"This will be great for the Marble Express at your shows", he said.
I can't disagree, but first, I needed to put it back together.
A quick look and it became apparent that someone had taken it apart to deal with the battery box, the contacts of which are as furry as my cat. I had a little poke, but it was beyond saving. Plan B was to fit a new battery box, and I reckoned that a AAA box would fit in the space the original four AAs did.
All this would be a waste of time if the motor didn't work. It's a double-ended unit with a fan and gear on each end. Fortunately, all was well, so I just needed to figure out where the power should be fed into the switch.
This took a couple of goes, but with only a modest amount of bad language, I managed to solder the wires in place. And then realised these wires were too short if I wanted to slide the box out to change the batteries. Good thing the iron was still warm.
Of course, on the first go, the motor was running in reverse - not ideal if we want to blow air out, not suck it in. I had left the iron plugged in.
The side panel was loose, but a dig around in my drawer full of small bits produced three screws that would hold it. Proof that you should never throw anything away.
A bit of butchery of the original battery box allows the AAA version to slide inside it. It sticks out of the end of the cover slightly, but when fitted in the wagon, this is obvious.
The drive band that moves the bubble wands is a touch loose, but generally works. I've no idea where I'd get a replacement from, so if it becomes too much of an issue, I'll investigate a drive band kit. For the moment though, we have bubbles!
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