Aiko loses her head after one week

[rentell]

Remember, that this is virtually a new doll, very little if at all played with when I bought her, unmarked and all joints very stiff and they still are.

So, there we are playing when her head drops off

I was a little surprised at this

For all you mechanically challenged folk look away now or be shocked.

First find a screw driver, no not a philips or slotted but a pozi one. OK ?

Thats #1 in the picture, there are four of them, remove them all, the skull cap will then fall off . Do not be alarmed at this !



You can also see at #2 where the meagre blobs of silicone adhesive have not stuck to the base of the plastic skull.......... Whoops !

Heres an exploded view of Aiko's head , luckily theres few brains slopping about inside ......... Yuck !



You can see the Allen or cap screw and possibly theres even another name for them in American, which has become loose and fallen out.
Thats #3

Heres a closer picture of it for all you lovers of close ups.
You will, if your paying attention, notice that there is no means of locking this screw in place. Why



This screw goes through the hole in the base of the skull, see #4 in the next photo, and then with blobs of adhesive is put onto the neck and spine, the screw being tightened up which firmly locks the head in place.

As you will realise dear reader, in doing this the head is unable to swivel and if you try to swivel it in a anticlockwise direction the screw then undoes.
There is no means of locking the screw to provide only a small amount of of clearance to allow the head to turn. Why



So eventually the head drops of , I've heard of head over heels in love, maybe even losing ones head , and Henry the 8th would of enjoyed this little saga, he was found of removing heads.

Anyway , truly amazing engineering guys.


But being an old engineer [ but not THE Old Engineer, where are you Ole your missed ] myself I've come up with a cracking solution ,wheres the cheese Grommit, which I will post when I have perfected it

All sung to the tune of "I aint got nobody" ........ Boom, boom as Bazil Brush would comment and I really am trying to laugh about this.

[midnight]

...um...."She lost her mind! "

....."She blew her top"

..."She flipped her lid"

...sorry rentell I know this was traumatic for you.

[mahtek]

I'm sorry to hear this Rentell!

Phoebe has three washers between the skull and Allen bolt. They all are lubed with automotive bearing grease. The smallest is next to the skull, the largest is next to the Allen bolt.

This was a consistant problem until I came up with my multi-washer sceme. She still needs occasional tightening.

Buy the washers so that the hole is larger than the shaft of the bolt, then buy each size of the outside diameter. The outside edge of each washer should contact the surface of the skull.

Aiko may have flipped her lid, but she is a beautiful doll!

Mahtek & Phoebe & Penelope

[Poet]

Amazing that something like a piss ant bolt & adhesive problems R still an issue. Maybe minimum wage workers R not the way to go but profit margains being what they R...........& yes, I am assuming Matt pays minimum wages. U get what U pay for in terms of worker quality it seems.

Maybe they should hire a full time Quality control inspector; that would only be one salary (above minimum wage I would suggest).

Good luck, at least it is an accessable & doable repair & not something knarly like a hip or other joint going to shit........Poet

PS Something occured to me. If the bolt holds the base cap of the skull onto the upper neck region & the silicone adhesive holds the base skull cap in place, there should be (in theory) no way to rotate the bolt in the first place that would allow it to come lose. Does that make sense? Thus, I am not sure how this could have happened, even if there is no lock on the bolt, not sure how it could come all the way backed out like that. Any thoughts?

[Sith_Lord]

Although I haven't had this area open on my newer doll typically there's a set screw that's in the pipe that locks the bolt in.

If not you'd have to drill and tap a hole for one or clean the threads with some carb cleaner and lock-tite it.

[rentell]

Thanks for the replies guys , I have a modification in mind which will solve the problem and also provide enough friction to be able to pose the head hopefully.

Sith Lord ... The grub screw was used on my old 2003 doll but it has not been used on this latest one, it would appear to rely on some form of locking compound and the silicone sticking the skull and neck together.
I had exactly the same problem with body #2 as well.

Poet,
In actual fact the head didn't really fall off , I was being ironic and maybe a little sarcastic, the screw had undone enough for the head to become floppy as in the first photo.

Its quite simple to do, just need to find the time to do it.

The question is though should it happen in the first place ?

If your not a practical person this unnecessary repair could pose real problems.

[Keithallen]

Two words : Red Locktite

[rentell]

Two words ; Thank You.

But its not the permanent solution I have in mind KA.

[welcool]

Two words : Blue Locktite

The Blue locktite is for Medium Strength. Non permanent solution.
The Red locktite is for High Strength. Permanent solution.


Welcool + Andie + Summer

[Bill]

I'm sorry to see Aiko like this, Rentell but you will get her fixed.
I'm still waiting for the doll that can be used like a football practice dummy without damage but I don't think I will live to see that day.

[rentell]

Must admit I would rather poke red hot needles in my eyes then treat any of my dolls as a football practise dummy !

You may not believe it but I am real careful with Aiko, all I try to do is use the full range of movement as provided by the manufactures, thats all.

I feel that at best locktite is only a temporary solution, mine will be a simple mechanical solution and will hopefully be longer lasting.

And shes temporarily fixed, she justs nods a bit, cute in funny sort of way.

[Mr_Gasket]

About 3 weeks after Vicki was delivered, I had gotten one of those "love swings" and we were having some fun. Things were getting hot and heavy, when Vicki's head did the Exact same thing. The bolt just worked its way loose! My immediate thought was that it was something I had done (Or something I was doing... ) When I opened her up, I actually replaced the flat washer with a pair of hardened washers (for wear) and a spring washer between them. Then I put on some loctite (BLUE) and torqued the bolt down to where I wanted her head movement friction. Hasn't failed me yet! The best part is, if anything starts to wear, the spring washer will take up the slack!

[rentell]

Well Mr_Gasket, you sneaky old engineer , thats more or less what I shall be doing, I knew you would have worked out the simple solution to this.

Perhaps it might get through to Abyss , simple engineering that is !

I intend to put a stud in with a thin locknut and then do what you have done with the washers, simple and strong.

And I just love your humerous approach to the subject, the head falling of is somewhat of a distraction when your having "fun", even more if a part of your anatomy was in the head at the time

cheers .

[Mr_Gasket]

the head falling of is somewhat of a distraction when your having "fun"

And I thought it was a mood-killer when her WIG falls off during sex... In my own defense, Vicki was really into it that night, and she DID tell me to "F**k My brains out!!!" As always, I aim to please!

[red_dragon]

I really hate to see this.

Leslie's head has become very lose. It will tilt forward or back, depending on the length of the wig she has on. I've tried to tighten the allen bolt mentioned above but the problem is, it's already EXTREMELY tight. I can't get it to turn at all. I have no idea how to fix it.