I got a wind-up toy. It wound up fine. But nothing happens. I can’t find a switch that’s holding it back.
Is there a way to unwind it and try to start from scratch? Preferably without taking it apart.
There’s no generic way to do it, but you can do it with some toys. If the toy has legs that go back and forth, sometimes if you move the legs right to the middle of their movement, you can sometimes find a sweet spot that will get the spring to unwind. Cars and trucks that move also may have some mechanism that holds the spring in place and sometimes you can fiddle with those.
Sometimes the mechanism itself gets stuck, so turning the wheel, moving the feet, etc. (whatever the spring moves) can sometimes get it unstuck.
In my experience, you often need to take the thing apart to figure out what is wrong with it. Sometimes parts bend or get worn out over time, or gears don’t line up properly or whatever. You need to fix whatever mechanical problem is hanging the thing up before it will work again.
It has wheels that will not move, unfortunately. I’m trying to decide whether to even try to take it apart or just leave it on display.