Monday, February 27, 2012

Update: Broken Kamen Rider Meteor Driver

So today I received a reply from Amiami regarding my malfunctioning Meteor Driver. Here's what they said:

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Thank you for mailing us.

We are sorry to hear about the problem with your item. Unfortunately we are completely sold out of the item and are unable to provide a replacement. We would like to offer you a 1000 JPY refund for the defect. Please let us know if you would like to accept this offer and we will process the refund by PayPal as soon as possible.

We apologize for the inconvenience.
Thank you for shopping at AmiAmi.

Sincerely,
AmiAmi

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I think it was nice of them to offer 1000 yen refund, but let's be honest 1000 yen is nothing lol. So I am going to pass on it since I found out the source of the problem.

I opened the driver up to see if I could fix it myself. I've examined the mechanism of the slider and I actually don't see anything wrong. It seems like the problem just stems from how the mechanism was designed. I guess the reason why some people will have this problem and some do not is just because of tolerances on the parts. When the slider is released from the locked position, it engages a gear that turns the wheel assembly shown in the front and then when the slider is at the "rest" position, the gear disengages. The problem with mine is that when the slider is released from the locked position, it pushes the gears together, but then bounces back to disengage it, therefore it only rotates the gear by not even a tooth on the spine. I found out that by slowing down the release of the slider (just use my finger to prevent it from suddenly releasing), then letting go, the gear will engage properly. I am thinking of adding some thin piece of foam to the side of the slider chamber to slow down the initial force from releasing.

3 comments:

  1. Well at lest they offered you something which is nice.

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  2. Ya I do appreciate the offer, it was a nice gesture. But I figured since I fixed it, it's no biggie.

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  3. The Japanese always focus on customer service as far as I know. It is a tradition to them. At least they reply and do something... I cant say this for western design toys....

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