Space Explorer (Yonezawa TV) Robot Repair

[Fineas J. Whoopie]

I'm starting a new thread for the repair questions because the antiques show thread is going in an interesting direction on it's own.

O.K. - The gear that lifts the robot has only minimal wear, it looks like there should be enough teeth to hold on once they are in the right position. I think the problem is the positioning of the semi circular gear (I'll call it the lifting gear -see pic below) on the little brass gear on the brass axle that is attached to the assembly that actually rises. In the up position the lifting gear is no longer engaged with the little brass gear (what is the proper name for that gear?) and then you can just flip the lifting gear backwards so it sticks out of the chest. In the second picture you can see how the bearing that should be riding on the cam (whith the cam also in the fully "up position") floats above the cam. I think that if I can adjust the lifting gear to intermesh with the little brass gear so that the bearing and the cam meet I beleive it should work, assuming that the minimal wear on the teeth aren't a problem.

So far I have only removed the chest plates. If anyone can tell me the safest way to adjust the orientation of these gears I would be very greatful. I've tried just pushing the lifting gear to the side of the brass gear and dropping it down but It feels like I would bend it if I tried any harder. So what do you guys think? Henk? Bart? John? Mike? Anyone?

I hope I've been able to clearly explain the situation (probably not!) :P

[Fineas J. Whoopie]

In this picture you can see the bearing floating above the cam with both the cam and the robot in the up position.

[Fineas J. Whoopie]

So does anyone have any advice on the best way to get at these gears? Would it be best to open the back or pull off the bottom plate? Uh,.....Henk?.......sir?.......Please?....... :P

[H.I. Gosses]

I am a little rusty on this one. Long time ago.

You'ld best go to Bart's adventures.

With his pictures my memories came back.

With my old age my memories have faded again..

"The small gear" is called a "Pinion". (That I remember.)

There is a bush, -a brash, thickwalled tube, (I am resisting jokes here like hell)

this is clinched into the plate of the quadrant (your first picture).

If the hole in it, is not perpendicular to the Q. things will misalign.

Stick a well fitting shaft into this bush and bend it so that the shaft is

square to the Q. in both planes. Now fixate it with solder.

This should help.

If everything else is in order and you do not mean to run it a thousand times for

friends and relatives, you're OK.

If not, go the Bart-way.

His uncle made the extra strong gears, like I did years ago,

so look in your familytree and find out he is your uncle too.

-any large gear from module 0,5 will do as re-inforcement.

Either from other toys with large diameter gears or from a modelling shop.

See the former thread, which was so aptly named "Via Dolorosa exploratoris spatii" (..!)

[bartzenegger]

you are saying " the quad gear is bent to far in so that the cam is not riding on the brass wheel ?

be very careful ! when bending there is a Hugh domino effect ! you will probably have to open it up to get the timing right with gears once you put quad back.

very important !! - if you do open up an fix it - if you do a test with the "shell" on - you have to tab down a few cuz wont stay level and when in motion it will cuz secondary problems.

good luck.

looks to be in good shape ! i think you got a good one!!!!!!!! simple problem just be careful.

[H.I. Gosses]

Bart!

Run over!, help the poor man!, hold his hand!,

make tea!, weep with him!

I am too old, it takes younger, broader shoulders to carry this load!

[Fineas J. Whoopie]

Thanks for helping guys I'm sure youre all "Space Explorered out".

All seems to be aligned properly. The problem seems to be that the quad and the pinion gears need to be interlocked in a different starting position. The second picture above is of the cam fully extended upward and the robot in the up position. If I understand correctly the brass wheel on the quad (I called it a bearing, I believe Henk was calling it a bushing) should be riding on the cam at this point (actually at all times) - it doesn't. So I believe I need to adjust the teeth on the quad so they are intermeshed with the teeth on the pinion gear higher up on the quad so that the brass ring is riding on the cam.

I'll try to come up with some sort of diagram, but it'll just be a picture of a hand written one!

[bartzenegger]

Bart!

Run over!, help the poor man!, hold his hand!,

make tea!, weep with him!

I am too old, it takes younger, broader shoulders to carry this load!

:D

[funkrobotik]

Try this fineas. The tabs on the main frame of the robot that hold the quadrant shaft, pull them to one side( one half one way and the other half the opposite way) so you 'could' lift the shaft and quadrant out.

This should give you room to get the quadrant down past the gear and then slide it into mesh at the correct place, whuch should be so that the brass roller is sitting in the very bottom of the cam, in the valley if you like. You may have to run the robot a touch so that the cam is in the correct place to take the brass roller, or turn the gears manually.

Just bend the the tabs back a touch to try operation.

If you are very lucky and the rest of the gearing timing has net been tampered with it may go but just operate the switch a jab at a time and if the operation seems to stop and the motor seems to load up stop it quickly or gear damage may occur. Having said that , its all repairable with time and patience.

[bartzenegger]

Try this fineas. The tabs on the main frame of the robot that hold the quadrant shaft, pull them to one side( one half one way and the other half the opposite way) so you 'could' lift the shaft and quadrant out.

This should give you room to get the quadrant down past the gear and then slide it into mesh at the correct place, whuch should be so that the brass roller is sitting in the very bottom of the cam, in the valley if you like. You may have to run the robot a touch so that the cam is in the correct place to take the brass roller, or turn the gears manually.

Just bend the the tabs back a touch to try operation.

If you are very lucky and the rest of the gearing timing has net been tampered with it may go but just operate the switch a jab at a time and if the operation seems to stop and the motor seems to load up stop it quickly or gear damage may occur. Having said that , its all repairable with time and patience.

agreed!! finding the timing is just going to be a (try it out) program. if robot doesnt go all the way up. run bot so the brass bushing (wheel) is placed at the very bottom of cam.

funk- i like it ! i think this will work! mine had already been open so it did it differently.

[SH MIKE]

Don't touch that pinion. It is in a position that both holds up the upper mech and also

allows the walking mech to engage.

I remember having the same problem with the timing of the gears.

Try this, get the mech to the highest position and then just try and push the tip of that partial

gear away from the brass gear enough to slip it down onto the cam. you should be able to engage

the teeth after you move it down.

at it's higest position, the pinion should be on the cam just before the big fall.

then you can see what else doesn,t work!!!

[Fineas J. Whoopie]

Thanks for all your help Mike, Bart, Henk, and Funkrobotic. Funk, your Idea worked! I was able to remove the quad gear and put it back in the right position without opening the robot any further. So far so good. When I tried to run it it worked fine, untill the robot had risen halfway and then it dropped prematurely. The orientation of the quad to the pinion gears returned to the same position as before - not so good. I've taken a closer look at the interaction between the quad and pinion gears and I now can see that they lose "traction" when the pinion gear meets the slightly worn teeth of the quad gear. There is no doubt in my mind now that if I want this robot to function fully then my only option is to do a full quad gear re-build. For now, I'm going to put the chest piece back on and think about it. Time will tell, if it bugs me that the robot is not fully functional then maybe some rainy day I'll try using a gear from a Space Walkman to re-inforce the quad gear. If I find that I'm O.K. with it "as is" (after all he still walks with eyes flashing when "propped" in the up position) then that'll be cool too (Darryl and Mike- I realize this is the advice you were hinting at to begin with). Thanks again for all your help and comments everyone, particularly Bart who was good enough to spend a half hour with me on the phone schooling me on the pitfalls of messing with the Space Explorer.

[Fineas J. Whoopie]

Bart!

Run over!, help the poor man!, hold his hand!,

make tea!, weep with him!

I am too old, it takes younger, broader shoulders to carry this load!

Space Explorer Update:

I just wanted to publicly thank Bart for helping me to get my Space Explorer working. He graciously offered to reinforce my quad gear for me, not being in a hurry to pack up my prized SE I just sent him the quad gear and a donor gear from a junker Space Walk Man and he did the resto job at home and sent it back to me. Great guy, that Bart! It's been almost two months since I brought this robot home and now, thanks to Bart, it's completed the full cycle twice! The robot is now back on the shelf propped up with a device in the back to keep any weight off of the quad gear. I'm just happy to be able to call it a working robot and I have no need to run it very often at all. I figure what happened to the original teeth will eventually happen to the new teeth and I'm in no hurry to get back to square one. Thanks Bart and all who helped with their input!!!

[larry seven]

:) Congratulation, Fineas, he looks good on your shelf, you have an excellent collection, and congrat on picking up the R-35 last night! What a nice robot and box, please post some pictures when you get him. -Larry 7

[robert]

Looks great Don! I know how good it feels to get a broken toy working. The best feeling in the world! You are right, Bart's a nice guy. Not to bright though, he actually chose to go to Hawaii instead of Botstock. There's no accounting for taste..... ;)