Caroline's right elbow has come apart

[Everhard]

Caroline's right elbow has come apart. The lower half of her arm, including her hand, is attached only by the silicone. I will open her up tomorrow. Hopefully it is just a bolt come out, or something.

Caroline is a Realdoll body 6 made in early 2004. She has suffered many problems, including a broken back (twice!).

[Bill]

Sorry to hear that, Everhard, My early dolls had joint separations and I couldn't believe Abyss didn't use lock nuts with the plastic in them....so very simple to do and would have prevented it. Hell! my lawn mover uses them plus a pin through a hole in the bolt and something you would expect for $6,000. I'm sure they do it now.

[Synobyte07]

Good God Man! You are an animal to these poor girls! You're into that rough sex ain't ya. Sorry, had to go there.

I have always said that you can not create a joint that is bolted at - the - joint and expect it to last. If there is movement at the joint where it's connected, it will come apart. If you are a regular user of the doll, say about once a week then breakage is inevitable. In six months or less the skeleton will start to get loose and within eighteen months something is going to break or come apart.

The grim reality is that all types of joints will start to show wear and tear. But that shouldn't be a problem until about after five years of use.

[mahtek]

Everhard wrote:

The lower half of her arm, including her hand, is attached only by the silicone.

Are you saying her arm came apart at the elbow and wrist?

Damn, with all those problems she sounds like what we in Detroit call a Friday or Monday Doll. In other words, if it's built on Friday half the people didn't show up so everyone who did is scrambling to get production out. On Monday everyone's hung over and can't do anything right!

Thank goodness Rebecca and Lina remain solid!

Mahtek & Phoebe(Hang in there girl! You've got a good doctor!)

[mytime]

Hi All

Sorry to hear that, Everhard, My early dolls had joint separations and I couldn't believe Abyss didn't use lock nuts with the plastic in them....so very simple to do and would have prevented it. Hell! my lawn mover uses them plus a pin through a hole in the bolt and something you would expect for $6,000. I'm sure they do it now.

As far I know Abyss still not uses castelled locking nuts.
The nylon lock nuts they use today are not a 100% solution, to prevent comming loose.
Locktite will help a lot to prevent nuts comming loose, and needs only very little extra assembly time.
Maybe there are 2 reasons why Abyss doesn't use castelled locking nuts:

1) maybe the pin works through the silicone if its not assembled right.
2) maybe its too laboursome, one has to add the pin and to assemble it, holes have to be drilled in the thread on which the nut is mounted, this takes more time if they've to do every nut this way.

Any way, IMO applying lock tite should do the job too, I've not seen the nuts of Helen's neck go loose since I reassembled them cleaned with acetone and mounted with a single drop lock tite.
I don't have stock in Locktite but IMO Abyss should use it.

Mytime & Helen

[Perry]

I'm sorry to hear this, Everhard.

I wish you well in the surgery.

[itsme]

Lock tite. Great stuff. Cheap too

[Bill]

I go to auto repair forums when working on my cars for How-To stuff and all of them will tell you to NEVER use Loctite on bolts and the question is asked often. They will tell you to use a torque wrench and that is all that is needed.
Loctite is used on the Allen screws on my Meade 12 Inch LX200 telescope and I have to use a torch to get them out for repairs....a real bitch when close to plastic.

Maybe some Loctite on the head of the penis for those long relationships is okay.

[Mr_Gasket]

Everhard, I am so sorry to hear of your tragic mishap! I know how terrible a feeling this is to have your long-time companion fall apart before your eyes... But you will get through this, just as I did. At least an elbow is a lot closer to the surface than a hip joint , so you won't have to cut as deeply as I did on Vicki... Here's praying that the nut just came off the bolt!

I couldn't believe Abyss didn't use lock nuts with the plastic in them....so very simple to do and would have prevented it.

When I did Vicki's hip repair, I looked at the parts that came out very carefully.. I saw that the part of the joint which allows the leg to swing outwards from centerline was attached with a 1/4" hex bolt and standard nut. (I believe this is a similar joint to the one in the elbow...) Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the nut had been SWAGED in place to hold its position. Vicki is a B5, Vintage March 2006. When I reassembled her, I replaced this with a nylon insert locknut. I don't know how any previous models of RD were assembled, like Everhard's 2004 model.

Any way, IMO applying lock tite should do the job too

Lock tite. Great stuff. Cheep too

I believe a little clarification is in order.. The loctite company, Henkel, makes OVER THIRTY types of loctite, most are specialized for industrial use.. the MOST COMMON are the 242 SERIES and 271 SERIES. These 2 are as different as night and day! You will MOSTLY see the 271 series (RED) because this is what most stores sell. This type is PERMANENT, and boy do they mean it! Once cured, it can ONLY be removed by heating the parts to 250 degrees C (400 deg F) with a torch! If you can find it, use the 242 series (BLUE) also marketed as REMOVABLE type. This can be disassembled with hand tools, but still resists vibration and loosening thru normal use. Trust me, the RED type is designed for securing the studs on automotive lug nuts into the brake rotors. You can't even remove these with an IMPACT WRENCH once it is cured!
Sorry for the long ranting post, but I hope it was informative.. I just believe in using the right tool for the job!

[Everhard]

Thanks for the info, guys. I did not know that about red threadlock. I will avoid using it in future.

Are you saying her arm came apart at the elbow and wrist?

No, just the elbow.

Today I was laid low with flu-like symptoms. Similar to the food poisoning I had in 2002, but not as bad. As it happens, this is the start of a couple of weeks off work (annual leave), so I will be able to open her up during the week, after I have recovered.

[mahtek]

Damn, sorry to hear that you're under the weather too....and while on Holiday to boot!

Hopefully this is only a 24 hour flu.

Get well and enjoy the remainder of your two weeks.

Mahtek & Phoebe

[Everhard]

I had a tremendous headcahe all yesterday, but today I am 80 percent back to normal, except I forget what I am doing when distracted by the slightest thing. However, I fixed Caroline's arm, although I have yet to close the cut.



Here in Britain, I find Fairy Liquid, a brand of washing up liquid, is by far the best solvent for most things. However, it is not up to removing the black metallic muck that comes out of Realdoll joints (at least Realdolls of Caroline's generation). Bear in mind that, as far as I can determine, we in Britain cannot obtain things like acetone and other things commonplace in the USA -- I do not know why. So I used a conconction labelled 'Cellulose Thinners'. One whiff of this and your central nervous system sends your brain message that reads, and I quote: Take another whiff of this stuff, and this little job could be the last thing you ever do.

It also leaves the silicone sticky. So sticky, I pressed the sides of the deep cut in her arm together, and it stayed closed. (I opened it up to let the stuff evaporate before I seal it properly.)

[AlexKnight]

Nice repair, well done. And within an hour, that's pretty fast...

I wonder, what is that black stuff?? Is it some kind of iron...?

Thomas, are the current dolls also affected by that black stuff?

[Britti_Lover]

When Mysti's head and leg fell off - I reinstalled them with lockbolts and locktight - the blue kind.

Sad - lockbolts are so cheap - you can get a bag of them for a couple of bucks.

For some strange reason Jazzi has never had a frame problem.


I still play with Jazzi all the time - a great doll actually.

[Everhard]

"I'm a fully repaired doll."

And in this heat, 30 degrees C., these dolls feel like they're fresh from splashing about in the pool. Or maybe tired out from doing some strenuous lengths, judging by their fit-looking bodies... Too tired to put up much resistance to the advances of their overheated owner.

I wonder, what is that black stuff?? Is it some kind of iron...?

I reckon it is maybe a mix of free carbon and iron oxide. It is very fine, like the pencil 'lead' grindings that fall out of a pencil sharpener, similarly dark gray, and with the odd dull gray gleam of worn metal sprinkled about. Maybe it emanates from the wearing of the surfaces of the joint, which are indeed visibly worn; shiny and scored in a circlular fashion. If it is iron powder, that would account for why it is so difficult to clean off: The slightest pressure would force the tiny hard particles into the surface. I guess that would mean the only way to get it off is to partly dissolve the surface, which I think is what the cellulose thinners did.

It is a severe problem for doll repairers, as others have found too.

Next time I will try wrapping the part concerned with cling-film, and cutting through that. That way, you can move the doll or limb, as necesary, without touching its surface. Just an idea.