Random part of the day: Double Cross Block
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random part is 42142, 'Double Cross Block', which is a Technic part, category Beams, Special. It was introduced in 2013 and is still in use today. It's been made in 6 colours and has appeared in 145 sets, one of the first of which was 31313 Mindstorms EV3.
Our members collectively own a total of 2,887,798 of them. If you'd like to buy some you should find them for sale at BrickLink.
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24 comments on this article
Don’t trust this block.
Not to be confused with hot cross buns
+o+
Which poor Technic axle did it backstab to get today's RPotD slot?
@Robot99:
Just a wild guess, but probably not the 7L axle.
@Robot99 said:
"Which poor Technic axle did it backstab to get today's RPotD slot?"
It framed Technic 11M beam for a crime it didn't commit with help from the evil Znap back in the late 1990's. The 11m beam had to escape to the Los Angeles underground to survive. It only recently has been learned that "Misentry", is in fact the missing - and wanted - Beam.
@Murdoch17 said:
" @Robot99 said:
"Which poor Technic axle did it backstab to get today's RPotD slot?"
It framed Technic 11M beam for a crime it didn't commit with help from the evil Znap back in the late 1990's. The 11m beam had to escape to the Los Angeles underground to survive. It only recently has been learned that "Misentry", is in fact the missing - and wanted - Beam."
Ah yes, the famed A-beam. How’d you get out of the VA?
@Murdoch17 said:
"It framed Technic 11M beam for a crime it didn't commit with help from the evil Znap back in the late 1990's. The 11m beam had to escape to the Los Angeles underground to survive. It only recently has been learned that "Misentry", is in fact the missing - and wanted - Beam."
LMAO, that last part was a nice way to circle back around.
Still waiting for that Technic 1L axle...
Alright yes, it's got two crosses, but could you not have given it a less backstabby name Lego?
@PDelahanty said:
"Still waiting for that Technic 1L axle..."
It would make for a good Systems element if you combine it with https://brickset.com/parts/design-32064 , but only if it is not color locked.
One of those parts that make life so much easier.
There is a Technic 1L beam 18654 and pin, so why not an axle?
Together with the 1x2 cross block 40146 one of the most useful connectors, although earlier version 32184 been around since 1999. This can also be used as a beam 3 module, appearing 22 years before the beam 11 and 15 modules 73507 and 71770.
@Wrecknbuild said:
"One of those parts that make life so much easier."
That's to lull you into a false sense of security so it can double-cross you.
@MeisterDad said:
"Don’t trust this block."
@huw Please add a poll so we can assess how many of us were ninja'd by MeisterDad.
Okay, so I'm curious. What's the difference between this part and https://brickset.com/parts/design-32184, which is the one that I remember having?
Another of those pieces that I first discovered in 8556. I guess you could say that was my first intensively technic set - I had a couple of technic sets before that, but they were only simple ones like 8216 and 8217, or else buildable figures - so it was the place where I first encountered a lot of the common technic pieces like this one.
...that also probably explains why I had more trouble building it at first than any other set up to that point, *because* it was such a new experience for me. I remember I messed up the internal gearing at first, so it didn't work properly and I had to take a fair bit of it apart and try again... but I digress.
Looks like I've owned 78 of the classic part, in total, over the years - though not all at the same time, since I only got one of the sets containing them recently, after significantly downsizing my collection several years back. Almost all have been from Bionicle sets; the only two exceptions being Star Wars Technic figures.
“Why you no good double crossing son of a technic beam, you got a lot of nerve coming here after what you pulled!”
It all makes sense now! This is why there was a misentry!
This guy double crossed him.
It’s not even a block!
"first appeared in 2013" How? I remember this piece being in some 2003 bionicle sets
@Be_hapi:
That just means it lied to you.
@Skeletonwizard8 said:
""first appeared in 2013" How? I remember this piece being in some 2003 bionicle sets"
It's a different mould number - the one in the 2003 Bionicle sets was https://brickset.com/parts/design-32184 - so it's a separate entry in Brickset's parts catalogue, even though to all intents and purposes it's the same piece. I don't know if there was any discernable difference between the two versions other than that, though.
@ThatBionicleGuy:
If it looks the same but got a new design number, it could be a change in plastic that required a _SLIGHTLY_ different size of mold cavity to produce a part with the same clutch and relative dimensions.
@PurpleDave said:
" @ThatBionicleGuy:
If it looks the same but got a new design number, it could be a change in plastic that required a _SLIGHTLY_ different size of mold cavity to produce a part with the same clutch and relative dimensions."
Or it is just one of those times where the old mold was broken or worn out and had to be replaced, and they just gave it a new part number in the process.