How does one go about refurbishing an automata? These are some mental notes that I am recording to approach this problem.
1. To get access to the mechanism, I have to remove some of the Lego bricks. When I reconstruct the box, I will substitute with thinner panels cut from plastic or wood.
2. I need to make sure that the cams actually turn with the shaft. Perhaps I need to substitute a new screw for the gear.
3. The distance between the cam and the acrobat has to be determined empirically. Thus I need to fix the stage on top of the mechanism, which will in turn fix the distance between the cam and the acrobat.
4. The original stage was made from cardboard. This will be substituted with a thick plastic sheet to provide structural stability and support for the cam "tubes" which I am making.
5. For the cam "tubes", I have drilled out two holes into this plastic sheet. Two square metal tubes were glued carefully into these holes which will correspond exactly on top of the two cams below when the stage is glued on top (following pictures in a future posting will make this clearer).
6. I have selected smaller square tubings which slide smoothly into these cam "tubes" to make the cam followers.
That's it for now.
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