PARDON?
It did actually get noisier as time went on, after I'd videoed - video'd? videod? - filmed it, so I couldn't help but take the thing to pieces, could I?
http://www.musicodes.co.uk/orrery5.html
Not much to it inside - 3 screws to open, a few blobs of sticky, clear grease, the motor itself of course, and a collection of 5 plastic gear cogs and a spring.
(
"Chewooooouuuu" - that's the sound the spring makes, by the way, as it flies past your ear when you open the unit without thinking what you're doing...you have been warned!)
All cog teeth looked OK, and so did the spring, once I'd found it again....
Moved the grease around a bit and put back together.....a tad quieter, but in one direction anyway.
Spurred on by my obvious genius, I then added a blob of non-drip white grease to each cog and motor drive shaft, and screwed the thing back together.
["
And what happened?!" cried Jen, excitedly]
It made not a jot of difference.
Actually, that's not
quite true....it made no difference to the noise, but as it heated up, I was taken back to one of my childhood holidays in the Scottish isles, and a trip around a kipper smoking establishment.
Curious, how these things tend to stay with you.....
I am still waiting for a replacement from the magazine distributors.
(That's a motor, by the way, not a kipper smoking establishment....)