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Arthur's tpe doll repair thread inc. Rachel's resurrection

Ding! POP! Crash! Thud! oops...let's get her all fixed up!
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Scrublord
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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Scrublord »

Fantastic work Arthur! Rachel is looking amazing now. Really impressed you managed to repair so much serious damage to such a high standard. :thumbs_up:

Also happy to hear Sarah is getting the TLC she needs.
Currently owned: OR Doll 157cm "Kitiara" (avatar photo) || JY Doll 153cm "Natalie"
Silicone...TPE...its all good...

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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

Thanks Scrublord, today I moved around to the inner groin area and decided to add some tpe to both sides of the groin and also add some material between the vagina and anus. I'm fairly happy with the result but need to get some more attachments for my soldering station to smooth it better, also I may have overdone the makeup in that last pic, was getting a bit carried away!
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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

Ok this isn't an update on Rachel but I shall keep all tpe repair related stuff in this one thread. So today I finally got around to opening up one of my gals hands to do the inevitable finger/hand repair. Before I get to that though, just a quick update on my last repair work on Elizabeth's 3 year old YL148 body that was the last thing I posted. Two months have past so did my repair survive the rigor of nearly daily bedroom fun? Well as I anticipated, some areas in the groin started to separate again but I was really pleased to find that the big repair was still intact and has coped with daily stretching etc. So the takeaway from this for me is that groin repairs are doable but certainly the more, newer material you can melt in the better and it really pays to take your time, building up layers of tpe over a few days. Here's a few pics, the first is the area after 2 months and the last couple are after I touched up with the soldering iron again to fix the few splits that had occurred. To be fair to Liz, while she has this bod she will have to be off limits so I don't undo things again!
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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

Right, on with the hand repair. My first volunteer for this work is Sophia, she being an over two year old OR156H/51 and has had floppy finger syndrome for some months now, most notably in her right hand where all the finger wires had snapped at the palm plate. Lucky for me I can benefit from the work shared by others on here so I knew only a small cut was needed with sharp pointed scissors midway in the palm. This allows access to the top of the palm plate and the broken ends of all the fingers. The tpe is bonded well onto the wires and plate so it's carefully does it when pulling out those wires. Initially I am going to try and work with the existing palm plates so I will need to drill out the old epoxy etc and also come up with a strong, workable replacement for the wires, so stay tuned!
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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

I knocked these 'finger bones' up this afternoon, shamelessly nicking MF's earlier idea of using wire inside brass tubing. So far they look like they could work, once I figure out how I'm going to anchor them into the palm plate but for my next attempt I shall go up a gauge on the brass tube and get a slightly thicker wire, I've seen some stranded stainless steel pvc coated stuff that looks nice and strong so will get some of that.
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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by seagull »

The stainless steel pvc coated wire will give greater longevity provided the individual strands are thin enough. the thinner the better. Suspect the pvc casing will start cracking before the wire gives up.

Examining electric jug leads (pvc coated electrical wire) is a good place to start, although the wiring is copper, the very fine diameter of each strand makes the lead quite flexible and long lasting.

If the stainless has a similar strand thickness then you're on a winner with the wire.
The pvc remains problematic in colder environments being less flexible.
PLus I have no clue about any adverse reaction with the doll material :)

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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

Hi seagull and thanks for that useful info. Yeah I came across the stainless, coated wire on eBay today and it's not too expensive at just over £4 for 5m. I figure to use it along with 2.5mm internal diameter brass tubing. What I did today looks like it would initially work and the segments hold position when posed so should work inside the hand but I can see that the craft wire that I've used is too light a gauge and will eventually give out. My plan is to drill out all the epoxy from the palm plate then drill small holes and use self tapping screws to secure the brass tube fingers into the palm plate. I was then thinking of squirting some of that permatex RTV silicone into the plate although that may not be necessary but it is ok with tpe.

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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Anung Un Rama »

WOW Arthur. some work is going into this restoration, and some great results.

Drop by Panthers hand repair topic viewtopic.php?f=6&t=110832&hilit=hand+repair+panther

many ideas in that one.

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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

Hi Anung and thanks mate. Yeah I had been following Panthers hand repair thread and the latest MF palm plate looks the biz. I thought I would have a crack at it myself utilising the earlier method MF described before he come up with the 3D printed finger bones and plate. The brass tube and stainless wire is cheap enough and I'm hoping to utilise the existing palm plate but it's very much a work in progress!

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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Maviarab »

Arthur...

MF is hoping to have the complete hand on shapeways soon. The wire used (or the closes thing) was ordered by Adelea...he has a tonne of it he is willing to share at cost per meter. I bought some myself.

It is looking impressive though I have to say...but might be worth hanging on for MF to finalise his files.

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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

Thanks for the heads-up on that Mavi. I have been following MF's new plate and finger development with interest and this latest design looks to be a winning combination! Being a bit of a tinkerer, I was interested to see what I could achieve with basic, cheap, materials so when I saw MF's earlier idea of wires and tubing, I thought that was something I could do. I've been pondering the best way of fixing the finger bones into the existing palm plate without resorting to using that epoxy the factory use. So I've ordered some small self tapping screws and will try screwing them to the plate. In any event I have plenty of ladies here who would welcome a hand upgrade so when MF's design becomes available I'm sure I will give it a go. Surprisingly out of my 14 gals there are very few broken fingers. Sophia's right hand was by far the worse with every wire detached although aside from her thumb on the left they are all still attached!

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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

Today I finished making up the replacement fingers, which, once you get used to it, can be done quite quickly. I gave up on using a mini pipe cutter for the tube and went with a traditional hack saw which was much quicker.This is more of a trial to see if the idea works but I've ordered the heavier gauge wire and will get the 2.5mm brass tube next week. The self tapping screws came today 1/2" 6g which are certainly robust enough but may be a little too big. So I cleaned out the epoxy with a craft hand drill and eventually dislodged the old wire stubs from the broken finger wires. The plate is all ready for me to drill tomorrow, my craft drill wasn't man enough so I will have to use a bigger beast. I did insert the fingers, sliding them back in with a smear of vaseline. It struck me that it would be easier to do that before screwing them into the palm plate as once all inserted I was able to line all the ends up in the plate. The fingers already look much better and I was able to bend them at the 'joints' created by having the tube segmented, so far, so good!
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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

Ok, hands up who knew that the Jinsan palm plates were made of hardened steel? Well I just assumed they would be bog standard mild steel so happily had at them with first my cordless drill and then when that didn't leave a mark I called in my B&D 570w corded drill, I might as well have been using a piece of candy floss! Those palm plates are bullit proof, which is ironic when you consider that the damn finger wires are so weak! So my plan to use self tapping screws to fix my new finger 'bones' had to be scrapped. Thinking outside the box I thought I would try the metal prongs of an electrical plug as the hole for the cable is the same diameter as my brass tube. So I cut 3 to size and they fitted well into the palm plate. I had to bend the ends of my finger 'bones' to make them fit but it all actually worked and I was hopeful that this could be my simple and cheap fix for broken fingers. Alas I hadn't accounted for the extra height so you can see that now the incision in the palm will not close neatly and the fingers are not quite right. So it's not quite back to the drawing board as I know the brass tube with wires works and the fingers can be posed at the joints and the tubes actually make the make of the hand look more realistic as though they are tendons. My plan is to make new finger bones once I get my stronger wire and slightly bigger tube and then I will just have to epoxy the tube ends into the palm plate. At least there is no way the wire can then snap at this point as it will be sheathed in the tube.
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Re: My attempt to rescue a tpe gal destined for disposal!

Post by Arthur1960 »

Quick update on progress with Sophia's hand repair. Whilst I was pleased with my bodged palm plate assembly, which looked so promising, I had to scrap it as there isn't the room inside the hand for that extra bit on the top, it pushed the fingers up so they didn't look natural. It struck me, looking at it again that probably 99.9% of finger wire breaks occur right at the palm plate (which as I now know is made of hardened steel) so rather than use epoxy to fix my new finger 'bones' back into the plate, why not try using RTV silicone sealant which is nice and firm when set but still pliant. Also I received the steel stranded wire today which is basically your steel rope (often used to secure ships at dock) so it's strong and pvc coated and just 2mm thick! It should fit nicely into the brass tubing I've just ordered along with some little rubber caps I found on eBay for the tips. I've made a 'palm plate' out of an old match box to see if the RTV sealant is good enough to hold the brass tube, if it is then I should be good to go!
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Test to see if RTV silicone sealant will hold finger 'bones' in place.
Test to see if RTV silicone sealant will hold finger 'bones' in place.
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