me sleep... again

opaiescents' furby blog!! i post furbys, furby memes, basically all things furby.

[furbytech]

Sync Screw Adjustment

Or, “What does a correctly adjusted sync screw even look like?!”

When furbies do the wake-up dance (usually after putting new batteries in or pressing the reset button), they are searching for the “home” position. The motor runs in one direction, spinning the cam shaft until the nub on one of the gears pushes the sync screw contacts together. This makes sure that the furby is in the right starting position for all of the movements to be correct.

When the contacts are too far apart (the sync screw is too loose so they never touch) or dirty (something is blocking electricity between the contacts), the furby will keep spinning the motor until the batteries are removed, because it can’t find the home position.  When the contacts are too close (the sync screw is too tight so they’re always touching), the furby will stop the wake-up dance short, because it incorrectly thinks it’s in the home position.

I have some image references here, but it’s important to remember that the design of the sync screw area is WILDLY different between individual furbies, based on manufacturing date and factory. Your furby may look different, but they all work the same way.

This is what the furby should look like when it’s not in the home position. The nub on the cam is not touching the reader, and the contacts do not touch.

And this is what it should look like when the furby is in the home position. The home position reader slides up against the nub on the cam, which pushes the non-adjustable contact into the adjustable contact. This is what a correctly adjusted sync screw looks like. This doesn’t have to be terribly precise, and should be fine as long as the contacts touch.

If the sync screw is adjusted correctly and your furby still gets stuck in the wake-up dance, you may need to clean the contacts. Wiping the touching surfaces with rubbing alcohol on a q-tip or cotton pad should clear away debris.

(These images are my own. Please feel free to use them on other sites or in your own guides, but leave a link back to this post near the images if you do so.)

[furbytech]

How to Clean a Tilt Sensor

I’ve had a lot of furbies (all from the same ebay listing) with wonky tilt sensors (and other corroded metal parts), and from what I’ve found, there are two (or possibly more) different types of tilt sensor. Only one of the types can be opened for cleaning, and the other cannot. They will vary in color, but it’s the shape that matters. Please, only do this if your Furby has an intermittent tilt sensor. It is not a part of general maintenance and repeated cleaning may damage the tilt sensor.

The tilt sensor on the left can be opened, and the tilt sensor on the right cannot.

Additionally, you’ll be working very close to the circuit board on this one: Avoid touching the board with your bare hands or metal tools as much as possible, and do not leave batteries in your Furby.

First, you’ll want to get the wiring for the speaker out of your way. Be careful with all of these wires, but especially with the very thin wires that connect the tilt sensor to the circuit board. The amount of hot glue in this area varies furb-to-furb, and you may have to do some cautious pulling, tearing, or cutting to get the wires free.

Use a flat-tipped tool (I used a flathead screwdriver) to pry the top or bottom (depending on the type of plug) of the plug out of the socket, and peel the wires free from any hot glue. If your Furby has wires that are all the same color, mark the first wire on one end so you can plug it back in correctly (the order of the wires matters! Don’t plug it back in backwards!)

Wedging a speaker plug out by the top edge. Alternate which edge you push up from to avoid warping the socket.

Wedging a speaker plug out from the bottom. Work your tool in horizontally, then twist, alternating which side you lift from to avoid warping the socket.

Once you’ve moved the speaker wires out of the way, clear the hot glue out from around the upper two metal pieces (contacts) sticking out of the tilt sensor and off the top. The top of the tilt sensor may have been slightly melted to keep it from coming off– you should be able to easily cut or break through the melted areas, as the plastic has become fairly brittle with age.

Then, carefully slide a thin flat tool (I switched to my craft knife) between the top of the middle contact and the bottom of the tilt sensor’s lid. Lift it to break the seal, and then gently work it off with your fingers.

Lifting off the lid.

The underside of the lid.

The tilt sensor itself is built kind of like a sandwich. From top-to-bottom, it has the upside-down sensing contact, a donut-shaped contact, a ball bearing, and another donut-shaped contact. These should all be a mirror-finished brassy or gold color when clean.

Tilt sensor with the lid and top donut-shaped contact removed. the ball bearing and bottom donut-shaped contact are still inside.

Tilt sensor with the lid, top donut-shaped contact, and ball bearing removed. The bottom donut-shaped contact cannot be removed, as it is connected directly to the circuit board.

You can use rubbing alcohol or contact cleaner to clean these parts. I use q-tips to clean the donut-shaped contacts and rub the ball bearing around in a lint-free cloth. Once they’re clean and dry, re-assemble the sandwich and plug the speaker back in! Once you’re sure you’ve put everything back correctly, use a little hot glue to hold the lid down again.

[biscuit-furb]

@furbytech

[furbytech]

Additional context: This post describing a sync screw issue and this post with a video of the Furby in action.

Thanks for posting this! To me, it looks more like he’s finding his home position incorrectly, rather than not finding it at all, which was the issue in the ask I answered previously. In this case I’d recommend adjusting the sync screw according to my instructions in this post. I can’t tell for sure from your video, but it might be a bit too tight.

If adjusting it fixes your problem, you can add a little drop of hot glue to the screw threads to hold it in place. Not all Furbies need glue to hold the sync screw in but this one might benefit from it!

[ejfurbish]

Maki the Sushi Furby 🍣🍣

My newest custom.

He was a sheep baby furby. As soon as I saw this furby I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

Before:

[furbinthewoods]

as you wish

[tarotfurbyandchill]

A comprehensive Furbish dictionary, courtesy of the 2005 Furby manual.

[nanikaq]

I made a new skin, for Furby 2005!

In my favorite mint green 🌱✨His coolest yellow beak is Yuyu's made 💓

He seems a little tired...lol

It will take a little more time until we have a full custom Furby, but that's about it for today 👋

[blackfurby]

workin on a lil somethin

[snotgirlfurb]

wormy peat!!

[cubed-coffee-creations]

Angel furby available in my shop!

[raptorfurby]

🍭It’s Taffy!🍭

🍭The candy snail!🍭

With his lollipop shell and Konpeitō antenna he’s here to sweeten up your day!

He’s been in the works for a while and was actually inspired by a splatoon oc i have! His tongue is removable and i wanted to give him Mismatched lids to give him a dazed out look and love it!!!

[forestfurbys]

Meet Pin everyone! I may go in an give her some outfits but I do enjoy her looking like this! I’ve wanted a tie dye forever and I finally got one from Furbyghoul on Instagram! I customized her last night and I love how she turned out!

[kaibots]

I’m from the future

And I’m from the past

But that didn’t mean this friendship wasn’t built to last

[furbeetle]

psa for furblr, ESPECIALLY new fans who are preparing to start a furby family:

please stop giving money to extortive sellers and do your research on furblr before buying any furby!!

the internet is filled with misinformation on furby prices and sellers who either dont know better or who are actively trying to scam you.

never pay over $50usd for an uncustomised 1998 furby/1999 furby baby*

on average, you should be paying about $20-$25usd for a 1998 that is working. paying over this is understandable if its a dreamie, but please dont get scammed!!! you should never be paying $35usd+ for a plain snowball.

paying sellers the extortive prices they set normalizes this higher price, and boosts the average price of furbies as other sellers follow suit. dont fall victim to this!! good prices will come with time- just be patient :3

*: this does not include rare furbies such as kid cuisine, hi-c, angel, champagne, green bean, etc. kid cuisines, the rarest furby you can acquire, are only worth about $300usd AT MAX- run for the hills if you see sellers charging the same for a snowball. its not worth it.

[furbeetle]

i think my tags r actually important on second thought so:

[flowerfurbs]

i rise from the void to bring you a nice gun slimez in these trying times 💫💜

[flowerfurbs]

hi!!! im a 13 year old who just got their first 1998 furby, and i dont know if this is normal or not but the bottom of the furby is a little loose? (not the battery compartment, the bottom in general)

heya!! oh man i got my first furby at 13 too. i hope you love your new friend as much as i love mine!! they’re so much fun <3 1998 furbys (the standard ones, not babies) have moving baseplates so that the furby can rock back and forth. if that’s what you’re referring to, i can assure you it’s completely normal!! if you can get your furb to dance, then you’ll be able to see that functionality in action. :)

[raptorfurby]

Welcome Buddy the Calico Cat!

Buddy came with a chipped beak but that’s not a problem! It makes his owo mouth is a lil steep but after a make over you’d never notice it was chipped!

He’s also got looking up eyes that I did rush a little sadly but I still like them!

He’s actually inspired by one of my ocs Bailey so i thought I’d name him something similar!