How to get Lego Technic Pieces in Bulk?

[Newest_Tech320]

HI,

I wonder how to get Lego Technic Pieces and Parts in bulk. 

Thanks

[KotZ]

Bricklink is your friend.

[bonox]

join a lug, scour second hand ads, put out wanted ads, buy from aftermarket (ebay, bricklink, brickowl) or just plain buy from the factory.

[MinusAndy]

Define “Bulk”?

[howitzer]

I actually had this problem when I started out after coming back from my years of darkness. Most of my old Technic parts were "obsolete" and I didn't have vast majority of different kinds of parts at all.

Most secondhand Lego is either complete sets or all kinds of bricks mixed (both System and Technic, usually accompanied by odd Duplo and non-Lego items), it's hard to find only Technic parts for affordable price secondhand.

Bricklink is fine if you know exactly what you want, but when you want a generic bunch of parts with no clear goal in mind, it's not that great unless you have a lot of money to spend and can buy a little bit of everything (and even then, it's hard to know what parts are needed in large quantities and what are not, unless you're already very familiar with Technic.) Same of course goes to any other site where you pick individual parts for buying.

Want to buy ads might work if there's someone around who has bricks to sell, but I haven't tried that and it probably depends a lot on how widely you advertise and who happens to see your ad.

I have no knowledge on how lugs work but I understand that there's no guarantee to get what you want and that it might take a long time to get your hands on the bricks you ordered.

In the end my solutions have been 1) buy interesting complete sets, either second hand or new 2) make digital designs or find interesting MOCs with building instructions, and use parts lists from them to make an order to Bricklink (or whatever) 3) don't hurry, make do with what you have for a while and when opportunities to get more parts arise, grab them.

[Newest_Tech320]

2 hours ago, MinusAndy said:

Define “Bulk”?

What I mean is like a lot of pieces that you can buy. Where can you find that kind of stuff?

[MinusAndy]

Bricklink, careful though. It’s like the best sweet shop you’ve ever seen

[Mantarri]

In addition to the suggestions here, be sure to also check out LEGO's Bricks and Pieces. It sometimes has better prices than Bricklink, has a low flat shipping rate (or free shipping, if your order enough $-worth of items on Lego.com to hit the free shipping threshold, Bricks and Pieces orders don't count).
 

It's also a good spot to get pieces that are still in production, but have a larger price on Bricklink, due to no sets being made with them anymore, but LEGO still making the part.

 

The only problem really is the "prep time" for them to put the order together, and the shipping time, depending on where you are (generally takes 3 weeks to get to me, in Canada once it ships out).

Edited September 9, 2020 by MisteryMan
Fix typos

[Newest_Tech320]

1 hour ago, MisteryMan said:

In addition to the suggestions here, be sure to also check out LEGO's Bricks and Pieces. It sometimes has better prices than Bricklink, has a low flat shipping rate (or free shipping, if your order enough $-worth of items on Lego.com to hit the free shipping threshold, Bricks and Pieces orders don't count).
 

It's also a good spot to get pieces that are still in production, but have a larger price on Bricklink, due to no sets being made with them anymore, but LEGO still making the part.

 

The only problem really is the "prep time" for them to put the order together, and the shipping time, depending on where you are (generally takes 3 weeks to get to me, in Canada once it ships out).

Great!

The only problem is that it is really expensive and that they don't have many technic parts. They don't even have 2780 black pin. I was looking for lots that have like random pieces or picture of how many pounds of piece the lot or bulk has.

[Mantarri]

31 minutes ago, Newest_Tech320 said:

Great!

The only problem is that it is really expensive and that they don't have many technic parts. They don't even have 2780 black pin. I was looking for lots that have like random pieces or picture of how many pounds of piece the lot or bulk has.

I think you have what I mentioned confused with LEGO's Pick-A-Brick, which has a very, very small selectin of technic parts.
Bricks and Pieces has a pretty good selection, and prices are sometimes better, or worse than Bricklink.

You also need to keep in mind that Bricks and Pieces has a flat shipping rate, and no minimum buy, whereas it seems sometimes that every bricklink store that has what I need has a minimum buy and/or shipping fee higher than what I want to buy, or more than what it comes to from Bricks and Pieces. 

[Follows Closely]

Don't overlook the deals found on eBay. Sets like #42082, #8110 and #42083 can be acquired for under 5 cents a piece. I have purchased three #42082 in the past month. That set contains a good number of long beams and a good pile of gears.

Edited September 9, 2020 by Follows Closely

[2GodBDGlory]

29 minutes ago, MisteryMan said:

I think you have what I mentioned confused with LEGO's Pick-A-Brick, which has a very, very small selectin of technic parts.
Bricks and Pieces has a pretty good selection, and prices are sometimes better, or worse than Bricklink.

You also need to keep in mind that Bricks and Pieces has a flat shipping rate, and no minimum buy, whereas it seems sometimes that every bricklink store that has what I need has a minimum buy and/or shipping fee higher than what I want to buy, or more than what it comes to from Bricks and Pieces. 

To access Bricks and Pieces, you need to click on Replacement Parts in the Support section, then click on Buy Bricks.

I would agree with others, though, that if you are looking to build a Technic collection, the cheapest way is probably to buy a number of sets, paying attention to which parts are included, to build up a good stock of the more generic pieces and a good number of specialized ones, and then buying whatever pieces you happened to miss out on from Bricklink or Bricks and Pieces.

This is the route I took, starting back in late 2015, and it has served me well for MOCing. I think my Technic collection is worth about $2000, and it has everything I need. I do have to take apart all my MOCs after I make them, but that is fine with me.

[Mantarri]

9 minutes ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

To access Bricks and Pieces, you need to click on Replacement Parts in the Support section, then click on Buy Bricks.

I would agree with others, though, that if you are looking to build a Technic collection, the cheapest way is probably to buy a number of sets, paying attention to which parts are included, to build up a good stock of the more generic pieces and a good number of specialized ones, and then buying whatever pieces you happened to miss out on from Bricklink or Bricks and Pieces.

This is the route I took, starting back in late 2015, and it has served me well for MOCing. I think my Technic collection is worth about $2000, and it has everything I need. I do have to take apart all my MOCs after I make them, but that is fine with me.

I'll second that, I actually started my collection with an NXT set, then got the Arocs, CLAAS, 9398 4x4 Crawler, and tracked loader over the years (next one is 42082, just waiting for it to be back in stock cheaply in Canada). I've just used Bricks and Pieces, and Bricklink to round out my collection, especially for larger quantities of rare parts, such as panels, and new gears, etc.

[Newest_Tech320]

2 hours ago, MisteryMan said:

I think you have what I mentioned confused with LEGO's Pick-A-Brick, which has a very, very small selectin of technic parts.
Bricks and Pieces has a pretty good selection, and prices are sometimes better, or worse than Bricklink.

You also need to keep in mind that Bricks and Pieces has a flat shipping rate, and no minimum buy, whereas it seems sometimes that every bricklink store that has what I need has a minimum buy and/or shipping fee higher than what I want to buy, or more than what it comes to from Bricks and Pieces. 

Ok, Thanks.

2 hours ago, Follows Closely said:

Don't overlook the deals found on eBay. Sets like #42082, #8110 and #42083 can be acquired for under 5 cents a piece. I have purchased three #42082 in the past month. That set contains a good number of long beams and a good pile of gears.

Great!

1 hour ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

To access Bricks and Pieces, you need to click on Replacement Parts in the Support section, then click on Buy Bricks.

I would agree with others, though, that if you are looking to build a Technic collection, the cheapest way is probably to buy a number of sets, paying attention to which parts are included, to build up a good stock of the more generic pieces and a good number of specialized ones, and then buying whatever pieces you happened to miss out on from Bricklink or Bricks and Pieces.

This is the route I took, starting back in late 2015, and it has served me well for MOCing. I think my Technic collection is worth about $2000, and it has everything I need. I do have to take apart all my MOCs after I make them, but that is fine with me.

Cool

1 hour ago, MisteryMan said:

I'll second that, I actually started my collection with an NXT set, then got the Arocs, CLAAS, 9398 4x4 Crawler, and tracked loader over the years (next one is 42082, just waiting for it to be back in stock cheaply in Canada). I've just used Bricks and Pieces, and Bricklink to round out my collection, especially for larger quantities of rare parts, such as panels, and new gears, etc.

Wow, I want a lot of those sets.

[1963maniac]

Ebay usually has bulk technic parts, and a lot of them.

[Newest_Tech320]

8 hours ago, 1963maniac said:

Ebay usually has bulk technic parts, and a lot of them.

Thanks,

The problem is that eBay is very low on stock with lego technic bulk or lots. Is there any other website than eBay, lego, and craigslist that you think that there would be lots of lego technic bulks?

Thank you, everyone! Is there a Rebrickable page or any other site related to Lego Technic that you have that you would like me to follow you on or like your MOCs?

[Follows Closely]

I you want large amounts of Technic pieces you best bet is to buy a dozen or so large sets. 

• https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=42082-1#T=S&O={"loc":"US","iconly":0}
• https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-42082-Technic-Rough-Terrain-Crane-NEW-BUT-BOX-IS-A-MESS-READ-DESCRIPTION/274472795725?hash=item3fe7da7e4d:g:8K8AAOSwDkJfRm0h

eBay and Bricklink are a great source. Sales on Amazon are also a great place.

 

After yo have acquired 50,000 or so pieces you can start filling in your gaps by bricklink'n pieces you are lacking. It wont be cheap, but it is not that hard really.

[Bluehose]

I see you speak about Bricks And Pieces. In my country (France), it is now broken, and it was broken in March. Maybe it is broken since.

[2GodBDGlory]

1 hour ago, Follows Closely said:

I you want large amounts of Technic pieces you best bet is to buy a dozen or so large sets. 

• https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?S=42082-1#T=S&O={"loc":"US","iconly":0}
• https://www.ebay.com/itm/LEGO-42082-Technic-Rough-Terrain-Crane-NEW-BUT-BOX-IS-A-MESS-READ-DESCRIPTION/274472795725?hash=item3fe7da7e4d:g:8K8AAOSwDkJfRm0h

eBay and Bricklink are a great source. Sales on Amazon are also a great place.

 

After yo have acquired 50,000 or so pieces you can start filling in your gaps by bricklink'n pieces you are lacking. It wont be cheap, but it is not that hard really.

Are you serious about the 50 000 pieces!? I think my collection would be closer to 10 000! Maybe I pay for that by having only one color (LBG) to build big models with...

[1974]

If you have a decent sized collection, you probably have 10.000 pins allready ...

[1963maniac]

Have you thought about Lego resale shops in your area? I have a "Bricks and Minifigs" shop near me.

I just searched ebay for "Lego technic parts" and got 4548 results. What are you looking for?

[2GodBDGlory]

On 9/10/2020 at 3:33 PM, 1974 said:

If you have a decent sized collection, you probably have 10.000 pins allready ...

I don't think so. (Assuming you were replying to me?) My collection is primarily made of the Mercedes Arocs (~2800 pieces), the Extreme Adventure (~2400 pieces), 9398 (~1300 pieces), 8070 (~1100 pieces), plus three sets around 400 pieces each, and maybe an extra thousand parts from garage sales, Bricklink, and Bricks and Pieces, for a total of approximately 10000 pieces. And yet even with that (relatively) little collection, I have never even gotten close to running out of those pins!

[howitzer]

I made a quick estimation on the amount of pins and it appears that about 25% of my Technic collection is black 2L and blue 3L pins. Quick skimming over a few sets revealed that modern sets consist some 20-30% of these pins.

I believe it's quite a hard to run out of basic pins while building before running out of any other parts.

[Bricktrain]

recently bought another 3000 pins due to always running out.

 

[JintaiZ]

On ‎9‎/‎10‎/‎2020 at 3:33 PM, 1974 said:

If you have a decent sized collection, you probably have 10.000 pins allready ...

It's not hard to have that many pins. You could probably get 10000 of them for $80...