#furby customizing

Once again our volunteer is Shortcake, my dying polka dot furby boom. I know for my skinning tutorial the process should be pretty similar for all the variations of booms and the 2012s, but I am not sure if the internals match up in the same way so if you are using this to customize a 2012 be mindful of that! I also have not yet tested this on a fully functioning furby. My hope is that after I get this down I can test it on my custom Honey and hopefully keep her in working condition after replacing the eyes.

We are starting with a skinned furby boom for this, I have uploaded a tutorial on how to skin your furby boom which can be found here:

https://www.tumblr.com/rayn--cloud/789647558515539968/how-to-remove-the-fur-off-a-furby-boom-with

For this you will need a container or two that you can label and keep parts in (you will want to make sure that the parts from different places are kept with similar parts so you can put everything back together properly), a screwdriver, and some pliers. Also, there is an optional tool I found useful for removing the ears called an automatic center punch. I will go into this later on during that step, but I found it was worth the 5$ I paid for it after struggling with the ears for a few days.

The first thing we are going to do is peel the tape off of the back of the furby. Be careful with this as it holds the sensors that let the furby feel touch on their back and sides. There are two pieces of tape, the first wraps around from the speaker side to the left side. The left side has a small piece of solder that connects the sensor to the internals. We are going to peel from the right side from the speaker to free this without damaging the connection.

Now that we have peeled the tape off (again be very careful about the last piece with the dot connecting the tape to the wire leading to the internals, also try to peel it in one piece) You can see that that solder was the end of a yellow wire that connects the touch sensor to the inside. Leave this connected and the tape attached. We will want to reattach it when putting the furby back together.

Now we are going to repeat this for the vertical strip of tape, coming from the bottom and going towards the green wire at the top.

Next we are going to start unscrewing the screws holding the white half of the shell to the colored face plate. There will be two at the top on either side of the ears, then one below that yellow wire on the right, and one below the speaker on the left. unscrew all of these and put them in a safe place for later

Next we have to wiggle out a few clips holding the ears in place in the white shell. There are two on each ear, the top and the bottom respectively.

For the top clips, pull the white shell back gently and slide your pliers under the clip, it should pull out easily that way. For the bottom one I wiggled from the top to pull it out halfway then pushed it from the crack I could see it through below until it popped out. Then you should be able to gently pry the pieces apart

(the above image shows the pink clip from below, gently insert the pliers and push up and it should slide out)

Next we have some more screws to undo, but two of them are going to be blocked behind the ears, so we have to push/pull the pin holding them in out. THIS WILL BE DIFFICULT IF YOU ARE DOING IT BY HAND. There are two pins in the ear, one holding the gears in place and one that holds the ear into the head. We need to take out the second one, which is the one closest to the base of the ear.

I tried to find a good way to do this while keeping the ear piece that has the clips for the shell on the ear but it was very difficult. I think this step may be possible without removing them, but you can make one cut in them so that they can be pulled off and then put back on. I would tape them back together when reassembling so they stay in place, using some kind of tape you could undo if necessary. I also twisted the second colored piece sideways so I had better access to the pin underneath.

(the above image shows the removed clip piece and the attached but turned piece)

To actually remove the pin by hand you are going to have to push on one end pretty hard to have it pop most of the way out on the other side. It may be different ends depending on the ear, so if you can't get it from one side try the other. HOWEVER, it will be easiest if you can get the smooth side of the pin to be pushed in, and to pull from the textured side. After you get it pushed as far out as it will go, use your pliers to pull and get it out. These pins are very stubborn, but getting them back in later will be a lot easier. Save the pins for later and DON'T lose them. If you do your ears wont be able to move properly.

OPTIONALLY; you can use an automatic center punch to hammer the pins out in like. three minutes or less. This was SO much easier and if I had known it before I started this adventure it would have saved me from a headache and frustration. These tools are roughly the size of a pen, and have a point that you put on top of the pin, then you push down until the mechanism releases "punching" the pin through the hole. I want to say this took me maybe three or four punches to get it out, and the damage to the pin was minimal compared to the scratching I did trying to it by hand. You definitely want to do this against something soft like a pillow or blanket to absorb the energy so you don't damage your furby or workstation.

Anyway, either way you went about removing them you should have each ear, two colored pieces, and the pins left over.

Next we are going to undo those screws I mentioned!

There are four screws to undo for the inner faceplate, one in each 'corner' of the face. These are all different lengths so refer back to the list below when you are putting your furb back together so that they go into the right holes.

There are two on the upper left, we will be taking out the uppermost screw, this one and the matching screw on the upper left are the same medium length. Then there is one on the lower left, that one is the longest of these four screws. Then lastly there are two on the lower right, and we will be removing the one on the right. This last screw is the shortest of the four connected to the faceplate.

There is one final hidden screw for the faceplate, located behind the speaker. Carefully pull the speaker towards you and it should pop right out of place. Be careful not to pull hard on the wires, you don't need to unplug it to reach this screw, just move it out of the way. This final screw is shorter than all the other ones in the faceplate.

This gives you access to the eyelids and beak!