Help! Head connector repair.

[Dick Vicious]

My dolls always have their heads attached but recently I had to remove the heads to store them back in their shipping boxes for a few days. On my Tayu 148D removing the head became a little difficult so I foolishly pulled and tugged harder to remove the head. That of course lead to some damage being caused where the head connection has pulled apart and separated from the rest of the head. I am positive the damage will get worse over time and eventually rip off from use and the head wobbling around, because the head is loose now. Besides the head wobbling a bit and seeming a bit loose, it has also affected the look of one of her eyeballs, the inside of the head has a void or cavity now that effects how the eyeball sits in the eye socket. It seems the M16 bolt connection goes into a hard plastic and that is attached to the foam inside the head by some sort of glue or adhesive I imagine.

I am thinking of completely removing the head connection from the foam in the head and reattaching it to the foam using a glue or epoxy of some sort. If anybody has done this repair before please let me know what you did to fix this issue. I am also open to hearing tips or suggestions to this repair. Attached are some pics of the damage. Thanks in advance!

[Wheezer]

I have had to do that exact same repair on heads.
It is not impossible, just a bit tricky and few spots that can bite you in the ass.
My fix on all of them was to replace what was there with a female M16 threaded socket.
Then you can use virtually ANY connector.

The key component to the repair is a Stainless Steel Knurled M16 coupling nut (see below).
The M16 ones are all about 30mm long and cost about $3 to $4 USD on AliExpress.
This will become your new head threaded coupling.
Make sure to get a KNUTLED NUT, not a smooth one.

STAINLESS STEEL KNURLED COUPLING NUT

(01)_COUPLING NUT.jpg (55.72 KiB) Viewed 355 times

Before you add the new one you have to (duh) remove the bad one.
Doing as little damage as you can, get the bad one out.

Once out, survey the hole and clean out loose crusty white stuff.
Again, do as little extra damage as you can, but remove the loose stuff.

When the hole (cavern?) is prepared, place the coupling nut in to test fit.
You want the top of the nut close to level of the prior metal plate. A few mm above it it no problem.
You can dig the hole deeper if you want, but carefully so not as to cause more head damage.
Personally I went with more nut protrusion and less skull damage, but that is up to you.

Next you need to prep the white foam. As it stands now it is not a good surface for later bonding.
Get a bottle or a few small tubes of thin cheap super glue, ACC or whatever they call it locally.
Open it up, pour the thin liquid into the foam area and then rotate the head so it coats all the exposed foam.
Your goal it to get the thin liquid to soak into the foam and create a solid bonded material.

One caution is that curing that much ACC at once may give off some stinging fumes, so be aware.
When all done let it cure longer than you think it needs or use some super glue accelerator.

Bonding the connector to the head with J-B Weld Steel Reinforced Epoxy
For the head you will probably need two (2) or three (3) 2oz tube sets of the stuff.
You might just want to get four sets to be safe.
JB WELD

(02)_JB_WELD_.jpg (203.97 KiB) Viewed 355 times

Next Insert the nut into the prepared hole and align it carefully.
You want to make sure it is centered in the hole and level, or the head will look odd.
A M16 connector partially inserted can give you something to attach to if you need supports.
Just monkey up something that keeps it centered and in place during final gluing.

Once all is stable, open and mix the two tubes. As you mix It will go from gummy to runny.
When runny pour or scoop it into the head hole, while NOT spilling the grey stuff on the head.
Also (duh) avoid pouring it into the M16 threaded nut.

If you seated the nut well in the head hole, then none will leak in from under the nut.
Repeat as needed to fill the hole. The liquid JB weld will self level to give a generally flat and smooth surface
Once done, then leave it alone to set 24 hours or more.

When finished you will have a solid and stable connection.
The super glue seeped into the white foam and made it a good bonding surface.
The knurled nut bonds well to JB, smooth stainless would not hold as well.
The excess JB helps spread the load and will, to an extent, prevent future failures.


HOWEVER ...


To me foam core heads are failures just waiting to happen.
Plus a repair can tend to be weaker that the original.
So future care is required. Don't yank or over beat on the head.
Use care if you like to use snap in connectors or such with that head.

FWIW I've found that ANTI SEIZE compound comes in handy.
I put some on the threads of long term display dolls and have never had thread lockup.
As it's name suggests it is designed to prevent threads locking up when untouched for a while.
Fair warning that most is a grey goop so use a little and be careful.

Good luck.
... W ...

NOTE: All the above was based on the assumption that the core skull is intact.
Your post indicated there might be other damage (such as the eye socket).
If that is the case, then post images of the hole once the original connector is removed and repair suggestion can address that.

[Dick Vicious]

Thank you so much for the post Wheezer! I appreciate it!!

[Wheezer]

No problem.

if you take out the connector base and it looks wonky inside, just post some pics.

Happy head fixing.
... W ...