Back to: Extra – Unpacking your LEGO EV3 set
We originally had this later in the course. however since our students almost invariably wanted to start using the set immediately, we have moved this extra into the first position in this course! 🙂
LEGO supplies two EV3 sets. The Home or Retail set (LEGO set number 31313), and the Education set (LEGO set number 45544). While these sets contain many of the same components, there are some differences in the components supplied. We will cover the unpacking of each set separately.
The LEGO Mindstorms Education EV3 set.
This set comes with a handy tray in which to place the LEGO components after you have removed these components from the plastic bags in which they are supplied. LEGO has a suggested component arrangement, but several years experience teaching students has resulted in our preferring an alternative arrangement that we have found helps to facilitate student creativity when building new robot models. The components not shown in this diagram are stored in the basement of the container.
Checking your Education Set contents.
Checking our set components is useful both at the end of a School term, and when you have purchased a used EV3 Education set over the internet. Click on the following link to download an inventory list that we have found useful when checking our LEGO EV3 Education sets for missing pieces; Inventory for 45544 V21. This list contains links to facilitate re-ordering the individual pieces. The links are to Brickset.com, which had the most comprehensive list of components at the time we looked for replacement pieces. We have no connection with Brickset.com, and do not receive any compensation from the site.
The LEGO MindStorms Home/Retail EV3 Set
The Home/Retail sets we purchased did not include the handy component tray that LEGO supplied with their Education kit. We initially put all the pieces in a pile in the bottom of the cardboard box that the LEGO set came in. This was a bad idea. Trying to find tiny little bits of LEGO pieces that somehow hide in the most of obscure places under other LEGO bits can be very frustrating! Looking around local shops we found that some of the sports stores had plastic fishing tackle boxes that looked useful. The one shown below has removable partitions that allow storage of different sized Lego pieces. It also has a lid and latching mechanism which means if the box is dropped, there will be less chance of LEGO pieces being scattered all over the sitting room floor. This one was about 45 mm. (about 1 3/4 inch) deep. Other depths were also available.
Similarly, some of the hardware stores at plastic boxes that were intended for tradesmen to carry around collections of small components. Again these had detachable partitions.
We have found both useful, however the fishing tackle boxes were less expensive, so we used those.
Checking your Home/Retail Set contents.
A list that will enable you to check the contents of your Home/Retail set can be seen here. This link is to Brickset.com, which had the most comprehensive list of components at the time we looked for replacement pieces. We have no connection with Brickset.com, and do not receive any compensation from the site.