EVO Skeleton - Is my doll's hand broken?

[Wheezer]

Well, if your TPE sex doll DOES catch fire, then you can enjoy the wonderful aroma.
Cheers!
... W ...

smell_of_TPE_in_the_morning(!).jpg (113.42 KiB) Viewed 460 times

[Shiranui Gen-An]

Well, I guess you're right... this TPE glue that I got also smells pretty nasty. Guess I will give it a try, but I don't really have an idea for refilling it... where do you get your "small bottles"? And how do you get it in there from out of the can?

[Wheezer]

For "small bottles" a good choice is a nail polish bottle. One with a little brush in the cap is good.
There are probably "beauty stores" or the like where you are at. Check those.
Also small 15-25 ml glass bottles could be available from you chemist (pharmacy), etc.
Just make sure it is designed for nail polish or chemicals. Some really cheap bottles have a plastic inner cap sealer that will melt.
So ask either shop for a bottle that can hold a small amount of acetone nail polish remover.

To transfer you can use a disposable plastic transfer pipette or disposable plastic eyedropper.
You ask you chemist about a pipette. For a plastic eyedropper a hobby shop or place that sells paint should have them.

It sounds like the smell seemed worse because of the size of the opening.
The 3M 94 primer has a wide mouth, so more vapor came out and you were surprised.
The TPE glue probably had a small mouth bottle, so not as much vapor came out as fast (this it did not "smell")

No different that a flea fart and an elephant fart.
Both stink, but the elephant seems worse because you get more of a blast of gas.

Cheers!
... W ...

[Shiranui Gen-An]

Thank you! I'm not sure if there are "chemist" stores around here, but there are pharmacies... haven't seen anything like this between their displayed items yet, but I can ask.

As for the brush, I already bought one.

[Wheezer]

Yup, here in the US we call them "pharmacies", over the pond they are "chemists".

Amazon (US) has 5ml plastic transfer pipettes for about $10 for 120, $12 for 100 of the 10ml versions or 5ml silicone eyedroppers for at 8 for $6.
At a hobby store you could pick up a few, or a pharmacy probably has small lots of eyedroppers for medicine dispensing and such.
Folks who do essential oils usually have glass or plastic droppers like that. So a place or person that does that might be a good source.
Even a place that does drug user outreach might give you a few syringes (without needles) that would work fine.
Or ask you doctor, dentist or vet if you can have few 5ml or 10ml empty plastic syringes for chemical work.

Many sources once you know what to look for.

Cheers!
... W ...

[Shiranui Gen-An]

Thanks, I'll see what I can find.

[Shiranui Gen-An]

Alright, I could finally manage to get a pipette from Amazon and a small flask from the pharmacy holding 15 ml. Just right for the purpose.

P1161502.jpg (805.97 KiB) Viewed 262 times

Now, I haven't started to get to the wrist again, but I tried that 3M Primer 94 on a piece of her mouth which I cut out when I got my teeth inserts from The Doll Laboratory. I only wanted to cut the TPE teeth out, but it didn't go well and I cut out too much, so I kept that piece in order to glue it one day... and that day was today. What can I say? This primer is better than I could have imagined! With the small paintbrush I already had bought before, it was absolutely comfortable to apply, and I didn't get the feeling that I would damage anything if I took too much, although it seems to dissolve the TPE slightly, but only to a point where it becomes sticky, and then it just sticks and you don't have to wait very long until you can let go of holding it together. Perfect! Thank you very much for this recommendation!

I also used this glue for new eyelashes, and I'm certain it will work very well for fingernails, too. I used to take eyelash glue at first, but this stuff is waay better.

I'll let you know when I get to the wrist again... kind of scared that it might not work out this time, because the threaded rod is pretty wasted inside, but I'm gonna try someday soon.

Here's the result

[SxDolled]

Good as new! Great job Shiranui Gen-An

[Shiranui Gen-An]

Okay, today I finally managed to get to the broken wrist again. It was the same procedure as last time, only this time I had a decent glue with the 3M Primer 94 (and the experience from last time). I also made some photos, so why not go through this again together.

Everything I needed is shown in this picture:

P2020114.jpg (1.07 MiB) Viewed 222 times

A scalpel, a size 13 wrench, a brush with a thin tip, 3M Primer 94 (refilled into a small bottle as advised), instant all-purpose adhesive (aka superglue?), cleaning alcohol (isopropyl), body oil, a sponge and some kitchen paper.

So, first I moved the forearm into a position that I could work with and cleaned the spot where I previously operated with oil and a sponge. Turns out the sponge holds the dirt particles pretty well together, so you can remove them more easily from the doll's body.

P2020092.jpg (703.5 KiB) Viewed 222 times

Then I made the incision with the scalpel. On the next picture you can see what the screw looks like.

P2020096.jpg (656.75 KiB) Viewed 222 times

There used to be a bandage around the screw which you will have to cut through first before you can access the screw. You can also see that the thread of the threaded rod is as good as gone, that's why the wrist became loose in the first place. Inferior material, quite disappointing for such an expensive product. But anyway, we can now reach the screw with the wrench. If the thread is still intact, you can simply screw it tight now by flipping the hand 90° forward or backwards and holding it while screwing. In my case I had to do a little more twisting in the opposite direction while holding the screw with the wrench, until I was able to screw it tight so I could turn the forearm in both directions again without loosening the wrist again.

Once I had made it, I tried some twisting to make sure it's tight again, and this time I sealed the screw with a good load of superglue. I used a glue that's almost liquid, so it would crawl into all the gaps. Hope it will hold a little longer this time, we will see.

I let the glue dry for a couple of minutes (longer than it actually would need, but since the TPE is all around, I felt like it might not get enough air and dry slower, so I just waited for some time). Then I tested again, and it still worked well, so I took some isopropyl alcohol and a kitchen paper to clean the area and especially the cut. Then I closed the incision by applying the primer 94 into the cut with the brush and holding it together with a little pressure for some time, until it was closed. I found out it works well if you start glueing from deep within the cut first, then let it mend, apply some more and work your way to the outside in a few steps, instead of trying to glue the whole surface all at once.

P2020099.jpg (697.5 KiB) Viewed 222 times

P2020101.jpg (706.49 KiB) Viewed 222 times

When I was finished, it looked like this:

P2020109.jpg (676.63 KiB) Viewed 222 times

Then I let it dry for a little while, and after some time, I used the sponge and the oil to clean it all again.

P2020117.jpg (702.65 KiB) Viewed 215 times

Well, that does it for now. Let's see how long it lasts... until next time!


ps. Next stop: Tightening the loose arm... is it true that it's almost impossible to do this, when the up/down (forward/backward) axis of the upper arm is loose?

[RevJack]

Naw, nothing is impossible. Tightening arms is actually pretty easy, you seem to have the process down pat already.

[Shiranui Gen-An]

From what I've read here, the screw is impossible to reach

[DollyLama3]

My first thought would be contact the manufacturer and see if they can do anything, even if it's a discount on your next purchase. Then not saying this is the best option, but you could slice a small incision with a razor, tighten the bolt, then repair the incision. If it's TPE then baby oil can help merge the material together more seamlessly once the TPE glue dries. Baby oil has worked wonders for me on small tears or imperfections that develop over time with TPE.

EDIT:
Damn, Shiranui Gen-An beat me to it, and with pictures... great job!

[Shiranui Gen-An]

Damn, Shiranui Gen-An beat me to it, and with pictures... great job!

Thank you... I forgot to mention that you don't necessarily need the cleansing alcohol and the kitchen paper for the repair, but you can use it for cleaning the brush after applying the primer. It will become hard otherwise once the primer has dried.

[Wheezer]

Well done on the repair and a good write up of using the 3M 94 primer.
You did good prep work, a small bottle (to avoid spills), took your time and cleaned her up well.
Very nice.

Glad I could help get your doll healthy again.

Cheers!
... W ...