Random part of the day: Turn Table 2X2 Yellow/Grey
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random part is 74340, 'Turn Table 2X2 Yellow/Grey', which is a System part, category Functional Elements. It was introduced in 2001 and was last used in 2006. It was made in 4 colours and has appeared in 48 sets, one of the first of which was 3804 Robotics Invention System V2.0.
Our members collectively own a total of 316,918 of them. If you'd like to buy some you should find them for sale at BrickLink.
77 likes
35 comments on this article
You spin me right round, baby
Right round like a record, baby
Right round round round
I think I have one, maybe two in this color. Others I have are blue, white, and black. It's a part I really like to use. The 2x2 I use for things like water monitors, mounting equipment, or as the main turntable for small-scale excavators and such.
This element had been neglected as random part of the day until now, but--oh--how the tables have turned.
I have https://rebrickable.com/parts/3679/turntable-2-x-2-plate-top/part_usage and https://rebrickable.com/parts/3680/turntable-2-x-2-plate-base/part_usage.
Its a part I use a lot in Mocs.
Ha I just Bricklinked some of these recently for the Blacktron Alienator.
"...was last used in 2006." Of course, they're still in use, you just have to assemble them yourself now.
“Well, well, how the turntables…”
- Michael Scott
A revolution in LEGO parts :~P
You spin me right round, baby right round, like a Turn Table 2x2 Yellow/Grey baby right round round round...
I had a couple of these in 4128 that got a lot of usage as laser turret mounts!
These, hinge/tipper bricks...soooooo many good and functional elements. I had a precursor to this from a 1970's Technics set ('Go Cart'), still like 'em into the 'her and now':)
2001-6 meant it came in both greys. One good turn deserves another.
I was more interested to discover the top comes in black. There aren’t many colors you can get both parts in.
As a kid I had a lot of fun with these.
I still have my first ones from 6392
@PurpleDave said:
"I was more interested to discover the top comes in black. There aren’t many colors you can get both parts in."
When did we get the top in black? Never came across any in the wild and a quick Rebrickable reference just shows both greys.
I'm not sure how a yellow part comes in 4 colors.
Also I thought red was a very common color for this part but it's not even listed.
When I was a kid LEGO mechs didn’t work without these.
Unless you count Strategic Pursuer. But I always imagined that one as having more hopping action than walking.
We use strings of 35 to 50 here as tactile toy. Great for the kids to have in their hands for fidgitting.
This was one of the first parts that I thought, 'Blimey, that's changed a bit', when I returned to Lego after a 44 year dark age. The only turntable I knew was 402-3.
There is a season, Turn Turn Turn,
A time to build up,
A time to break down.
I always find it funny to read when it says parts like this were introduced in something like 2001, when in reality this turntable piece has been around for many decades and was actually included in some of my earliest sets from my childhood. Many Classic Space sets had these, as well as LEGOLAND Town sets from the Eighties. That's the problem with LEGO using different part numbers for essentially the same thing over the years.
Probably the most useful turntable of all time, Brickowl lists 975 sets. I first came across an earlier version 3680 in Lego Space 483 and 493 back in 1978, and in the steering mechanism of lots of the earliest Technic sets from 853 to 8860 before replaced by dedicated parts. Still find useful today when I need to join plates at 45 degrees or other non-right angles.
@Galaxy12_Import:
I have no idea where I got them, but I got two. They’re Q elements (aka non-production parts). Currently there are old brown, old dark-grey, and tan tops listed on Bricklink, and the price guide shows sales for blue.
@AustinPowers said:
"I always find it funny to read when it says parts like this were introduced in something like 2001, when in reality this turntable piece has been around for many decades and was actually included in some of my earliest sets from my childhood. Many Classic Space sets had these, as well as LEGOLAND Town sets from the Eighties. That's the problem with LEGO using different part numbers for essentially the same thing over the years. "
I wonder if the reason is because the actual assembly got its design number and database entry that year?
@AustinPowers said:
"I always find it funny to read when it says parts like this were introduced in something like 2001, when in reality this turntable piece has been around for many decades and was actually included in some of my earliest sets from my childhood. Many Classic Space sets had these, as well as LEGOLAND Town sets from the Eighties. That's the problem with LEGO using different part numbers for essentially the same thing over the years. "
I think these are even "worse" in that regard as they used to be pre-assembled as 1 part, before LEGO started packaging the top and bottom separately.
I have one from set - 6256: Islander Catamaran.
I can't imagine Classic Space builds without this part (or its equivalents). I never considered any other uses besides rotating mechanisms until I first built the 6989 and saw how they used these turntables to mount the windshield at the front of the vehicle; it's a nice example of out-of-the-box thinking by the designer.
As others have said it now comes in two parts but this design ID relates to the assembled version. Although it appeared before 2001, either the earlier version has a different design ID, or our data does not go back far enough.
Also, in the data we can extract from inventories, designs don't have names, but elements do. Usually all elements with the same design ID have the same name, but in this case the element name includes the colour, which is unusual.
@Huw said:
"As others have said it now comes in two parts but this design ID relates to the assembled version. Although it appeared before 2001, either the earlier version has a different design ID, or our data does not go back far enough.
Also, in the data we can extract from inventories, designs don't have names, but elements do. Usually all elements with the same design ID have the same name, but in this case the element name includes the colour, which is unusual.
"
After a little digging, it looks like the discrepancies come from the way the different sites/databases treat the part. It's quite unusual as the older part is an assembly.
The sets that Brickset picks up inventory from Lego.com use this assembly part number (74340) which is listed (out of stock) on Bricks'n'Pieces. I guess newer sets reverted to the separate parts.
However, Brickset is picking up inventory for older sets from Rebrickable, and they've deprecated the assembly (74340) and split them into the component parts (3679/3680) with a note that the assembly part doesn't exist in any Lego inventory (it does).
That leads to inconsistencies in inventory for older sets. I checked the one I own, from 1978, which would have been part 74340 but it is listed at Rebrickable (and hence here on Brickset) as the 2 parts, 3679 & 3680.
Bricklink does something completely different, giving a unique part number to the assembly, without reference to the Lego number.
Does any of that really matter - I don't really think so - but it was fun to figure out what the databases are doing.
@h734802:
The issue lies in how parts are cataloged. The LEGO Company catalogs them in ways that make sense for warehousing (and Brickset pulls that data into its own database). Bricklink catalogs them in ways that make more sense for AFOLs. Depending on how long an AFOL has been building, they probably always see this as a single component, or as two components in an assembly, but from the warehouse side the instant you stop assembling them at the production line and storing them separately, one element becomes two unrelated elements and the numbers they use to track them in the warehouse are just assigned from a list, most likely in numerical order. Computers don’t care if it makes sense to us, and they’re the ones managing warehouse inventories.
A very useful part especially for the steering when I got the 853 set way back in 1977. A revolutionary part in the way it was used then.
I got these in red, yellow and blue with old grey tops in 1979 - 80 in Technic go cart, forklift and tractor; I adored anything which could be made to steer 'properly' so both front wheels would turn around a common pivot point rather than around one turntable like a pin in the centre, much like a real car. I now use them to make angled fronts to buildings, similar to Café Corner...
I think it's safe to say that, for many of us, this part was our first Lego action "gimic" that wasn't a car tire
s p i n n n n
It's interesting to see assemblies shift to separate parts in sets over the years, the most prominent one being perhaps the split of minifig heads and upper parts in 2005/2006.
In many cases it just didn't make too much sense to ship them preassembled, when you first have to disassemble them, for adding neckgear. In the case of the turntable, it made it possible to use the lower part for decoration like in the Taj Mahal (that used a ridiculous amount of these) or for the large window in 79003.
Oddly enough the opposite effect has happened a few times in the past, were parts that previously shipped individually suddenly came out assembled of the box/bag :D Examples are the old jack (4629c01) or the last appearances of the Legoland shovel buckets with arms (3314) like seen in 6565.