Chosen Solution
It’s a Stieff brand Soft toy. And the pull string doesn’t retract when it’s pulled out. I have opened it up, and it is all mechnical. Inside there is:
- A spool for the pull string to wind onto
- A Music Box with a metal comb that is turned by a large spring (This spring is hidden from view)
- A spinner with small spring that turns when the string is retracting. My question: Before I open up the box any further, can anyone tell me. Is it likely that the spring is the problem? Is it possible to repair a spring? I can provide photos if that would help. UPDATE: Thanks for the great responses so far. As you can see in the image below. I unscrewed the metal base from the plastic housing, and discovered that the spring encased in the grey box isn’t able to be unscrewed open :( As you can see in the green circle I’ve drawn, this grey case is held closed by a metal pin that is clearly not able to be disassembled. OR is it? Would I need to open that up to get to the spring? Any advice would be great. This toy is really lovely, and I’d love to preserve it.
It could be that one end of the spring has jumped out from its bracket. I doubt it that spring it self has snapped from rust or usage. So must be the pracket !
Sorry to hear your lovely toy is not working properly, I too had same issue with a “Santa” that we have had for many years until my youngest grandson pulled the string too far, we took it all apart and found that the wheel that held the drawstring had broken at the base, after much playing around with it and a lot of research finally gave up and bought a new mechanism, good luck, hope you find another way rather than buying a new one, (the fact that we are here in fixit tells me we are the kind of person that would rather repair it than get a new one)
