success?

Yes, it is fine for most models. LEGO has good clutch-power already, so it only needs a little help from glue. If the model is very fragile though, and there is not much holding it together (for example something like a snowflake model), you may need to use superglue. However superglue will damage LEGO and you won't be able to ever separate the pieces again. It is best to just make the model stronger instead of gluing it. Glue is a real no-no in the eyes of most LEGO fans. LEGO ornaments I have seen are pretty compact and strong on their own. Those are the best kind. :)


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What set are these bags? Detectives wanted
I just bought this collection of LEGO parts. I am mostly curious about the sealed bags. Most are numbered 2011.

More detailed pictures: http://imgur.com/a/ebkvz

The bags with orange parts and some of the pieces in the box are from Arctic Base Camp (60036):

As Bill pointed out, the lime bag is from Titanium Command Rig (8964):

The others have been repackaged, so it's tough to know exactly what sets they come from.
Construction site (7633) obviously has at least a few pieces present in the box:

The base to the tow truck from Garage (7642) is also in the box:

Some of the elements from Drawbridge Defense (7079) are still assembled in the box:

At least the nose from Police Pontoon Plane (7723) is also present in the box:

The base from Woody and Buzz to the Rescue (7590) is also in there:

The top from Republic Attack Shuttle (8019) is in the box as well:

The lime green pieces in bag 4 look like they may be from Power Miners 8964.


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LEGO old discontinued model?
Does anyone know an old model from LEGO that was a 3 in 1 set featuring a black sports car, black truck and a drag racing car?

You clearly are thinking of Roaring Roadsters.


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How come themes like BIONICLE can afford so many new parts?
LEGO is quite economical about introducing new parts in its standard sets. One reason is they need to fit in the system, but the other is that hard tooling molds for production is quite expensive.
How come for a theme like BIONICLE they are able to introduce sometimes over a dozen new parts in just one set?

The old BIONICLE line was notorious of introducing too many new parts, but they were from the years LEGO almost went bankrupt. The new BIONICLE line is actually quite economical as far as new parts. Would you give an example of a Generation 2 BIONICLE set that "introduce sometimes over a dozen new parts in just one set"?

That was a subjective assessment based on looking at the model, I actually didn't count them. I guess I didn't quite mean new parts in a particular set, but rather the fact that Bionicle as a whole has dozens of parts that are not found in other LEGO sets...

BIONICLE is a different (although still compatible) building system than standard LEGO. It has its own system of parts, just like LEGO TECHNIC (interestingly BIONICLE was originally a spin-off of TECHNIC). BIONICLE elements do creep over to standards sets as well. For example large figures in Star Wars, Chima, Super Heroes, etc. use the BIONICLE/Hero Factory building style, also referred to as Constraction (Construction + Action) figures. Hero Factory only had about 150 unique parts. Generation 2 BIONICLE added another 20. Really not that much. Variation is added by different colors and print.

Bionicle sets don't actually make as many new pieces as they did.
Typically, new pieces are weapons or heads, and LEGO company is already cool with green-lighting those. (They're sorta important.)
Gen 1 Bionicles did, admittedly, have a lot of new pieces, but Gen 2 sets, you will frequently find, try to recycle concepts and pieces, just in different colors or with different printing as much as possible.
Hero Factory was pretty revolutionary, with pieces that connected to themselves, (ball and socket,) but for that those were made, you'll see them incredibly often as staples of new sets. That particular kind of new-piece binge shouldn't happen again for a long time, if ever.
I don't know about a dozen pieces in one set though. You'll often find that "new" pieces are just old ones recolored, reprinted, or recycled.


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Looking for instructions to build a hobbit hole without 'custom set pieces'
I've searched on 'rebrickable' for anything hobbit related, but I can't find it.
This is what I'm thinking of:

79003-1: An Unexpected Gathering

I'd rather buy a large bucket of 'free for all' lego bricks, that can be made into the Hobbit hole, but I've not found any instructions.
Are there any instructions for a similar structure?

You can use the LEGO digital designer to try and build an alternative. It's piece sets are limited, so probably what you've got access to. Once done, it can generate a printable instruction booklet. May be a bit more work than you desire, though.

I have an alternate plan you might consider:

Reference: here's the entry for that set on Brickset
It looks like there aren't many custom pieces used in this set, as seen in the parts list
You could download the actual instructions for the real set, and then just swap out some pieces, removing the color combinations that you don't have

I hope this helps in some small way!


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What are the significance of 3 marks that appear on the back of base plates?

I am trying to find out the significance of 3 marks that appear on the back of base plates.
There are 3 circles in a row. The first contains numbers 0-9 in increments of one with a small arrow pointing to a number. The second circle contains numbers  0-50 in increments of 10 with the same kind of arrow. And the third circle contains an icon that looks like a dog tag.

I think that this is a production code similar to the seal codes on other sets (e.g. 24R5 for the 24th week of 2015), and you need to add the number from the first dial to the number of the second dial to get a week number, and the Q "dog tag" indicates the production facility this came from. It's missing the production year though, perhaps that was not needed or has been encoded somewhere else on the baseplate.
UPDATE: The year of production is printed in the center of the single digit dial ("11" in your case) with one digit on each side of the arrow. So your base plate was made in 19Q11, which is the 19th week of 2011. This code seems to be on other LEGO elements as well - for comparison here is a picture of a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 tray from set 45544. It also features a Q, and has a "15" printed in the center of the single digit dial (the full code is 17Q15):

Thanks - makes sense. Any clue on when this marking system was started as my plates do not have these marks.

At first, these look like regular old LEGO IDs. But they can't be...
These include:

Part ID: The type of part it is
Mould ID: The Mould that printed it
Copyright: The LEGO copyright statement.

Obviously, there is no copyright statement in this piece, so we'll have to rule that out as a possibility for the "dogtag."
We might be out of ideas as far as lego meaning here...
But Wait! Lots of plastic products have these "clocks" on the bottom!
Check out this link on SE: Seasoned Advice!

This is the date the item was manufactured. The upper dial gives the
year, the middle one, the month.

Perhaps this isn't particularly correct, because of the difference in increments, but we might be a little closer. Is it possible that LEGO is just following the plastic printing norm?
Or it possible that these numbers are made to be combined? Maybe these indicate a year or some other time, but maybe...
Maybe they're related directly to the plate piece ID somehow!
As for the 'tag, your guess is as good as mine.
But here's a thought:

The bottom indicator could be a mold identifier, and in some cases, it might be a shift indicator

Perhaps this is some sort of grahpic ID instead of a number that indicates something about that kind of mold, or even something about LEGO itself.
I spent maybe 5 minutes staring at my baseplate collection, and they all seem to have one, including the vintage models, so I'm going to lean towards a "kind of mold" instead of "a particular mold."
So here's the TLDR.
Though the internet and my LEGO friends don't know, I think we can narrow the possibilities down considerably:

The markings mean something about when the piece was made.
At least one of the markings means something about where the piece was made.
The markings mean something about what the piece is (ID.)

The fun is in the search!

Thanks so much, Caleb.  I have plates without these symbols that I am trying to sell and someone asked me if my plates have these marks.  Mine do not and I am trying to figure out if I have early pieces or why they are missing these symbols.  I'm just a mom cleaning out the basement and thought I'd check with some experts.  :)  I appreciate your reply.

Since you're new, I'd like to mention the little green arrow by the side of the top of my answer, and how, when you press it, you mark this answer as accepted. Also, the arrow pointing upwards on that will decide whether you consider this response good enough to "vote up."


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How to tape something to the bottom of a brick
I'm installing lights in my buildings (I'm using Neopixel strips, which have a flat back), and I'm trying to tape the lights to the ceiling. Of course, bricks and plates aren't smooth on the bottom, so double sided tape isn't working out too well.
Can you recommend either:

A plate or similar part with a smooth bottom (I'm familiar with the 2x2 round plate that has a rounded bottom, but I can't think of anything flat)
An alternate method of affixing small parts to the bottom of bricks and plates

Take a look at 11203 - Tile, Modified 2 x 2 Inverted. Works like your 2x2 round plate but is flat at the bottom.

Ah, that's exactly what I was picturing, but I wasn't sure how to identify it. Thanks for the part number!

An alternate method of affixing small parts to the bottom of bricks and plates:

Check out sticky-tack! It has a ridiculous amount of brand names, but it's basically a safely removable, free-form version of duct-tape. It will stick to anything, and increases its own surface area by spreading all throughout something like, say, the little pins and circles on the bottoms of a brick or plate. Instead of being less effective in this scenario, it actually has more grip, and will stay on.
Another benefit is that it all comes out in one piece, so no tooth-pickery.
Sticky tack sticks to itself as well, so it's perfect for affixing electrical components, especially LEDs and other bits with pins. For a NeoPixel strip, it's still light enough that with a decent amount (which isn't much- you buy by the pound for like 3 bucks,) you can affix as many as you could possibly dream of and have plenty left over. The flat back is no problem, remember, it sticks to everything.
Alternatively: There is also a far more common piece than the 11203...
You know those 2x2 plate bottoms with a round bottom surface? However you intend to affix your strips to your piece, they should work fine, and the plus is how cheap they are.
And, since I've only seen a couple of those strips, (maybe they already have a sticky surface?) it's possible that sticky tack won't work. But even if the strips do have sticky backs, the tack will still hold them. Maybe even better than just regularly against a flat bottom. It's a good bet. For cheap.

authors: سامح عبدالستار


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LDD Seems to be missing a piece
So I'm trying to make an alternate version of the UCS Tie Fighter.  I'm following the official instructions downloaded from the LEGO site, and I've come in to a problem.  This piece, seen here (ID: 6089147 from the piece list) is missing from the LDD parts:

Now, I'm not sure if this is the best place to mention this, but well... there it is.
If it's in some weird place that I haven't looked it would be great if someone could point me in the right direction, but as it stands I'm pretty sure it just isn't in the list.  How would one go about telling the big wigs about this?

You talking about the yellow piece?

18677 IS in latest LDD update (mid march 2016), issued after announcement of LDD end of support... Just make sure to be in LDD Extended mode to find it, along with other plates.

I think this has to do with the fact that part 18677 Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Pin Hole on Bottom is a new part (has only been in production since 2015) whereas its counterpart 11458 Plate, Modified 1 x 2 with Pin Hole on Top has been around since 2013. Couple that with the fact that LEGO recently announced the end of maintenance for LEGO Digital Designer (Brickset Article) with this explicit mention:

... but please do not expect any updates regarding functionality, the adding of new LEGO elements or glitch fixes.

It is likely that this part will never be added to LDD - you would need to switch over to an LDraw-based modeling tool such as mentioned in the answers to this question.

I just saw this part in my LDD, try the extended mode

Please use a photo editor to circle the part you're talking about.


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Where can I find the misspelled Luke Skywlaker pen?
There was a LEGO Star Wars snafu in which a buildable pen was released, and "Skywalker" was incorrectly spelled as "Skywlaker". This was quickly remedied, and a corrected version was released.
I would like to find one of these "Skywlaker" pens. I have checked eBay, LEGO shop, Amazon and Bricklink and have not been able to find it. Does anyone have tips on where to look for these one-of-a-kind items?

Does anybody have a photo of one of these?  My googling came up with lots of low res images that weren't this thing.

Thats me and I still have it. :)

Hi Peter, can you share a photo of this strange pen?

The closest I could find is a forum thread where a member called "slow 2.0" writes that (s)he has two of these and might be willing to sell one of them. The catch is the thread is from 2010 and the user hasn't been active in the forum since 2014.
Update Since the thread no longer has the image, here is how it looked like:

Turns out we have two of these...

Are you related to user "slow 2.0" mentioned in the other answer?


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Dark metallic gray tube: Is it a LEGO?
Unfortunately, I no longer own the piece in question. But here are the specs:

Dark metallic grey, like Super Battle Droids.
Somewhere in the vicinity of 6 inches long.
Flat ends: not a cut or broken pice of something else.
Fits perfectly in a hole for basic minifig-grabbable bars.
Not easily bent, but can kink slightly.

If this isn't a LEGO, say so, but bring some proof please.

Sounds like 'Hose, Rigid 3mm D. 16L / 12.8cm' in Pearl Dark Grey. Super Battle Droids are also in Metal Blue but none of the hoses exists in this color. Also note that the linked hose also exists in other sizes too and that the exact piece you have had might have been cut.
Note that colors mentioned refer to Bricklink's color names, LEGO company's official color names are different.


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Looking for instructions for brick set #135149, silver robot head and black police vest?
I have part two and part three of the this set and I am pretty sure this set has to come from the "Lego Movie" series. The reason I say is because one of the bags has one or two of the secret police robots in it. Can anyone help identify this set? I can't find any info on any of those sets in that series.

Welcome Tyrone! FYI, that set # is just the part number of the plastic bag, not the real set number.

You are looking at 2 bags from set 70808 - Super Cycle Chase. This is the only LEGO Movie set that has the robo SWAT cop head, the fence, the white 1x2x2 panel and the 1x4 plate with 2 studs in it.

There are 3 other sets (big enough to have a bag 2 and 3) that have this particular robot police officer head in it, namely:

70819 - Bad Cop Car Chase

70807 - MetalBeard's Duel

70815 - Super Secret Police Dropship

But none of these have the additional pieces as shown in the picture.

Oh man! Thank you Phil! I believe it has to be the first one with the car chase because there wheels big enough to fit! You have saved my Lego building experience!


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LEGO Torsos cracking
I have just recently acquired the new crossbones' hazardous heist, and suprisingly, not even a week went by and my really sweet Black widow figure already has a small crack in her side. Will This damage the whole side? I'm really worried, does anyone else have this problem? How can I fix it?

I would go ahead and contact LEGO customer service and tell them about this. They will want to know as they have high quality standards and this might indicate a defect bigger than just your copy. Also, they are more than likely to offer you a free replacement figure - keep that one safe and disassembled until the one you have is too damaged.

From experience the only problem from cracks in the side is that the arm is very loose and the legs don't have a good connection to said torso. Otherwise it is just an unfortunate look.

Depends on where the crack is. If it is near joints like the legs or arms, then probably you should find a way to seal it. Else other than design purposes it won't harm the figure


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What is this 11x6 white and dark grey motorized LEGO piece with blue buttons and a transparent blue panel?
My brother bought a big tub of LEGO recently and found this piece inside. He doesn't know what it is and we can't find anything about it online so we were wondering what it is. He says it isn't in any of the instruction booklets he received with the LEGO so it doesn't seem to be a part of any of his sets.
It appears to be a motor, with a white front, grey back, a display and blue buttons. When you turn it on it displays the word LEGO one letter at a time on the display. It also makes sound by bleeping and stuff when you turn it on and as it runs.
It has the LEGO logo in each of the holes and underneath so we assume it's an authentic LEGO piece, but it doesn't have any sort of identification number on it that we can see.
Thanks for the help.

This part is called
Micro Scout with Dark Gray Base

the white version on your photo comes from
9748-1: Droid Developer Kit

(pictures via Bricklink)


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Need help identifying these 3 bags
I got them as a gift but without the packaging.
I only have three bags numbered 1, 2 and 3.

Can someone help me with the series number? Much appreciated.

These bags are very likely the Cargo Truck (60020).

llllllllllegend


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How to parameter the ports in move tank block EV3?
How do I parameter the ports at Move Tank block (in My Block)?

Create a My Block that looks something like this:

Then you can select the ports like this:

The 23 means ports B+C (see below).

From the help file:

Wired Input of Two Ports
If you configure a Move Steering or Move Tank block for wired port input, you will need to specify two different port numbers: one for the left motor port, and one for the right motor port. This is done by using a two-digit number for the Port input. The first digit of the number (the 10’s digit) specifies the port number for the left motor, and the second digit (the 1’s digit) specifies the port number for the right motor.
EV3 Motor Ports
(Left, Right)     Value of Port input
-------------------------------------
B, C              23
C, B              32
A, B              12
A, D              14

See the table above for the individual motor port number values. The table below shows some examples of Port inputs to specify two ports.

thx dude!!! you help me so mach!!!!


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What is the name of this almost triangular shaped 3x5 Technic beam?
Okay so, I've been on BrickOwl.com for the past day or two, trying to find the names of the pieces for a LEGO GLaDOS that this guy made because he doesn't give the names, at around 12:50 he uses this piece:

and then he also uses some pins shortly after. Does anyone know the name, number, or a place I can buy one or two of the piece and/or the pins?
Or do you have a BrickOwl wishlist with all of the items on it?

That piece is called a Triangel: http://brickset.com/parts/6010864
You can buy it from the Lego store (no direct link, but it is element id 6010864).

I think the spelling on Brickset is wrong. Bricklink calls it a Triangle lift arm.

It's called a Triangel on the Lego store as well.

I call it a hanger piece, to me it looks like a clothes hanger.

The piece you are looking for is 2905 Technic, Liftarm Triangle Thin. There is similar Technic piece with similar looks and same functionality - 99773 - Technic, Liftarm Triangle Thin, Type II
Difference is clearly seen on this image:


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What do these bags make?
I am trying to organize my sons LEGO bricks and we cannot find a book or what these bags go to. Not even sure the bags go together?
Bag 5 has grey pieces and these long red things that look like you shoot them at something.

This bag has yellow wheels and lots of other grey, red and yellow and some black

Bag 2 with yellow and grey and black and little red and maybe two blue also a grey clear windshield piece

This bag has lots of grey light and dark and some red tan and black in it and a couple blue small ones

Hello Gwendolyn, welcome to bricks.stackexchange! I've taken the liberty to merge your answers with your original post and flagged the answers for deletion. To your question: it looks like bags 5 and 4 belong to the same set - a Star Wars vehicle - and bags 2 and 3 also seem to belong together but as part of a different set.

Also worth mentioning that you don't have any complete sets - the numbers are which order you are supposed to open them in order to complete the set, so since you have no #1 bags, there isn't really any place to get started with them

Ya, these were just random bags I had leftover after organizing. Trying to figure out which sets they go with. I organized about 60 different sets today so it's a complete mess!!

Bags 4 and 5 are from set 75050-1: B-Wing based on the red Arrow 8M For Spring Shooter, 4211725: Plate 4X6 26 Degrees and 4233485: Brick 1X2 With Cross Hole
Bags 2 & 3 are from 4202-1: Mining Truck based on 4210720: Plate 6X14, 4210794: Plate 6X8
, 4490139: Rim Wide W.Cross 30X20
, 4188313: Coupling Plate 2X2 and 4515351: Plate 4X4 Round W. Snap
 in combination with the different red parts


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LEGO Friends drinking bottle (850817) containing BPA?
LEGO has recently released Friends drinking bottle 850817, but there's no mention anywhere (not on the product itself, not on the product's web page) as to whether the product contains BPA (Bisphenol), a dangerous chemical (especially for children) commonly used in bottles.
Question: Does this product contain BPA?

Edit: This is not a duplicate question because it concerns a drinking bottle released in 2016, not vintage LEGO bricks. In addition, please note that the bottom of product 850817 has a recycling symbol with the number 7:

How Can You Tell if a Container Has BPA?
  A resin code of 7 appearing on plastic containers indicates that the container may be made of a BPA-containing plastic. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)

Possible duplicate of BPA in older Lego

http://www.fda.gov/Food/IngredientsPackagingLabeling/FoodAdditivesIngredients/ucm355155.htm ... http://reason.com/blog/2015/01/21/bpa-safe-yet-another-scientifically-unfo

This is a question about a specific water bottle, rather than LEGO bricks in general as in the possible duplicate, so I'm going to leave it open.

I have now been in touch with official LEGO representatives, but they were unable to give a satisfactory answer to the question. It appears it cannot be ruled out that these bottles contain BPA.

Remember the BPA scare? It's all but a crime to release a product that even thinks about having BPA. But I did the search anyway, and no, there is not any in this or any other LEGO product I can find to date. LEGO is pretty good about nontoxic products, drinking use intended or no. I mean, they're made for kids. Good question though.

Where did you find your information?

http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/7471/bpa-in-older-lego is one source, and well cited.

This question is not about Lego bricks, it is about a drinking bottle.

I checked the bottle, too, just also mentioning that source. I talked to a friend from LEGO team, and no, no drinking products of theirs contain BPA.


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What is the name of this 2x2 curved piece with a lip?
What is this piece called, and what are its degrees?

This is part number 30602. Brickset refers to it as "Front 2x2 Sport" and on Bricklink it is "Slope, Curved 2 x 2 Lip, No Studs".

The top is curved, so it doesn't have a clean angle like some slopes do and it's name doesn't include an angle measures in degrees.


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What is this 1x2 hinge brick?
What are the two pieces that make up this hinge and brick?

That's a 1x2 hinge brick. Here's a better image of what you're looking at:

This is part 3937 and 3938. Here are the two parts viewed separately:


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Identifying two BIONICLE parts, white and dark grey curved shell
What are these two BIONICLE pieces?

These are Bionicle parts, specifically the back spine of the 8588-1 Rahkshi Kurahk.
The individual parts are:

http://brickset.com/parts/design-44140
http://brickset.com/parts/design-44139

Adding to zovits' answer, you also appear to have a Part 44136 attached to the Part 44139.


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Most common Lego piece?
I know there are many candidates for a rarest Lego piece, but:
Is any specific brick truly the most common? Which? Which color?
I've wondered for a long time about this.
Make sure to include details, as in proof, and if a line is blurry, defend both points.

If you look at the quantity of parts in all sets, the most common is the 1x2 brick ignoring color. The most common part and color combo is the Techhnic pin with friction in black.

These stats were pulled from Rebrickable's database - they previously had a "Stats" page, but this has since been replaced with their API.


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What's this weird blue 8-long thin hinge piece?
I've spent several hours on BrickLink now trying to identify this mystery piece. It doesn't have a part number on it, only the Lego logo. It looks kind of like a hinge or something that might snap into a doorway, but I haven't found anything similar. Can you help me?

It kind of looks like a window. Could you snap it in to a window holder?

The hinge is to large for the snap holes in a standard-sized 4x3 window.  It does snap with pieces like this, however.

Pictures in focus!  That is so amazing.  Kudos to Martin for including high-res in-focus pictures.

This is part 4218 Garage Roller Door Section without Handle:

As you might imagine from the name, these can be connected and used for garage doors as seen in Century Skyway, for example:

Wow! I´m impressed. Thanks so much for your help :-)


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What is this technic axle?
In this video, Kooberz uses this piece:

You can see it in action in this video at 15:06. What is the piece?

This is a regular 3 module length axle (4519):


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What piece is designed to hold the "drawer" piece?
Cruising the good old PAB, I come across a piece called simply, the "drawer". From the image, I can conclude that this piece is meant to act like a real drawer, by pulling out of something.
Question: What is that something? What is designed to hold the drawer?

The part you are looking for is 4532a - Container, Cupboard 2 x 3 x 2 - Solid Studs. There is also a 4532 version with hollow studs.


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Use Bluetooth to access NXT display
I'm planning to use NXT to troll my friends, and I want to show something on the screen that I send to it via Bluetooth. To clarify, I want to type it on a computer in another room. Is there a way to do this all in the NXT software? (no coding)
Thanks - Sam.

Are you using a NXT or EV3? I think I could help you with that problem :)

The version i use is NXT

You can remotely start and stop programs from the NXT software. So create a simple program that just has a few display blocks and an empty loop at the end to keep the program from stopping then run the program.

I need it to do this while running a different program.

Then there will be some coding required. You can send direct commands remotely using a library such as leJOS or MonoBrick. You could use these to draw on the display. However, if there is a program running on the NXT that has Display blocks, it will write over whatever you sent each time it gets to a Display block in the program.

I just had an idea. Have the output of the bluetooth message receiver block run into the input of the display block. Then, I have some other device sending messages that I type in.


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Is it possible to access the RGB values of the EV3 Light Sensor?
I'm following a line with the LEGO EV3 Color Sensor in Reflected-light mode, I need to stop the robot when it detects a green tile in the ground, but I didn't succeeded in differentiating Green and Black, can I access the RGB values of the sensor, or in some way differentiate those colors?

Please aim to be as descriptive as possible in your question title to get the best possible answers. I've changed the title to what I believe is the subject of your answer, if this isn't the case, please feel free to improve it.

Green does tend to be tricky on the LEGO EV3 Color sensor. Example
Here are some suggestions:

Build a shroud to eliminate ambient light. I have seen people use electrical tape for this or build something from LEGO parts.
Using the raw RGB values, convert to HSV (there is a link in Example 1 for this).
Use the algorithm for the NXT color sensor from the EV3 source code. It will probably have to be adjusted a bit for differences in the sensors.

Yes try this. Color RGB This is the Color RGB sensor block. Installation instruction can refer from here


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What is this BIONICLE limb piece?
In Kooberz's video, he uses this piece.
What is it called?

Bricklink indicates that this is the "Bionicle Toa Nuva Leg Section."


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What is this technic pin?
In  Kooberz' video, he uses a techinc pin that looks like
What is it called?

BrickLink says that it's called the  "Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise WITH Center Slots."
However it may also be the "Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise WITHOUT Center Slots."


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Extract Bricklink or Brickowl parts list from LDD (on OS X)
I've got some models .lxf and I'd like to order the parts. Is there a way to extract that information from LDD on OS X? All the solutions I have seen so far go via a Windows application.

Bricklink Wanted List Uploader
It is very simple to upload a parts list to Bricklink. You can directly upload your LDD file through the Bricklink wanted page uploader.

The wanted list uploader supports the these four file types:

LEGO Digital Designer (.lxf)
BrickStock/Brickstore (.bsx)
LDraw (.ldr)
Stud.io (.io)

If the Bricklink uploader doesn't work, you can also use LDD also lets you export a list of parts from within the application.
In LEGO Digital Designer, open your model. Go to File > Export BOM (Ctrl + B) to save a spreadsheet/zip copy of all the parts used in your model.
The file will include information include part name, ID, colour, quantity as well as a thumbnail photo of each piece.


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Challenge: A good, swift kick
Hey everyone, this is Bricks.SE's first challenge question!
Context: On other sites, you sometimes see a question made specifically for the purposes of getting a lot of good ideas, the checkmark given to the best answer.
But with bricks, it gets even more fun. A certain challenge may put not only your knowledge, but also your building skill. So it won't work like Oveflow, Codegolf, or WB. It might be even better.
So, the question today is: How would you make a non-technic structure, at least 2 feet tall, that can withstand a full kick? Include pictures!
Rules:
Non-technic means that the build must have less than 50% technic pieces.
The build must be on a flat surface, and cannot be "dug in."
"Withstand" entails that no pieces are removed.
If no pictures are given, the description must be thorough, for replication.
The bricks may be LEGO, BIONICLE, Mega Bloks, KRE-O, or other clone brands, but not DUPLO, QUATRO, K'NEX, or Znap.
The answer with the most votes in a week that provably solves the problem will be the winner.

I'm completely in support of having challenges on the site. However, I don't expect most of us have access to a baseball pitching machine. Is there possibly some other way we could qualify the best answer? Also, try and be as specific as possible on the rules, "How deep can it be?", "Are large pieces like Duplo & Quatro" allowed?", "What do you define to be the 'best' answer (Fewest Bricks, Strongest, Smallest) etc...

I'm not as in-tune with the specifics of challenges in general on Stack Exchange sites, but I have to thank you for apparently pioneering the tag, as I was just today thinking of a challenge I could use help with.

Hey, thanks. I appreciate it. Yeah, its always risky, the first introduction of a challenge, sometimes it bombs and then the person proposing it gets downvoted and closevoted to the SE underworld. :)

I am not at all against challenges like this (I am all for it in fact) or have anything against your implementation, but adding new aspects like this to an SE site is usually proposed and discussed in meta first.  That way the entire community can have a say and discuss it together.  Remember, SE is a community run network.  (If this was already brought up on meta, please kindly ignore this comment.  I searched for "challenge" and looked through all your meta posts and didn't find anything.)

We did bring it up in meta, I will see I'd I can find the post.

Are you really expecting me to kick my LEGO MOC? Oh, I just realize how old this post is.


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Most inseparable combinations?
Some combinations of pieces are really hard to get apart – really hard. Can some answerers provide a list of “dangerous combos“? For example, a 2×2 with a round 2×2 on bottom. Also, if possible, provide a good way to get them apart!

There are some combinations that are almost impossible to separate, such as this "brick paradox": http://bricks.stackexchange.com/questions/982/can-an-axle-be-removed-from-this-brick-paradox

I use an axle to separate stuck parts. It has always works for me.

There is an interesting thread on Eurobricks about "deadly" assemblies: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/81402-impossible-lego/#comment-1564353

A 1x1 round plate on the bottom of a 1x1 square plate is pretty difficult to get apart. The Santa's Workshop set uses transparent 1x1 round plates stuck until 1x1 plates with a clip on top to make Christmas lights. I just left the whole thing assembled; I'll probably never bother taking that apart.
Also: if you stick some brand-new 4x4 plates together it can be very very hard to separate them. Lots of clutch, lots of rigidity, so even with 5 brick separators it is difficult work.

My son did some extensive research on this subject, which yielded this beauty:

That’s a light bulb cover stuck into a Duplo stud. While it may look harmless, I found it impossible to get sufficient hold of the lightbulb before levering it out with a very thin screwdriver.

Would it help to use a plastic straw and some suction?

@zovits: I honestly don’t want to test this, but I strongly doubt that you can build up enough force for this. Also, you would have to find a straw that exactly fits around the light bulb.

I have a 3062b (round 1x1 open stud) stuck in the middle of a 6067 (boat mast section base 4x4) and I can't get it off. The round 1x1 fits over the post thingy in the center of the mast base and the side walls of the mast base prevent access to the grove at the bottom of the 1x1 round. The inner diameter of the mast base is small enough and tight enough that any antenna type pieces inserted through the bottom can't catch the lip at the top of the 1x1 round on the way through.

I'd say a 4265a on a 3649 are among the hardest to separate. But a 3647 is more painful due to the teeth
http://rebrickable.com/parts/3749

http://rebrickable.com/parts/4265a

http://rebrickable.com/parts/3647

A 1x1 tile stuck inside the bottom of a 2x4 brick is very difficult to get out. No Brick Separator will help you there.

The Brick Separator can be employed successfully in a majority of cases where bricks are stuck together.
The hardest thing to remove I believe is Technic pins 4459 wherever used. See separate question.

When I was a kid I had 6 Technic sets that I loved and played a lot with. Those pesky pins without center slots would pull up a very strong fight.. but were always not enough for my child persistence :) I never had one pin broke down on me, I just loved too much those beautiful (for the time) Technic sets !

Generally, early BIONICLE body bricks can encounter issues with this, due to their bulky, specially-designed nature. For instance, the Toa Mata body gearbox has a particular danger area inside it. If one places the #2 axle connector hub horizontally inside the neck area and sticks a 2-long axle in either side, the result is completely irreversible.
This is akin to some of the 'brick paradoxes' mentioned in this blog post, which I found linked in a question while browsing the tag selection a few days ago. There are plenty more to be found in Technic construction; after all, Bryson's Second Law of Repairs, a corollary of Murphy's Law, states: "If you fool around with a thing for very long you will screw it up."

Wow, the Toa Mata gearbox is especially hazardous since many of the sets contain all the pieces to get it stuck!

Also, part 99009 and Part 99010 is another one that is extremely hard to disassemble as highlight in this question. (The current brick separator will not work in this situation.)

Doesn't seem like a huge problem, since these are designed that way. The combination is effectively one part.

Another inseparable part is the
if you put enough of them together side by side many times

A 1x1 tile stuck to a 1x1 round plate was the hardest, I think harder than the accepted answer above, until I used two LEGO brick spectators in opposite directions. Put the stuck pieces on top of one separator facing north, pry with a second one facing south. Pops them apart beautifully.
Small plates stuck together can be separate using two LEGO separators, but both in the same direction.

A 1x1 round tile on 1x1 round plate.
You can't use a brick separator, because tiles don't have studs.

You're using the wrong end of the brick separator. The fat end has a strong, thin edge which can fit between the two - then twist. I just did this now to test it. I presume it's why the 1x1 round tile has a lip.

It should be possible to use one of the studs on top of the brick separator with the antistud of the plate to grab it and provide enough leverage via holding the plate to separate them.

I found a 1x1 round plate with one end of a "string with end studs" stuck on top of it surprisingly difficult to get apart with my bare hands, without ripping the string off.
If you have 2 brick separators available (one above and one below), or a plate and a brick separator it is easy as you can lock each piece, but with bare hands it is completely impossible.


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What are these Technic sets with figures?
So I'm trying to identify these two LEGO sets that are rather old. I have long since lost the instructions and I can't seem to find the specific parts on BrickLink. Here are the photos of the complete builds: Album

I'm not sure if the two belong in the same set (doubt it). But they go together since the teal ship is supposed to fling its plungers to the purple guy's target which activates a spring and launches him out of his ship (and consequently turns off the motor). The purple guy moves around on top of the rubber wheel, which has unfortunately broke. The purple ship takes a 9V battery which powers the motor. I've included a closeup and as you can see the pieces connecting the electronic parts has metal contacts.

These builds are both from the same set. Super Challenge (3038):

This is set 3038/8266 Super Slayer/Super Challenge, based on the occurrence of the Technic Figure in Turquoise.


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Reference LEGO Technic 42043
When installing the tubing starting on page 273 of the instruction booklet, the suggested length seems to be too short for the installation.  Is it permissible to cut the tubing provided to fit the situation, or am I missing something in previous construction?  If not able to cut the tubing, it becomes very congested connecting to the appropriate valve.
Instructions: http://lego.brickinstructions.com/m/lego_instructions/set/42043/Mercedes-Benz_Arocs_3245

The provided tubes all have the correct length. If you start cutting tubes than you run into problems later on.
I have build this set multiple times an never run into problems. Make sure all tubes are routed correctly and by the shortest distance sometimes its needed to route a tube underneath another.
When you start building, what helps is sorting the different tubes by length and check if you have them all.


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Challenge: Specialized Palm Build
I'm trying to design a hand for a MOC using the (not so) new Mixels ball joints, in line with a concept that I've had rattling around in my head for a while. The current palm design I'm trying uses the Technic Gear, 24 Tooth with four of the Pin with Towball in its four holes, on which the longer Mixels ball joint cups are attached. The result is shown in the picture below.

This hand works well for the most part, but the ball joint cups tend to run into each other when splayed out as pictured. This makes poseability a good deal harder in terms of  fine finger movements (gripping seems, thankfully, unaffected). There is also the issue of this hand being two studs thick, due to the towball pins being positioned outward from the palm. I've looked around for alternate builds or pieces that could improve this design, but nothing quite fits. For instance, the Compact Steering Arm is almost perfect, but is missing a fourth ball joint. The old Helicopter Rotor Holder is very nearly too wide for the design, and doesn't seem to allow friction in its connection.
My challenge is this: design a palm with towball attachments for four fingers, either at the four compass points from the center or capable of being placed in these positions, and a central attachment point with either an axle hole to prevent turning at all or a pin hole that can accept a friction-creating pin. The towballs should be far enough apart that the ball joint cups don't run into each other. The towballs must also be no more than two studs apart (measured from the center between towballs on the same edge of the hand), or else the finger design I'm using will not properly close across the palm. A one-stud thickness would also be a plus, but might not be possible with the previous specifications.
Thanks to Caleb Woodman for pioneering the challenge tag mere minutes before I came to the site to ask this. I probably would have spent a lot longer searching the tag list if I hadn't seen that on the front page.

I don't have the parts around to try this out, but would the "fingers" fit on this piece Part 32072 - Technic Knob Wheel ?

Yay! Thanks for using the new tag! <3

@PhilB. No, but the holes in those knobs are large enough to take a rod, which the Bar 1L with Towball has in just the right size.

The Nexo Knights sets have a new piece, the Bar 1L with Towball, which might work for putting a bunch of mixel joints in a small space:

Also, if you could get your hands on the maxifig hand, it's great for connecting to mixel joints. It's a 1x1 round tile with a hole in the stud and a ball on the side:

Either of these attached to the brick with 4 studs on the side could work.

Oh I like both of those! Didn't come across them in my searches but they sound great. Making a square out of 4 headlight bricks with a Nexo Knights' towball in each of them would be very close to perfect I'd think.

@PhilB. They're both fairly rare as one is a new part for 2016 and one hasn't been made since c. 1980. But I happen to have some of the old hands and was so excited to find that the ball is the perfect fit for the mixel pieces.

After giving the answers some time to come in, I've decided that the bar with towball presents the most effective solution to my challenge, when combined with a Technic Knob Wheel.

After some experimenting, here is another solution that might fit your needs. It consists of 3 alternatives:
Required:

1x 4733 Brick, Modified 1x1 with Studs on Four Sides
4x 6628 Technic, Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise and Towball
4x 4697b Pneumatic T Piece New Style (T Bar) (Build 1&2) OR 4x 4070 Brick, Modified 1 x 1 with Headlight (Build 3)
1x 2780 Technic, Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise WITH Center Slots

I am not sure on the legality of Builds 1&2 as the technic pins are sitting on the pneumatic T-piece instead of being inserted in a hole, but I know they have a strong grip.
Build 1: This way the height of the palm is 1 brick - but the fingers are about 4 studs apart. You might be able to get that a bit closer by replacing the pneumatic T-piece with either 60849 Minifig, Utensil Hose Nozzle Elaborate or the older 194 Minifig, Utensil Hose Nozzle Simple.

Build 2: Compacter but with more room for movement than your current solution, but the height is 3 bricks:

Build 3: Similar to your original solution, but allows for better flexibility of the fingers, at the cost of a 2 brick height - and the towball pin is not fully locked in the headlight brick, there is a little play. This can be solved by sticking a 33183 Carrot Top through the bottom hole of the headlight brick for each brick:

EDIT: Here is a fourth alternative - this one might fit the bill - the towballs sit a little further apart than on your original 24-tooth gear solution, so no rubbing. Still 2 bricks high though.
Build 4:

Since you do not give a desired size of the palm, I'd like to propose the following solution, consisting of 1x 6222 - Brick, Round 4 x 4 with 4 Side Pin Holes and Center Axle Hole and 4x 6628 - Technic, Pin with Friction Ridges Lengthwise and Towball, arranged like so:

You might need to work on the size of the fingers to make this work with "grip" - but it meets your challenge criteria.
There is also part x872 - Technic, Steering Arm with 4 Ball Joints which would be more compact, however, this part is extremely hard to find (there are no sellers on BrickLink currently).

Thanks for the input, but you've revealed an issue in my question to me which, when fixed, will make this answer invalid. I did, in some sense, give a desired palm size, but it was only present when I said the Helicopter Rotor Holder was nearly too large. I'll go ahead and put the size constraints in the actual challenge section now.

Have you considered Nanoblocks? Their ball & sockets stay in position when Lego tow ball & sockets are loose. Stagasorus includes a few.

Attach to Lego, 10% 40% possible with 2×2 under.

Are the parts LEGO-compatible?

Sounds interesting :) Although I have a hard time imagining the resulting build, could you please whip together a proof of concept and share a photo of it?


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Where are these BIONICLE sets?
I'm from Norway and I wonder why BIONICLE sets creature of jungle and stone are nowhere to be found around here.

I'm not sure why you say "are nowhere to be found around here" - perhaps you mean Brick & Mortar stores? Both these BIONICLE sets are available from the Norwegian shop.lego.com site:


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Lego NXT Exploitation or Vulnerabilities?
I originally posted this question on the Reverse Engineering site, but there were no answers. They told me to also post this question here. OK, my friends and I have Lego NXT sumo bot competitions for fun. Basically, you build a robot that waits five seconds and competes against a robot to stay on a board. We normally focus on the mechanical side to win against other robots (find them and push them off the board), but I had the idea to try a software attack. My idea was to:

Find some sort of Bluetooth vulnerability that I could exploit from another NXT (I write my programs in NXC).
Upload a malicious program that makes the robot drive backwards forever.
Somehow execute the program (and win)!

I have tried testing the NXT Bluetooth for vulnerabilities (I have knowledge of Windows/Linux exploitation and debugging) and I can't find anything. The main problem is that the NXT firmware handles Bluetooth connections, in other words you connect the devices with a pass code before running the program that requires Bluetooth. So, my questions are:

Is this even slightly possible or is it just a waste of time?
If there was a NXT Bluetooth vulnerability, could I even send it from another NXT that's not connected?
Was this the right place to post this question?
Would NXT debugging even be possible?

Update
First, thanks for all of the ideas and answers. Secondly, several of the answers note about the legality of what I am trying to do. Yes, it is legal where I live. Third, I talked with main guy and judge of the competition and he said that he would love to see a software attack like this.
Where I'm at now
I have Kali Linux and the mac address has been found. I also found a paper here
on the control protocols. The main dilemma I am still facing is the fact that a Bluetooth passcode has to be entered on the device I intend to connect to. Any updates will be posted here!

Does an attempt to pair cause the bots software to pause to ask for confirmation?
Maybe you can disable their bots control by continually trying to pair with it while your opponent is trying to control it.

Is this even slightly possible or a waste of time?

It might be possible but requires effort and probably a fair amount of research and hacking on your part. I'm not saying I know for sure if an exploit exists, either in the communications protocol or the BT firmware, but exploits are always possible. And it's not like LEGO is incentivized to look for obscure security issues in this stuff -- it just isn't that important.
Exploits come in different flavours, as do attacks. One place to start looking is the vendors that LEGO sourced for the various pieces of the NXT platform, and not just Bluetooth. We are looking for manufacturers that have released security notices for their hardware and drivers in the hopes that an exploit is still in the wild in an unpatched device used on NXT.
Another trick is to decide what sort of attack payloads are available. For example, even if you can't get debug access to the device, maybe you could keep the device so busy with bogus or specially crafted connection attempts that you gain some advantage. A denial-of-service attack is often just as effective as a direct hack.
You want to start looking at all the I/O that NXT uses, and then see how you can exploit it for direct access or some sort of leverage that gives you an advantage of some other sort.
And often exploits are leveraged in concert to get the access the hacker wants. So, you want to collect as much information as possible, and then start hacking your Kobayashi Maru solution.

Well, I recently ran across this answer, which shows that the LEGO Group sometimes patches security holes. The best part about knowing about patches is knowing some version has a security hole.

I think that most sumo bot competitions do not allow interchange of information between bricks. And you have to connect via Bluetooth with your opponent's bot, which requires your opponent's permission.

I asked the person in charge of the sumo bot battles and he said he would love to see this attack work. @GeromeAng Thats what I am trying to overcome. If the opponents bluetooth is on, I want to exploit it and be able to control it.


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How do I get Batman out of DC Comics Super Heroes Character Encyclopaedia without damaging the book?
I know less than nothing about LEGO, I bought the book because it was on offer and looked cool.
How do I get Batman out of the book without damaging the book? I can't seem to find any instructions

You simply open the front cover and you can take out the minifigs from the back. It won't damage the book at all.

There is a plastic casing on the back of the cover held together with a piece of tape. Cut/break the tape, and then use a fingernail or other thin option to pull apart the two plastic pieces from each other. This opens a small door of sorts, from which you can take out the figure.


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Mid-sized black plate options
I'm looking for a mid-sized (16x16, 20x20 ish) black plate for mounting on a wall. It can be a regular plate or baseplate since what I am mounting it on is not Lego and it doesn't need to fit into studs underneath.
So far I have only found this piece but no-one seems to sell it in black
http://alpha.bricklink.com/pages/clone/catalogitem.page?P=91405
Are there other pieces I should consider?

You can piece together a 16x16 black plate in two layers, by making a base layer consisting of 3867 - Baseplate 16 x 16 (not available in black, but Dark Bluish Gray is a good option and given the minimal thickness it won't show)

and then putting 4 of 41539 - Plate 8 x 8 in Black on top side-by-side.

I'd probably skip the 16x16 baseplate and just join the 8x8 with smaller pieces for my particular design. Strange that anyone selling more than 20 8x8 charges a lot more per piece though. I need 40 and anyone with that many wants $1.21 each, where as individual pieces sell for as little as 33¢ (NZD).

That's how the market works - if you need a lot, you pay more :) But think about the money you save versus having to get them from individual sellers and then paying for shipping for each smaller bundle. Good luck with your project!

I was really hoping for economies of scale :/

LEGO Pick-A-Brick has 6x6 black plates for $0.87(NZD) per piece ... you would need 9 of them to create an 18x18 surface ... you're probably cheaper off getting them from BL in the 8x8 format.


text:
How can I make Custom Instructions for my MOC?
I'm a huge AFOL and recently have quit my job in order to take my part time job of selling Lego to the next level.
However, there's a new venture I'm having difficulty with and I would greatly appreciate if anyone has any advice for me...
** I have made a number of custom MOC's and my plan is to create instruction booklet's for the best ones and hopefully sell those online as well. I'm aware that Lego creator is available, however, I'm trying to construct a more tangible set of directions similar to the official Lego instruction booklets you'd receive with one of their sets.
I've seen similar custom directions (without any bricks included) on eBay and so basically I would like to know how that's made possible.
**Are there any businesses or individuals whom have the capability to create such instructions? Any representatives or recommendations you have for me would be great appreciated.
The Lego and AFOL community is amongst the nicest/helpful groups of people I've ever had the pleasure of being involved with, and I'm looking forwards to meeting even more of you this upcoming weekend at The Philly Brick Fest!!!!!!

I'm assuming you have looked at LDD and LIC from this question already? if so, could you specify exactly what you want that those are unable to provide?

To be honest, I am not very skilled when it comes to using LDD So I was hoping to possibly hire somone whom is much better than I am...also what is LIC? But before I do that, I wanted to see if it was possible to hire someone, send them my completed set, and then they would be able to create an actual Instruction booklet that is not a digital copy but rather an actual, tangeable, Paper instruction booklet much like that you might get from an official Lego set...my buyers have expressed they prefer the paper copy over a digital one.

If I were you I would change the title of this question to something indicative of your search for someone to do this work for you.
LIC is the Lego Instruction Creator - it's a tool some people use to make instructions.  I would say it's for "power users" though, so it may not be for you.

LIC is the Lego Instruction Creator

it's a tool some people use to make instructions.
I would say it's for "power users" though, so it may not be for you.

If I were you I might change the title of this question to something indicative of your search for someone to do this work for you.
As you are probably aware, there are Lego forums which are devoted to MOCs -- so I would solicit for some help there  (Try https://rebrickable.com/forum/ )

Film while you take it apart, then playback in reverse.

Have you tried this?  How did it work out?  When will you post it on youtube?

I never tried it myself, but I've seen vids. Looks kinda weird how parts fly into hands.

Google LDraw. It takes some knowledge to use it, but the LPub software that optionally comes with it can make custom instructions.
PS: I personaly recommend using MLCad.

I never made an instruction but to build some MOC's I have used the OpenSource Software Blender to create 3D-Models. There you can create the bricks needed and put them togehter in an easy way and render the images.

Are you still looking for lego instructions? I actually offer a service for this (through Fiverr), which I feel is quite affordable and rather professional.
Let me know if you are interested! I have 4 years experience with ldd and can help with that too.
Hopefully I can help you with that :)

Hi, and welcome to Bricks! As per our stance on self-promotion - it would be great if you felt able to register and not use a generic handle :) I believe you've been upfront about your affiliation here, so this shouldn't be considered outright spam.