Two years ago, in the Project14 - Recycle & Retrofit, I entered with an upgrade of my Mr. Machine ( Mr. Machine gets an upgrade - Mostly working, but still needs a little some help.). Now there is a new member to the family.
A recent eBay purchase showed up yesterday, a 1960’s Mr. Machine (center in the pictures). This one is non-working and missing a few pieces, but only cost me $12.50 plus shipping (units in better shape are selling for $200+, with one that I was bidding on ending at $300+). This is just like the one that I received as a Christmas present back in the 60s as a very young boy. I will either use it for parts, or attempt to fix/replace/print parts to see if I can get it running. In the pictures, from left to right, are an unmodified1970’s Mr. Machine, an original 1960’s Mr. Machine and a heavily reworked 1970’s Mr. Machine that I converted into a radio controlled, dual motor driven, robot with a bunch of 3D printed pieces.
When I unpacked it, the first thing that I noticed was that the poor guy would neither wind up or run. I noticed that there were a few missing pieces (Bell, steering control knob, and some plastic nuts/fasteners).
I completely disassembled the new guy (it was made to be assembled and disassembled), and found that someone had put it together wrong (one of the gears was flipped) and caused some damage to some of the other gears. I was a able to put it all back together (correctly), fix the main spring and wind it up, getting it to did move about (with some occasional pauses, due to some missing teeth on one of the gears). Some of the parts are a bit warped and/or wonky, but for the most part I should be able to get it running again.
It is pretty cool that I was finally able to find an affordable, original copy of this toy. It is a real kick to own something that I once had as a child (almost 60 years ago). I plan to see what parts I can find/fabricate and which parts I can repair/recondition. One of my first plans is to see if I can un-warp the wheels enough that I can get it to move around without having the wheels latch up on the fasteners that hold the body together. I hope to write some blogs to cover the repairs as they happen.
Thanks for reading!
