I love the part at 5:34 where you get it working again and you say "Perfect" and then Pee Wee responds with "I know you are, but what am I?" I think he's quite thankful to be repaired!
I was just gifted one of these for my Birthday! He spent a lot of time in a New York basement and I am glad to know I can fix his voice box. I've been controlling the speed the string goes back in manually. Thank you!
An outstanding video 🙂👍 Should be required viewing for kids today. Years ago in the 70's, my late brother & I were shipped off to boarding school in SA. Our mother gave us both a 'housewife' aka a small sewing kit, with needles, thread, scissors etc and showed us the rudimentary rules of stitches, button sewing, heming, basic repairs etc. Years later when I was a National Serviceman in the SADF, rips & tears in my kit or uniform were a cinch to repair 🙂👌
Fran earned my subscription with the "backing the screw out" trick. I had never heard that before, and now I always do it! Glad Pee Wee came out of surgery ok!
I got one of these in a Christmas gift exchange my senior year of high school. Our yearly band Christmas party had an exchange that was more friendly competition, and Pee Wee Herman was THE hotly contested gift for that year. Somehow, I ended up with it. I loved it! He sounded close to normal for about an hour, and the forever after sounded like yours did in part 1. I literally have never seen another one anywhere! Go figure that the UA-cam algorithm would bring this video into my feed. Love that you got him talking normal - well, about as normal as he ever sounded. Lol!
Recently I had an electronic voiced stuffed animal, the batteries were corroded and terminals were all crummy, after cleaning out the batteries, which were still at full voltage, I attempted sewing the stuffed furby after getting the box to work again, my task was sewing everything up , watching your electronic repair video, I got some good sewing tips. I’m rewsewing the box , using your demo on basic sewing to make it neat. I’m going to a sewing website to learn to fix my tv, lol
White Glue is one of the best kept secrets out there. If you have a plastic case where the threads have stripped out. Put some White Glue in there, and it fixes the missing plastic that got worn out. It's also good as a substitute for LocTite, but not quite as strong. If you have an old Radio and some of the knobs are loose, it works to fix the problem. I have used it when changing the string on a Radio. It's good for gluing Speaker Cones. There are a lot of things you can do with White Glue.
I like that she took the time to actually looked, considered the cause of the issue, and carefully took steps to repair the device without destroying any of the parts, and ended successfully, nice to see someone repair old toys mechanical works, thank you
It's not so much what you do as how you do it that's enjoyable. My first experience with you was your tour of the Wanamaker organ, which I had the honor of sitting in the loft one 5:00 in the 70s. Your ability to explain how things work with your curious nature is a gift and fun to watch. Thanks!
Around the time these dolls were new in store, I worked for Toys R Us. One day, I took a break and stood around pulling the strings on every single one of them on the aisle. I also did this in every other store that I visited after. Admittedly, at my store, there were only about 10 or so. Not too many. However, I can definitively state that almost every single one had a warble and they all ran at differing speeds, most ran too fast. Only a few ran too slow. I also thought it a little odd that this toy manufacturer choose this old-school pull string talk mechanism when many toys at the time were introducing the newer digital talk boxes for toys, which required batteries. One thing was certain, the inconsistency in the talk devices was a clear problem with these toys. At first, I chalked it all up to kids roughhousing with the toys before me. But then, I found brand new ones that had just been pulled out of the case. I tried these. These performed consistently inconsistent right from the manufacturer. These talk boxes were just not well designed from the go. I won't go so far as to say defective, but they just didn't seem well made.
I really can't see how these could have been machine mass produced, given the tricky machinations involved. They had to have been manually manufactured. Do you think that's a valid supposition, Fran? And, I wonder how many of these were produced in their heyday. As a Baby Boomer, I found this content to be utterly fascinating and entertaining. You're one of a kind on YT and you have earned a loyal follower! Keep amazing us with your vast knowledge and seemingly limitless skill! 👍👏🙏
By that one tiny piece of tape that had to be removed even after the screws were taken out, you can tell it was a manual assembly. They used that piece of tape to hold the cover on while it was being handled.
My Pee Wee need a new main spring that pulls the string back in. Would you have a source for a replacement? I did find it interesting on controlling the speed with that tensioner positioning. However my poor Pee Wee remains “speechless” without that main spring. Thanks for any help… Tom
"Heard any good jokes lately?" Pee Wee's opening line when he made his comeback appearance on MTV music award show. Genius. Fran you have the healing hands on a worthy repair. Good as new. 🇺🇲🍺
Thanks Fran. Dug Pee Wee back in the day. Sewing tip?! For what it’s worth; after you thread the needle and double your thread, place the two ends on the pad of your index finger then wrap the thread once around your fingertip overlapping the two ends. Dampen your thumb on the same hand and slide it across the lapped threads and roll them to the end of your fingertip. Without lifting your thumb completely from your fingertip take your thumbnail and hold down the exposed end of the thread and gently pull until a knot forms under your thumbnail. It’s a quick way to get to the tedious part of sewing. Love your channel.
This was a great tear-down! I love the crossover interconnect technology from the vacuum state era to the solid state era - how to make solid state modules easy to service a la vacuum tubes, pre edge card/SIP/DIP. I can see one of the transistors on the "large" board you pulled had some heat issues by the discoloration on the foil side. Keep up the good work!
Lovely repair! The mechanical part was plain and simple, and fast too. Sewing, on the other hand... it takes time. And again I hope I learned something. Medical forceps to the rescue. A very useful tool... and I picked that up from you! Thanks a lot
Wow Fran you actually performed surgery on Pee Wee using forceps and stitches! This should be peer reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine. Good job! BTW there's an old joke about Pee Wee - some will be too young to get this joke, but... Name two people shot in the back of the head in a theatre - Abraham Lincoln and the guy sitting in front of Pee Wee. Bada Bing!
Jokes aside, I think they did Paul Reubens so wrong. Who cares if he was in an adult theater jacking off? Thats basically what those places are for. I feel like it was somehow an organized effort to take him down. For what reason? I have no idea but the whole thing was blown way out of proportion. I remember being young and people talking about how scandalous it was, and here I was thinking to myself, so what? why isn't he allowed to do that. Like Hes the first and only? Its not like he was SA'ing someone or hurting people. I still find the way the media handled that so disgusting and far more telling about us as a culture then Paul Reubens as a person.
My mom was a sewing enthusiast. Her favorite program on tv was a show called Sewing with Nancy. I remember watching a few episodes with her and what I recall the most is seeing the close ups of the project Nancy was working on while listening to her voice as she talked about sewing technique and strategies, she found useful. Anyway, thanks for triggering one of the fond childhood memories I have of watching TV with my mom.
You fixed something that some may thing is nonsense but to many of us its a keepsake with fond memories.Thanks for the great attention to detail as your work can cross over to help with other repairs that we may have.
Lovely slog through the trenchery of it all. I really enjoyed watching your eyes focus on a point in space and then dart around while the kaleidoscope of thoughts whirled about as you were pulling his string over and over. I love when I get lost in moments like that. Good times.
This video is EXACTLY what I was hoping for!!! I had a doll when I was little and have been searching for another Peewee but all of them say the voice doesn't work anymore. You gave me hope!!
Everytime I watch one of your videos I'm amazed by all the different skills you have I was computer tech for 25 years and I know my field pretty well but I have nowhere near the range of skills you seem to have needless to say I am very impressed thank you for making all the wonderful videos keep up the good work
I have one of these Pee Wee dolls from when I was a kid, and it has the same issue. I think I'll tackle this surgery myself and relive being 7 all over again.
Perhaps the spring was originally intended to adjust for the O-ring stretching out over time. Given the manufacturing tolerances I'm sure some work better than others. And it could be a copy of a copy of an original design.
It's still pretty impressive that the concept works as well as it does, with no batteries. I tore apart a similar talking GI Joe as a kid, but had no idea what I was doing.
Wow! I bought one of those decades ago and it's still in the packaging! At the time I thought "instant collectible" and then he went to the movie show. Waiting for Pee Wee renaissance and a pile of $$.
I just love watching your videos.. Admittedly a lot of times I have no idea what you're talking about but I sure love listening to you talk.. your cool af
The only rule to hand sewing (if you want it to look nice) is to be consistent. Although at times that can take a bit of prior practice. Just a matter of tension being taught but not pinching the fabric and having the spacing staying somewhat regular. The folding over thing shown in this video is good practice too, as it helps prevent stitching from pulling through the fabric. A barrel knot might be a better anchoring method, but it's hard to get it right all the time. (Sometimes one of the loops you're putting the final pass through can bind down prematurely and mes sit up. If done right, it anchors in a way unlikely to come undone.) Can't say I'm an expert at it, but I've done it enough where it's possible to have it looking neat. (Someone asking if a machine was used is sort of a compliment?)
If the spring loses tension with age/use causing it to play faster, maybe adjusting it a little slower was the best way to set it. My mom has one of these in her collection, I'll have to see how he's doing! Thanks for sharing this video!
Slow talking Pee Wee reminds me of ZZ Top's "Manic Mechanic". My first experience with these mechanisms was a Mattel Talking Football game that a relative gave me for Christmas back in the early 70's. You had a little "radio" for the records. The idea was the offense player inserts a record for particular play and passes the radio to the defense player. There are several possible defense plays that show through a little window as *u rotate the little record to select the result. It suffered a similar fate to Mr. Herman, but I had no interest in repairing it.
Billy Gibbons saw an episode of Donahue where they disguised a guy's identity by running his voice through some kind of harmonizer. He thought it sounded badass and wanted to use it in a song. His sound guy or manager called Donahue's manager and asked if they could borrow whatever they used to disguise voices. He was reluctant to "give away" their secret machine. The ZZ Top sound guy basically said "please, please, please, please!!!" until the Donahue guy relented! And that's how we got to enjoy the cool robot/monster/confidential source voice in Manic Mechanic.
I remember the Mattel Instant Replay talking device, and this version, we had with various theme plastic disc's to play.. but the same playback device carried over to your game from my search your remark triggered.💡
I never had the talking Pee Wee because about a year before it came out I got the Talking ALF doll as a kid(had the bed sheets, toothbrush, PJ's, stickers, t-shirt, and a few of the books with tapes) , and annoyed the crap out of my mother with it so much so she took the talk box out while I was sleeping one night, then smashed it, and threw it in the trash never to be heard again(I still have the doll, and 2 of the Burger King ALF puppets), so I only ended up with a few of the Pee Wee action figures I would have fights with my TMNT action figures lol!! Anyways so great to see you got it fixed 🙂👍
A friend had said my Redding Mobile Home is like the Playhouse. Granted it's combintation sound stage (with literal 2 foot tall 4x8" stage) and FM station KM6ARC. I'm glad you're doing this:) Thank you.
I think the springy thingy is a kind of a "one way clutch" allowing the belt to go loose and slip when pulling the string out so the governor is not trying to brake it and tensioning it (while providing additional adjustable friction) in the other direction.
I've always wanted a PW doll, he's been one of my idols since childhood, I get much of my personality from watching Playhouse. I went to a 80s themed photography place where you dress up and have props. I stood at the window spotting one of the dolls in a box for about a minute saying "I want it" pretty sure it is just for decoration.
good video, when I am at the top of a 12' ladder, screwing 21' lengths of pipe in hangers together, I turn it backwards if having trouble, like you did on the screws into plastic. also I use my off hand- left instead of my right to start the threads, it has finer motor control than the dominate right, stronger hand, thanks.
I love Pee Wee and bizarrely I’ve just imported the exact same doll all the way from the USA to UK just last week!! Sadly he has the same issue as yours😔 however, I don’t have the patience to perform the surgery required, therefore I’ll just love him as he is 😀
It's possible that the felt or the plastic near the centrifugal governer may have gotten a tad greasy/oily or maybe too hard and lost friction. The peg seems like it was just supposed to be a belt tensioner.
putting the string back into the doll could have been solved by pulling it out of the box, holding it in place with the hemostat and then you would have plenty sticking out to feed through the doll! Thats how we do it for pull starts on engines
Ha! my wife has a peewee doll that's doing the same thing! Thanks for this video. I may have to do some exploratory surgery - but I'll probably need a pair of those clamp scissor thingies.
The pull string looks like it's nylon. To pull it back out during the reassembly I wonder if, instead of glue, it would work to heat a hemostat or needle nose pliers, use that to crimp the nylon string onto the thread and not have to wait for glue to set.
Wonderful work repairing a great toy from the 80’s. I have a Grinch doll with a broken heart. His heart should light up and it doesn’t anymore. Have you ever fixed the Grinch?
Just a suggestion for the whip stitch, have you tries jamming the needle into your thumb and then bleeding all over the fabric? I find it really helps with my projects.
Guarantees the success of any mechanical project. Much like the blooded busted knuckles under the hood of the car or the pierced thumb from the dreaded high E string of a guitar when your restringing. The vital and obligatory blood sacrifice is always required!😈
when i was a kid (i'm 72) i'd watch MISTER WIZARD as he made wind-up spool and toothpick 'racers' or rubber band noisemakers that you could send to a friend in an envelope. it was simultaneously hypnotic and educational. i believe it promotes critical thinking. you have the same effect. i wonder if that skill and wonder is going to survive in this youtube age... thanks!
Great job! If there's an old device that produces sound, it's almost always the belt or something related to the belt, lol. I think I would have tried replacing the belt with a newer right sized belt. It might have helped with some of the wah and flutter. But maybe not either way great video!
I have one of these, and just fixed it. Thanks for the inspiration. I tightened that spring every which way but it seemed to work for only a few pulls. Finally I put a dap of hot glue to hold that piece to the “slow” position. Still sounds like crap, but at least you can make out what he’s saying. So… I know you are but what am I?
Hi! i just find your channel you're amazaing!, can believe i was not the only one triyng to fix this, actually i tried to fix the Roger Rabbit plush that have the exact same pullstring mechanism, i follow every steep you did the only problem i keept having is my string doesn't roll when is place, if i move the string doesn't roll back, don't know why, anyway i'll keep tring. Congrats again for this!!
I love the part at 5:34 where you get it working again and you say "Perfect" and then Pee Wee responds with "I know you are, but what am I?" I think he's quite thankful to be repaired!
I was just gifted one of these for my Birthday! He spent a lot of time in a New York basement and I am glad to know I can fix his voice box. I've been controlling the speed the string goes back in manually. Thank you!
An outstanding video 🙂👍
Should be required viewing for kids today.
Years ago in the 70's, my late brother & I were shipped off to boarding school in SA.
Our mother gave us both a 'housewife' aka a small sewing kit, with needles, thread, scissors etc and showed us the rudimentary rules of stitches, button sewing, heming, basic repairs etc.
Years later when I was a National Serviceman in the SADF, rips & tears in my kit or uniform were a cinch to repair 🙂👌
In the US army a small sewing kit was mandatory for decades, but no one knew how to use it and no training was given......so it was useless to us.
Fran earned my subscription with the "backing the screw out" trick. I had never heard that before, and now I always do it! Glad Pee Wee came out of surgery ok!
I got one of these in a Christmas gift exchange my senior year of high school. Our yearly band Christmas party had an exchange that was more friendly competition, and Pee Wee Herman was THE hotly contested gift for that year. Somehow, I ended up with it. I loved it! He sounded close to normal for about an hour, and the forever after sounded like yours did in part 1. I literally have never seen another one anywhere! Go figure that the UA-cam algorithm would bring this video into my feed. Love that you got him talking normal - well, about as normal as he ever sounded. Lol!
Recently I had an electronic voiced stuffed animal, the batteries were corroded and terminals were all crummy, after cleaning out the batteries, which were still at full voltage, I attempted sewing the stuffed furby after getting the box to work again, my task was sewing everything up , watching your electronic repair video, I got some good sewing tips. I’m rewsewing the box , using your demo on basic sewing to make it neat. I’m going to a sewing website to learn to fix my tv, lol
White Glue is one of the best kept secrets out there. If you have a plastic case where the threads have stripped out. Put some White Glue in there, and it fixes the missing plastic that got worn out. It's also good as a substitute for LocTite, but not quite as strong. If you have an old Radio and some of the knobs are loose, it works to fix the problem. I have used it when changing the string on a Radio. It's good for gluing Speaker Cones. There are a lot of things you can do with White Glue.
Yes, handy in wood for making threads.... I have even put some oil on the screw before inserting to be able to wiggle it out later.
I like that she took the time to actually looked, considered the cause of the issue, and carefully took steps to repair the device without destroying any of the parts, and ended successfully, nice to see someone repair old toys mechanical works, thank you
It's not so much what you do as how you do it that's enjoyable.
My first experience with you was your tour of the Wanamaker organ, which I had the honor of sitting in the loft one 5:00 in the 70s.
Your ability to explain how things work with your curious nature is a gift and fun to watch.
Thanks!
Around the time these dolls were new in store, I worked for Toys R Us. One day, I took a break and stood around pulling the strings on every single one of them on the aisle. I also did this in every other store that I visited after. Admittedly, at my store, there were only about 10 or so. Not too many. However, I can definitively state that almost every single one had a warble and they all ran at differing speeds, most ran too fast. Only a few ran too slow. I also thought it a little odd that this toy manufacturer choose this old-school pull string talk mechanism when many toys at the time were introducing the newer digital talk boxes for toys, which required batteries.
One thing was certain, the inconsistency in the talk devices was a clear problem with these toys. At first, I chalked it all up to kids roughhousing with the toys before me. But then, I found brand new ones that had just been pulled out of the case. I tried these. These performed consistently inconsistent right from the manufacturer. These talk boxes were just not well designed from the go. I won't go so far as to say defective, but they just didn't seem well made.
That is so good that you were able to repair that. I remember seeing a governor when I took apart a rotary dial on an old phone.
I really can't see how these could have been machine mass produced, given the tricky machinations involved. They had to have been manually manufactured. Do you think that's a valid supposition, Fran? And, I wonder how many of these were produced in their heyday. As a Baby Boomer, I found this content to be utterly fascinating and entertaining. You're one of a kind on YT and you have earned a loyal follower! Keep amazing us with your vast knowledge and seemingly limitless skill! 👍👏🙏
Done on an assembly line, with some machine work and hand finishing.
All the components would have been made by machine, just final assembly would have been done by hand.
By that one tiny piece of tape that had to be removed even after the screws were taken out, you can tell it was a manual assembly. They used that piece of tape to hold the cover on while it was being handled.
My Pee Wee need a new main spring that pulls the string back in. Would you have a source for a replacement? I did find it interesting on controlling the speed with that tensioner positioning. However my poor Pee Wee remains “speechless” without that main spring. Thanks for any help… Tom
Once there were great engineers. You are amazing Fran.
"Heard any good jokes lately?" Pee Wee's opening line when he made his comeback appearance on MTV music award show. Genius. Fran you have the healing hands on a worthy repair. Good as new. 🇺🇲🍺
If I was ever on the International Space Station and my space ship broke down and they sent Fran up to repair it, I would have nothing to worry about!
Thanks Fran. Dug Pee Wee back in the day. Sewing tip?! For what it’s worth; after you thread the needle and double your thread, place the two ends on the pad of your index finger then wrap the thread once around your fingertip overlapping the two ends. Dampen your thumb on the same hand and slide it across the lapped threads and roll them to the end of your fingertip. Without lifting your thumb completely from your fingertip take your thumbnail and hold down the exposed end of the thread and gently pull until a knot forms under your thumbnail. It’s a quick way to get to the tedious part of sewing. Love your channel.
This was a great tear-down! I love the crossover interconnect technology from the vacuum state era to the solid state era - how to make solid state modules easy to service a la vacuum tubes, pre edge card/SIP/DIP. I can see one of the transistors on the "large" board you pulled had some heat issues by the discoloration on the foil side. Keep up the good work!
Born in 83. I grew up watching Peewee on Saturday mornings and had this doll!!!!!!
Lovely repair! The mechanical part was plain and simple, and fast too. Sewing, on the other hand... it takes time. And again I hope I learned something.
Medical forceps to the rescue. A very useful tool... and I picked that up from you! Thanks a lot
Wow Fran you actually performed surgery on Pee Wee using forceps and stitches! This should be peer reviewed in the New England Journal of Medicine. Good job! BTW there's an old joke about Pee Wee - some will be too young to get this joke, but... Name two people shot in the back of the head in a theatre - Abraham Lincoln and the guy sitting in front of Pee Wee. Bada Bing!
Yeah, it's OK to pull Pee Wee's pants down in the Lab, but never in an adult theater.
It's too bad he wasn't able to beat those charges and get off
Pee wee is the only toy who plays with himself.
Jokes aside, I think they did Paul Reubens so wrong. Who cares if he was in an adult theater jacking off? Thats basically what those places are for. I feel like it was somehow an organized effort to take him down. For what reason? I have no idea but the whole thing was blown way out of proportion. I remember being young and people talking about how scandalous it was, and here I was thinking to myself, so what? why isn't he allowed to do that. Like Hes the first and only? Its not like he was SA'ing someone or hurting people. I still find the way the media handled that so disgusting and far more telling about us as a culture then Paul Reubens as a person.
@@welovemrp00 🤣🤣🤣
My mom was a sewing enthusiast. Her favorite program on tv was a show called Sewing with Nancy. I remember watching a few episodes with her and what I recall the most is seeing the close ups of the project Nancy was working on while listening to her voice as she talked about sewing technique and strategies, she found useful. Anyway, thanks for triggering one of the fond childhood memories I have of watching TV with my mom.
You fixed something that some may thing is nonsense but to many of us its a keepsake with fond memories.Thanks for the great attention to detail as your work can cross over to help with other repairs that we may have.
Never in my life did I expect to be absolutely transfixed by the repair of a pull string engine. Absolutely riveted for the duration!
you deserve a commendation from the King of Cartoons
Let the disectiioooooon Begiiiin!
Yay! Pee Wee is back! Great job! I always wanted a talking Pee Wee doll. I'm glad you got yours working again.
So glad you were able to fix this. I really needed closure on this project.
Lovely slog through the trenchery of it all.
I really enjoyed watching your eyes focus on a point in space and then dart around while the kaleidoscope of thoughts whirled about as you were pulling his string over and over.
I love when I get lost in moments like that. Good times.
I really liked that small bench project, looking forward for more 😁
Oh this is great! I had one of these. I'm happy you got it working again.
This video is EXACTLY what I was hoping for!!! I had a doll when I was little and have been searching for another Peewee but all of them say the voice doesn't work anymore. You gave me hope!!
This has been, and still is, one of my favorite channels.
WOW patience and perseverance you got it CONGRATS
You really do have the coolest most unique content Fran. I learn so much.
Well done! It’s neat to see one of these functional again 😃
Everytime I watch one of your videos I'm amazed by all the different skills you have I was computer tech for 25 years and I know my field pretty well but I have nowhere near the range of skills you seem to have needless to say I am very impressed thank you for making all the wonderful videos keep up the good work
RIP Pee Wee Herman, loved the tv show and big adventure, biggest little kid ever
I have one of these Pee Wee dolls from when I was a kid, and it has the same issue. I think I'll tackle this surgery myself and relive being 7 all over again.
YAY!!! Success. Good work. This was worth a two parter to learn how to fix these boxes. Thank you.
Pretty cool! I still have mine from when I was a kid. If I pull the string, it sounds like he is summoning things from else where :x
Perhaps the spring was originally intended to adjust for the O-ring stretching out over time. Given the manufacturing tolerances I'm sure some work better than others. And it could be a copy of a copy of an original design.
It's still pretty impressive that the concept works as well as it does, with no batteries. I tore apart a similar talking GI Joe as a kid, but had no idea what I was doing.
Gramophones had no electricity either. Was just a diaphragm and a horn to amplify it. So the talk box is just a really cheesy gramophone.
I watched both parts. Great job!I had a pee wee doll when I was a kid and even before you fixed it I kept listening for “I know you are but what am I”
Wow! I bought one of those decades ago and it's still in the packaging! At the time I thought "instant collectible" and then he went to the movie show. Waiting for Pee Wee renaissance and a pile of $$.
I just love watching your videos.. Admittedly a lot of times I have no idea what you're talking about but I sure love listening to you talk.. your cool af
GREAT project Fran. ❤
Had a gi joe w a string. It had different colour makings so you knew how far to pull it to say the right things.
thank you Fran 🥺 your videos are the best. You and eev should get together again sometime soon
The only rule to hand sewing (if you want it to look nice) is to be consistent. Although at times that can take a bit of prior practice. Just a matter of tension being taught but not pinching the fabric and having the spacing staying somewhat regular. The folding over thing shown in this video is good practice too, as it helps prevent stitching from pulling through the fabric. A barrel knot might be a better anchoring method, but it's hard to get it right all the time. (Sometimes one of the loops you're putting the final pass through can bind down prematurely and mes sit up. If done right, it anchors in a way unlikely to come undone.)
Can't say I'm an expert at it, but I've done it enough where it's possible to have it looking neat. (Someone asking if a machine was used is sort of a compliment?)
Well done Fran, you are one smart cookie
If the spring loses tension with age/use causing it to play faster, maybe adjusting it a little slower was the best way to set it. My mom has one of these in her collection, I'll have to see how he's doing! Thanks for sharing this video!
Woop, he lives! Thanks for part the second. I still think he's creepy, lol
A lot of non GenX find pee wee creepy but then you guys have the Kardashians!
Sheer genius...you are amazing Fran...lm loving your show
Slow talking Pee Wee reminds me of ZZ Top's "Manic Mechanic".
My first experience with these mechanisms was a Mattel Talking Football game that a relative gave me for Christmas back in the early 70's. You had a little "radio" for the records. The idea was the offense player inserts a record for particular play and passes the radio to the defense player. There are several possible defense plays that show through a little window as *u rotate the little record to select the result. It suffered a similar fate to Mr. Herman, but I had no interest in repairing it.
Billy Gibbons saw an episode of Donahue where they disguised a guy's identity by running his voice through some kind of harmonizer. He thought it sounded badass and wanted to use it in a song. His sound guy or manager called Donahue's manager and asked if they could borrow whatever they used to disguise voices. He was reluctant to "give away" their secret machine. The ZZ Top sound guy basically said "please, please, please, please!!!" until the Donahue guy relented! And that's how we got to enjoy the cool robot/monster/confidential source voice in Manic Mechanic.
I remember the Mattel Instant Replay talking device, and this version, we had with various theme plastic disc's to play.. but the same playback device carried over to your game from my search your remark triggered.💡
I never had the talking Pee Wee because about a year before it came out I got the Talking ALF doll as a kid(had the bed sheets, toothbrush, PJ's, stickers, t-shirt, and a few of the books with tapes) , and annoyed the crap out of my mother with it so much so she took the talk box out while I was sleeping one night, then smashed it, and threw it in the trash never to be heard again(I still have the doll, and 2 of the Burger King ALF puppets), so I only ended up with a few of the Pee Wee action figures I would have fights with my TMNT action figures lol!! Anyways so great to see you got it fixed 🙂👍
Hey, great video. This reminds me of when I was young; I used to take apart my Talking GI Joe, to see what made it talk. 👍
A friend had said my Redding Mobile Home is like the Playhouse. Granted it's combintation sound stage (with literal 2 foot tall 4x8" stage) and FM station KM6ARC. I'm glad you're doing this:) Thank you.
My lost in space robot has a similar voice mechanism. Works. English and Japanese phrases. Found myself hypnotized watching this video.
I fix one of these today. I tried to say method that you did. Thanks you really helped me.
I think the springy thingy is a kind of a "one way clutch" allowing the belt to go loose and slip when pulling the string out so the governor is not trying to brake it and tensioning it (while providing additional adjustable friction) in the other direction.
I've always wanted a PW doll, he's been one of my idols since childhood, I get much of my personality from watching Playhouse. I went to a 80s themed photography place where you dress up and have props. I stood at the window spotting one of the dolls in a box for about a minute saying "I want it" pretty sure it is just for decoration.
"We're on the right track here".......very on point!
good video, when I am at the top of a 12' ladder, screwing 21' lengths of pipe in hangers together, I turn it backwards if having trouble, like you did on the screws into plastic. also I use my off hand- left instead of my right to start the threads, it has finer motor control than the dominate right, stronger hand, thanks.
If only we could get a reaction from Pee Wee himself about you pulling down (and pulling up) his pants. hehehe
I love Pee Wee and bizarrely I’ve just imported the exact same doll all the way from the USA to UK just last week!! Sadly he has the same issue as yours😔 however, I don’t have the patience to perform the surgery required, therefore I’ll just love him as he is 😀
It's possible that the felt or the plastic near the centrifugal governer may have gotten a tad greasy/oily or maybe too hard and lost friction. The peg seems like it was just supposed to be a belt tensioner.
putting the string back into the doll could have been solved by pulling it out of the box, holding it in place with the hemostat and then you would have plenty sticking out to feed through the doll! Thats how we do it for pull starts on engines
Hey Ardie Cuz! Now we can fix ours!!!!
You da man, Cuz!
the string goes under the metal spring right where the metal grommet is to hold the string so it don't tangle ,but you got it to work ,cheers
Nice Job!!! Persistence was key.
Sweet!!! I was thinking before that you were going the wrong way with that spring ... but you figured it out 😄👍
Glad to see he has someone that loves him...a treasure
I think Fran could fix just about anything
I guess talking circuit boards were just too expensive to be practical in 1987 when this doll was released. Fascinating repair job!
Ha! my wife has a peewee doll that's doing the same thing! Thanks for this video. I may have to do some exploratory surgery - but I'll probably need a pair of those clamp scissor thingies.
You can find the clamps by searching for hemostat.
Success! That's awesome Fran,I imagine this will help other's fix up their's too👍
I think so... with a LOT less time too.
“There’s lots of things about him we didn’t know, couldn’t know, shouldn’t know,”
Now we do.
Never trust anyone named PeeWee
When I was a kid I had a talking GI Joe. The string had color-coded marks on the string so you could make it say whichever phrase you wanted.
That governor/clutch is complex for a useless part.
It is what it is. Amazed at you drive to fix the mechanical dodad here.
I love the chuckle. 😊
The pull string looks like it's nylon. To pull it back out during the reassembly I wonder if, instead of glue, it would work to heat a hemostat or needle nose pliers, use that to crimp the nylon string onto the thread and not have to wait for glue to set.
Wonderful work repairing a great toy from the 80’s.
I have a Grinch doll with a broken heart. His heart should light up and it doesn’t anymore.
Have you ever fixed the Grinch?
Perhaps what appears to be a governor is more of a fly-wheel to keep a consistent speed.
Thank you again for making this part 2 video, it was so great to see it come together at the end and Pee-wee work like somewhat new again.
😀👍
Just a suggestion for the whip stitch, have you tries jamming the needle into your thumb and then bleeding all over the fabric? I find it really helps with my projects.
what the fuck
It's done wonders for my battle vest.
Guarantees the success of any mechanical project.
Much like the blooded busted knuckles under the hood of the car or the pierced thumb from the dreaded high E string of a guitar when your restringing.
The vital and obligatory blood sacrifice is always required!😈
Your missing a couple parts…. That was a creepy sounding I looovee youuu…
@ Jason Cook Thank you - your post made me laugh and laugh. and I really needed that!
Cool......Pee Wee is ready for a trip to a movie theater.
when i was a kid (i'm 72) i'd watch MISTER WIZARD as he made wind-up spool and toothpick 'racers' or rubber band noisemakers that you could send to a friend in an envelope. it was simultaneously hypnotic and educational. i believe it promotes critical thinking. you have the same effect. i wonder if that skill and wonder is going to survive in this youtube age... thanks!
This information will come in handy!
Thanks Fran!
Nice Mine is like that! I use tension to make him sound right. Thanks for cool Video!
You have remarkable patience. Out of frustration I would have thrown Pee Wee against the wall!
That definitely takes me back. I vaguely remember playing with one of those.
Zen and the art of Herman Stitching....and NEEDLE is the word for the DAY yAY YAy SCream!!
Great job! If there's an old device that produces sound, it's almost always the belt or something related to the belt, lol. I think I would have tried replacing the belt with a newer right sized belt. It might have helped with some of the wah and flutter. But maybe not either way great video!
Entertainment for Fran for hrs. Cool resto job Fran. Try to catch the video of Pee Wee when he goes into a biker bar & starts dancing
I have one of these, and just fixed it. Thanks for the inspiration. I tightened that spring every which way but it seemed to work for only a few pulls. Finally I put a dap of hot glue to hold that piece to the “slow” position. Still sounds like crap, but at least you can make out what he’s saying. So… I know you are but what am I?
Nice job! Next, waiting to see you sew an Apollo Computer with memory threads memory..
Great channel ! The comments are good too ! Very entertaining
Takes me back to my camera repair days. I no longer have the eyes or patience for this. Glad you do. Sewing? Nope!
Nice job on the repair and the video.
Hi! i just find your channel you're amazaing!, can believe i was not the only one triyng to fix this, actually i tried to fix the Roger Rabbit plush that have the exact same pullstring mechanism, i follow every steep you did the only problem i keept having is my string doesn't roll when is place, if i move the string doesn't roll back, don't know why, anyway i'll keep tring. Congrats again for this!!
I’d love to watch more tear down/repair of 80s toys & tech
Congats Doctor the patient survived!