Yonezawa Space Explorer Robot info needed

[David Kirk]

When I went to fooling around - lifting the rack, I found that when it is fully lifted it comes un-engaged from the fully flower shaped gear - it'll lift right out of its housing, at which time you can change the position of the brass gear and the partial lifting gear that rides the cam and is also loose. I can then make the brass pin fall fully into the dip and then raise all the way when it lifts. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps when the whole toy was fully extended it allowed that gear to slip. Unless putting the robot together prevents that, it could happen. I was all ready to perform major surgery and now it seems to be fixed. I couldn't be that lucky, I suppose.

[chilli]

Hi David,

yes just bend the corner to release the gear.

I may as well continue calling the partial gear  the "flower" gear in this thread> It does look like a bunch of flowers.

I have added an additional piece of cog to it now with a metal weld glue J.B Quick. Also a blob of the "weld" to at a bit more strength.Well, it cannot hurt.

The gear you were referring too is at the back of the robot and raises the body and head does not appear to come lose as easy on mine. As it looks like the yonezawa logo we may as well call it the Yone gear in this thread and the mech it fits into, the "ladder".

I have fitted another piece of chopped gear to the main gear on the left . So now it has 2 strengthening and thickening parts added to it.

I ran the main gear and it turned around ok engaging with the double thickness teeth, but this was without refitting the "flower" gear.

I now have to wait for the extra "weld" to set until tomorrow then I can put it all back together.

I got the extra cog pieces from one of the modern large windup space troopers. I dont know how many teeth it has but it looked right and when cut fitted perfect in line with th first cog teeth.

This is the type of trooper I used.My finger is pointing to the cog I cut through to use as doubling teeth on the main cog of the explorer.

Hope that all still makes sense.

Cheers

Chilli

 

[David Kirk]

That's amazing that you were able to locate a fit. Thanks. I may have to try the same thing before I re-assemble. Having a double would also reduce stress on the brass pinion that engages this one. Brass pinions wear pretty quickly too.

[chilli]

I was surprised but I guess most of the sizes are pretty standard. The trooper was the first thing I looked at. Strange it had a good thick metal cog,

As far as I can tell the "weld" works well. As I have not taken the whole thing apart , solder would have been impossible. I just used a blade to remove any of the weld that had squished out between the teeth.

If you do fit the extra cog pieces, run the robot without refitting the "flower"gear, so you can see that it turns freely without the pressure of lifting.

"If" I can get it going it sure is not going to be used often so the "weld" might work. I am not holding my breath though as there are so many things to go wrong on this robot.Every part wants to bend out of shape.

cheers

Chilli

 

[chilli]

Well, I got it running. The first gear that I used araldite on threw the added part of the gear as it turned. So i superglued it in place then drilled from the outside of the casing and  through the first gear and and my added gear. I then added very small rivets and this held the extra backup gearing in place.

The main "flower gear" was beefed up with rivets and this held out well.

All worked until I added the body , by which time it it did not sit square,

By the time I had ran it enough times to sort out the smoothest position for the body to sit it has caused the beefed up main gear to start slipping again.Damn,so near to fixing it.

The head switch works like this.

The middle cam turns in a sequence causing the eyes to flash, the body to rise, the feet to turn, and then to drop to the ground.

Then the bendy connector hits a dead spot on the middle cam and the action stops. By hitting the head button it causes the circuit to link and the cam to move to a live position, there by starting the sequence again.

I will put up a video soon of the robot showing it working, with a little help on the lifting.

I have learned a lot from this exercise, but this was always a weak design.

I will put up a timeline report based on the box design in the next few days to show that the button head was the original design.

Cheers

Chilli

 

[martijn]

Great job mark! This robot is always my favorit to repair, enjoyed reading your restoration!

[chilli]

Thanks Martijn, I will post the video as soon as I get a few minutes.

Cheers

Chilli

[MetalRobotHead]

Hi Mark, seeing as you have become a Space Explorer robot leading repair man, could you clarify something. My SE is left on display in the fully up position, I have positioned a plastic tube wedged between the underside of the body and the battery box to support the body and take the strain off the mechanism. Can you confirm that it is the the small brass wheel which tends to bend upward on its shaft that will be taking the full weight of the body when left on display fully expanded, or is another part taking the strain to keep it fully up.

The wheel from your post

 

 

[chilli]

YEP, as does  the "flower" cog the brass wheel is attached too. I attached an extra bit of cog and a coin to the flower gear with rivets and it stopped it twisting, which is one of the reasons the brass gear is out of line. I think the sheer effort of forcing the body upright as it catches the legs etc causes more damage than just the weight leaving it upright though.

cheers

Chilli

[chilli]

Ok, I didn't get it to work as I wished as the aligning of the body when replaced caused so much stress on the cogs again the repair started to wear, you could hear it catching.

I had to mess so much with the "ladders" that do the lifting the body would not sit right.

Without a massive strip down the repairs I made by beefing the flower cog and the first cog with extra pieces of cog held with small rivets was a good answer. The rivets were inserted by drilling through the gear holding frame from the left, through the gear and the glued on extra gear. Rivet were then pushed through and clamped to fit, sorry forgot photos.

The first video shows the repair with out the rivets, having tried it with the body it threw the glued cogs and I had then to drill and rivet them.

http://vid1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag311/robbyrobot1/open/stripped space ex_zpsugz2dzmi.mp4

the second the body added. It needed a bit of support, unfortunately the robots smal wheel feet were moving but not walking on the foam base. They later stopped working as the robot would not quite rise high enough to engage the walking cog with out help.

http://vid1371.photobucket.com/albums/ag311/robbyrobot1/open/space ex_zpsfnrbqwhx.mp4

I think I could do a repair on another one now, but they are not easy.

cheers

Chilli

 

 

 

 

[MetalRobotHead]

The first video isn't working for me, just a small box appears that say "photos not found", the second is OK working fine

[chilli]

Working now, thanks

[MetalRobotHead]

Thanks for your video's, photos and info, will certainly come in useful in the future.

[Brian..]

Excellent work, Chilli. You've provided us with a very informative explanation of the problems that this robot presents. Many years ago I bought a working example from a dealer and passed it on in part exchange to a friend. It stopped working within hours. My friend sent it for professional repair and you can imagine my embarrassment when it was described by Mr Moran as "the worst botch repair that I've ever seen".

To be honest, it's a brave person who offers a guaranteed working example. The best you can say is that the last time you tried it, it worked!

[chilli]

In my opinion the only way this robot can be completely repaired is to remove the centre gears, their spindle and the "flower" lifting gear and have them recut in a stronger material, in the UK it is so difficult to find a metal worker that will undertake that kind of job, in the states that would be the best option. Glad the info was useful, the "flower gear" can be beefed up easily with metal (coin) and rivets to stop it twisting.

Thanks for everyones input

cheers

Chilli