Floppy Hands

thepride724 · Post by **thepride724** » Fri Mar 26, 2021 9:44 pm

I’ve seen pictures of hand reconstruction surgeries for dolls. I’m just looking for a place where I can directly buy new hands/fingers for a 166cm and 157cm wm doll. I’ve posted a quick clip of how the hand on one of my dolls is holding up. I’m sure this is not a new issue.

seagull · Post by **seagull** » Sat Mar 27, 2021 5:00 am

Have a memory of someone replacing hands with wooden articulated ones, think it might have been Arthur1960

Arthur1960 · Post by **Arthur1960** » Sat Mar 27, 2021 6:05 am

Yep, it was me, I replaced the hands of a doll that was going to be scrapped by her owner. I did try to keep them but the tpe was too far gone. Another member here had used artists wooden hands to fix onto a doll which gave me the idea of doing the same to give her a 'cyborg' look. It actually worked quite well, the small size hands widely available on Amazon and eBay are a good fit size wise. The old finger/palm plate assembly can be removed by unscrewing it where it is bolted onto the forearm just above the wrist. Of course if you want to replace the hands with another set of tpe hands you would have to speak to your vendor of choice to see if you can get them to locate a pair for you. Certainly the Jinsan factory have produced hands which may have been for display purposes? In any event at least one member on here has got a pair and grafted them onto his doll. The other option is that if the tpe is still good you can either replace the palm plate assembly and finger wires with a set of MF plates and articulated finger bones which several members have done or keep the existing palm plate and just fit new finger wires, I can help with the latter option as I've done it a few times now.

Post by **Rock13** » Sat Mar 27, 2021 6:22 am

I asked about the possibility of getting some replacement hands so that I could just use a circumferential bond at the wrist, but it seems that no two sculpts are exactly alike and for a factory cranking out complete dolls as fast as they can it's just not practical to block off a mold at the wrists and mold up some replacement hands. However, as long as finger wires and lousy palm plates persist and hands remain vulnerable to damage, it seems like someone with the knowledge and right tools could build a considerable cottage industry for themselves.

thepride724 · Post by **thepride724** » Sat Mar 27, 2021 11:21 am

Arthur1960 wrote:In any event at least one member on here has got a pair and grafted them onto his doll. The other option is that if the tpe is still good you can either replace the palm plate assembly and finger wires with a set of MF plates and articulated finger bones which several members have done or keep the existing palm plate and just fit new finger wires, I can help with the latter option as I've done it a few times now.

I was thinking MF plates, but if I can find good finger wires then I’m definitely open to that as well. Either way, the TPE on the hands is still good.

Post by **Rock13** » Sat Mar 27, 2021 12:24 pm

thepride724 wrote:I was thinking MF plates, but if I can find good finger wires then I’m definitely open to that as well. Either way, the TPE on the hands is still good.

I've done three wire replacements using the factory palm plates and no matter what gauge I used they all eventually broke or even managed to pull out of the epoxy in the palm plate. If you want to be able to fully pose the hands then I can heartily recommend the MannequinFan skeletal hands. My first experience with them has been fantastic and even if you opt for wires you'll still have to make a precise snip through the TPE in her wrist (to access the clevis & transverse bolt) or palm area to insert the wires into the factory palm plate. Personally, having done both methods I believe that removing the factory palm plate and replacing the entire internal hand structure is easier to control and probably safer for the fingers.

Arthur1960 · Post by **Arthur1960** » Sat Mar 27, 2021 12:41 pm

With regard to replacing the wires in the palm plate I had one of those 'eureka' moments a couple of years ago when I thought of gluing the wires back into the palm plate with Permatex rather than epoxy. This has proven to be a winner as my Elizabeth has had all her finger wires replaced using sheathed electrical wire and the Permatex offers a degree of flexibility so when the fingers are pushed back they don't snap at the plate. Hers are coming up for 2 years old now and none are broken so I can definitely recommend Permatex for this particular job. I've detailed it in my repair thread and as for the wire I'm using I did a stress test by repeatedly bending a piece and it took about a 100 bends for me to snap it so for all practical purposes the wire I'm using (multi stranded) seems good enough although, of course, I would prefer to have MF's articulated finger bones in there! Here's a pic of one I did last year.

Tyr · Post by **Tyr** » Sat Mar 27, 2021 4:41 pm

Ami got her new hands from Phil at The Doll House
Here

Tyr

Post by **winterwarBo** » Sun Mar 28, 2021 1:54 pm

This was my solution for 4 dolls. Kind of a smaller version of what crazycajun came up with. I use 12G romex with the casing still on. works fine if you're not an animal with them.

: DSC05238.jpeg (1.12 MiB) Viewed 572 times

FCD94 · Post by **FCD94** » Wed Apr 07, 2021 1:11 am

Those little plastic caps on the end of the wires - what are those? If possible, are you able to provide a link please?

RandomNumbers78843 · Post by **RandomNumbers78843** » Tue Apr 27, 2021 1:54 am

FCD94 wrote: Those little plastic caps on the end of the wires - what are those? If possible, are you able to provide a link please?

I'm kind of hoping they're LED's..

Stumbled across this thread, as I think I've snapped the wires on her right hand at the plate

The multi-stranded wire definitely looks the go when I get enough courage (and maybe some more close up pictures of the new WM mounting plate, as apparently it's changed?)