# Question
Title: Steam train 10874 draining batteries in seconds
Santa brought my son a new Steam train 10874. We assembled it and put brand new 4xAAA (1.5V) batteries. The train works for 4-5 seconds and then stops. Connected it to the app and it shows batteries are down in 5sec. On next start it is the same. Changed 2 more sets of different batteries, but it is still the same. Any suggestions?

# Answer
Since this is entirely new set, getting in touch with LEGO Customer Support will be your best way of addressing this issue. They will be more than happy to help you.
> 8 votes

# Answer
Draining batteries in five seconds should be impossible. The batteries would go up in flames.

What’s possible is that you bought fake batteries that have practically no charge. Or you picked batteries that were in a drawer for the last 20 years. Or you put in batteries the wrong way round, which should be hard with AAA batteries.
> 1 votes

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Tags: duplo, battery
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# Question
Title: How many original LEGO wooden ducks are left?
I've been trying to learn about the Wooden Pull-Along Duck with Long Bill

The only one I can see is owned by the LEGO Group themselves and is kept in the LEGO House. Many were made in the 1930s and there should be a few still around, but I can't find any. Is there any public collection which has one? Or an auction in which one was sold?

# Answer
Answering the question in your bounty edit ("*I'm looking for any public case of an original wooden duck being owned or sold*"):

Here is a forum entry by someone in the USA who managed to buy one in 2016 from Denmark for 100$

This video is a review of the wooden duck, with the story of how it was acquired: "running a price of several thousand dollars".
> 4 votes

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Tags: history, vintage, wooden-toys
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# Question
Title: What is this strange and possibly old white 2x4 brick?
I've got 6 or 8 white 2x4 bricks. But they seem to be rather old as there is a "Pat. Pending" on it and also a "C5".

They also have one small hole on each of its sides (but none on top) and the interior is transparent.

Does anyone know from which set this comes?

# Answer
> 11 votes
This is Brick, Modified 2 x 4 with Wheels Holder, Trans-Clear Bottom. White colored version was included in 77 sets.

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Tags: part-identification
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title: Please identify yellow car-like set

text:
# Question
Title: Please identify yellow car-like set
I bought a bag of Lego. And one piece was not taken apart fully. Seems like a yellow car. Maybe from Technic series, but not sure. Could be older, like 2009-2014.

# Answer
> 5 votes
It is Cool Cruiser (5767) from 2011.

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Tags: set-identification
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title: Set Identification: 2017 set, 4 bags

text:
# Question
Title: Set Identification: 2017 set, 4 bags
Can anyone help identify which set these bags come from?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Based on the 60608 window shutter and the 8x8 plate in azure, this is set 11015 "Around the world".

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Tags: set-identification
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title: What color is this round plate?

text:
# Question
Title: What color is this round plate?
I got a bunch of used LEGO bricks from a friend. The bricks were made sometime between 2002 and 2016 when I was not playing with LEGO. I don’t know what set it came from and I can’t figure out what color it is. The square plate is “Dark Turquoise” based on the brick separator being available in that color. This is a darker version of “Dark Turquoise”.

Edited: Thanks for the help. This is a heavily but uniformly discolored blue brick. A chip taken out of it reveals a color of plastic much closer to blue under the surface.

Additional photos:

# Answer
> 6 votes
The part is called Plate, Round 2 x 2 with Axle Hole (x Shape) and is known to exist in sets in 13 colors (quite more are for sale though). Based on this list and the color photos of all known blue hues, I'd guess it is a blue (Bricklink, with the official LEGO palette "23 Bright Blue") one - maybe with quite extreme color variation caused by molding errors or white balance during photography: the dark turquoise is a lot darker here as over at Brickset as well. The release years of the sets it was available in (2005-2010) do indeed match the given timeframe.

Is the background a plain white sheet of paper? Calibrating the white balance of the image to that known value might bring the colors of the photo closer to reality.

Can you say for sure that it came from an official set and not from a custom order or Pick-a-Brick batch? That would help reduce the list of possible colors as well.

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Tags: part-identification, colour
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# Question
Title: Pieces Differ in Color/Shape from Diagrams and are Missing Lego Writing
Ferrari 488 GTE (42125) is my first Lego technic set and I’ve noticed that some pieces differ in the shade of the red/maybe even the type of plastic and also don’t match the diagrams and pictures from other folks’ assemblies posted on the Lego.com. Is this a counterfeit concern and, overall, does this happen a lot with Lego technic as it does seem to be damaging the look?

# Answer
> 10 votes
According to Bricklink, the 42125 should contain 4 pieces of Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular Double Split, which looks like the one the instructions show:

However, it has a mold variant\* called Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Perpendicular Double Split, Reinforced Sides, which looks like the one you have:

Based on this, I'd say your set is probably authentic, just got parts from a different manufacturing batch due to mold transition or surplus pieces.

The occasional color variance between pieces in the same official set that are supposed to be the same hue is known for a long time, that doesn't indicate a counterfeit item.

If you want to be sure, you can consider how you have acquired this particular set: on one end of the spectrum, buying directly from LEGO.com 100% nets you an authentic one. On the other end, buying for a tenth of the official price from a noname pop-up webshop will almost guaranteed to be a knockoff. Other retailers and private sales occupy some position between these two.

You can also look for LEGO markings, which should be present on most pieces. If your set was new and sealed in a box, and you've found LEGO marked pieces, you can rest assured it is an original one.

Or you can contact LEGO directly to ask if that mold variant has ever been put into an official set of this model.

\*Edit: a mold variant is a piece that has largely the same functionality, maybe with minor changes in possibilities or strength. See this article for several examples.

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Tags: technic, piece-information
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title: LEGO Plastic Bags #

text:
# Question
Title: LEGO Plastic Bags #
Please help to identify the LEGO Plastic Bags # (2,4-319g7,5-419g7,7-219g7) I used QR code reader and it gives me a digits of 6172090. Unfortunately I could not find any information. I bought this items only in LEGO plastic bags with no other info. from a recycle store. Thank you!

# Answer
> 5 votes
If the parts on the background are from the bags its probably:

70614-1: Lightning Jet

based on:

370223: Technic Brick 1X8 in Bright Blue. This is the only set released after 2017 with this part.

It also contains:

302126: Plate 2X3 in Black

428623: Roof Tile 1X3/25° in bright blue

# Answer
> -1 votes
Everything Lego does carries an SKU (Stock Keeping Unit).

If you look at most recent instructions, you have a list of parts with 7 digits numbers, that's the part SKU.

Similarly, each set has an SKU (labeled as "item number" next to the EAN / UPC barcode on the box), the box itself has an SKU (written smaller, generally) each instruction / pamphlet has one or more SKU (depending on version) and thus each bag in the box has it's own.

Also recent boxes have, next to the product barcode, a small white box, which appears to contain a lot numbers and production serial numbers which is readable as a datamatrix).

# Answer
> -1 votes
Bag 20 (scan with QR and the note is 6172090) is the spare pieces for the Harry Potter collection (with hedwig standing on a stack of books). It's so you can make the scarf whichever house colour you want.

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Tags: part-identification, set-identification, lego-group, set-numbering
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title: Help identify grey animal (?)

text:
# Question
Title: Help identify grey animal (?)
So I have this half assembled grey piece. My guess would be an animal, maybe from Ninjago series, or AT walker from Star Wars, but unlikely.

Timeline maybe from 2015 upwards. Google photo search failed to be of help.

# Answer
> 5 votes
It is Erumpent creature from LEGO® Fantastic Beasts™ Newt's Case of Magical Creatures (75952) set.

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Tags: set-identification
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# Question
Title: Identify parts I found in some kind of Star Wars set
I found a ziplock bag with these parts in a drawer. I don’t know if it’s a full set or part of another set, but I see a lightsaber handle and a ship control panel in there.

# Answer
> 7 votes
A search for sets containing both 30387 brick 1 x 4 with hinges at both sides and 2 x 4 tile in yellow quickly yields set 75172 "Y-wing starfighter":

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Tags: set-identification
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# Question
Title: Need help identifying two unopened bags of Lego
We were cleaning out a drawer in my son’s room, and we found two unopened bags of Lego. We don’t know what sets they are from. Bag 2 has a brown oar and a black bat (like the animal)in it. Can anyone help us figure it out? Thank you so much!

# Answer
> 3 votes
Based on the parts

Black Bar 1.2L with Top Stud and 4 Bar Arms Up (Palm Tree Top)

and

Light Bluish Gray Wedge 4 x 4 (Slope 18 Corner)

these bags can only come from

40597 Scary Pirate Island

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Tags: set-identification, bag-build
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# Question
Title: Bugatti Chiron built and everything worked - now pistons don’t move. What could cause this?
Built the Bugatti Chiron and initially everything worked. With the shifter in "drive" the wheels turned and the pistons moved, in neutral the wheels moved but the pistons didn’t. The reverse gear also moved the pistons. The paddles worked and changed the gearing. But now the wheels still move together, but the pistons don't move.

# Answer
> 1 votes
Based on the comments (the rotation of the wheels is confirmedly transferred via the DNR selector and the transmission), it seems likely (and is basically the only possibility left) that the connection between the transmission and the engine is at fault. To check this, take a look at the black axle connector signified by the uppermost white arrow at this step:

If it came loose, there might not be a mechanical link that would transfer motion to the pistons.

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Tags: technic, gearing
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# Question
Title: How to identify which Millennium Falcon set I have?
I bought a bundle of Lego from someone. She said that included among it was a Millennium Falcon. I have separated a lot of grey and obvious parts, but now I have discovered that I don't actually know what set it is. How can I find out?

# Answer
> 3 votes
According to Brick Land the Millennium Falcon has appeared in over 25 sets. So there are several different possibilities. You can look up the sets on a page such as BrickLink to see which parts are in which sets. Then you can find the rare / unique bricks and compare with the bricks you have.

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Tags: set-identification, star-wars
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# Question
Title: Type of Battery connector of Spike Prime & essential Hub
What is the type of the 3-pin connector used to connect the Spike Prime Hub or Spike Essential Hub to the rechargeable battery? It consists of 3 pins and has a male and a female side.

I have issues in charging the battery of the Spike essential Hub and want to check if the problem is with the battery or with the Hub.

# Answer
If you're talking about this connector:

then I don't think there's a name for it - besides "3 pin connector (male/female)".

If you want to diagnose it, just attach pins, hooks or clamps to the appropriate contacts, as jncraton did here.
> 0 votes

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Tags: repair, electronics, battery, spike-prime
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title: Repairing a 12V switch motor

text:
# Question
Title: Repairing a 12V switch motor
My son caused me to dig up my old 12V LEGO trains. Surprisingly they mostly work, except for one part \- Electric, Train 12V Remote Control Switch Motor 4 x 8 x 1 2/3:

This is the motor that drives the switches and railway crossings. I have 2 broken ones (and 2 working ones). One of them vibrates and buzzes a little but does not flip. The other one is completely dead and the ohmmeter gives a broken connection.

Does anyone have anything that might me help fix them? Photos about how to open them, etc...

# Answer
Just repaired one...

https://youtu.be/XGyY8KtDnfA

Pry it open by using a precision knife on the lip of the bottom, using care to not damage the case:

Inside you'll find a coil of copper wire. Check that the ends of the wire are properly soldered to the terminals, and re-solder if needed.
> 3 votes

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Tags: motor, trains, repair, 12v
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title: Identify part for a build aggg stuck

text:
# Question
Title: Identify part for a build aggg stuck
The part is shown in the picture. Fingers crossed.

# Answer
That's part 2436 "Bracket 1x2 - 1x4".
> 4 votes

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Tags: part-identification
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# Question
Title: Help me identify set so we can get instructions
We found this LEGO set, but we don’t have instructions or set number. Is there any way to identify what is the set?

# Answer
The numbered bags I immediately recognise as part of the BOOST Creative ToolBox The unnumbered bag also seems to contain parts of the Boost set in addition to a couple of elements that got mixed in between I think.

I think the Boost set was a very interesting robotics set that unfortunately was underappreciated and hence phased out way too soon.
> 4 votes

# Answer
This is 17101 "BOOST creative toolbox".

This is based on some parts in bag 8:

Bag 7 has to be the tank treads, bag 9 contains the plate for the basketball hoop, bag 10 contains the trans-orange half-sphere.

The set also has two big solid 54mm x 30mm wheels, which are visible in the unmarked, closed-with-a-pink-hair-tie bag at the top.This leads me to think that the entire set has been repackaged (which befuddles me, since the original bags are flimsy as heck once torn open)
> 2 votes

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Tags: set-identification
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# Question
Title: Identifying two unopened bags with earth-toned pieces
I have two bags that I need some help identifying what set they are from. I bought a mixed lot without books and seem to be a few different sets so far. Would love some assistance with these two please.

# Answer
> 5 votes
The first bag can only be from 76208 The Goat Boat:

Since the piece 18910 Panel 3 x 4 x 3 Curved with Double Clip Hinge has only ever appeared in Dark Tan color in this single set.

The Dark Tan Door, Frame 1 x 4 x 6 with 2 Holes on Top and Bottom only reinforces this.

But the second bag is from a different set, found by searching for the parts

* Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Cut Corner (at least 2)
* Plate, Modified 2 x 2 with Bar Frame Octagonal, Reinforced, Completely Round Studs
* Hinge Cylinder 1 x 2 Locking with 1 Finger and Axle Hole on Ends with Slots (at least 5)

This search gives two results, but the presence of the minifigure Tobias Beckett, specifically the back of his jacket  confirms it as 75215 Cloud-Rider Swoop Bikes

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Tags: set-identification
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# Question
Title: Millenium Falcon 75192 Disassembled Storage
I recently bought the Millenium Falcon 75192 and built it. I would now like to take it apart and store it. I don't have a LEGO collection, and would like to store it in a way that I won't have to dig for pieces for hours when I want to build the set again. What would be the most compact and best organised way of storing this set disassembled?

# Answer
The 75192 Millenium Falcon has 7513 Parts (as I'm sure you know) and so you're going to need to a lot of space to be able to store it. While there are lots of great databases for LEGO parts and sets there isn't anybody who organized parts lists based on the bags in the instructions. So you're going to be dealing with all of the parts from all of the bags during disassembly and when you get back to reassembly. Given all of that, I would take it apart gradually and as I went I'd:

1. Sort the parts by color and shape. It is good to have lots of plastic bins or cutlery trays to keep it sorted.
2. Bag up the minifigs. They're mostly unique and you might as well keep them assembled in a bag instead of risking losing some of the parts.
3. Bag up the parts. You will need ziplock or clear plastic bags in different sizes. In some cases you will have so many of one part in one color that it is easy to just put it all in one bag. In other cases you will have only a few and so you might put all of the different colors of one part in a bag. Or you might put all of the bricks in one bag to save bags if there aren't many different bricks.
4. Consider printing out the part list from bricklink and verify that you aren't missing any parts.
5. Box up the bags and label the box.

I've had great luck with getting all sorts of different sized ziplock backs from Amazon or Uline. One thing to keep in mind is that you don't need them to be air-tight or water-tight. Using a hole-punch to make a hole in the plastic bag will allow air to go in and out and so it doesn't form a balloon in your box.
> 6 votes

# Answer
The most compact way would be to disassemble the set only partially, to eliminate all empty volume but keep the parts connected, as a bunch of loose parts take up more volume as the same parts assembled. Sure, that way you will either miss out on the whole building process of will have to start by completely disassembling everything the next time.

Or if you have a LOT of time: to pick everything apart, sort the pieces, then connect the similar pieces into solid blocks for compact storage:
> 5 votes

# Answer
First of all, sort by form or size, not color. You can sort by color, but it is only suitable if you have large amount of exactly same part (no variations) and can keep them together or if they are all different in size but quite large. Otherwise, it will be a nightmare to search for that one small part in a stack of same colored elements.

Although, I have not disassembled sets with *this* much parts, but my largest Technic sets are being diassembled into 5 portions. I have never had a problem assembling them back.

Here it works for me:

1. First portion contains all smallest bits: all Technic pins and anything else shorter than 3 studs;
2. Next portion is dedicated for parts about up to 5-6 studs long (depends on set's content);
3. Then I collect something about up to 9-10 studs long;
4. Everything larger or bulk goes into here;
5. Any delicate, minifigs, larger Trans-\* colored, printed or stickered elements no matter what size they are go here. Some may then be packaged individually.

I would then advise storing each portion in ziplock bags. One or another portion could be quite big and won't fit into one ziplock, so just split them. If you used size as as sorting method you won't even need to label ziplock bags as it will be easy to distinguish just by looking at the size of packaged elements.
> 4 votes

# Answer
Definitely recommend organizing by type and not worrying about color. For same size plates, offset stacking is a great idea. I just finished disassembling 75192 UCS Millennium Falcon. I picked up four tray organizers to help with the sorting. I originally set out to back-bag the whole thing, starting with bag 17, but that approach is very difficult. Now that I have some general organization, I plan to start bagging everything up, beginning with bag one. This would be much easier if I had an inventory of each bag. I wish someone smarter than me would get that website going. I would contribute! If I can easily generate a spreadsheet for 75192 of inventory by bag, I'll try to post it to Bricklink or somewhere.
> 1 votes

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Tags: disassembly, storage
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title: Why doesn't this Technic bar fit?

text:
# Question
Title: Why doesn't this Technic bar fit?
Why doesn't this yellow Technic bar fit?

# Answer
It will fit, see photo. But you have to keep in mind that the distance between the two horizontal beams is not 4 units but will be sqrt(6^2 - 4 ^2) (Pythagoras), or ~4.47 units (the length is the distance between the holes, so 5 holes is the length of 4 units).

In the photo you will see that there is a gap of around half a stud between the brown 2x4 bricks.
> 14 votes

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Tags: technic, building
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title: Trying to identify pieces from an image

text:
# Question
Title: Trying to identify pieces from an image
I'm trying to recreate this MOC but I'm having trouble identifying some parts just from the image.

1.) Can you tell me what part the 3 rear legs on each side are?

2.) What are the brown and beige pieces that connect at the end of its claws? The brown one looks like it has a clip on the bottom and the beige piece looks like it has a bar handle but I'm not too sure.

I figured out all other pieces but I'm not 100% sure about what is used for the butt so I would be happy to get some ideas, but it's not necessary.

# Answer
The back legs consist of the following pieces:

As for the front claw connectors, I'm not 100% sure, but it could be 25893 Plate, Round 1 x 1 with Bar Handle on Short Stem. I don't know if that piece is available in that color, though.
> 4 votes

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Tags: part-identification
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# Question
Title: Is there a good alternative for Lego elastic/rubber bands?
My son has got a few sets which include elastic bands, for suspension etc. however these seem to break and/or get lost. Is there a good alternative? Or is it best to just order them from Bricklink?

# Answer
> 2 votes
Seeing that the bands are quite cheap on Bricklink, the best option is to buy original ones. They are guaranteed to have the proper dimensions, elasticity and friction. Maybe buy more to have spares and avoid paying for shipping multiple times when they break.

But in the end they are just plain rubber bands, so for most applications you can use any elastic you might happen to have at hand, as long as the properties are in the same ballpark.

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Tags: replacement-parts, rubber-bands
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# Question
Title: Do any programs exist that allow you to build your own LEGO manuals?
What I'm looking for is a program or website/webapp that allows "virtual" building of a LEGO model, step-by-step, and allows you to save these single steps to get a complete building plan in the end. Like the original manuals, this should include:

* An image of each step
* A list of pieces needed for each step
* Optionally "detailed" views for very tricky parts
* Possibility to download/save or link to a plan (as PDF, for example)

# Answer
> 57 votes
The Lego Digital Designer is ideal for this job. Avalible for Mac and PC it allows you to build models from scatch, order them, and get them delivered. Or, if you've got the bits already it can make instructions for you. It has a range of technic items (see image below).

Importing a model will also enable you to view the part number and details which could be very useful for finding out exact pieces/parts.

# Answer
> 56 votes
I tried LDD at first, but frankly, the order in which it adds the parts is often quite nonsensical:

I also tried a bunch of other tools, some of which are mentioned elsewhere on this page, with mixed results.

So what I ended up using, with great success, is LIC (LEGO Instruction Creator). It's beta, somewhat buggy, and for all I can see it was written by just one AFOL in his spare time, and the development has stopped. But it's very easy to use, quite versatile, and I am more than happy with the results. Here's what it looks like:

(Scroll down for sample images of the final instructions for two models.)

Basically, it's a WYSIWYG editor that takes an LDraw model as input. And a surprisingly powerful one at that. Some of the things you can do with it are:

* switch between vertical and horizontal layout;
* add, delete, or merge steps;
* move individual parts between the steps;
* move everything around the page freely;
* rotate individual parts or the entire model, automatically adding rotation icons if you wish;
* "displace parts with arrows" (just like in TLG's instructions, where the part has not been connected to the model yet, but an arrow shows where it's supposed to go and which way around) — this can be done in any direction, up or down, left and right, top and bottom, and for several parts, too;
* make a template for your instructions (things like fonts, font sizes, background color, and so on and so forth), so instructions for different models have the same, your very personal, look and feel;
* add text labels such as part counts, your name, really anything.

LIC will also automatically create a parts list as the last page of the instructions. Allegedly it can also export to PDF, and integrates with POV-Ray for higher-quality images, but sadly neither of these options works for me (as I said, there are some bugs). Might work on a different machine, though, or a more recent OS. I don't know.

So anyway, my complete toolchain looks as follows:

1. MLCAD/LDraw for modelling. It has a steep learning curve, but once you have figured it out, it's a breeze.
2. Then I feed the LDraw model into LIC, which generates a draft of the instructions and allows me to fine-tune them interactively.
3. Then I save the instructions as images and do some final retouching in GIMP \- moving stuff around a couple pixels, adding photos, stitching pages together, etc.

The final result can be seen on my Brickshelf. Here are just two sample pages:

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All tools I mentioned are free and available for download. Follow the links.

# Answer
> 17 votes
See AlternativeTo's list.

* LEGO Digital Designer (official; most popular)
* LDraw (2nd most popular)
* Konstruktor
* MLCAD

You can do all this in Google Sketchup with SketchyPhysics simulation, of course! And the pieces are easier to fit in, and GS is generally more flexible and easier to use, unlike LDD. The disadvantage is, you don't get LDD's Building Instruction Generation capabilities.

(You can download bricks for Sketchup from the online gallery. For example, LEGO Mindstorms NXT parts.)

# Answer
> 12 votes
## LPub

LPub is a program that allows you to produces step by step instructions for models. It's an alternative to the built-in Building Guide Mode featured in Lego Digital Designer which produces a set of instructions automatically (although not necessarily in the most logical way).

LDD model instructions can be created in LPub provided that the parts in the LDD model are also available in the LDraw library (cf. this related question). An `.lxf` file can be opened in LDD and exported as an LDraw file (`.ldr`). The LDraw file you exported using LDD can be opened in LPub.

# Answer
> 10 votes
You should look at LPub4. This is an OpenSource (GPL) tool that can create high quality instructions from LDRAW compatible files. It runs on Windows and OS X and with my patches on Linux as well.

Note that the LDD license states "Any commercial use of the software is strictly prohibited" so keep that in mind if you are intending to do anything commercial with your instructions (such as selling them). GPL software such as LPub can be used commercially, though you do need to make sure to understand the license obligations it carries

# Answer
> 8 votes
BrickLink Studio is a design tool to build models (like LEGO Digital Designer) and includes the ability to create instructions as PDF or images. Therefore the models are divided into steps via the modeller or in the step builder (part of the instruction maker).

* Steps can be reordered
* Parts can be moved between steps
* Parts can be grouped into submodels with their own steps (these can be converted to so-called "callouts" so that they don't appear in the normal steps ordering but in a separate box within another step)
* Instruction pages are generated automatically from steps
* View/angle/zoom of model can be changed on a per page basis (kept until the next view change)
* Elements on pages can be moved
* Brick insertions can be visualized by displacing the brick with an arrow indicator in all directions
* Manual insertion of elements like images, rotaion symbol, free-text fields ...
* For some layout elements presets can be defined and saved into a configuration
* Parts list

# Answer
> 6 votes
If you want to pay some money for professional software, I'm pretty sure that SolidWorks has a complete set of LEGO parts that you can use.

http://www.solidworks.com/

# Answer
> 5 votes
The LDRAW package contains a tool called LPUB.

If you design your LDR files with various "step" instructions, you can have it generate a PDF with one page per step.

Some tools, such as BrickSmith (http://bricksmith.sourceforge.net) present steps in a hierarchical fashion so that you can step through them. Others, such as MLCAD, show them as breaks between the various steps.

# Answer
> 0 votes
Bricklink Studio. It generates good instructions like these: It's also very straightforward to use:

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Tags: software, instructions
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# Question
Title: Need total content in Aragog's Lair, set 75950
Looking for info about Aragogs Lair, set #75950. I'm looking for the list of total parts for this set. I have 3 unopened bags with no numbers on them but they go to this playset - that's all I been able to find out. I was hoping to find out of all the total bags in the set and all contents in the box.

# Answer
Both Bricklink and Rebrickable have lists of parts included within this set. I am not sure how you have identified which set your elements belong to, but based on this YouTube video (at 00:51) three bags are all this set has inside.
> 1 votes

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Tags: sets
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# Question
Title: Can anyone identify this trans-neon green piece?
I've got two of these little fellas in my mixed box circa 2000. No markings and no ideas!

*Dish 2 x 2 Inverted for reference.*

\*edit, added *Antenna Whip 8H* for another reference

# Answer
> 9 votes
This appears to not be a Lego piece at all, but rather part T250 of the 509 Odyssey Transporter marble elevator made by Toto Toys.

See also this eBay listing for spare parts for the elevator, including this piece.

Also included in part list:

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Tags: part-identification, clone-brands
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# Question
Title: Which sets contain the Harry Potter Phoenix Fawkes mini figure?
The set 76402 "Dumbledores office" contains an underwhelming baby phoenix "Fawkes" figure which left me wondering if there are more beautiful phoenix minifigures available.

I found 71028-02 Dumbledore with Fawkes. Is this Fawkes exclusive in 71028 or does it appear in other sets as well?

# Answer
> 3 votes
Looking at the parts list for set 76402, I believe you're referring to part 41835pb01 "Small Bird with Black Eyes and Bright Light Orange Beak Pattern":

At the time of this writing, that part appears in 24 sets in white, in 18 sets in blue (rather "dark azure"), and in 8 sets in red.

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The collectible minifig you refer to is set solhp2-2. It contains part bb1155pb01 "Phoenix with Black Beak and Bright Light Orange Face and Chest Pattern (HP Fawkes)":

This appears in two sets: the aforementioned collectible minifig and set 76394 "Fawkes, Dumbledore’s Phoenix":

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Tags: part-identification, minifigures
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# Question
Title: DUPLO cargo train 10875 blue action brick has no effect
I bought my daughter Cargo Train 10875 and it all works OK with one exception—the blue action brick has no effect. The other action bricks all have some noticeable effect.

I asked LEGO to send me a replacement blue action brick, and they did, but the new brick doesn't have any effect either.

Has anyone else had this problem? I'm wondering if the train itself is defective.

# Answer
It turns out the locomotive unit itself must have been faulty. I returned the entire set for a full refund and ordered a new one, and the locomotive from the new set performs the expected action when it passes over the blue brick.

I’m glad I went to the effort because the action triggered by the blue brick is probably the most interesting of all of them.
> 1 votes

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Tags: trains, duplo, sensor-colour
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title: i cant find that and i need help :((

text:
# Question
Title: i cant find that and i need help :((
mảnh cần tìm là cái được khoanh đỏ như trong hình.mong được các bạn giúp đỡ tìm và nơi mua chúng

# Answer
That is Wedge, Plate 2 x 2 Pentagonal with Center Stud and 1 x 1/2 Raised Tab on Top (27928).

However, BrickLink does not show that it has been released in that color. From the little bit of the image shown I guess that it is from a render instead of a physical model and that the designer chose a part and color combination that might not exist.
> 2 votes

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Tags: part-identification
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# Question
Title: Lego with hollow posts underneath - dates?
When did TLG change the small posts on the underside of the modern bricks and plates , eg 1x6 and 1x4, to hollow ones?

# Answer
I can confirm that some bricks have hollow posts. I ran across this in attempting to answer a "how much does a brick weigh" question. What I thought was a homogenous batch of bricks turned out to have a few with hollow posts. The bricks were all purchased new in the last three years.

From a "material cost productivity" standpoint, it will be in TLG's best interest to migrate to the hollow posts since parts from these molds will require less material to serve the same function (but not immediately). An expedient time to do this would be when a mold is at end of life requires replacement. So, I would expect to see significant variation continue for years to come. The balance point is the cost of replacing a single mold with the reduction in processed material costs over the expected remaining life of the mold. So the older the mold is the less cost effective it is to replace prematurely, but the newer one represents less time in service to amortize the mold over fewer piece parts... both of these things mean that the replacement will likely be when the mold normally reaches end of life. Since the useful life is very long, it is more likely that we are seeing parts from line or factory expansions.
> 2 votes

# Answer
Answering the question tl:dr style: **Around the 90's**.

Long story, quote from another user:

> I recall having read somewhere that LEGO didn't replace all the molds in one go during the 90's. LEGO kept using the old molds until they were worn out. This meant that both solid and hollow tube bricks and plates were present in sets during that time, sometimes even in the same set.

This is an example of the main difference between plates:

.
> 1 votes

# Answer
I’m going through a Lego lot from the '90s (around '91 to '95) and there are some pieces that have a hollow bottom and some that have a solid bottom. On the other hand, I think the solid bottom was around in the early 2000s too. It just really comes down to the fact that there are many different Lego factories and they needed to make another mould of the exact same piece at different times because it’s being used more frequently. After they update the piece, in this case to having a hollow bottom, but sometimes they keep the old mould because it still works. I have gotten these sets and some colours had solid bottom and some didn’t in different colours so I imagine that in that factory one machine with the newer mould was making that piece in that one colour and the older mould was making it in the different colour. Even more annoying in that sealed set that I mentioned, there was even one colour with some pieces with hollow bottom and solid bottom but the set that I’m talking about is from 2003 and it’s not plates that I’m talking about but bricks. But if the solid bottom did not make it to the early 2000s then I would say the hollow bottom came out around maybe '94-'95 and probably did not retire the old mould until they needed to replace it with the updated version. But also one other thing too is if the piece was around early 2000s they might’ve kept the old mould in storage instead of destroying it in case they needed it if, I don’t know, it was busier that year, and they needed to take it out of storage or the other mould was down but it’s best to check if you see anyone opening a sealed set of the set that you’re getting pieces to it and see what mould variation is shown in the video on the set.
> 0 votes

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Tags: history, manufacturing
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# Question
Title: Is it possible to angle the wheels on Speed Champions?
I have got quite a few Speed Champions sets and I like building MOCs to photograph them in. However, I feel like the photos would look more dynamic if I could angle the front wheels, to look like some steering lock has been applied.

These sets mostly use a Technic 1L axle pin, but can you get an angled equivalent? Even if it doesn’t allow for the wheel to rotate.

# Answer
For your photography use case, it may not be necessary to attach the wheels. Simply remove the Technic pin and position the wheel as desired. Here's a quick example:
> 3 votes

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Tags: building, vehicle, wheel
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title: Xbox to Robot Inventor?

text:
# Question
Title: Xbox to Robot Inventor?
Is it possible to connect an Xbox controller directly to the Lego Robot Inventor(51515) intelligent brick?

# Answer
> 2 votes
In 2024, Pybricks added the ability to connect an XBox controller directly to hubs that are running the 3rd-party Pybricks firmware. This works with MINDSTORMS Robot Inventor, SPIKE Prime, SPIKE Essential and the 4-port Technic hub.

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Tags: compatibility, remote-control, bluetooth, robot-inventor
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# Question
Title: "Heads up! Could not open project" error message when opening project
When I try to open my project it gives me an error saying "Heads up! Could not open project". Could you please help me? Let me know if you want me to share the file.

We were working on the file, and suddenly after saving we were not able to open it again.

# Answer
> 4 votes
This is a generic error message, so everyone that gets the error won't have the same problem. However, using the methods described below could help find other problems as well.

The project files for the MINDSTORMS programming software are just ZIP files and can be opened with standard ZIP file tools. For Scratch-based software like EV3 Classroom, this file contains 3 files, one of which is `scratch.sb3`. The `scratch.sb3` file is another ZIP file and can be extracted as well. Inside of the `scratch.sb3` are two files, one of which is `project.json`. This is the actual project code file.

This file contains minified JSON that is hard to read, but modern code editors like Visual Studio Code contain tools to automatically format the file in a more readable way. Once this is done, an experienced coder can use their intuition to look for anomalies in the file.

The JSON file contains a top-level object with 4 sections, `"targets"`, `"monitors"`, `"extensions"` and `"meta"`. The contents of these sections will depend on the project, but in general, `"targets"` contains an array of two objects, one where `"isStage": true` and one where `"isStage": false`. The former looks to be default Scratch stuff that isn't used and the latter is the bulk of the project file. The `"monitor"` section will be empty unless you have monitors (variable value watchers) set up in your project. The `"extensions"` section contains a list of the different block types used in your project and `"meta"` is some more default Scratch stuff.

I was able to find the issue with the file provided by noticing that in the `"targets"` section, there were two `"isStage": true` and two `"isStage": false` objects. So it appears that somehow two versions of the project got saved in the same file. I was able to recover the projects by making two copies of the original file. In one, I deleted the second two targets and in the other I deleted the first two targets. I used a diff tool to compare the contents of these and they similar but not identical, so I deduced that they are two versions of the same project. I then updated the ZIP files with the modified `project.json` and was able to open the projects in the EV3 Classroom software.

Another common issue is for variables or lists to contain `null` which is not allowed. They might look something like this in the `project.json` file (tip: use a code formatting tool to make it easier to read):

```

            "variables": {
                ",TgC](u;@i@rnsU@,};W": [
                    "MyVariable",
                    null
                ]
            },
            "lists": {
                "w(x#TbXK8~v6wedm-V9+": [
                    "MyList",
                    [
                        null,
                        "thing",
                        "thing"
                    ]
                ]
            },

```

To fix the `null` variable or list value issue, change `null` to `0` (or some other value that is valid).

```

            "variables": {
                ",TgC](u;@i@rnsU@,};W": [
                    "MyVariable",
                    0
                ]
            },
            "lists": {
                "w(x#TbXK8~v6wedm-V9+": [
                    "MyList",
                    [
                        "thing",
                        "thing",
                        "thing"
                    ]
                ]
            },

```

# Answer
> 3 votes
I figured out how to fix my .lmsp file for my particular case, and I wanted to share here in case it helps some of you.

So according to the previous posts, both the .lmsp file and the scratch.sb3 file (inside the .lmsp file once you changed the extension to .zip) are actually zip archives.

The issue was in the project.json file inside scratch.sb3\[.zip\]. As it turns out, if you run the program while your EV3 is connected to your computer (via USB in my case), it will try to save the historic values in your variables back to project.json after the program has finished running. In my case, I had a variable that was constantly being updated in the main loop, so I ended up with tens of thousands of lines of values in project.json. I suspect this is causing some overflow the next time the software tries to reload the project (I am using Mindstorms Education EV3 Classroom).

All I did was the following:

1. Make a copy of your corrupt \[project\].lmsp as a backup
2. Rename \[project\].lmsp to \[project\].lmsp.zip
3. Extract \[project\].lmsp.zip
4. Rename scratch.sb3 to scratch.sb3.zip
5. Extract scratch.sb3.zip
6. Open project.json in a JSON-friendly editor that will format the JSON into readable format.
7. See if you see really bloated variables with lots of data in it. If you do, delete all those rows of data and save the file. Note there might be several variables that need "cleaning up".
8. Replace the project.json in scratch.sb3.zip with the "cleaned up" project.json.
9. Rename scratch.sb3.zip back to scratch.sb3
10. Replace scratch.sb3 in \[project\].lmsp.zip with the newer scratch.sb3
11. Rename \[project\].lmsp.zip back to \[project\].lmsp
12. Try to open the project again

Hope this works for you too. I suppose the moral of the story is: since the Lego software does not have an in-app debugger, don't run the program using the "Run" button in the Mindstorms software, just use the software to download, and then run the program from the EV3 directly. If this doesn't work, disconnect the USB cable when you run your program.

Cheers, TechnicAddict

# Answer
> 2 votes
I have created a small Lego App Tool kit to fix the problem, until LEGO service team does -\> https://legoapptools.azurewebsites.net

# Answer
> 2 votes
How to get an image of a corrupted Spike Prime `.llsp` file or a corrupted Ev3 Classroom `.lmsp` file.

If you suddenly get the dreaded message of “Heads up! Could not open project” don’t lose hope, there is a way - unfortunately it will still require redoing the code.

This method shows you have to get an image of your entire code so that you can copy from it:

1. Make a copy of your corrupted file. Just in case.
2. Rename your file and change the file extension to `.zip`
3. Click `yes` on the pop up that warns you about changing the name
4. Open the zipped folder (you can extract the files but it isn’t necessary)
5. Open the `.svg` file in a browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge)
6. Open a new spike prime project and copy your program from your image **OR** use the ‘Windows Snipping Tool’ or ‘Snip & Sketch’ tool to take a screen grab of your program then you can save it as a jpeg and use it later.

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Tags: ev3, programming, software, scratch
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title: Please help me identify this set

text:
# Question
Title: Please help me identify this set
I've got sealed bag №1. Please help me identify this set.

# Answer
Oh, Man! I spent my whole day trying to identify this damn sealed bag! The set is 76023: The Tumbler
> 2 votes

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Tags: set-identification
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title: Help identifying this blue part

text:
# Question
Title: Help identifying this blue part
I have scanned through Bricklink and I cannot find this part. I can not determine what to even call it. It has LEGO on the stud tops. I am assuming it's from a old set that has been discontinued. Any help will be highly appreciated.

# Answer
I used Google Images to identify it.
> 6 votes

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Tags: part-identification
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