General Part Discussion

[m2fel]

Hey there, as I got some experience in plastic manufacturing I will try to sum my what might be the problem ;).

Firstly it is not rocket science but you need people who are well trained, know what they are doing and listen to them. Designing the mold and running the machine are both important as a good design provides better results. During manufacturing the setting often needs adjustment. Important are temperature, clearance, flow path, pressure and more. There are companies who produce at much higher standards and cost than Lego.

Back to the part :) If the machine is not properly controlled there might be distortion in the final part. For example if the cooling time is to short or the injection pressure was to low the part can fall out of the machine in perfekt shape but withing hours of cooling down the shape changes...

As a conclusion I'd say Lego tries to save money. Could be a poorly trained worker, a great worker deemed to control to many machines or the demand to generate a high output (save time and money which hits quality). It is really not a problem to build good parts on good machines if you don't push it too much.

Same issues as the part shape is valid for the color ;)

Edited October 5, 2021 by m2fel

[Gray Gear]

@m2fel Thank you, I thought along the same lines but since I am the opposite of an expert it is nice to hear the thouhts of someone with real life experience.

[The_Cook]

To add a little more to this thread around element design; NewElementary have been given access to interview some of the element designers at TLG.

https://www.newelementary.com/2021/10/ego-element-development-wheelbase-part-65094.html

[Hrafn]

5 hours ago, The_Cook said:

To add a little more to this thread around element design; NewElementary have been given access to interview some of the element designers at TLG.

https://www.newelementary.com/2021/10/ego-element-development-wheelbase-part-65094.html

Thanks, that is a good read.  My son has the vehicle base described in the interview and I had wondered about the design and manufacturing processes involved.  I would be interested to hear about the engineering involved in developing some of the more complex Technic parts like the frame with ball joint

 

[Maaboo the Witch]

Brickset is running an article based on the new pin types that have cropped up this year. Wonder if any of them will show up in the 2022 sets?

[SNIPE]

6 hours ago, Maaboo35 said:

Brickset is running an article based on the new pin types that have cropped up this year. Wonder if any of them will show up in the 2022 sets?

I hope so, they probably will. As well as use the new axle hole with 4 bars (pleeeeease)

[Jim]

6 hours ago, Maaboo35 said:

Brickset is running an article based on the new pin types that have cropped up this year. Wonder if any of them will show up in the 2022 sets?

Interesting article! Thanks for sharing.

[Erik Leppen]

Just imagine what could be possible if there were to come out a black friction version of the grey 3L pin... I guess people here would love to have a few of those.

Interestingly, even the gray one offers an option not offered by the tan 3L pins and not mentioned in the article: the option to position a whole-thickness beam at a half-stud offset.

[mpj]

Also black 2L pins and blue 3L pins introduced this year are different from the past, and in my opinion, harder to remove from the holes.

[gyenesvi]

9 minutes ago, Erik Leppen said:

Just imagine what could be possible if there were to come out a black friction version of the grey 3L pin

Just thought the same. And also a 2L version of it would be quite useful:

10 minutes ago, Erik Leppen said:

the option to position a whole-thickness beam at a half-stud offset

For things like this. I find myself needing to connect a 1/2 - 1 - 1/2 sandwich, and a regular 2L pin cannot do that because of the division in the middle, only a 2L part of a 3L one, but that's sometimes too long.

[2GodBDGlory]

1 hour ago, SNIPE said:

I hope so, they probably will. As well as use the new axle hole with 4 bars (pleeeeease)

What part is that you're referring to?

[astyanax]

3 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

What part is that you're referring to?

This I guess:

https://rebrickable.com/parts/68888/technic-axle-connector-hub-with-4-bars-at-90-reinforced-axle-hole/

I got a few from B&P but have yet to find a good use for them...

[2GodBDGlory]

3 minutes ago, astyanax said:

This I guess:

https://rebrickable.com/parts/68888/technic-axle-connector-hub-with-4-bars-at-90-reinforced-axle-hole/

I got a few from B&P but have yet to find a good use for them...

Thanks! The older version is occasionally useful, but this one is a definite improvement. It's release somehow escaped me!

[gyenesvi]

54 minutes ago, astyanax said:

but have yet to find a good use for them

Just saw an interesting one, at the center of a Rubik's cube :) Nice construction and mechanism as well.

 

[SNIPE]

1 hour ago, gyenesvi said:

Just saw an interesting one, at the center of a Rubik's cube :) Nice construction and mechanism as well.

 

I would be evil and, when scrambled, add an extra square of a certain color, so that it is unsolvable but not in an obvious way.

I am hoping to improve this cube, so far I only have built the core because I dont have any of those 2x2 corner tiles.

Edited October 12, 2021 by SNIPE

[Ngoc Nguyen]

On 9/21/2021 at 9:43 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

I've just discovered that most of the black technic pins in my 42128 set are crooked. They slightly bent toward the side with the mold mark and away from the side with the center groove. Since I usually align my pins so that the mod marks are one side, after a while the model becomes visibly crooked.

I got my paws on a new 42129 yesterday, and while building it I discovered that the pins in that set are also crooked too. This is so annoying.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

After I put the PF mod into my Zetros, I have two of the 2x3 curve L liftarms left.

 

 

I'm quite sad to discover that their axle holes don't align. TLG doesn't seem to have solved this problem.

[SamS]

5 hours ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

After I put the PF mod into my Zetros, I have two of the 2x3 curve L liftarms left.

I'm quite sad to discover that their axle holes don't align. TLG doesn't seem to have solved this problem.

Is it just the black ones that have this issue, or has it been found in other colors of this part?

[Ngoc Nguyen]

1 minute ago, SamS said:

Is it just the black ones that have this issue, or has it been found in other colors of this part?

The yellow ones in the 42121 have this problem as well. 

I can't test those in DBG because they have all been built into the Zetros, but I suspect that the DBG ones have that problem as well. It seems to be a mold problem.

[barberminged]

On 10/22/2021 at 10:58 AM, Ngoc Nguyen said:

I'm quite sad to discover that their axle holes don't align. TLG doesn't seem to have solved this problem.

I agree, i wrote to them on October 7th because of this, and received the replacements yesterday, 4 yellow and 2 black.
One of the black ones is slightly misaligned, and 2 of the yellow are misaligned (one badly so).
So sadly, it does indeed appear as the misaligned ones are still in stock, at least in my part of the world (I live in Denmark, but the replacements came from Germany)

Looking at my collection of this part (only 6 black, 12 yellow), it seems that it affects the yellow more often than the black, of course this is a small sample, so maybe just coincidence.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

22 hours ago, SamS said:

Is it just the black ones that have this issue, or has it been found in other colors of this part?

Update: The new DBG ones don't have this problem. They are better aligned.

[TechnicRCRacer]

So strange, I ordered many of all colors of that part from B&P 6 months ago and none of them are misaligned. The only misaligned ones I have are from the small hovercraft set.

[bonox]

hopefully it's just an old stock problem

[Maaboo the Witch]

Trendy hoe.

 

[1gor]

@Maaboo35 that looks gorgeous