Mechanical Parts

I recently remembered a toy from a while ago that I have fond memories of. However, upon searching for them online, I found that little information exists on them other than a bunch of long defunct shop pages and obscure YouTube videos. So, without further ado...

Zibits! - “Control your world”.

I retrieved a few of these adorable dust-bitten bots from what they probably assumed was their permanent resting place to get documented.

Here’s the little bean! This is what I assume is the basic, or rather ‘bog-standard’ Zibit. According to an older review from ‘toysaretools.com’ (You can read that article here) Its name is ‘Flux’. The first thing I noticed about all of my new-old robot crew was that all their batteries were still working, which isn’t bad for a 10 year old toy! (At least, this was the case for ones that did have batteries in them.) On the topic of batteries, the Zibit itself runs on 3 LR44 (coin) batteries, while the remote requires 2 AAA batteries. A hassle to get your hands on, but considering these things haven’t given up for 10 years (admittedly, not of constant use) I don’t think its a bad investment!

Now, the second thing I noticed was that Flux has none of this screws, only being held together by friction. For for the disassembly, I will be using a robot with the same mould, also known as the copper chap from the first photo.

This process should be an absolute walk in the park. Regardless, I am somewhat trying to make a documentation. The Zibit pictured stands around 5.7 cm tall. The battery compartment’s screw is held into the cover piece, so I won’t worry about treating it as a screw and instead I’ll just think of is as a single part, along with the plastic its attached to. Now, shift your attention to those two little screws at the bottom. The heads of these screws are 4 mm wide and so is the head of the screwdriver I'm using to remove them. This same screwdriver will be perfectly sufficient to undo the battery cover. Go ahead and remove the battery compartment cover to reveal all the holding screws.

You can now see all 3 screws that will need removing. The most difficult part of this entire process will be putting that central screw underneath the spring back in place, so I recommend having some way to magnetise your screwdriver. Although, for me, the mere act of removing the screw magnetises the screwdriver. Anyway, go ahead and get them out.

All 3 screws are the same length, your only worry is losing these tiny things.

Now, carefully pull apart the front and back half of the Zibit. The little robot splits in half directly down its side!

Presto!

You can now see all of the core components of a Zibit. 

This is what I’ve taken to calling the ‘drive shaft’ of the Zibit. Of course, it is not a drive shaft, and doesn’t even resemble one. Anyway, that is what makes the Zibit move. It is universal to all Zibits.

The visor can also be removed.

Alas, this is as far as we can really go into our exploration of the Zibit. I do however have a bunch of trivia both from memory and from research that I also want to put on this post.

Zibits of the same mould all operate on the same infrared frequency. This means they can respond to each others remotes. Though, this isn’t very useful if you want to operate them at the same time.

Zibits arms are somewhat pliable.

Some don’t have a screw inside their battery compartment, instead they have it in the back of their head.

The one with the transparent head splits down the middle, however the dome is a separate piece.

Now, I do need to reveal my ulterior motive. Before any of this, I wanted to try and find a list showing each Zibit so I could see what ones existed. However, I don’t think such a list exists. All website links I’ve scavenged are defunct, and the only image I did find lists the names of ‘series 1.5′.

(In case you cant read this:

Sion/Bendix/Rev/Bash/Termanis/Shift/Dinc/Spex/Epsilon/Tank/Go-B/Shox)

Not only does each one have a name, but they also have a description of their personality. Here’s a much nicer image:

I bring this up not only because I like the aesthetic of 2000′s graphic design, but because its sort-of* makes this lost media, and I think that's kinda cool.

(*in fairness, I’ve only searched around for the best part of like 5 minutes.)

However, while looking around, I think I’m starting to piece together why Zibits only lasted around 2 years. Most articles I’ve read seem to talk about how cute these little guys are. However, in the future...

??? Idk, I just don't like these other designs. I think this guy specifically feels kinda cheep to me because of their fake tracks. 

This lump’s almost complete lack of printing feels a bit lazy.

Woah... Ok fine, this ones a cutie.

This demon is singlehandedly responsible for the death of the brand and I will not forgive them.

Hang on, but seriously. What caused the demise of the Zibits? What other, popular scamp runs around on a series of roads and hubs you construct? What's more, this opponent brand must have come into existence sometime around 2010...

Ah.

I started this for two reasons; one, to try and possibly find out why this shelby was broken, and two, to see if i could remove the shelby’s eyes. I only wanted to do this out of curiosity because i knew the eyes had to be separate pieces due to the fact shelby’s eyes move left to right. (Unlike a furby.)

Firstly, i would like to thank @furbytech​ for their tutorial on how to remove a shelby’s shell! My tutorial begins assuming you have removed your shelby’s shell, so first of all follow their tutorial and then come back to this once the shell is removed. Now that’s done you’re ready to begin... After this tool list.

List of required tools:

- Screwdriver

- Really, really small screwdriver (For pushing out pins)

- Tweezers (For taking screws out of hard-to-reach areas)

- Pliers (For pulling out pins)

Throughout this tutorial, screws will be identified by number and plastic parts will be identified by letter. As an extra ‘tool’, I would also recommend having a sheet of paper and a pencil to place the parts and label them as you remove them.

So, to start off remove screw 1. Then, to remove part A I flipped it forwards and gently twisted it until it popped out.

(Please excuse the crudeness, these were quickly edited on my phone.)

Remove these screws. Although i am not quite sure what 2 and 3 hold, screw 5 holds in a small switch component.

Screw 6. This helps hold in a part you will remove soon.

To get to screw 7, pull up the shelby’s ‘tennie’ panel. (Tennies are what shelbys call their antenai.)

(Please excuse those ugly black boxes, they are just so you don’t see my fingers.)

Anyway, with screw 7 removed, you are free to remove part B!

Now, turn your attention to the right of the shelby. (Your right, not shelby’s right.) Proceed to remove screw 8.

Screws 9 and 10 are a tricky pair, you can only just see them in the image. Here’s where you will need a pair of tweezers to remove them once they’ve been unscrewed.

Here i need to point out i was removing screws as i saw them in this tutorial. Now looking back, i need to tell you to remove screw 12, but not screw 11 as you cant yet remove it. It’s still covered by a switch in the tennie plate above.

Moving back over to under the front of the tennie plate, use your really, really small screwdriver and push out part C.

Don’t be alarmed, there isn’t something in that smaller circle you aren’t seeing! This is simply the removal of part D. Carefully pull it up and out of the main CAM.

Now turn your attention to the left side of shelby (again- your left) and observe these plugged wires. This here is a crude diagram of which sockets they belong to, so feel free to now remove them and forget where they go.

Part E almost gave me a run for my money, but with a pair of pliers and a firm grip it will slide out easily!

Now you need to deal with shelby’s underbelly. In this diagram, the pealed-back fur will be pointed towards you. There are 10 screws on the underbelly, all of which need removing. 5 are long and 5 are short. The blue circles indicate where the short screws are, whereas the green circles indicate the long ones. You may notice that one of the green circles is purple on the inside. This is not important, but its interesting to note...

...that the purple screw is the exact one holding the tennie plate in! feel free to now remove it. Also, now that the tennie plate is off, you can finally deal with that pesky screw 11.

Here is screw 13. Remove it.

Hiding just above screw 13 is screw 14.

Now, this is the part where i apparently decided it was time to remove part G. Carefully lift it out, but be warned. Because when you do...

Eek!

(Shelby’s eyes can now move freely.)

Next up, you’re going to deal with some surprisingly strong glue. Now, i don’t know if this is specific to my shelby but i will work assuming it isn’t. Break the glue, then use a screwdriver to lever the part out. You will not notice the circuit board can (mostly) freely move.

Apparently its now time to remove this screw. Again, this is one you will likely need the tweezers for. This screw doesn’t really need to be removed right now, but as i said i was removing screws as i saw them.

Another bit of tough old glue. You can break it with half your tweezers.

Although i don’t have any pictures for it, this is also where you will need to remove the light sensor between shelby’s eyes. Just pry it off carefully and remove any glue. It will still click in if you want to put it back together.

Screw 16 is next! It hold in what i assume is the shelby’s tongue sensor. Once you’ve removed this screw... 

Ta-dah!

(Shelby’s facial portion has been removed)

You’re in the home stretch now. Screws 17 and 18 hold in the main CAM unit.

Once they are out, you will need to carefully unhook the CAM from the beak.

Fantastic!

19 and 20 need to come out.

Then, finally, remove screw 21. Its the last screw.

Part H? Is it really part H? Could we not consider the larger mounds of parts we removed to be parts themselves? Regardless, we will call this part H.

Wonderful!

And so, last but not least, use your pliers to remove part I. Well done! you have deconstructed your shelby. Much to my disappointment, shelby’s eyes can’t be removed. The axle they sit on is wider in the centre than on the parts where it connects to the plastic. Don’t ask me how they got it in!

Finally, i will answer some question you could have. I’m sorry if this isn’t a done thing, I’m completely new to tumblr.

Questions you could possibly have:

- You said your shelby was broken, will this disassembly damage my shelby?

My shelby was broken prior to disassembling it, which made them the candidate for this. It is as likely as it would be with anything that could could damage it while taking it apart. In my recommendation, don’t do this if your shelby is working.

- Exactly what size is a “really really small screwdriver”?

The one i used was 1mm wide, and the part you need to remove with it is 2mm wide rounding up.