Best Technic set to raid for parts?

Mr_Hobbles

Hello! I require assistance!

I'm very much a System person and don't really dabble in Technic, but recently I've taken to doing experiments with automating stuff using the new Power Functions 2.0 system. As a result, I need lots of gears! Axles! Supports!

What Technic set would you recommend to buy to never build but raid for these types of parts? I suppose budget limit £100? Preferably not too nice a set so I don't get sad about not building it! ;)

Cheers

Recce

Different technic sets can have vastly different parts, you should check the part details for the sets in your price range and see which gives most of what you wanted.

That's how I look for parts in the standard Lego sets. 

dmcc0

I asked a similar question in regard a parts pack in the GBC thread a while back.  The bucket wheel excavator was recommended for that.  I haven't actually got around to opening it yet, but includes loads of gears axles etc.  Plus, apart from the size of it, it's not particularly nice to look at (IMO) so shouldn't be too painful to dismantle for parts (or not build at all)!  Amazon have it for £120 at the moment, so a little over your budget but excellent value for what you get.

CCC

Mr_Hobbles said:

What Technic set would you recommend to buy to never build but raid for these types of parts? I suppose budget limit £100? Preferably not too nice a set so I don't get sad about not building it! ;)

If you don't normally do technic, then I'd recommend that you build whatever you buy, then raid it for parts.

I frequently buy systems sets for parts and don't build them, but then I can normally tell I will learn next to nothing from them as I build system all the time. Whereas for technic, if you don't regularly build them, then chances are you will learn something.

Also there have been a lot of Bucket Wheel Excavators parted out on BL. Check if the gears and axles you want are cheap ones. If so, but them as parts rather than as the set.

datsunrobbie

https://brickset.com/sets/theme-Books/subtheme-Klutz

The Crazy Action Contraptions books come with a bunch of gears and axles, nice cheap parts packs if you can find them.

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA

Without knowing exactly what and how you want to automate stuff and what your stash of elements and PF parts currently looks like, it's difficult to be definitive.  Massive stretch to your budget but it's hard to go past a used #42030 Volvo wheel loader.  A motor of every size, a servo motor, three linear actuators, two receivers, remote and battery box as far as PF goes.  Two diffs, a small turntable a great selection of axles particularly in some of the longer lengths and (most importantly, though nothing to do with automatio) a big arse bucket!  It's probably a little light on gears and only has 1 Uni joint but if your looking for a set that offers every PF option to play with along with some extra goodies and shows a variety of different motive techniques then it's hard to beat if you can get it cheap enough.  My recommendation is based o the fact it IS a kick arse set that should you get bored or work out which way you want to go exactly with directed individual parts purchases, will still hold its original purchase value well.

Mr_Hobbles

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I was a bit unclear - I don't need the PF components themselves, I have a whole selection of the new PF2 (Boost/WeDo/Powered Up) components. :)

What I'm lacking is a collection of axles, gears, and supports to play around with.

@dmcc0 Thanks for that! At 4,000 parts (and lots of moving functions) that's sure to have a range of those parts, and £120 seems a bit of steal for it.

Mr_Hobbles

Thanks @MAGNINOMINISUMBRA, that set looks good, but is way more than I'm willing to spend on a collection of parts, especially as I don't need the PF components themselves.

dmcc0

You could always sell/trade the PF stuff you don't need from the set too to offset the cost further.  I'd be interested in any surplus PF stuff from the Bucket wheel excavator if you decided to go down that route ;)

CCC

Mr_Hobbles said:

@dmcc0 Thanks for that! At 4,000 parts (and lots of moving functions) that's sure to have a range of those parts, and £120 seems a bit of steal for it.

Some technic sets do look good value for money if you look at price per part, until you realise how many pins there are!

Paperballpark

You can never have too many pins...

CCC

Paperballpark said:

You can never have too many pins...

True, but it is a good idea to take them into account when assessing the value of a set.

dmcc0

^what about cheese slopes, studs, pins etc in system sets? They sometime make up a fair %  of parts in those.

CCC

Of course, you should always check what the parts are especially if there are large quantities of the same part. Although the numbers of repeated parts tend to be smaller for system sets. For example, there is something like 1400 pins of various types in the BWE, out of just under 4000 parts. 

dmcc0

A lot of the other parts in technic are pretty useless without the pins though! Even taking the pins into account, the BWE is still great value at £120

CCC

Yes, for what you get it is a decent price.

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA

After seeing you've got all your PF requirements sorted, I have to wonder if cannibalising a set is the right move?  I'm not familiar with Bricklink Technic pricing but surely you can get a HELL of a lot of axles, gears, etc for a hundred quid?
As far as any arguments about the amount of pins in any given set, I don't think they're the elements that anyone should be focusing on.  IMO modern Technics reliance on massive panels vs actual mechanical components is what kills value in today's sets.. 

CCC

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA said:

As far as any arguments about the amount of pins in any given set, I don't think they're the elements that anyone should be focusing on.  IMO modern Technics reliance on massive panels vs actual mechanical components is what kills value in today's sets.. 

The point of me mentioning pins is that they are typically penny parts, a couple of pennies for some types. So when people look at the price of technic sets and use the 10c / 10p per part argument to define value, it can be very skewed if there are large numbers. So when focussing on BWE, 4000 parts for £120 looks good but then 2600 parts for £100. Although for technic, the 10p / part to define doesn't really stack up anyway across many sets.

The point is, before buying a set for parts, you should look at the parts, especially a set with many repeat parts.

Concerning panels, BWE has quite a few of these type

which I find quite useful for structure, as they are a cross between beams and panels. Whereas I'm not really a fan of the more decorative curved panels of used in cars, but I see they have a place there.

Back to value, the BWE has loads of different sized beams, so great if you need a selection (and so a good parts pack for someone relatively new to technic parts) but not great if you don't need lots of smaller ones.

There are also a lot of these (53):

If you are going to use them, it's great. If not, it might appear you can get a lot of money back for them (6 month ave on BL is 80p for GBP sales, so £40 for all of them) but then you realise that there is so much stock on BL (in UK, 4x the amount sold in six months).

Similarly the bucket

If you need 8, it's a great set, but you'll be lucky to get 15p each if you decide to sell them off.

The gear racks

If you are going to use them, great. Otherwise the average price of about 90p in UK looks great to sell them off, but then you see about 20 per month get sold on BL, and there are stocks of over 1300 in UK, so more than five years worth.

The BWE is a great set for parts - I think especially for anyone wanting to build up a range of useful structural parts. Having a range but in large quantity is also very useful for building where you don't want one of this and one of that. It is also good value. But beware if you think it is one of those sets where you can remove lots of parts and sell off the rest. Lots of people have already thought it is good value and parted them out on BL, and there are massive overstocks which will lead to a price crash on some of the parts - it already has on things like the bucket (large to store, not much demand, not much value, price crashes).

I say that as someone that bought three for parts, selling off the rest I didn't need. Everyone will be different, but I found that while there was a lot of useful parts, there was also a lot of parts I never used.

Paperballpark

The BWE is a very good parts pack if you want to build Great Ball Contraptions...

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA

Thanks @CCC for having the knowledge (or doing the research) I was far too lazy to do.  Do you think the assumption that spending the budget solely on bricklink would yield more useful parts is accurate?  I assumed there would be a glut of the more specialised pieces (buckets, big quarter racks) which your data confirmed.
 This thread has got me thinking about my own, long term, technic plans...

CCC

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA said:

Thanks @CCC for having the knowledge (or doing the research) I was far too lazy to do.  Do you think the assumption that spending the budget solely on bricklink would yield more useful parts is accurate?  I assumed there would be a glut of the more specialised pieces (buckets, big quarter racks) which your data confirmed.
 This thread has got me thinking about my own, long term, technic plans...

It really depends on what you need. I was after longer beams (or BL-speak liftarms) that are quite expensive on BL but then there are others (esp short ones) that are cheap. Similarly some gears are cheap (mainly small common ones), whereas others can be quite expensive. If you need mainly expensive parts and there are not many of the expensive ones in a set, and you cannot either use or sell the cheaper parts very easily, then it might be better to buy the expensive parts at a premium rather than get the set. The other thing is do you care about colour, as (like system parts) you can pay a premium if you need a part in a specific colour.

I know when I bought the BWE the part out value on BL was something like £400, which appears great for a £115 set (sell all the parts of one, get two free!) but the reality is that the average prices were very high, and probably still are for some parts. Unless you have a very big store the parts are not going to sell at that price - which means that some people do sell relatively cheap to get rid of them. I think BWE has probably been one of the most parted out technic sets on BL, due to the relatively generic parts it contains.

cody6268

I really don't do that anymore, as it got too expensive and many sets had large, speciality parts you can't do much with. I just order the parts I need from Bricklink.