General Part Discussion

[SNIPE]

On 1/14/2025 at 12:02 AM, shroomzofdoom said:

Is there something going on with pick a brick on lego.com? 

I had an order back in November for some of the newer parts and it was cancelled without notice this week.

When I checked none of the parts I ordered are offered on the US site and they're down to only 293 Technic parts.

Did I miss a memo?

EDIT: It looks like they only have bestseller parts and no more standard?

I ordered on November 30th and am still waiting for my parts, it says "in warehouse" still and all Lego said when I rang them is to "wait longer" it's pathetic.

Edited January 17 by SNIPE

[shroomzofdoom]

2 minutes ago, SNIPE said:

i ordered on nov 30th and am still waiting for my parts, it says "in warehouse" still and all lego said when I rang them is to "wait longer" it's pathetic

Nov 9 here & same when I called. My order appeared back in my history but I still see only bestseller parts. 🤷‍♂️

[Aurorasaurus]

Does anyone have an explanation for why printed parts are classified as new parts by some people/systems? To me it doesnt make sense, its the same part, just with a print, its the same as a pre-applied sticker to me. Why the big distinction, is what I'm really trying to ask.

[astyanax]

5 hours ago, shroomzofdoom said:

It looks like they only have bestseller parts and no more standard?

https://www.newelementary.com/2024/12/pick-brick-standard-service-paused-in.html

[shroomzofdoom]

37 minutes ago, astyanax said:

https://www.newelementary.com/2024/12/pick-brick-standard-service-paused-in.html

That's the one. Thanks for sharing! I really did search for it. :-(

[R0Sch]

13 hours ago, Aurorasaurus said:

Does anyone have an explanation for why printed parts are classified as new parts by some people/systems? To me it doesnt make sense, its the same part, just with a print, its the same as a pre-applied sticker to me. Why the big distinction, is what I'm really trying to ask.

Because they receive a new element ID and part nr. and get treated as such by Studio and database admins too, whereas recolours only get a new element ID but the part nr. remains the same.

[Aurorasaurus]

2 hours ago, R0Sch said:

Because they receive a new element ID and part nr. and get treated as such by Studio and database admins too,

Sorry, I was trying to ask why that happens. I understand that most people will call them new elements if the databases call the new elements. But why do the databases call them as such? Maybe they get new element ID's with lego because they take up an element place in their warehouses?

[SNIPE]

12 minutes ago, Aurorasaurus said:

Sorry, I was trying to ask why that happens. I understand that most people will call them new elements if the databases call the new elements. But why do the databases call them as such? Maybe they get new element ID's with lego because they take up an element place in their warehouses?

Elements are including where as parts are just about the shaping itself.

It's a little more advanced than that but that's the basic jist.

so if we get for example a 3024 in a new color, its still going to have the same part ID and part name but it will have a new element ID (usually 6 digits) which distinguishes that part specifically in that color.

Edited January 14 by SNIPE

[bonox]

23 hours ago, Aurorasaurus said:

Sorry, I was trying to ask why that happens. I understand that most people will call them new elements if the databases call the new elements. But why do the databases call them as such? Maybe they get new element ID's with lego because they take up an element place in their warehouses?

perhaps it's simpler if you understand that databases don't call out new elements, people call out new elements. One of the things people like is to be able to put sets together. If you have a set that requires a certain printed part, then you need to uniquely identify that part rather than just the underlying part shape/colour without the print. That applies whether you're TLG or a seller on a 3rd party site.

Edited January 15 by bonox

[aeh5040]

These wheels look interesting 

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Can someone with the part 2994 and part 42716 check if the former fits into the latter? Part 2994 is no longer in production so I don't have it around.

[Zerobricks]

3 minutes ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Can someone with the part 2994 and part 42716 check if the former fits into the latter? Part 2994 is no longer in production so I don't have it around.

Yes!

[Ngoc Nguyen]

3 minutes ago, Zerobricks said:

Yes!

Thanks a lot!

[Mantarri]

To those who have been waiting for standard parts to be available again on PAB, it looks like LEGO might be removing the idea of "standard" parts; there's no longer the blurb explaining the difference between standard and bestseller parts, or that standard parts are not available, but I'm seeing parts that used to be exclusive to standard available (though there are some absences, e.g. manual pneumatic pump, pneumatic cylinders, etc.) They display the "bestseller" badge, but I've ordered them in the past and they were definitely not "bestseller" parts (e.g. pneumatic pump, changeover catch parts, etc.) This is on the Canadian LEGO site, though it looks to be the same on the US site (just can't confirm differences on sites besides Canada as I don't have a history of using them.)

Edited January 26 by Mantarri

[Cardboy]

On 1/26/2025 at 12:08 AM, Mantarri said:

To those who have been waiting for standard parts to be available again on PAB, it looks like LEGO might be removing the idea of "standard" parts; there's no longer the blurb explaining the difference between standard and bestseller parts, or that standard parts are not available, but I'm seeing parts that used to be exclusive to standard available (though there are some absences, e.g. manual pneumatic pump, pneumatic cylinders, etc.) They display the "bestseller" badge, but I've ordered them in the past and they were definitely not "bestseller" parts (e.g. pneumatic pump, changeover catch parts, etc.) This is on the Canadian LEGO site, though it looks to be the same on the US site (just can't confirm differences on sites besides Canada as I don't have a history of using them.)

This has already happened on the Europe Pick a Brick there was a post on https://www.newelementary.com/  Back in November but I can't find it any more about the changes. For Europe at least they have expanded the warehousing in Poland and I think they have now finished moving all the parts from Denmark so there all in one place now. This part was missing before Christmas 6452854/4423 (new wishbone from the P1) but now is available.

[anyUser]

About delivery time for Part orders from Lego:

I placed an order for both Standard and Bestseller parts. Announced delevery time, if I remember correctly was some 6-7 weeks for Standard and 2 weeks for Bestsellers.
I contacted the Customer Service mid of december to ask for the shipment dates.

The Standard parts then arrived within a couple of days before christmas. For the Bestsellers parts however it took until mid of january.

[Stereo]

On 1/19/2025 at 4:37 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

Can someone with the part 2994 and part 42716 check if the former fits into the latter? Part 2994 is no longer in production so I don't have it around.

I missed the question when it got posted and I see it's had the straightforward answer, but for completeness, here are photos:

The wheels in question: 2994, 42716 + a 56145

2996 fits most of the way into either, but when they're both facing "down" it fits almost flush.

It's close enough that a tire mounted to the black wheel would be borderline touching a beam, if you used only the 2996 as a spacer.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

@Stereo Thanks a lot!

[2GodBDGlory]

On 1/9/2025 at 1:28 PM, R0Sch said:

Guess which company filed a patent on these parts?
 

Now we know where that yellow part is coming from!
(In red here:)

https://brickset.com/article/118591/lego-ideas-the-evolution-of-stem-revealed!

[TechnicRCRacer]

Looks like we get Dark Turquoise and Vibrant Coral axle joiners as well.

[R0Sch]

On 2/2/2025 at 2:03 AM, 2GodBDGlory said:

Now we know where that yellow part is coming from!
(In red here:)

Nice find and we get directly 20 pieces all at once.

[shroomzofdoom]

Just received my PAB Standard order from Nov 11, pretty much right at 3 months from Denmark to the US.

US PAB site still showing ~4500 total PAB parts, no standard. I guess they're still working on the logistics for the transition.

 

[gyenesvi]

Same here, I ordered on Nov 16, arrived today to Hungary. So it's not about the distance..

[Zerobricks]

Might be a weird question, but i was thinking which parts we could have retire that nobody would miss and their alternatives would actually improve the sets.

Here's a few examples.

I think we can retire the normal steered hub assemblies:

And replace them with Audi's hubs since most use cases actually require us to put in the ball pins anyway. Only exception might be 1:8 cars, but those need a new hub with larger brake discs anyway:

 

Second candidate is the frictionless 8 tooth gear, which was used for it's attended purpose only once in 42009:

 

Third, I would love to have the normal 28 tooth differential removed from current inventory, since it's weak and the 12 tooth gears can fall out very easy:

And have it replaced with either red or yellow version of the reinforced differenital assembly:

 

With the release of the studless version of the engine blocks and holders, I think we can safely retire the classis studded version of the engine block holder:

And finally, I really don't know why we still have this lever around:

 

What do you think? Any further ideas?

[gyenesvi]

1 hour ago, Zerobricks said:

I think we can retire the normal steered hub assemblies: And replace them with Audi's hubs since most use cases actually require us to put in the ball pins anyway.

The Audi hub cannot be used in live axles, because of the balls built in that cannot be swapped for normal pins. If there were small (L shaped) parts with towball sockets, it would be easier to replace the old hub with the Audi one. But we are not there yet.

On a similar note, it would be nice to see a revised version of the planetary hub in the form factor of the Audi hub. It would have more clearance around the steering links, and could be a swap-in replacement for the Audi hub in models.

1 hour ago, Zerobricks said:

Third, I would love to have the normal 28 tooth differential removed from current inventory, since it's weak and the 12 tooth gears can fall out very easy: And have it replaced with either red or yellow version of the reinforced differenital assembly:

The grey one is easier to lock (also its radius is slightly smaller, needs less clearance), and the ratio is slightly different. But those are marginal differences.

1 hour ago, Zerobricks said:

And finally, I really don't know why we still have this lever around:

That one is actually quite useful still when you need that half stud extra spacer, because in many colors a half stud bush does not exist. Also, that 1 stud end feels to hold more stable than a thin version, even though half of it does not have an axle hole. I actually don't get why that is the case. It would be even more useful with a complete axle-hole end.

Edited February 11 by gyenesvi