Aylen's finger repair

terabyte · Post by **terabyte** » Sat May 12, 2018 12:16 am

Aylen has been with me for 3 months now and in that time I managed to break all of her fingers ( I swear I'm not an abusive partner

). Well I finally decided to attempt to fix her fingers as I got tired of them looking like curled fries whenever I did a shoot with her. Made some time and got some supplies and dove in:

What I used:

1. Araldite Rapid Epoxy Tubes https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003M ... UTF8&psc=1
2. 4-Conductor house telephone outlet wire (4 copper wires inside sleeve)
3. Paper clips
4. 50% Isopropyl Alcohol
5. TPE glue
6. Cotton Swabs
7. Razor blade
8. Wire cutters
9. Pliers
10. Cordless drill

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The lighters in the pic, I didn't use, I kept at backup incase I have trouble with the TPE glue.

I would say the 1st thing is to clean the area where you will be working, I used a mixture of hand soap and water with a microfiber cloth. Aylen already had small cuts and nicks on her palms so I started with the razor blade to make a hole, grabbed my wire cutter and cut a 2" section along where her palm plate is. From there you can see where the wires are broke off and the glue resin is inside the plate. Also visible is the finger wires. I used my pliers to pull the broken wires from her fingers, the TPE will put up a bit of a fight as it is stuck to the cotton/fabric material that is wrapped around the wires, it will separate though.

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I grabbed the drill and a bit that was just a bit smaller than the palm plate opening. Make sure you use the proper type drill bit as I snapped 2 of the doing this. Drilling into the glue resin it will start to break up and turn to dust, it also has a weird smell to it. I worked the bit around until the majority of resin and broken wire bits were gone.

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Since I was using telephone jack wire, which has 4 copper internal wires, I decided to add some extra strength just incase the copper broke down the road. I pulled one of the internal wires out and replaced it with a cut-to-length paper clip. The clip slides right into where the 4th wire that was removed. Now this will give your girl very stiff fingers however I was thinking about having her hold stuff and paperclips can support small items.

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Once you get the finger wires all set you can slide them into the finger, you will have to do some adjusting as the TPE is very elastic. I did a test fit no issues

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terabyte · Post by **terabyte** » Sat May 12, 2018 12:25 am

The epoxy I used came recommended from another member who was doing the same repair. 2 tubes, mixed the 2 liquids together and you have about 5min working time, 20min handling time, and 2 hours until it is full strength. One thing I noticed is this epoxy gets hot during the 1st 5min once its mixed. I spread some epoxy inside the opening then put the wires inside and put some more on the wires as they went into the opening. Waiting it to cure so I can clean the palm cut with the the swabs and alcohol and finally the TPE glue.

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Dollicious2 · Post by **Dollicious2** » Sat May 12, 2018 5:22 am

Oh dear... sorry to see Aylen needing this repair so soon.
I'm a great fan following her on Instagram
Hoping this makes all well and hopefully even better finger movement and stability as before the repair.

djcdoll · Post by **djcdoll** » Sat May 12, 2018 5:54 am

Looks pretty good so far. Hopefully the wound in her hand will glue back together okay.

sophiahugeboobs · Post by **sophiahugeboobs** » Sat May 12, 2018 6:14 am

Very good work, I have to do the same.

terabyte · Post by **terabyte** » Sat May 12, 2018 8:16 am

Thanks everyone, so far everything seems to be good. I need to TPE glue some of fingertips back together. I definitely see why they say only use a thin coat of the glue, it does dissolve the TPE if you use too much. I needed something to close the wound with pressure on it, only thing I had handy was rubberbands. I can remove them in 24hrs and hopefully her palm will be good to go.

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Zippy81 · Post by **Zippy81** » Sat May 12, 2018 4:03 pm

Man I'm dreading when I have to face that day or any day similar to it.. lol.. However I think you've handled it pretty well thus far! I like your choice of outfit for her as a means of "do a good job" inspiration :p Hope it all turns out good! I think if I were to go the rubber band route I would have put some cotton balls in between her fingers and on back of her elbows to create less stress focused pressure marks. But of course if I were doing it first time.. I wouldn't have thought of that XD.. hell I probably wouldn't have thought to use rubber bands either...

https://www.amazon.com/Apoxie-Sculpt-1- ... FNATHSFHNB

81OjsdyaFaL__SL1500_.jpg

p.s. I wonder if this stuff would work just as well for that particular job? I used it to do small repairs on some plastic trophies I cast last sumer and I tell ya.. after it cures its rock solid. I had mixed up a bit to much and so I just rolled the left over portion into a ball and flattened it on my work table and I had to hit it with a flat tip screw driver and hammer to break it loose!

RGC_0767 · Post by **RGC_0767** » Sat May 12, 2018 6:52 pm

Nice job!!
You didn't find the wire too thick for the fingers? I went a similar route with telephone/thermostat wire. But I removed one strand, it was quite thick. But my lady's fingers are quite slender.
Your wires will not break.

I've cut experimental TPE over the past couple months. Just testing sealing and mending techniques with test toys. with heat. (and OOOPs, homemade paste)

Best way to cut it is with very sharp scissors. I use hairdressers scissors. It works especially good with thinner areas such as with palms.
Get a nice clean cut, no jagged edges. that seals up nice.

I have to tighten a hip. I'm certain it's not broken. Thicker material there no doubt, so cutting it clean will be more challenging.
From what experienced folks say about cutting. Silicone will cut easier with a blade than TPE

RGC_0767 · Post by **RGC_0767** » Sat May 12, 2018 6:56 pm

Zippy81 wrote:Man I'm dreading when I have to face that day or any day similar to it.. lol.. However I think you've handled it pretty well thus far! I like your choice of outfit for her as a means of "do a good job" inspiration :p Hope it all turns out good! I think if I were to go the rubber band route I would have put some cotton balls in between her fingers and on back of her elbows to create less stress focused pressure marks. But of course if I were doing it first time.. I wouldn't have thought of that XD.. hell I probably wouldn't have thought to use rubber bands either...

https://www.amazon.com/Apoxie-Sculpt-1- ... FNATHSFHNB

81OjsdyaFaL__SL1500_.jpg
p.s. I wonder if this stuff would work just as well for that particular job? I used it to do small repairs on some plastic trophies I cast last sumer and I tell ya.. after it cures its rock solid. I had mixed up a bit to much and so I just rolled the left over portion into a ball and flattened it on my work table and I had to hit it with a flat tip screw driver and hammer to break it loose!

Is this stuff 2 part? have to mix? I've used epoxy putty, it was 2 part. knead 2 together, and about 10 minutes later it's fairly stiff.

Zippy81 · Post by **Zippy81** » Sat May 12, 2018 7:20 pm

@RGC ~ Yup sure is! You just have to make sure they are equal amounts of each part that you kneed together. can smooth it out with a little warm water also if you are using it to sculpt with.

RGC_0767 · Post by **RGC_0767** » Sat May 12, 2018 8:08 pm

Zippy81 wrote:@RGC ~ Yup sure is! You just have to make sure they are equal amounts of each part that you kneed together. can smooth it out with a little warm water also if you are using it to sculpt with.

I did not think of this stuff. Was helping out Rainking with ideas for his lady's finger fix. I suggested construction adhesive. I've used that for different fixes. Problem is, it takes a while to harden, but is fairly tough when cured. he did try it.
Now I wish he'd had seen this stuff. Be a quicker solution.
Now I hope it has worked out for him.

I've never had too much luck with the liquid 2 part epoxies in the tubes.

terabyte · Post by **terabyte** » Sat May 12, 2018 8:26 pm

Zippy81 wrote:Man I'm dreading when I have to face that day or any day similar to it.. lol.. However I think you've handled it pretty well thus far! I like your choice of outfit for her as a means of "do a good job" inspiration :p Hope it all turns out good! I think if I were to go the rubber band route I would have put some cotton balls in between her fingers and on back of her elbows to create less stress focused pressure marks. But of course if I were doing it first time.. I wouldn't have thought of that XD.. hell I probably wouldn't have thought to use rubber bands either...

https://www.amazon.com/Apoxie-Sculpt-1- ... FNATHSFHNB

81OjsdyaFaL__SL1500_.jpg
p.s. I wonder if this stuff would work just as well for that particular job? I used it to do small repairs on some plastic trophies I cast last sumer and I tell ya.. after it cures its rock solid. I had mixed up a bit to much and so I just rolled the left over portion into a ball and flattened it on my work table and I had to hit it with a flat tip screw driver and hammer to break it loose!

Thanks, I couldn't take the bent curly fingers anymore. I really couldn't think of anything else that would put pressure on the cut to help seal it, rubberbands was the 1st thing I thought of. Your cottonball idea sent me to the store to get some as the wound wasn't all the way sealed and when I came home some of the rubberbands were snapped. Lol @ good job inspiration outfit, she lives in lingerie.

RGC_0767 wrote:Nice job!!
You didn't find the wire too thick for the fingers? I went a similar route with telephone/thermostat wire. But I removed one strand, it was quite thick. But my lady's fingers are quite slender.
Your wires will not break.

I've cut experimental TPE over the past couple months. Just testing sealing and mending techniques with test toys. with heat. (and OOOPs, homemade paste)
Best way to cut it is with very sharp scissors. I use hairdressers scissors. It works especially good with thinner areas such as with palms.
Get a nice clean cut, no jagged edges. that seals up nice.

I have to tighten a hip. I'm certain it's not broken. Thicker material there no doubt, so cutting it clean will be more challenging.
From what experienced folks say about cutting. Silicone will cut easier with a blade than TPE

Thanks! Actually the phone wire was just a mm or 2 thicker than the original wires from the factory with the cotton wrapped around them. The fingers were thick initially, I stretched them out over the length of the phone wire and they look normal. I am definitely hoping with the epoxy, phone wire w/paperclip, her fingers should be pretty solid for awhile. I need to get some very sharp scissors, I tried with a razor blade, the TPE was pretty tough. Once the wound is all sealed I am going to put a heated spoon to it.

Zippy81 · Post by **Zippy81** » Sat May 12, 2018 9:11 pm

haha nice. Yea I would think in theory anyway.. that just adding some padding in there would help to even out the pressure of the rubber bands pushing the skin towards the incision area.

Pinpoint Pressure warpage.jpg

Soft Pad Equailization.jpg

gamille · Post by **gamille** » Sun May 13, 2018 8:03 am

That's a very nice, detailed write-up. I just joined here and researching a future doll purchase. It seems from posts here, that fingers are quite the issue. I certainly don't want to jack a valuable thread, but how frequent are hand repairs needed?

I'm sure a lot depends on usage, but for a new user would be better suited for no bones in the fingers? This seems like a very doable repair, but I'm not sure if I'd want to perform this every 3 months. Thanks for any guidance, Jason.

terabyte · Post by **terabyte** » Sun May 13, 2018 10:52 am

gamille wrote:That's a very nice, detailed write-up. I just joined here and researching a future doll purchase. It seems from posts here, that fingers are quite the issue. I certainly don't want to jack a valuable thread, but how frequent are hand repairs needed?

I'm sure a lot depends on usage, but for a new user would be better suited for no bones in the fingers? This seems like a very doable repair, but I'm not sure if I'd want to perform this every 3 months. Thanks for any guidance, Jason.

Thanks Jason, I wouldn't think that this is something that would be needed often. The main thing for me is to use materials that would hold up longer than the factory setup, one of the reasons I went with the paperclip inserts, those are pretty ddurable. I did some research in a few threads of hand repair and decided to give it a try. I am hoping to not have to do this again for quite some time. If for some reason my technique doesn't last, I will fasten/attach something to the palm plate.