General Part Discussion

[gyenesvi]

5 hours ago, Moz said:

12L and some careful cutting.

I'm interested in how you do the careful cutting! Do you use a saw or a sharp knife/blade? Do you post-process the edges? What I'm thinking about is buying a few of the female part of the new CV joints that come with 3L axles, and cutting them to 2L length like the old CV joint has, it would be very handy in quite a few places (like coming out from the diff in a narrower independent suspension, entering the 5x7 frame going to the diff in a live axle, or just in the middle of the drivetrain when there's less space).

[Moz]

12 hours ago, gyenesvi said:

 how you do the careful cutting!

I use a craft knife with a saw blade because that gives a fine cut without deforming the edges the way a blade would. I made a little jig out of Lego to get the spacing right. Basically the blade goes on one side of a Lego brick and the end of the axle rests on the other side. (and I put the axle in a a battery drill because I'm a bit lazy). Like this: https://www.metrohobbies.com.au/products/vallejo-hobby-tools-t06001-modeling-saw-set-with-4-scalpels

Edited June 7, 2022 by Moz
add detail

[Ivan_M]

On 6/4/2022 at 10:05 AM, keymaker said:

You lucky bastard. I did the same but 2nd March and all I got is order lost in system

Finally got a reply from customers care, they lost mine too. "Funny" how they still keep my money. I wonder when they would reach to me on their own.

Anyway I have checked the pick a brick and a lot of technic parts were added. Not the newest ones, but it seems to me they are slowly adding more and more.

[howitzer]

I went through the Technic section of PaB, and it appears that at least most of the last year's new parts are available but none of this year's so it looks like there's a significant delay in the addition of new parts.

Also, the categorization is really broad, with only 20 items shown per page, which makes it annoying to browse. They really should improve the UI too.

[astyanax]

31 minutes ago, howitzer said:

annoying to browse

They should allow you to upload a csv wishlist, that'd solve browsing. I made a script that takes my wishlist from Rebrickable and clicks through PaB to find all available items. Problem is, I can't actually place an order after the script has created a shopping cart, as the website (correctly) identifies me as a bot. 

[LvdH]

7 minutes ago, astyanax said:

They should allow you to upload a csv wishlist, that'd solve browsing. I made a script that takes my wishlist from Rebrickable and clicks through PaB to find all available items. Problem is, I can't actually place an order after the script has created a shopping cart, as the website (correctly) identifies me as a bot. 

Well do I have something for you  

There’s a Google Chrome plugin called “BrickHunter”, which accepts Bricklink XML files and can automatically add parts to your cart. It will also be able to export the parts you cannot buy on PaB as a Bricklink XML and just order the rest through Bricklink.

[keymaker]

New system is indeed tedious and frustrating. I deal with it by looking for  based on number of part or number of set where the part is and then sorting by price from the highest. Because part I am looking for are usually the most expensive parts from the set.

[msk6003]

Anyone how much strong 70490 49.5x14 tire compare to 15413 49.5x20?

[anyUser]

4 hours ago, msk6003 said:

Anyone how much strong 70490 49.5x14 tire compare to 15413 49.5x20?

Hi,
could you rephrase that question: What is the (physical) measure of "strong"?

[shroomzofdoom]

8 hours ago, astyanax said:

They should allow you to upload a csv wishlist, that'd solve browsing.  

I was hoping the acquisition would lead to tighter integration. It's only been 3 years, I guess they need more time...

https://www.bricklink.com/r3/announcement/lego_bl_faq.page

https://www.lego.com/en-us/aboutus/news/2019/november/lego-bricklink

Edited June 7, 2022 by shroomzofdoom

[astyanax]

20 minutes ago, shroomzofdoom said:

I was hoping the acquisition would lead to tighter integration. It's only been 3 years, I guess they need more time...

Has there actually been ANY noticeable change to BrickLink since the acquisition?

(apart from firming up on tax compliance)

[howitzer]

57 minutes ago, astyanax said:

Has there actually been ANY noticeable change to BrickLink since the acquisition?

(apart from firming up on tax compliance)

Well, I think they did remove some stuff, like Brickarms products from the site...

[astyanax]

19 hours ago, LvdH said:

Well do I have something for you  

There’s a Google Chrome plugin called “BrickHunter”, which accepts Bricklink XML files and can automatically add parts to your cart. It will also be able to export the parts you cannot buy on PaB as a Bricklink XML and just order the rest through Bricklink.

Interesting! I'll check it out, thanks 

[LvdH]

Has anyone ordered from PaB in the last few weeks? My order from May 30th just shipped today, and I’m wondering if I simply got lucky or if they finally got their act together. 

[keymaker]

3 minutes ago, LvdH said:

Has anyone ordered from PaB in the last few weeks? My order from May 30th just shipped today, and I’m wondering if I simply got lucky or if they finally got their act together. 

Same date of order like you, but my order was sent couple days ago. So I am waiting.

[Jeroen Ottens]

I just ordered two days ago, but got the standard 5-6 weeks delivery notice

[Maaboo the Witch]

My most recent PaB order took well over a month.

[LvdH]

40 minutes ago, Jeroen Ottens said:

I just ordered two days ago, but got the standard 5-6 weeks delivery notice

So did mine, but this morning I received the invoice so I checked the website and it said it was shipped. I couldn’t see a date so it could have been one or two days ago as well.

[shroomzofdoom]

Since it seems that the response to 'when will 3x19 frames be available on PAB?' or 'when will the new gears be available on PAB?' seems to depend on who you ask and when you ask it....I'm wondering if we can't use our AFOL muscle to place a few calls to Lego customer service and politely ask if they can provide specifics...then record those responses here.

I work in a customer facing role at one of the largest publicly traded companies on Earth and we're not allowing to give an answer like "I don't know..." that phrase must always be followed by "...but I will find out." Maybe that's they key difference between public and private companies--accountability. If you're already profitable then you probably don't much care about your customers' opinions all that much but Lego does seem to care--they ask for our opinion often enough.

I find it difficult to accept a long wait followed by another wait of indeterminate duration. I'm not suggesting that anyone call and act boorish or demanding: be polite and friendly and know that the person you're speaking with is probably doing the best they can with the tools their management has given them. But ask:  'Can you please tell me when ___ will be made available on the PAB?"

There are bigger problems in this world today and we're just a bunch of grown-ups playing with toys. But in times like these, isn't leisure time part of how some people cope?  

[Bricktrain]

I ordered some parts when I ordered the Ferrari on the 1st, the best seller parts shipped after 3 days, the Ferrari was only shipped on the 9th.

[keymaker]

On 6/10/2022 at 4:07 PM, LvdH said:

Has anyone ordered from PaB in the last few weeks? My order from May 30th just shipped today, and I’m wondering if I simply got lucky or if they finally got their act together. 

PaB pack ordered 30.05.2022, sent not sure when but received today so 14.06.2022. It is pretty fast as for our post office :P No new frames unfortunately but I got some parts I also wanted.

[teetertater]

On 6/5/2022 at 2:54 PM, teetertater said:

Sitting in the same boat... March 2nd and my order says "New Order", hasn't even been processed yet

- Contacted TLG Support, they said my order "Never made it into the database?!"
- They offered to reorder for free, and asked for a parts list
- I didn't remember what I ordered but gave a new parts list
- Shipped after just 2 days!! Now waiting

[keymaker]

1 hour ago, teetertater said:

- Contacted TLG Support, they said my order "Never made it into the database?!"
- They offered to reorder for free, and asked for a parts list
- I didn't remember what I ordered but gave a new parts list
- Shipped after just 2 days!! Now waiting

You broke the system! :D All parts on your list are not available on PaB. But if they sent you them, so there is a chance they will be available to order soon.

[LvdH]

13 hours ago, keymaker said:

You broke the system! :D All parts on your list are not available on PaB. But if they sent you them, so there is a chance they will be available to order soon.

I wouldn’t be so hopeful

I also broke the system during the switch to PaB by going to the B&P URL, and ordered a bunch of the new parts:  black 3x5 frames, blue 1x2 panels and the black connector with 3 axles at 120° angles. The new orange and blue parts from the McLaren were also available as well as the 3x19 frame, but did not order them.

Edited June 16, 2022 by LvdH

[proran]

On 6/10/2022 at 1:48 PM, shroomzofdoom said:

Since it seems that the response to 'when will 3x19 frames be available on PAB?' or 'when will the new gears be available on PAB?' seems to depend on who you ask and when you ask it....I'm wondering if we can't use our AFOL muscle to place a few calls to Lego customer service and politely ask if they can provide specifics...then record those responses here.

I work in a customer facing role at one of the largest publicly traded companies on Earth and we're not allowing to give an answer like "I don't know..." that phrase must always be followed by "...but I will find out." Maybe that's they key difference between public and private companies--accountability. If you're already profitable then you probably don't much care about your customers' opinions all that much but Lego does seem to care--they ask for our opinion often enough.

I find it difficult to accept a long wait followed by another wait of indeterminate duration. I'm not suggesting that anyone call and act boorish or demanding: be polite and friendly and know that the person you're speaking with is probably doing the best they can with the tools their management has given them. But ask:  'Can you please tell me when ___ will be made available on the PAB?"

There are bigger problems in this world today and we're just a bunch of grown-ups playing with toys. But in times like these, isn't leisure time part of how some people cope?  

I completely agree with that. I've called them on the issue before and I will do it again as a follow up. They should know that the current service makes a large portion of their most dedicated customers unhappy. And the funniest part is that they a re unhappy because TLG refuses to sell them their products which they really really want.