Full 100% Aluminum Skeleton

[BigTexDFW]

Why is this not offered?

A full aluminum skeleton would shave 20 pounds off a tall doll.

With everyone crying about weight, why is it no doll mfr has introduced this option?

I have my own theories as to why it hasn't been offered. What are yours?

[Socratus]

Yea I was also wondering why they don't use lighter metals. Those dolls get heavy. Costs I guess. I suppose carbon fibres totally out.

Still, I am surprised that they get so heavy. I never realised until I looked here. Well I heard one guy mention it ages back, but I thought it was a one off.

[luckyb]

Also, why not use pvc? I think its durable enough if you construct it right and dont jump on the doll

[RJ357]

Hell, they have a hard enough time with welding steel it seems.. just saying.

[Kaori Kusanagi]

A full aluminum skeleton would shave 20 pounds off a tall doll.

I don't think the whole skeleton weighs that much. I had one here that if it weighed as much as 5lbs total, I'd eat my hat.

Also, to make an aluminum skeleton able to handle the same loads the super-thin-wall stainless steel one does, it would have to use much much thicker walls, so it wouldn't actually weigh much (if any) less. It would also be more vulnerable to joint breakage, which is already a problem with the steel ones.

I don't know how the various doll materials would react with the aluminum, either.

There are a bunch of threads about weight reduction; you can see from various checks people have done that it's the flexible materials the doll body is made from that have almost all of the weight. Some poeple have done foam cores for their dolls to lighten them; it's the most effective option I've seen posted.

[BigTexDFW]

Fair enough, but no one would argue that a steel frame is as light as an aluminum frame. When dolls can cost upwards of $5k for the top models, I don't think the cost of the aluminum is the issue. It must be an engineering issue. And I highly doubt a steel frame is 5 lbs. Anybody???

[BigTexDFW]

Aluminum is a much more difficult metal to weld than steel. Its why modern aircraft have virtually no welding in them - they literally are all bolted, glued and screwed together.

I don't think the factories in China have either the engineers or the production staff to pull off an aluminum skeleton. Maybe one day, but certainly not now.

[Wheezer]

A lot of good points on both sides here. If you really want to get into it I suggest you search TDF a bit on skeletons, skeleton design and the like. Many good posts and actual images of the parts that hold up the doll. At this point in the evolution of sex dolls it seems like the main weight reduction areas are the meat (TPE/silicone) versus the bones. Plus most manufacturing processes for sex doll skeletons are not really that far away from blacksmithing.

But there does seem to be significant areas for improvement. Such as techniques to avoid component breakage, better and more flexible joints, additional joint locations and generally making them stronger and smoother to operate.

Then again, if you find a method or area to improve, post it and share it. That's the only way things will get better.

Cheers!
... W ...

[MX-V]

Good points. And what BigTex said.
Welding steel is a challenge. Stainless Steel is even worse, Aluminum is just awful.
The cost would get up there also.
PVC. Not sturdy enough. Even solid PVC would snap with the weight and also the activities wouldn't help.
Someone will ask about Carbon Fiber. Good luck. The cost would be the worst.

As I've removed the tpe from 2 dolls, the skeletons are fairly well done, considering how many have to be made.

[stratzilla setz]

F0AA320A-06F1-46CE-8384-E74679F50BE1.jpeg (461.74 KiB) Viewed 783 times

Trying to do a breakdown of what these skeletons are made of.
Does anyone know the real life names of all these parts or where to even buy them?

Also I was thinking about camera equipment, and how things like friction arms and tripod ball heads would work decently for some joints, but some of the affordable versions don’t support a lot of weight.

[RevJack]

F0AA320A-06F1-46CE-8384-E74679F50BE1.jpeg

Trying to do a breakdown of what these skeletons are made of.
Does anyone know the real life names of all these parts or where to even buy them?

Also I was thinking about camera equipment, and how things like friction arms and tripod ball heads would work decently for some joints, but some of the affordable versions don’t support a lot of weight.

The gears used in the joints are custom for the doll industry. So are the "donuts" in the joints without gears.
Camera equipment is soft aluminium and uses rubber O rings for friction. That is not a sustainable friction source. Those camera boom arms that are double balls and clamp-sockets depend upon the circular edges of the clamp-sockets digging into the soft aluminium of the balls to freeze the joint. They are not designed to move. AFAIK there are no "rotator bearings" in any of the skeletons I am familiar with.

[Socratus]

Very interesting. Just got my doll, but the weight still surprises me even though I was prepared. Yet, I look at her and she looks so easy to carry... I remember when a girlfriend once said, "Bet you can't carry me!" And I lifted her up in an instant!

Impossible to do with these dolls!

Here's hoping that they eventually get round to lighter dolls cos they really need it.

[Technician]

A full aluminum skeleton would shave 20 pounds off a tall doll.

I don't think the whole skeleton weighs that much. I had one here that if it weighed as much as 5lbs total, I'd eat my hat.

Also, to make an aluminum skeleton able to handle the same loads the super-thin-wall stainless steel one does, it would have to use much much thicker walls, so it wouldn't actually weigh much (if any) less. It would also be more vulnerable to joint breakage, which is already a problem with the steel ones.

I don't know how the various doll materials would react with the aluminum, either.

There are a bunch of threads about weight reduction; you can see from various checks people have done that it's the flexible materials the doll body is made from that have almost all of the weight. Some poeple have done foam cores for their dolls to lighten them; it's the most effective option I've seen posted.

This, 100%

[BorderFarce]

In China strong aluminum alloys have to come from military and airline and aerospace and robotics tech industries.

Not available to the low tech sexdoll industry which even a country village can startup in a warehouse with a little capital. So the parts are literally a step above Home Depot or Lowes from any local machine shop modest size fabricator.

Titanium.alloys would be even better but they are only used in $8,000+ Japanese silicone sexdolls as their industrial base is more universally Hi-Tech and non military and accessible to neighboring adjacent manufacturers.

[BorderFarce]

If sexdolls were not allowed in China then the majority of today's sexdolls would come from Japan and would be 15 lbs lighter than today's average sexdoll because they would have aluminum alloy, titanium alloy, and carbon fiber skeletons...

But would cost over twice as much.