79
votes
Accepted
How do I center a 2x2 plate on a 3x3 plate?
I saw this technique in LEGO's Disney Castle for offsetting parts of a column by half of a stud. You can see the column on the left in this picture is shifting half a stud above a 3x3 plate:
Of ...
- 5,180
47
votes
How do I center a 2x2 plate on a 3x3 plate?
For centring a minifigure on a 3×3 plate, I would do the following (though it’s not exactly what you asked for):
Arrange 2×1 plates with centre studs as follows:
Add 1×1 panels for optical harmony:
...
- 2,164
41
votes
Accepted
Can the new road plates be used to build ramps or hills?
I tried this out recently with the new road plates. Because the new system is composed of proper plates with connection points on the underside, this is fairly simple to do. It really comes down to ...
- 37.3k
31
votes
How can I get my motor to line up with a linear actuator?
The axle is misaligned by half a stud, so an obvious approach to this problem is offset your motor by half a stud.
The technique of offsetting bricks by half a stud is known as AZMEP (from the german &...
- 6,672
28
votes
Accepted
Stained glass windows on The Throneroom of Cedrica
I see that this popped up on HNQ, so I wanted to expand on shoover's excellent answer with a build showing one way that this could be put together for folks that may not be as familiar with LEGO ...
- 37.3k
26
votes
If I were to make a LEGO fan how would I make it blow air on me?
A fan is just 1/4 of a drone, right? Check out this lego drone that actually flies, for inspiration. https://youtu.be/wUVvQk7XLd4
The blade part in question is 89509
- 6,041
25
votes
Is there a catalog of Lego building techniques?
Swooshable has a great collection of SNOT (studs not on top) and advanced techniques, it is probably the closest thing you will get to an online catalogue.
They seem to have updated their SNOT ...
- 17.5k
24
votes
When did LEGO decide that it was okay to put a stud into a Technic hole?
1977
When Technic was first introduced.
Check out this alternative build of set 850:
- 1,166
24
votes
Accepted
Is this an error in the updated Harry Potter Diagon Alley build/instructions?
The wall behind the shelving unit is not a standard wall built with regular LEGO bricks, but a panel, which is hollow on one side.
The parts that are sticking out at the back of the bookshelf are ...
- 10.2k
23
votes
How can you make a hip holster for minifigs?
Three 1x1 plates, two 1x1 round bricks, and one 1x1 plate with clip.
- 5,206
23
votes
Accepted
How can you make a hip holster for minifigs?
It's kinda chunky, but the best I can come up with is 42446 + 2555:
+ =
It would leave a half-plate gap on one side if they only have 1 holster though, but at-least you keep the regular minifig ...
- 13.3k
22
votes
Cargo bike brick identity
That's not a single part.
According to the instructions shared by the creator of that cargo bike on their twitter account, it's a combination of :
1 Black Plate, Round 1 x 1
1 Black Plate, Modified ...
- 2,237
19
votes
Accepted
What is the quality of LEGO replicas on Aliexpress?
You might be interested in the excellent, hilarious and comprehensive Communist LEGO report. It tells you all you can expect, from the good brands to the bad brands. At a minimum, it'll get you ...
- 16.6k
18
votes
How do I center a 2x2 plate on a 3x3 plate?
If stability is not an issue, consider the following:
Put a 4×4 dish on your 3×3 plate (yes, this fits):
Put your 2×2 plate in the middle (in any orientation you like):
If you want to centre your ...
- 2,164
18
votes
Accepted
How to fill a vertical 1.5 stud wide gap?
Before I attempt to come up with an answer, let me share how I think through problems like this, as it might make it easier for others to solve problems like this in the future.
We can see that the ...
- 37.3k
18
votes
Accepted
How is the roof on this bridge town formed?
At first, I assumed that this was a clever technique using something flexible like a net or tubing. After a bit of digging, I found a similar tower roof on a different build by the same person:
...
- 37.3k
17
votes
How do I center a 2x2 plate on a 3x3 plate?
Another soloution if rotational stability is not too much of a concern and you don't like having studs on show.
Put a 1x1 plate in the middle of the 3x3 plate and surround it with 1x1 or 1x2 flat ...
- 625
17
votes
If I were to make a LEGO fan how would I make it blow air on me?
The easiest way to do this would be to use a motor with a high speed (or gear up a lower speed motor) and then attach one of the larger propeller elements to it. You can probably build a custom prop, ...
- 37.3k
16
votes
Accepted
What are some creative uses of the orange brick separator tool?
I have seen a number of very creative builds with the orange brick separator. Here are some examples:
Spaceship by F@bz: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fabz71/12434428513/
Mech by Lewis Meeny: http://...
- 10.2k
15
votes
Accepted
Why don't inverted brackets (99780) work in this SNOT 180 configuration?
The short answer is because the combined height of the two mini inverted brackets is greater than the interior space of a tile (or brick for that matter.) But you knew this already.
I realize it isn'...
- 651
15
votes
Accepted
How does the Space Shuttle dock the ISS?
It looks like LEGO did not intend to make Shuttle attachable to ISS despite the statement. At least not with a stud-on-stud connection like the set is designed right now.
As seen in picture below, ...
- 21.5k
14
votes
How to put LEGO together upside down
I attempt to create a searchable index of SNOT techniques, as this is called. Of those, the strongest 180 degree stud reversal are probably one of these:
If you want to connect the two curves ...
- 316
14
votes
Accepted
Are BanBao bricks compatible with Lego?
I have 2 Banbao set from before the lawsuit with Lego (minifig style minifigs) and they are more and less compatible with lego, the pitch between the studs is the same. But there is some remark I ...
- 7,623
14
votes
What will happen if I submerge LEGO in water?
The Atlantis Submarine Voyage ride at LEGOLAND Windsor has almost 100 models (albeit glued together) submerged in a 1,000,000 litre tank with 'upto 50 species of rare sharks, rays and tropical fish'. ...
- 17.5k
14
votes
What are some creative uses of the orange brick separator tool?
How about a Minifig scale playground slide?
There is a connection point for an Technic Axle connector to provide the support for the slide and two stud connections to add a ladder.
- 17.5k
14
votes
Is this assembly legal?
The answer depends on your definition of "legal". In the strictest sense, it means "can be used in official LEGO sets", and in this case, this is definitely not legal, as the axle is not designed to ...
- 14.7k
14
votes
Accepted
How to build this flower?
It seems to me this would be made something like pictured below. Obviously flower stems need to be rotated for better alignment and may need to attach an extra apollo stud brick to make some space.
...
- 21.5k
13
votes
Accepted
Pirates of Barracuda Bay 21322 - Is there a way to get the ship pirating-worthy?
The review over at Brickset mentions this exact modification:
Pearl gold windows are fixed inside each gunport, preventing the deployment of cannons. While this seems slightly odd, the lattices can ...
- 14.7k
13
votes
Stained glass windows on The Throneroom of Cedrica
From this picture and this one, you can see that the framing of the windows is formed by Turntable 2 x 2 Plate, Base in black.
For the colored areas (the "stained glass"), you have a couple of ...
- 669
12
votes
Accepted
What are good books for building techniques of LEGO Technic
In addition to Sariel's excellent book, I'd suggest Yoshihito Isogawa's "Tora no Maki" (Book of secrets) downloadable PDF book, and his Ideas books in print. All are full of clever ...
- 2,703
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible