view cart / checkoutHow does my robot sparkle, and why does it not sparkle anymore?
Perhaps one of the most endearing actions that the mechanical robots produced were their sparkling actions. In the golden age before battery operated toys came about, the sparkling action bringing forth a shower of sparks was truly a marvel to behold. From robots to ray guns, almost every toy had to have sparkling action!
The sparkling action is produced by a simple and clever mechanism, a friction stone which is revolved by mechanical action and a piece of flint mounted on a freely hinged lever. When the friction stone revolves, the flint bounces on and off it, thus producing the sparks! It is just like the principles behind getting a spark from a ZIPPO lighter.
Now if your toy's sparkling action no longer works, there are one of two reasons. If it is an old toy, or a new and favorite one, it could just mean that the flint has worned out from use. Just like a lighter flint, it will wear down with use. Unfortunately, unlike in a lighter, the flints in mechanical toys are harder to replace.
The other reason which may have caused your toy to stop sparkling may be easier to fix. Usually this is just due to the flint lever becoming slightly stuck or misaligned. In the picture above, you can see the flint lever just behind the gap between the head and torso of a Space Explorer. It is exactly the same on a Winky robot. This is the lever with the flint, and if you tilt your robot back and forth, you should see it freely move although in a very very slight way only.
If it is stuck, all you need to do is grasp the body and give the robot a couple of shakes. Or you could try giving the robot a couple of small sharp smacks on the back (just like you would smack a friend's back). That should free up the lever and have your toy sparkling again.
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