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My kid's toy robot stopped moving and I found the fix in a 1998 service manual
It was a 'Talking Rover' from a thrift store, just dead. I opened it up expecting a loose wire, but the gears looked fine. I searched online and found a scanned PDF of the original service guide on a hobbyist site. The guide said to check the motor brushes for carbon buildup, a thing I didn't even know toy motors had. I cleaned them with a pencil eraser like it said, and it started rolling again. Has anyone else fixed an old toy using a manual that old?
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amymartinez8d ago
That "check the motor brushes for carbon buildup" thing is a real fix. My buddy had a 90s RC car that just buzzed. Found a forum post from like 2002 talking about the exact same model. Said to resolder a joint on the circuit board that always cracked. He did it with a cheap iron and the thing took off.
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mason.paige7d ago
Man, that's the best feeling. When you're staring at some old piece of tech that's totally dead, and you find that one ancient forum post with the exact fix. It's like a time capsule of knowledge saving the day. I had a similar win with an old cassette deck that just ate tapes. Some guy's Geocities page from 1998 said to replace one specific rubber belt. Felt like a genius when it worked.
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