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Alps TV Robot flickering screen


PJB

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Hi all - quick one - anyone got an image of the inside of one of the TV Robots, or know how to get to the filament lamp / know exactly where it's located? My robot's lamp flickers - suspect a loose connection - that I'd like to fix. Any images / diagrams / tips gratefully received. All the best....!

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Your welcome. I always notice your posts....PJB is the initials of my name! 

It sounds like either your bulb is on the way out or you just have a loose or dirty wire connection somewhere. There is lots of info here,, you just have to find it. Good luck with it. :thumbs:

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The Alps TV robots were built with two different lamps that I have seen. Some have a very small globe lamp that has two metal tabs and wires just come out the bottom and the other have the standard screw base globe lamp. The lamp is deep inside the robot, to replace it the robot will have to come apart.

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Question for you guys, before I attempt a repair - the image above (Thanks again for this) implies the Robot's head can be removed to allow access to the lamp. Are there any other electrical or mechanical connections that I need to be aware of before I try to remove the head? I'm trying to figure out what the spring is doing and also how the on / off switch interacts with the body. I have searched around a little before asking this time...! Any info would be great. As per my first email I'm trying to get a bit of a collection of robots together - I think I have fallen in love with these wonderful toys. I do have a (Lapsed...!) qualification in electronics engineering but am very cautious about opening the robots up for obvious reasons! Thanks all. 

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It's best to completely tear down, as John suggests. 

I've done both - if you do it, do it right.

The vertical spring (top right corner of Metalheads pic) is a flexible linkage from the motor to the head.

It drives the multi colored cello that shows through the mouth.

If you just tackle the head, that will be one of several major probs.

In all seriousness-  this is an amazing robot to work on - and there is a ton of info here.

Dive in!  You will have help.

 

ps - take lots of pics.

 

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The drive spring "called a flex shaft" to the head has very little extra length so it is hard to remove the head with out damaging the spring drive. Remove the front of the body first then the head. There are wires from the switch in the head also so try not to break them. But if it was me and the light still works but just flickers, I would leave it as is for now. The bulb will burn out one day as most of these lamps are only rated for about 20 hours, now that is a lot of play time, the motor and gears will be worn out by then so when you go in to replace the lamp you can work over the rest. Modern batteries will lead to early bulb death as they will proved rated voltage out put for a longer time than the old school carbon batteries that were around when the toy was manufactured. Carbon batteries would only put out there 1.5 voilts for a breif time if at all under load. So they would use bulbs rated for less than 3 volts "two 1.5 volt batterys" , 2.4 volt was a common bulb voltage rating.

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Yes, John has a very good point there PJB. You may as well leave it until the bulb goes as it's quite a complex robot to work on. I have had my TV Spacemen from new in 1964 or thereabouts and it flickers a bit and has done so for years but still keeps on going. When I think about it, it's probably ran for about 2 or 3 hours if that  in its entire life!

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Guys you've been marvellous, thank you so much for the tips and advice. It is a flicker but it's pretty bad, to the extent that lamp is more off than on. If I hold the robot at an angle or invert him the lamp performance is better so it's clearly a loose connection. I'm lucky enough to work with an electronics whiz at work whose also pretty talented mechanically as well. I think I'll tackle the problem with him at some point. Thank you all once again for the assistance. Cheers!

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  • Brian.. changed the title to Alps TV Robot flickering screen

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