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Post by lachlant1984 on Oct 18, 2016 3:51:16 GMT -7
Hey everyone. I just came across a YouTuber in England called workshop1138 who's done some pretty good videos on how to repair Teddy Ruxpin. I have to say I've not yet watched all his videos, but I do know that he does some trial and error tests on the servo motors in Teddy to determine why they're not working and I believe he has some success in getting them to go. Also, workshop1138 has made a video on how to repair the Playskool Teddy Ruxpin and how to replace the belts in the head that drive the animations. Thought you might be interested to know about this.
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Post by late2theparty on Oct 18, 2016 6:59:18 GMT -7
I'll have to check these out, and hope that there is some information on the later type servos which I am told are band operated. I have a pretty good handle on the early geared type after pulling a couple apart, but not on those later types.
"Trial and error" is something of a perfect term for repairing Teddies though....especially for the seeming 10% or so that don't seem to follow the normal pattern. Add the term patience and its those with odd wiring or with other problems not immediately evident that pose the largest challenges and are the most interest to me. The third requirement for these oddballs is careful observation - something which can sometimes be elusive when you start off assuming what the problem must be.
I just finished a repair on 3rd Generation WoW Teddy that had been sitting there and getting on and off attention. The tapes ran, but sound was mostly static with occasional speech. That would seen to be a case of a player or board problem, or a bad speaker. But changing things out made no difference. Nor did a lot of work on the original parts adjusting the tape head and cleaning the contacts in the tape player, or work on the board. But getting back to this guy, I noticed that while the animatronics were working, the mouth did not seem to be opening as far as it should. So opining up the head and observing the mechanics in action, I found the the unused upper plate on the swivel for the upper snout was hanging up against the single servo which operates the mouth in these. My electronics knowledge isn't anywhere near what some know, so the rest is guesswork as to source. But with the servo being stopped causing the rubber wheel to be held in place in mid action, it would seem the internal contacts were not releasing as they should, which seemed to be causing some level of electrical feedback into the board. Now I know that this doesn't make immediate sense. While the board is an integrated system, the servo circuit just wouldn't seem to have a lot of impact on the sound, as many Teddies will play tapes perfectly when the servos are froze. But replacing the original frame so that the servo was moving as it should without it hanging up in mid turn of the rubber wheel solved the problem. Fun? Well it is if you find one of these really confounding Teddies and are determined to figure it out.
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