Job Tracking for X-Dog Repairs

X-Dog's AIBO Repairs - Job Tracking Sheet
l This page is updated frequently.  The information here is the very latest information that I have.  
Please do not e-mail me asking for more information unless you feel that there is a problem.
Key to colour codes: Not Received Yet Visiting X-Dog's AIBO Hospital (Queued or WIP) Homeward Bound Back Home and All's Well This AIBO needs spare parts that I do not have, or waiting for the fabrication/fix of a part. Contact me if you have the part, if its needed and we dont have it, available and would be willing to help this poor AIBO.  I am happy to negotiate with owner, or put you in contact
Last updated: February 25th, 2006
Willing to take on ONE MORE DHS repair at this time. DHS only please. Email X-Wolf
             
Job I.D. Shipped from  Arrived Repaired Return Shipped Arrival Home Comments
2007 Repair List starting from newest down to oldest
             
             
DGA27A Sweden 2-Feb-07 23-Feb-07 Waiting on payment   210 DHS, PAS and TAS - All went well, like any normal repair should :)  Tested and going home with a 100% guarantee on DHS, PAS and TAS only :)
2005-2006 Repair List starting from newest (2006) down to oldest (2005)
DFH20C-3 Belgium Late September 210 DHS - This Aibo needs PAS and TAS. Getting permission from owner before proceeding.  Heads will be shipped singly as insurance will not be sufficient for 3 heads. The permission was granted! :)
DFH20C-2 Belgium Late September 11-Oct-06 12-Oct-06 17-Oct-06 210 DHS - On disassembly, found neck assembly screwed to base with 2 incorrect screws (short instead of long). No problems, straightforward fix. Fitted pinned clutch. Reassembled using correct screws. Tested ok. Ready to ship. Heads will be shipped singly as insurance will not be sufficient for 3 heads. Tracking Number: RI653615453GB 
DFH20C-1 Belgium Late September 11-Oct-06 12-Oct-06 17-Oct-06 210 DHS - Observed on disassembly ... missing head sensor spring. missing 4 top head cover screws. Neck loom has been removed and incorrectly. Refitted. Neck assembly fitted to base plate using head cover screws. Neck Motor Lug fitted upside down. Surprisingly, and thankfully no attempt seems to have been made to fix the clutch. Fitted a pinned one. Reassembled using correct screws, and supplied missing head sensor spring. No problem on re-assembly. Tested OK. Ready to ship. Heads will be shipped singly as insurance will not be sufficient for 3 heads. Tracking Number: RI853615467GB
DFH20B Germany 30-Sep-06 12-Oct-06 …? 210 DHS - Straightforward DHS fix. Fitted pinned clutch. Included an AIBOHospital pen. Ready to ship. Tracking Number: RI853615440GB
DFH20A UK Unknown / Late October 30-9-06/5-10-06 12-10-06/7-11-06  10/13/2006 /  210 DHS Failure, needs to be put back together - OK, this is a selection of bags of bits. The DHS fixed clutch feels OK, but the rest of the head is extensively stripped down. The head has suffered a broken neck, but luckily the PAN flexi looks good. I need to glue the Gimbal assembly neck stem .. glue is curing ...will need to give it a day or two for good strength. Extra screws were left over from another, unknown Aibo!! Tracking number: ZV295375134GB BACK FOR ISSUES RESULTED FROM REPAIR - Potentiometer was scratched. Had to polish. Tested 100% and headed home, again.
DFH17B UK ...? 11-Oct-06 26-Oct-06 …? 210 DHS? - Sent in for a DHS fix, noticed PAN axis is also 
hopeless … Pinned DHS and PAN clutches. No problems with repair.
Included an AIBOHospital Pen. Ready to ship.
DFH17A Surrey - UK 30-Sep-06 12-Oct-06 13-Oct-06 210 DHS, PAS - Straightforward DHS and PAS fix. Fitted pinned clutch. Included an AIBOHospital pen. Ready to ship. Tracking Number: ZV295375125GB
DFH16A Netherlands 9-Oct-06 7-Nov-06 210 DHS - The DHS fix has been completed.  Sorry for the few extra days delay, Ran out of pinned clutches and had to do one specially. On first power up I was a little concerned as it made the usually fatal weird tune that I do not have a name for ... but I have been unable to repeat that with further testing.  The fix appears to be working 100% now. The jaw has a slight chatter, but people usually know this about their AIBOs, and it never causes any problems or shut downs, so not really a concern. Other 2 axis are a little slack, but ought to be OK. Going home with a 100% Guarantee on DHS.
DFH03D Netherlands 9-Sep-06 210 DHS - Going home with a 100% guarantee and warranty on DHS ONLY.
DFH03C UK 7-Aug-06 9-Sep-06 210 DHS - Regular repair. Going home with a 100% guarantee and warranty on DHS Only.
DFH03B UK 11-Aug-06 …? 25-Sep-06 …? 210 Broken Neck - Tracking Number: ZU829572797GB
DFH03A Germany …? 30-Sep-06 …? 210 DHS - Sender enclosed £50 cash with instructions to refund funds not needed for repair. £35 taken, £15 returned. (I will use this as shipping money, so no need to give me a slice of the other repair fees) Straightforward DHS fix. Fitted pinned clutch. Included an AIBOHospital pen. Ready to ship.
DFH02A WY - UK 8-Aug-06 30-Sep-06 …? 210 DHS - Fixed DHS with pinned clutch. Observed PAN jitters, cleaned pot & fixed jitters. PAN axis was weak, so I replaced this clutch for a pinned one too. Enclosed Black tail, pawpad and AIBOhospital pen.
Ready to ship.
DFG25A UK         210 DHS - 
DFG20B North Ireland 26-Jul-06 11-Oct-06 14-Oct-06 17-Oct-06 210A Broken Neck - Glued broken neck gimbal assembly. Replaced PAN flexi. No clutches to fix as this was an 'A' head. Reassembled and tested OK
DFG20A UK 30-Sep-06 12-Oct-06 17-Oct-06 210 DHS - OK, this is a selection of bags of bits. The DHS fixed clutch feels OK, but the rest of the head is extensively stripped down. The head has suffered a broken neck, but luckily the PAN flexi looks good. I need to glue the gimbal assembly neck stem .. glue is curing … will need to give it a day or two for good strength. I see he has already paid the 'tampered with' premium, so the price he has already paid seems quite fair. Put Pinned Clutches into DHS and PAN motors. Supplied 'missing' head sensor spring. Returned 3 left-over screws not appearing to belong to this head. Tracking Number: ZV 2953 7536 9GB
DFG09B N/A 18-Jul-06 9-Sep-06 210 TASS - 100% Guarantee against TASS.
DFG09A UK         210 DHS - 
DFF24A Netherlands 30-Sep-06 210 DHS - Straightforward DHS fix. Fitted pinned clutch. Included an AIBOHospital pen. Ready to ship.
DFF18A UK 29-Jun-06 13-Jul-06 14-Jul-06 210 DHS - (complimentary PAS fix)
Not Assigned Exeter, UK May 11th June 2006 12th June 2006 Suede Latte with 'crucnchy' back left leg.  Turns out that the screws that fix together the gearbox bearing plates in the hip had worked loose, so the gear spindles had come detached from their locating holes.  The loose sloppy gearbox would then come unmeshed if any stress was applied (ie. standing up).  Thankfully the owner has realised that use would cause damage, and no gears were stripped.  Relocated gear spindles, refixed plates, reassembled AIBO.  All seems good.  :-)
DFF04E UK - Scotland ?? 12-Jun-06 25-Jun-06 26-Jun-06 ERS-210 DHS - This DHS was a normal fix, nothing major to report. Aibo goinng home as happy as can be.
DFF04C Dublin, Ireland 14-Jun-06 25-Jun-06 14-Jul-06 ERS-210 DHS and broken leg - The upper leg was replaced with a new one, as the socket was destroyed as well. This Aibo also had sever Pan Axis Slip  or "PAS", and was fixed. DHS was fixed without a problem. Tracking number: CP608833845GB
DFF04B UK 6th June 2006 11th June 2006 12th June 2006 ERS-210 DHS - This was not actually the usual DHS.  The head ios a 210A model and will never get DHS, however the head tilt axis reamained unmodified, so it trhe same fault and the same sound, but on a different axis.  Replaced moter for a good one.
DFF04A Germany 12-Jun-06 25-Jun-06 14-Jul-06 ERS-210 Broken Neck - This Aibo suffered a badly broken neck. Flexi and Neck stem were replaced, and the Aibo seems to be running perfectly now.
DFE20E Italy       210 Tail Module Repair
DFE20D Sweden 8th June 2006 30-Sep-06 12-Oct-06 …? 220 Hip Replacement - AAAAAGH!  I remember this one now ... Both the hip peg and socket are broken ...  ick!! OK, replaced the upper 2 leg segments with a good assembly from a 210. Transferred the 220 PCB in the hip segment so that leg circuitry is 220. (NB, I finally noticed how to tell a 210 leg PCB from a leg 220PCB) So this is not a metal hip replacement, this is a good hip assembly from one of my AIBOs. Included AIBOHospital pen. All packaged up and ready to ship. Tracking number: RI 8536 1548 4GB
DFE20C Italy Received 11th June 2006 14-Jun-06 DHS Fix recovery - owner failed attempt, torn flexi.
Received a stripped complete ERS-210, and some bags of screws etc.  On reassembly I found that I was lacking some screws of the required type, and had excess of other screws that seemed not to be required.  Supplied correct screws where necessary, and returned excess screws in case the owner recollects where he removed them from as I found no obvious missing screws.
Replaced torn DHS Flexi, fitted a pinned clutch, reassembled head and tail units, rebuilt AIBO and tested.  All looks good.
DFE20B Solihuill, UK 23rd May 2006 11th June 2006 14-Jun-06 15-Jun-06 ERS-210 DHS Fix - standard fix, replaced clutch with new pinned type clutch.  Problem free repair, tested OK.
DFE20A Essex - UK 8th June 2006 11th June 2006 12th June 2006 13-Jun-06 DHS Fix
DFE01C Netherlands         DHS Fix
DFE01B London UK         DHS Fix
DFE01A Berkshire, UK 5th May 2006 11th June 2006 12th June 2006 FOC Warranty repair of failed DHS Glue fix.  Fitted new type DHS-proof 'pinned' clutch.  Problem free repair, tested OK.
DFC31A Basingstoke 11th April 2006 30th April 2006 2nd May 2006 3rd May 2006 DHS - standard problem free fix - fitted new style pinned clutch.
Also noticed that PAN axis is slipping and will soon fail, so fixed this too FOC.
E515A ?? London UK 9th March 2006 19th March 2006 20th March 2006 21st March 2006 Warranty repair on DHS glue fix, and replacement Knee required for 210 leg.
Reworked DHS fix with the new type of pinned clutch and fitted a replacement lower leg section.
DFB19H UK Not Received, Contact me if you have sent this already, or if you still wish to proceed with this work.       2x DHS Heads
DFB19G London UK 7th March 2006 19th March 2006 20th March 2006 21st March 2006 DHS - Clutch to be pinned
Oooh, this one turned out to be a tough one, I absolutely cannot separate the bearing plate from the gearbox housing.  Very rare to find them with that much glue from the manufacturer!!
Replaced the entire neck base motor assembly for one with a pinned clutch.
Tested and working fine.
DFB19F UK 22nd Feb 2006 18th March 2006 20th March 2006 21st March 2006 DHS - Clutch pinned with the new style pinning.  Problem free repair.
DFB19E Italy Not Received, Contact me if you have sent this already, or if you still wish to proceed with this work.       DHS - Clutch to be pinned - also a missing gear required
DFB19D France 25th Feb 2006 18th March 2006 20th March 2006   DHS - Clutch pinned with the new style pinning.  Problem free repair.
DFB19C Glasgow - UK Not Received, Contact me if you have sent this already, or if you still wish to proceed with this work.       DHS - Clutch to be pinned
DFB19B Netherlands 14th March 2006 19th March 2006 20th March 2006   DHS - Clutch pinned.  This head had been worked on before, glue failed.  I do hope it was not one of my repairs, there was a washer missing from the clevis assembly … anyhow, reassembled WITH a washer, all tested nicely.   :-)
DFB19A Devon - UK 22nd Feb 2006 18th Mar 2006 20th Mar 2006 21st March 2006 DHS - Clutch to be pinned - Oooh, a copper!!
DHS was a warranty fix for a glue fix failure.  Replaced clutch with one of the 'new style' pinned clutches. 
On test, found that PAN axis has early stages of failure, and bad jitters.  Replaced clutch for pinned one, and fixed the jitters.
Head had been shipped with ears fitted, and one was broken off at the fixing lugs during shipping.  Enclosed a new ear.
DFB13C Ireland 17-Jul-06 9-Sep-06 14-Sep-06 DHS, Broken Neck - All fixed. Normal repairs, and going home with a 100% guarantee on DHS only.
DFB13B Windsor - UK 17th Feb 2006 18th Feb 2006 20th Mar 2006 21st Mar 2006 DHS Clutch replaced with new style pinned clutch.  Problem free repair.
Owner also reported PAN axis nor smooth, but on test everything looked good, PAN axis was nice and firm, so PAN axis left unmodified.
DFB13A Essex - UK 22nd Feb 2006 18th March 2006 20th March 2006 21st March 2006 DHS Clutch replaed with new style pinned clutch.  Problem free easy repair.
DFB12B Dublin - Ireland 17-Feb-06 18-Mar-06 20-Mar-06   ERS-210 DHS Fix (oooh, a mazaran)
A nice problem free fix.  Repaired with new clutch pinning method, all tested OK.
DFB12A Nottinghamshire - UK 17th Feb 2006 12th March 2006 13th March 2006 14th March 2006 PAN axis clutch needs pinning.  Warranty Repair - FOC
Turns out that this was not a PAN Axis clutch problem at all, but a motor failure.  Seemed stiff in one direction, gearbox rebuild made no difference.  Changed complete PAN axis motor and rebuilt, PAN axis now perfect, but some juddering evident in the neck base motor.  Stripped and cleaned position sensor, all seems OK now.  The Clutch is already pinned, so should have no problems with slipping.  Did notice some degree of backlash in the neck, not serious, and could not really see a reason for it, but should it worsen, send it along and I'll do it as a freebie.
DEK04A Merseyside - UK YES 12th March 2006 13th March 2006 14th March 2006 ERS-111 Rear Left Leg Repair.
Ewww .. .what happened to this poor AIBO.  The leg is damaged in both the upper and mis sections, the only good part on this leg is below the knee.  I have no ERS-111 parts that would fix this, but can possibly use the parts from an ERS110 Front Left leg to fix this as they should be interchangeable.  Problem is that the structural plastics are a different colour, so it would show.   I will do the health check in the next day or so, using a leg from my 111.  Do you want me to try and build a good leg using 110 parts, or would you prefer to get the correct replacement? 
Following your e-mail, I have rebulith the back left leg using a hip plate assembly and upper leg assembly from the front left leg of an ERS-110.  All is working beautifully.  AIBO will be shipped tommorrow, complete with the requested ERS-7 parts.
(don’t forget to include a white ERS-7 right ear)
DEJ10A UK 12th October 23rd October 24th October 25th October Straightened Bent ERS-210 Leg
Changed head plastics and tested head OK.
No spare parts required, so did it FOC as promised.
DEJ09A Portugal 18th October 23rd October 24th October YES PAN Axis Slip
Locked PAN Axis.  Also pinned neck clutch as requested.
Head tested successfully.
DEJ02A Lincolnshire 7th October 8th October 10th October 11th October Rework Glue Failure, free warranty fix.FIXED - clutch now pinned.
DEI27A Iceland 7th October 8th October 10th October Yes 210 DHS - add tail and paw pad -- Straightforward problem free pinning of clutch.  Repaired and tested OK.  Supply gold tail and 1 paw pad as requested.
DEI26A Oxfordshaire 6th October 9th October 10th October 11th October DHS + PAN AXIS + PAW PAD
On investigation, the PAN axis actually looks OK, but the side-to-side tilt is totally gone.  I will fix the DHS, lock the PAN as requested, and fix the TILT axis.  I'll do the tilt for free as it's easy compared to the rest.
OK, DHS Clutch pinned, no problems.
On commencing PAN Axis I have found that this head has a Fractured Neck.The neck stem is broken in the usual place, but is thankfully held in place by it's attachment to the Gimbal Assembly.  Any abnormal force on the head would have broken the head off completely.  We are luck to catch it so early!!!  Neck Stem Repaired.
Observed that the head base plate appears to be badly scuffed up, maybe from some impact?  Exchanged for non-scuffed part.  Looks much better :-)
Locked badly slipping Tilt axis.
Reassembled and tested OK.
DEI24A UK Not Received, Contact me if you have sent this already, or if you still wish to proceed with this work.       DHS
DEI19A UK 26th Sept 23rd October 20th Feb 2006 21st Feb 2006 DHS + Collapsing and 'doing funny things'
Fixed the DHS using the clutch pinning fix.
On test observed that head has bad PAN axis shudders.  This coupled with the DHS would be enough to cause the reported shutdowns and odd behaviour.
Cleaned the PAN axis, and fixed the PAN axis clutch while I was in there.  Tested and seems to be working well. 
Will repair and ship FOC as an apology for my terrible slowness.
DEI08B Malaysia Yes 4th March 2006 6th March 2006 YES DHS Repair - Repaired DHS clutch slip using new pinningh technique.  Simple problem free repair.
Fixed and Shipped FOC due to delays.
DEI08A BEDS - UK 12th Sept 18th Sept 19th Sept 20th Sept DHS Repair - NO DHS Problem found,this head had been fixed already.  Owner reported slight tremers on startup with head down and submitted as a precaustionary measure.  Could not reproduce problem, howver cleaned the neck potentiometer as this is most likely the cause.  Found that the PAN axis cluctch is slipping badly, and would soon fail.  Owner happy for me to lock this clutch in place of the expected DHS clutch.  Head reassembled and tested OK.
DEI06C Germany 8th Sept 11th Sept 12th Sept Yes DHS Repair - Initial test shows tremors in PAN Axis, tremors in Neck and DHS.  Also observed unsightly glue spots on back of head and on neck base.  Pinned DHS clutch, and cleaned pot.  Cleaned PAN axis pot, and while it was all 'on the bench', took the opportunity to lock the PAN axis using the glue fix as I expect the PAN axis would fail soon too.  Replaced the plastics for the neck base and head with better condition plastics so as to lose the 'unsightly glue  marks'.  Tested head.  All looks good now.  Soon we will have a repair package that incorparates the PAN axis, but in the meantime I have not asked any fee for extra work or replacement plastics.  (A voluntary £10 GBP donation would be welcomed).
DEI06B UK 6th Oct Could not repair
Failing Core
6th March 2007 7th March 2007 ERS-210 slowly developed incresingly worse failure to switch on.  Has now degraded to the stage where he cannot be switched on at all.  Submitted for free investigation.
Confirmed problem as reported.  Fixed head release catch, but could not find any particular reason for problem.  Observed (and photographed) that I am not the first person to work inside this core.  Some components obviously hand soldered.  This includes the internal battery which only registers 0.2V in circuit.
DEI06A UK 8th Sept 11th Sept 12th Sept 13th Sept DHS Repair - This does not feel like a regular DHS failure, feels more like a stripped spline !!!  Opening it up now, but I think I am not first to work on this head.
Sure enough this head has had the clutch pinned.  A competent job overall, except that the spline had slight damage, and the gearbox meshing was rather tight resulting in the stripping of the wiper assembly spline.  Changed the wiper assembly, re-meshed the gearbox, reassembled.  Found PAN axis on the verge of failure also, so fixed it while the head was on the bench.  Reaseembled and tested satifactorily.
Soon we will have a repair package that incorparates the PAN axis, but in the meantime I have not asked any fee for extra work or replacement plastics.  (A voluntary £10 GBP donation would be welcomed).
DEI01C UK 5th September 10th Sept 12th Sept 13th Sept Squeaky Head, Interestingly this seems to be unrelated to the DHS axis, and is actually in the left/right tilt.  The motor/clutch seems to have extreme DHS-like characteristics, although I have to say I have not seen it in this axis before!  The 'squeak' is caused by the collar chafing on the back of the jaw, presumably because of some wear in the loose motor.  I never really pinned down quite what was the cause of this chafing, but I replaced the neck collar, head base plate, and head tilt motor.  On Reassembly all tested OK.  I'll do this as a freebie, but would be grateful for a fiver to cover the return shipping.  Thanks.
DEI01B UK Not Received, was it ever shipped?       DHS Repair
DEI01A Nottinghamshire - UK 5th Sept 17th Sept 19th Sept 20th Sept PAN Axis Clutch Slip - This is the same clutch fault that causes DHS, but has occurred on the PAN or 'horizontal' axis. Also check for DHS and investigate excessive slack in the neck.
Fixed PAN axis with glue fix.  Neck feels like it has had a DHS fix, but has huge amount of give in the neck.  Stripped Neck Motor and found that the clutch has been pinned.  This is the second of these today, pinning method is insecure.  Also observed some damage to the spline and indications that the wiper assembly has been bent and re-straightened.  Clearly the repair was done by the same person as the DEI06A fix.  Usually we ask double price for fixing the failed repair attempts of others, but in this case I will waive that as the owner did not appear to know about it.
Needs clutch repinned, but clutch appeared to be near-undrillable even using my cobalt drills.  Exchanged clutch, drilled and pinned.  Reassembled and tested OK.
E427D WI - USA 27th May 4th March Shipped Yes DHS RECOVERY OF FAILED REPAIR ATTEMPT, damaged flexi had been replaced with failing wiring loom.  On reassembly, observed tremors, so stripping down for rework.  IDEALLY THIS HEAD NEEDS A REPLACEMENT DHS
Replacement part is now available.
Head had more problems than just the flexi.  The replacement wiring had damaged the pcb flexi circuit connector so that it made poor contact when used with a flexi circuit again.  Replaced the Neck Base PCB, also the neck base cover as the screw threads had been stripped.
All works and return shipping FOC as an apology for the slow speed.  Also enclosed an extra 'bonus goody' for you :-)
Clutch replaced with one pinned using the new method.
E325E Holland Aug Too Messed Up -
Supplied Replacement Instead
4th March 2006 Yes ERS-210 Leg with gear slippage.  Failed repair attempt by persons unknown has stripped the heads off the gearbox screws, so these will have to be drilled out to allow reapair work to continue
This was just so messed up it was uneconomic to persue.  Supplied complete replacement leg FOC.  Leg is better condition too :-)
E315C NY - USA 7th Oct 2005 23rd October Shipped Yes PAN AXIS shakes
Fixed PAN axis tremors, also left/right head til tremors.
Head tested out OK.