Aqualize

I'm very unsure if the will make a (combine) harvester with CLAAS. For the 8274 there can be no doubt about which real model was the inspiration when it comes to the color scheme. http://brickset.com/sets/8274-1 It would be nice if they for the next year can make a low set modelling say ATOS or ARION tractors with a front end loader. Just having a loader gives it some meaning. But what I want is the tires! Smallar than this Xerion but still with tractor treads. So us tractor boys will have 3 different sizes of proper tires.

I wasn't thinking of if they can handle it or not, more that if the product lines are kept strictly separate perhaps many kids don't get any technic sets because they get the regular studded lego and then goes into their dark age.

I got my first Technic sometime in the early-mid 90ies. I guess I just got some as a present. Some of the space lego used technic elements but mostly only for coupling different things. Yes I noticed that in later years the themes have much more technic elements. Guess it is smart decision so that kids will be aware of and good at transitioning to Technic when they get older. I'm not such a big fan of the cheapest Technic sets today so if the other themes gradually get kids hooked I like it. Still remember when mom and I went to buy the 8868 Air Tech Claw Rig, my first and only big Technic set as a youngster. I was so afraid that the store would deny mom from buying it because I was a few years younger than the age recommendation (in my mind: strict limit) so I hid away far from the cashier.

Actually it is accurate. This is the first page on that site (and I've viewed many) where I can select model years (drop down right of the photo or photo placeholder). It defaulted to 2009-2013 with a caterpillar engine. Selecting 2014-2017 it lists Mercedes-Benz 12.8L 6-cyl diesel. But selecting the engine page it is really incorrect (the rated powers are way off).

It's a definite buy but it would be good if the three point hitch could be remade to better reflect the real one. A description can be seen here: http://www.tractordata.com/articles/technical/threepoint.html And stats for Xerion 5000: http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/006/5/6/6561-claas-xerion-5000.html I've tried before but finds it hard to make a good three point hitch in lego. Also farm equipment can be tuff to model accurately with the details. I expect people doing the saddle track version of Xerion as a mod early on: http://www.claas.se/products/tractors/xerion5000-4000-hrc/trac-versions

Please get a reliable speed measure, using the cellphone and looking at peek value isn't accurate. Measure a distance and clock how fast you can drive it from start to finish, then calculate the speed as measured in km/h. To measure the distance you can either use some tape measure but in case you don't have a 50 meter you could also investigate the possibility to use google maps if the satellite (airplane photo) view have good detail in your area, you look for two points outside that are easy to use as start and stop IRL and measure the distance on the web page. Best if you can have a friend use a stop watch (there are apps for that) while you drive the trike and you should start measuring at full speed (pass the start point with full speed). The better the time measuring you can make the less distance you need to use for testing without loosing precision. So say x is the distance you use. In the example x = 50. To get the s/km (seconds per km) we multiply it with z = 20, i.e. 50 * 20 = 1000 And the time your 50 meter drive took is y seconds, say 12.0 y * z = w, 12.0 * 20 = 240 s/km And now divide 1 hour (3600 seconds) with w, 3600 / 240 = 15 km/h.

1. What's the longest you've stayed 'away' from this hobby Born in the mid-80ies I guess I stopped playing with lego some years before the new millennium. Computers, studies etc. I think I started looking back at technic in 2009/2010. Definitely after I got my first job and getting money (8258 hell yeah). So away would be ~11 years. 2. How long have you been assembling bricks? 9 + 3 years perhaps? 3. How long do you see yourself carrying on such 'obsession', into the 40/50/60 ... heck I'd be playing with my great grand-son Don't see any reason to stop. 4. What brings you back: Memories of old legos, new sets/parts ... Memories and new sets, yes. Since childhood I have the 8868 Air Tech Claw Rig but otherwise I'm not overly fond of old technic sets. I have bought a few after my dark ages but otherwise it's all new technic with liftarms. I buy nearly all the technic sets each year. The memory part is space themes. M-Tron, Space Police 2, BlackTron 2, Ice Planet 2002, Spyrius. Now I have nearly all the sets in those series. I try to not delve into modern minifig scale (I do have limit on my budget), but I've found recent City utility vehicle sets interesting... 5. Feel free to volunteer any AFOL 'perspective' One of the best part regarding sets is that being AFOL and having a salary means I can always buy the flagship sets. But I'm not doing building lego all the time. Had my hobby table full of Arduino parts and other electronics but a few months ago I cleaned it out and put lego back. But I always keep track and buy new sets. So I have a backlog in my wardrobe... 9398, 8070, 8109, 9394, 42002, 9392, 9396, 9393 and most recently, 42009. As with many things it is good with variation. Sometimes I'm into programming (also my work), gaming (often games from childhood, not the newest), (real) tractors (I bought one this spring!), arduino and micro controller circuits. But always complaining about how little time I have for my hobbies. And I don't even have a girl friend!

Yes it can be hard to make a large enough model (for PF) that really need a small motor. It is self-defeating to throw away the gearboxes and put a motor at the end instead - technic is a lot about the gearboxes.

Look at the picture posted earlier from technic bricks. Convince youself that if the motor is turned off and you have this LA free and move them up and down one will extend a little bit and the other retract. Okay? This problem still true when the motor is running and lifts the boom in the assembled model (because the angle to the LAs' fixing point changes). Sure they extend a lot when the boom is raised but the number of revolutions will differ slightly, as when we moved it by hand up and down. The LAs' play (you can move a LA by hand a little bit out and in if you push/drag the piston) makes one of the LAs to do the hard work, where it more easily gets to much so its slip clutch makes it don't do any work. Remember, as the gears connecting the two LAs to there common source of rotation doesn't slip, the second LA won't "catch up" and help with the lifting. That said, if the gears slip because of insufficient bracing, this doesn't matter because you get less lift power than if they work and the slip clutch is the weakest point (by design and intention). And, I haven't gotten my 42009 yet and won't have time to build it right away so I can't test it out myself but I understand the theory why it is a problem and hope I could explain it to others.

It doesn't do anything good there unless he plan to drive it later or put a fake engine to it.

How much does that 'engine' weight (batteries included)?

I hope they present some performance benchmark of this cluster. I tried to estimate what one could expect. It is said from RPF that the the RP in CPU performance is comparable to a Pentium II 300 MHz. These benchmarks running sha256 shows that in the 5th post: http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5678 The 3rd post contains a more modern x86 CPU. Averaging at 8 times faster. It was only using one core for the test. A new high-end CPU for desktops (Intel Core i7 3770K) has higher frequency and better performance per cycle. So say that it is twice as fast as the 2.2Ghz Core 2 Duo mentioned in the post. Times 4 because we want to count performance together for all 4 cores. We end up with 8 * 2 * 4 = 64. Remember that this is just toying with numbers but gives an indication that the Iridis-Pi can have a performance somewhat lower or somewhat higher than a fast 4-core desktop processor, not superior better performance.

It is nice that they make a proof of concept. But I also think that it shouldn't be called a supercomputer, the processing power of the raspberry pie * 64 is not so impressive, it doesn't fit the supercomputer description. But being a physical small computer cluster makes it interesting. Super computers can (and today; are) computer clusters but all computer clusters are not supercomputers. And why is the storage memory mentioned in the article? A computer cluster (used for some heavy computation) often require good processing power, good/a lot of primary memory and good interconnection between nodes. The raspberry pi has 256 MiB RAM. Meaning this cluster in total only has half the primary memory of my home computer (yes, I maxed it out when I built it). 1 TB of storage memory is not impressive, one can buy 4 TB hard drives today. I think small footprint computers like Raspberry pi and different Arduino boards are intriguing, I haven't gotten one for myself yet though. It has brought home automation DIY easier in terms of finding good hardware. For the next NXT (hehe) I hope TLG skips the display and buttons and make the brick smaller. "Everyone" today has smartphones, using bluetooth or WLAN they can control the NXT. I fear it will be too much to compete with the smartphones so instead they should use them to their benefit (move the user interaction there). In 2006 when the first NXT was launched there were no iPhones yet and the touch-smartphone era hadn't started, so the simple display and buttons were passable as UI. Kids growing up today with smartphones I fear will think Lego is to backwards if the "intelligent" brick's UI have physical buttons. And if TLG would do some smart touchscreen-brick, it would feel outdated pretty soon anyway. So release and maintain Apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone OS, do a small brick with battery with some more processing power and good and easy connection to sensors and motors.

I have most of my Technic collection here. Last time mom visited me she brought me a lot of the Lego pre-dark ages that I had assembled in recent year at their house and said I should keep it here instead! I think the 8815 and 8810 is back at my parents and some Lego City models. The 8835 (forklift) is a new acquisition, all other studded technic I got before the dark ages. Shelf 1: 8066, 9391, 8022, 8067, 8064, 8042, 8828, 8032 Shelf 2: 8835 (hard to see), 8868, 9397, 8071 Shelf 3: 8110 (click for large version) One prerequisite when I moved was that the models should be kept in a bookcase with doors (preferable glass) to avoid getting dust on them. I'm also considering attaching a pull down blind on top of it to block UV light (but there is no direct sunlight at the bookcase). (click for large version) I'm looking for more self-storage fore the models, the are cramped in there a bit too much. Now over to the setup. Except for building official sets I do some building freehand (no prior work at the computer to build the model virtual) and found this setup to work quite nicely. I can easily move everything and when not opened the boxes keeps dust away. The boxes on the floor is not placed there when I work, they stand on the floor beside me (one for wheels and one for studless straight long liftarms. Not in picture are some prototypes and machines that waits further construction together with the parts in boxes is the sets 8258, 8043, 8069, 8047, 8284, 8049, 8274, 8295 and 8547 (NXT) plus bricklink orders for extra parts. And last, 9390, 9392, 9393, 9396 and 9398 are MISB in some wardrobes, awaiting my free time to build them. Edit: If someone looked closely at the technic model picture you might notice that the 9397 and 8110 lacks their battery boxes and the 8868 has its box disconnected. That's because I don't like to keep batteries in the models on display. During the dark ages the alkaline batteries got left in the 8868 box and they made a mess, had to clean the metal plates off with a dremel. And the batteries I have goes into my MOCs for play and testing where they do a hard work. The battery box (gray) for the 8064 on the first self is till at my parents. The one from 8868 is used for that one too when I display my sets. Edit 2: Freekysch, nice display with the LED lights. I gotta install some lights as well! Edit 3: Forgot one thing, that isn't really Lego related but counts as a good thing for the 'setup'. It can't be seen in the picture but from the "lego desk" I can push myself 1 meter backwards in the office chair and at the same time turn 180 degrees and I end up at the computer desk (where I'm now writing this).

Learn how to find the answers/verify by bricklink: Find the piece. One way is to find a model known to have that piece. E.g. linear actuator, we take the 8258. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=8258-1 To the right you see this text: Click the link. Scroll down until you find the piece you are looking for and click the link. You will get to the page we wanted to go in the first place. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=61927c01 To the right you have the text And below the picture. Click the link to see the sets it has appeared in. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemIn.asp?P=61927c01&in=S Now start looking for a set that was released in 2008. We come down to the following http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=8294-1 http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?S=8295-1 Then it got a bit trickier, we want to find if it was first half or second half of that year. Peeron.com don't have a catalog scan for that year but I found this website. http://www.brickfactory.info/ncatalog/index.html Looking at the catalog under "dec-24-2008", which is August-December of that year in the Netherlands we found the first appearance of these two sets (the don't appear in the January-May catalog). Also there is no "sticker" in the catalog saying like "new October" so I assume both were present at the August launch of models and catalog. I was in my dark ages at this time so I don't know, I'm purely speculating on the facts I found. But this is the process. Find the piece->find the sets it is in->find the years of those sets. It would help if there aren't more than one set in the first year obviously.

Apart from the answers you have gotten about the hardware. If one is using the NXT brick and NXT motors one could have a program that reads from a IR remote (I think). But the brick is also equipped with bluetooth. I don't know so much about the original firmware the NXT brick because one of the first thing I did was to flash it with the LejOS firmware. But I think this functionality works in both: you can connect with say a smartphone via bluetooth and have remote control the motors. As said, there are not true servo motors but can rotate quite slow so it is possible to emulate servo. Another variant is to build a remote out of another NXT brick with a motor connected, as said it reads the rotational position of the motor (so it is kind of input also, not only output) and send commands via bluetooth to another NXT controlling say lego CAR. Some example videos: (there are other Apps) PF remotes as Surly describes Controlling it via another NXT as I wrote above (skip to 3:00 into the video). I guess this principle is similar to your RC cars (the steering). I think this is cool as it shows that with NXT you could build quite an advanced remote and customize it for the task at hand.

I've never programmed using NQC but I had a look at the guide http://bricxcc.sourceforge.net/nqc/doc/NQC_Guide.pdf Tasks aren't very well explained. But tasks are some form of multi-tasking. Perhaps you have some race condition here. How did you check that x was 10 or 20? int x; task main () { x = 10; start task_2; // x Check here? } task task_2() { x = 20; } If you checked where I put the comment (which seams logical as it is the main task. So if the check was placed there that code could very well be executed before task_2 had begun. If you want some linear flow you should use functions instead of tasks. If a function you call doesn't start any tasks you should have the contract that what happens in the function happens before the return of the execution to the caller (and what it continues to do). So you can probably write it as int x; task main () { x = 10; myFunction(); // x will be 20 here } void myFunction() { x = 20; } But as I said, I never (I think, perhaps I have in real time system course) programmed in NQC. Only using my programming skills to reason about the problem at hand.

Strictly speaking it is per port (or at least receiver) that there is an issue. When you say "channel" you assume there is at most only one receiver on each channel. I've done a MOC were I needed 2 XL motors (or more?) so used two battery packs, two receiver and put them somewhat close together and on the same channel.

Would "Technic, Steering Portal Axle, Complete Assembly with Dark Bluish Gray Hub" fit in "Wheel 62mm D. x 46mm Technic Racing Large" ? I don't own those big rims but they are wider than the rims in the unimog, maybe the holes gets too deep inside the rim? Just worrying. Edit: Spelling fix

On the topic of steering, I strayed from the Lego purist path. Because the steering is quite hard, caused by pin with ridges. In the second book, page 47, step 15 http://cache.lego.com/upload/contentTemplating/Technic2BuildingInstructions/otherfiles/downloadE548B41B3BD0EAE9F399712E4A5CECD4.pdf Those 4 "Red Technic, Pin Long with Friction Ridges Lengthwise and Stop Bush" is causing the problem. I took the utility knife and pealed the ridges off on the lower part of the pins. Now steering works great. This can easily be done when the model is finished so you can decide then. Of course special care needs to be taken when dissembling it (which I haven't), so these pins doesn't enter the "general population". I will probably throw them away (I have bought many similar pins as extras via bricklink).

I haven't used any like this, the theory of how it works is not hard but haven't had use for it (the boom is required). I would really like to see LA with ~twice the length and pneumatic cylinders with 2-2.5 the length of current version.

27 years, slow start out of the dark ages like 3 years ago. The people that know about this haven't commented in any bad way. But I actually don't like to spread the word about it. Nearly no one (if any) at work knows but I would guess being a IT programming company there are other guys which also grew up with Lego Technic and would understand. I find technic the most interesting so I can also "defend" myself with that I'm not playing with mini figures like kids do. Understand me, I don't mind you others who collect minifigs. Also if it is a sport fan one can counter with some trivia about a certain Swedish Olympic Games gold medalist that also is an AFOL.

The L motor is something I will like most definitely. Every time I build something with the M motor I'm concerned with bracing it well and annoyed that only has technic holes on the front side.

The PFmate from mindsensors can be bought for a smaller price than HiTechnic IR Link. The but the later one is semi-official (sanctioned by lego company). I bought a PFmate quite a while ago but hasn't gotten around to use it. Using some type of IR link and PF-receivers is good if you need a lot of motors as they connect to another power source (PF battery box). Remember that you can have several PF-receivers one the same channel and they will all (if reachable from the IR link) do the same thing. So you can connect those 4, 6 or 8 XL motors to the "same" function. Of course you need to use a multiple PF battery boxes for this setup and it will cost big money. http://www.mindsensors.com/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=107

First, I'm not an expert on kickstarter. I think that if they only get 99% it will disqualify and they won't see a dime and no money is taken from the backers. And I guess that kickstarter won't admit the same project again with a little lower total price. I will look on the page regulary and chip in with a bit more money that may take them over the edge if they are close to it the last day. Even if I don't need so many plates I guess it won't be so hard to sell on auction sites. I wonder where else this can be mentioned to draw more attention to it. It has been on the technick bricks blog.