I had one of these and loved it. A friend had one and I fell in love with it and told me dad I wanted one. He said "maybe for your birthday", and I was pumped. On my birthday that year, I got some neat stuff, but no Armitron. That evening, my dad said there was another gift he'd 'forgotten' about. It was an Armitron. Apparently he'd driven to every Radio Shack in a 100 mile radius that day trying to find one. A real best dad moment. Thanks for the video! I always wanted to know how it worked but was to afraid to take it apart. I figured it was something like this because I studied the gears and shafts visible in the arm itself. Fascinating mechanical engineering.
That's some dedication! Reminds me of Arnold running around looking for a Turbo Man action figure in Jingle All The Way. I'm glad you have such an awesome memory associated with the Armatron! Originally I wasn't planning on opening mine up for the video, but as I was writing my script I just kept having this nagging feeling in my head saying to me "you need to show the insides of this thing". Glad I listened to it! (And thankfully it wasn't too hard to put the thing back together again)
That rather idiosyncratic clicking sound that the gearbox in these things make has always intrigued me, I always guessed that it was a series of clutch packs that provided the power link between the motor and arm. I'm guessing those green drums could be called a "clutch" of sorts, since they do serve the purpose to mesh together a driveshaft to an output gear (although I'm sure if any mechanical engineers popped in on this video, they'd be able to confirm for me if my terminology is correct!)
I had (still have) one as an 80's kid - so cool - wish it wasn't a one-and-done - wish they would have expanded the line - I would have loved to have an automated bedroom!
Very cool! Loved how you included the chess game! Is it really a regional thing not to pronounce T's, though? Bu--in, ki--en, cur-in, (button, kitten, curtain)? It just seems like 'mislearned' pronunciation, like 'samwich', 'expecially', 'excetera', 'expresso', 'aksed' or 'supposably'. I'm not trying to be mean or rude in any way; I want your videos to gain millions of views and your channel to be wildly successful! You clearly understand that a clean working environment, lighting, and angles matter. You do a great job! But proper pronunciation of words matters as well, despite regional accent. Keep it up! I still can't wait to tour your Cadillac!
Haha yup it is completely a regional thing! I guess it's like most accents, I completely don't realize that I'm doing it. I've actually looked into it a bit, and according to linguists it's referred to as T-glottalization. There are other accents both here and abroad that feature some instances of the quirk, but it turns out that the region that is most prolific for smearing past nearly every T sound in our words is none other than Connecticut! Honestly it's interesting enough of a topic to me that maybe I'll even consider making a video on the Connecticut Accent and some of our other various colloquialisms. If I really want to throw everyone outside of the Nutmeg State into confusion, I could always simply utter the phrase "After stopping by the deli for a grinder and grabbing a few bottles at the package store, I swung by that tag sale near the rotary and found some wicked Whalers gear!"
@@StevesAssortedStuff I want you to know that I'm not picking on you! I'm really just trying to comment on all of your videos that I've watched, since I found you, in hopes that it helps to push you up in the algorithm. I don't know how it all works, but I keep hearing youtubers saying it really helps, sooo..... This was just a point of conversation for me, as much as anything. Please keep the videos coming!
@@adamlee333 oh no worries at all! And yeah I always appreciate the extra engagement! The way the algorithm works completely baffles me, honestly I'm not even going to try to "play the system" or whatever. I make these videos just as a fun hobby for myself. It's kinda fun seeing what kind of a following I can generate naturally just by producing the best content that I can. I can promise you this though, I will never do sponsorships on my channel nor any of that pandering "SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON!" stuff. I personally don't like hearing it in the content I watch on here, so I will make sure that my audience will never have to hear the same from me.
@@StevesAssortedStuff I LOVE that! It's always sad to me when a favorite youtuber turns into what I consider a 'sell out' when they make us constantly listen to their sponsorship stuff. If I were in their position and enticed with 10k, would I do it? Well.... money talks.... But, bottom line, you make great content as a fun hobby; many people enjoy it and many more will as time passes.
@@adamlee333monetization is such a strange driving force, especially with how chaotic the creator climate on TH-cam seems to be according to what many of these creators say. At the end of the day I don't want the dollar affecting the quality (or quantity) of the material that I'm putting out, and most of all I do not want my viewers like you even noticing the effect that monetization might have on my channel. I like when it is unobtrusive as possible. It's probably noticeable already how much of an influence I draw from his content, but on top of the quality that he puts out I really like the business model that Alec of Technology Connections has adopted for his channel. No sponsorships at all, and he barely even plugs his Patreon with the exception of the "credits list" and a link on his end card. If my channel becomes successful enough to possibly generate an income, this is the format that I'd be taking as well.
I'm curious just how many future careers have been inspired by this thing! No doubt it is responsible for igniting that spark in quite a few young minds. I'd say that makes for a really successful toy.
I had one of these as a kid - good memories!
I had one of these and loved it. A friend had one and I fell in love with it and told me dad I wanted one. He said "maybe for your birthday", and I was pumped. On my birthday that year, I got some neat stuff, but no Armitron. That evening, my dad said there was another gift he'd 'forgotten' about. It was an Armitron. Apparently he'd driven to every Radio Shack in a 100 mile radius that day trying to find one. A real best dad moment.
Thanks for the video! I always wanted to know how it worked but was to afraid to take it apart. I figured it was something like this because I studied the gears and shafts visible in the arm itself. Fascinating mechanical engineering.
That's some dedication! Reminds me of Arnold running around looking for a Turbo Man action figure in Jingle All The Way. I'm glad you have such an awesome memory associated with the Armatron!
Originally I wasn't planning on opening mine up for the video, but as I was writing my script I just kept having this nagging feeling in my head saying to me "you need to show the insides of this thing". Glad I listened to it! (And thankfully it wasn't too hard to put the thing back together again)
I always played with these when they had them on display at Radio Shack in the 80s! 😊
That's certainly a store display that my parents would have had to drag me away from!
Wow that, (I want to call it a transmission) is impressively simple.
That rather idiosyncratic clicking sound that the gearbox in these things make has always intrigued me, I always guessed that it was a series of clutch packs that provided the power link between the motor and arm.
I'm guessing those green drums could be called a "clutch" of sorts, since they do serve the purpose to mesh together a driveshaft to an output gear (although I'm sure if any mechanical engineers popped in on this video, they'd be able to confirm for me if my terminology is correct!)
Bravo, nice dive in :)
Very cool toy I wish I had as a kid. Love the video too.
This would have been cool to have as part of a transformers fortress as a kid
I had (still have) one as an 80's kid - so cool - wish it wasn't a one-and-done - wish they would have expanded the line - I would have loved to have an automated bedroom!
Very cool! Loved how you included the chess game! Is it really a regional thing not to pronounce T's, though? Bu--in, ki--en, cur-in, (button, kitten, curtain)? It just seems like 'mislearned' pronunciation, like 'samwich', 'expecially', 'excetera', 'expresso', 'aksed' or 'supposably'. I'm not trying to be mean or rude in any way; I want your videos to gain millions of views and your channel to be wildly successful! You clearly understand that a clean working environment, lighting, and angles matter. You do a great job! But proper pronunciation of words matters as well, despite regional accent. Keep it up! I still can't wait to tour your Cadillac!
Haha yup it is completely a regional thing! I guess it's like most accents, I completely don't realize that I'm doing it.
I've actually looked into it a bit, and according to linguists it's referred to as T-glottalization. There are other accents both here and abroad that feature some instances of the quirk, but it turns out that the region that is most prolific for smearing past nearly every T sound in our words is none other than Connecticut!
Honestly it's interesting enough of a topic to me that maybe I'll even consider making a video on the Connecticut Accent and some of our other various colloquialisms. If I really want to throw everyone outside of the Nutmeg State into confusion, I could always simply utter the phrase "After stopping by the deli for a grinder and grabbing a few bottles at the package store, I swung by that tag sale near the rotary and found some wicked Whalers gear!"
@@StevesAssortedStuff I want you to know that I'm not picking on you! I'm really just trying to comment on all of your videos that I've watched, since I found you, in hopes that it helps to push you up in the algorithm. I don't know how it all works, but I keep hearing youtubers saying it really helps, sooo..... This was just a point of conversation for me, as much as anything. Please keep the videos coming!
@@adamlee333 oh no worries at all! And yeah I always appreciate the extra engagement! The way the algorithm works completely baffles me, honestly I'm not even going to try to "play the system" or whatever. I make these videos just as a fun hobby for myself. It's kinda fun seeing what kind of a following I can generate naturally just by producing the best content that I can.
I can promise you this though, I will never do sponsorships on my channel nor any of that pandering "SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON!" stuff. I personally don't like hearing it in the content I watch on here, so I will make sure that my audience will never have to hear the same from me.
@@StevesAssortedStuff I LOVE that! It's always sad to me when a favorite youtuber turns into what I consider a 'sell out' when they make us constantly listen to their sponsorship stuff. If I were in their position and enticed with 10k, would I do it? Well.... money talks.... But, bottom line, you make great content as a fun hobby; many people enjoy it and many more will as time passes.
@@adamlee333monetization is such a strange driving force, especially with how chaotic the creator climate on TH-cam seems to be according to what many of these creators say. At the end of the day I don't want the dollar affecting the quality (or quantity) of the material that I'm putting out, and most of all I do not want my viewers like you even noticing the effect that monetization might have on my channel. I like when it is unobtrusive as possible.
It's probably noticeable already how much of an influence I draw from his content, but on top of the quality that he puts out I really like the business model that Alec of Technology Connections has adopted for his channel. No sponsorships at all, and he barely even plugs his Patreon with the exception of the "credits list" and a link on his end card. If my channel becomes successful enough to possibly generate an income, this is the format that I'd be taking as well.
I directly credit my Armitron as a child for me ending up as a robotics engineer!
I'm curious just how many future careers have been inspired by this thing! No doubt it is responsible for igniting that spark in quite a few young minds. I'd say that makes for a really successful toy.
dude , we know there is no fancy circuits, there are countless restoration videos