Answers.Body: <p>Putting bars through pins is legal in my opinion, and is done in official Lego sets from time to time. Especially the &quot;flick missile&quot; is used in technic sets to extend pins with one more module:</p>
  <p><a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=61184" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=61184</a></p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/KvhUh.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/KvhUh.png" alt="part 61184" /></a></p>
  <p>Here is an example of such usage (from the 42039 24 Hours Le Mans Race car):
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/lLWX3.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/lLWX3.png" alt="page from Le Mans car instructions" /></a></p>
  <p>Another example; the recent 31127 street racer:
  <a href="https://i.sstatic.net/pruBe.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/pruBe.png" alt="page from street racer instructions" /></a></p>
  <p>for aesthetic reasons flick missiles are used here with length 2 pins rather than length 3 pins.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-02-08T11:11:13.917Z
Answers.Text: Note how the pins go through the holes first, and *then* the bars go through the pins.
Answers.UserDisplayName: IvanSanchez
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-02-08T11:26:50.790Z
Answers.Text: Yes, and when deconstructing the other way around, first remove the bars from the pins, then compress and remove the pins from the technic holes... imho it IS possible to create an illegal connection that way if the bars can't be removed from the pins anymore
Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael Verschaeve
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-02-08T09:11:23.527Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-02-08T15:35:04.663Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2023-02-08T15:35:04.663Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Michael Verschaeve
Answers.Body: <p>The canonical way of connecting two pins is using part <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=62462" rel="nofollow noreferrer">62462 &quot;Technic pin connector&quot;</a>:</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/eN4zm.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/eN4zm.png" alt="part 62462" /></a></p>
  <p>Those are shown in step 89 in the instructions of that MOC.</p>
  <blockquote>
  <p>I know there are rods that can fit inside of pins; is this a legal connection, and would it work here?</p>
  </blockquote>
  <p>Remember that &quot;legal&quot; means &quot;doesn't put parts under stress&quot;.</p>
  <p>By &quot;rod&quot; I guess you mean &quot;bar&quot;. As far as I can tell, bars will fit snugly into technic pins. While this might be a legal connection, the pins themselves won't be able to compress to be fit into a technic hole (or to get out of one, for that matter). So while putting a bar through a pin might be legal, putting that pin through a hole will not. Putting the pin in the hole, <em>then</em> the bar through the pin, would be better.</p>
  <p>A flex tube has the same diameter as a bar (IIRC), and would be a better option.</p>
  <hr />
  <p>For the MOC in question, note that the wing (in steps 60 &amp; 81) will connect all the 2x1 plates with perpendicular technic hole, so there's no need to put extra pins. Yes, the instructions could have been better.</p>
  <p>You can also try replacing the pins with a <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3737" rel="nofollow noreferrer">10L axle</a>, the inner pin connectors with <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=6538c" rel="nofollow noreferrer">axle connector 2L</a>s, and the 2L pins from step 89 with <a href="https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=43093" rel="nofollow noreferrer">pin axles</a>.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-02-07T02:07:30.463Z
Answers.Text: The axle route would hold things together, but unless I miss something it wouldn't have any means of holding the wing position. So it would work for other applications with this problem but not this particular one
Answers.UserDisplayName: Taejang
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-02-07T06:42:39.077Z
Answers.Text: Oh, I didn't realize the position of the wings is held just by the friction of the pins. My bad.
Answers.UserDisplayName: IvanSanchez
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-02-07T15:17:00.653Z
Answers.Text: @TomCarpenter No, that won't work well. The MOC is designed so that the wings can be (un)folded as a play feature. Locking the axle in place and locking the wings to the axle would disable that feature.
Answers.UserDisplayName: IvanSanchez
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-02-07T21:02:53.987Z
Answers.Text: The question was how to connect pins, and this answered that so I've marked it as such. A solution to the MOC is different; like Ivan said, it is meant to fold but needs to be stiff enough to hold position. I might use a hinge, perhaps a liftarm, or maybe just say screw it and use 44224
Answers.UserDisplayName: Taejang
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2023-02-07T00:21:52.240Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2023-02-08T10:13:36.237Z
Answers.LastEditDate: 2023-02-08T10:13:36.237Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: IvanSanchez
Body: <p>Who hasn't tried following some MOC instructions only to discover problems? <a href="https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-61527/TheBrickLord1/outland-tie-mod/" rel="noreferrer">This TIE Outlander build</a> (free instructions) is neat but has several issues, the biggest of which are steps 44-46.</p>
  <p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/gZcbf.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/gZcbf.png" alt="enter image description here" /></a> The directions show a 3-length technic pin (6558) that connects to four pieces. The &quot;orphaned&quot; pieces do connect to other things in later steps but are never connected as shown in step 46, leaving the build less durable than I'd like. The directions later use the opening for other technic pins as well (steps 86-91), so even if a 4-length pin existed, it would not solve this issue.</p>
  <p><strong>Is there a way to connect two pins directly together, end-to-end?</strong> I know there are rods that can fit inside of pins; is this a legal connection, and would it work here? (I'm not sure if &quot;rod&quot; is the right term.)</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-02-07T21:55:39.330Z
Comments.Text: Looks like there are 4 pins of length 3, though the instructions show two sets of 2x. Are you perhaps trying to put the same pin of length 3 through two pieces meant for 2 separate pins?
Comments.UserDisplayName: Daniel Stevens
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-02-09T14:48:43.757Z
Comments.Text: @DanielStevens No.. It is clearly 4 3L pins with 4L worth of pieces on each one.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tonny
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2023-02-09T14:57:37.617Z
Comments.Text: In the MOC instructions it is clearer (in later steps) that it is intentional. The outer pieces on each pin are "floating"and kept in place later by the wing that gets added. Then a 2L pin is stuck in each of them to further extend the length. Fragile construction. Putting a narrow bar in the 3L+2L pins would work and is a technique used by Lego themselves at times.
Comments.UserDisplayName: Tonny
Tags: <technic><building><star-wars><moc><connections>
Title: Can one connect two technic pins end-to-end?
UserDisplayName: Taejang
ThreadText: # Can one connect two technic pins end-to-end?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2023-02-06)
  
  Who hasn't tried following some MOC instructions only to discover problems? [This TIE Outlander build](https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-61527/TheBrickLord1/outland-tie-mod/) (free instructions) is neat but has several issues, the biggest of which are steps 44-46.
  
  [![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/gZcbf.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/gZcbf.png) The directions show a 3-length technic pin (6558) that connects to four pieces. The "orphaned" pieces do connect to other things in later steps but are never connected as shown in step 46, leaving the build less durable than I'd like. The directions later use the opening for other technic pins as well (steps 86-91), so even if a 4-length pin existed, it would not solve this issue.
  
  **Is there a way to connect two pins directly together, end-to-end?** I know there are rods that can fit inside of pins; is this a legal connection, and would it work here? (I'm not sure if "rod" is the right term.)
  
  **Tags:** technic, building, star-wars, moc, connections
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Looks like there are 4 pins of length 3, though the instructions show two sets of 2x. Are you perhaps trying to put the same pin of length 3 through two pieces meant for 2 separate pins?  
  > **username_2**: @username_1 No.. It is clearly 4 3L pins with 4L worth of pieces on each one.  
  > **username_2**: In the MOC instructions it is clearer (in later steps) that it is intentional. The outer pieces on each pin are "floating"and kept in place later by the wing that gets added. Then a 2L pin is stuck in each of them to further extend the length. Fragile construction. Putting a narrow bar in the 3L+2L pins would work and is a technique used by Lego themselves at times.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2023-02-07. Score: 10 | Accepted answer
  
  The canonical way of connecting two pins is using part [62462 "Technic pin connector"](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=62462):
  
  [![part 62462](https://i.sstatic.net/eN4zm.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/eN4zm.png)
  
  Those are shown in step 89 in the instructions of that MOC.
  
  > I know there are rods that can fit inside of pins; is this a legal connection, and would it work here?
  
  Remember that "legal" means "doesn't put parts under stress".
  
  By "rod" I guess you mean "bar". As far as I can tell, bars will fit snugly into technic pins. While this might be a legal connection, the pins themselves won't be able to compress to be fit into a technic hole (or to get out of one, for that matter). So while putting a bar through a pin might be legal, putting that pin through a hole will not. Putting the pin in the hole, *then* the bar through the pin, would be better.
  
  A flex tube has the same diameter as a bar (IIRC), and would be a better option.
  
  ---
  
  For the MOC in question, note that the wing (in steps 60 & 81) will connect all the 2x1 plates with perpendicular technic hole, so there's no need to put extra pins. Yes, the instructions could have been better.
  
  You can also try replacing the pins with a [10L axle](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3737), the inner pin connectors with [axle connector 2L](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=6538c)s, and the 2L pins from step 89 with [pin axles](https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=43093).
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: The axle route would hold things together, but unless I miss something it wouldn't have any means of holding the wing position. So it would work for other applications with this problem but not this particular one  
  > **username_4**: Oh, I didn't realize the position of the wings is held just by the friction of the pins. My bad.  
  > **username_4**: @TomCarpenter No, that won't work well. The MOC is designed so that the wings can be (un)folded as a play feature. Locking the axle in place and locking the wings to the axle would disable that feature.  
  > **username_0**: The question was how to connect pins, and this answered that so I've marked it as such. A solution to the MOC is different; like Ivan said, it is meant to fold but needs to be stiff enough to hold position. I might use a hinge, perhaps a liftarm, or maybe just say screw it and use 44224  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2023-02-08. Score: 4
  
  Putting bars through pins is legal in my opinion, and is done in official Lego sets from time to time. Especially the "flick missile" is used in technic sets to extend pins with one more module:
  
  <https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=61184>
  
  [![part 61184](https://i.sstatic.net/KvhUh.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/KvhUh.png)
  
  Here is an example of such usage (from the 42039 24 Hours Le Mans Race car):
  [![page from Le Mans car instructions](https://i.sstatic.net/lLWX3.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/lLWX3.png)
  
  Another example; the recent 31127 street racer:
  [![page from street racer instructions](https://i.sstatic.net/pruBe.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/pruBe.png)
  
  for aesthetic reasons flick missiles are used here with length 2 pins rather than length 3 pins.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_4**: Note how the pins go through the holes first, and *then* the bars go through the pins.  
  > **username_3**: Yes, and when deconstructing the other way around, first remove the bars from the pins, then compress and remove the pins from the technic holes... imho it IS possible to create an illegal connection that way if the bars can't be removed from the pins anymore  
  
  ---
  
  