New video - TPE repairs, a comprehensive tutorial

[Socratus]

Phew! This thread has saved the day for me.

Er, decided I'd be clever and make my doll's neck `better`. It didn't work out. ended up with basically a severed doll neck. I was distraught at what i'd done to my girl.

Studied this tutorial (unfortuntaley I could not see the youtube video). I already had most the tools plus a good mask/glasses, etc, which was for covid , (but never needed) and got repairing.

Her neck is much, much better now. All I need now is a good smoothing tool which I will buy asap. Thanks to Mishka and everyone who piped in with their methods.

Lots of apologies to my girl as well.

[Fallman68]

These are the best methods for repairing tpe dolls. Bought variable temp soldering iron with multiple tips from Amazon and was able to fix any cuts or tears with good results thanks to your videos. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[Mishka1965]

Thanks for watching the video. When I started making these vids, the repair process was not proven and I had to do a lot of experimenting. The factories always did this type of repair for years, and were expert at it, but for us western folks, the process was shrouded by secrecy.

Mishka

[seagull]

And there are so many who are grateful for your experimenting

[Socratus]

Thanks for watching the video. When I started making these vids, the repair process was not proven and I had to do a lot of experimenting. The factories always did this type of repair for years, and were expert at it, but for us western folks, the process was shrouded by secrecy.

Mishka

Just completed the smoothing, not quite as perfect as your job, but it is so much better, and I'll improve over time. Next I'll fix her smaller scratches and then the bottoms of her feet. I'm not using TPE glue any more, even for small scratches. I tried TPE glue for a lot of scratches, but they never held, and they're expensive. From now on it's this process. Thankyou again.

[Michaelangelo]

Good to have these updates guys! I have a, um, foot job for Mira coming up in summer and also am still wondering how to seal her hands up after tweaking her fingers, so it's good to hear that Mishka's methods are being used successfully. Will be looking into soldering irons very soon now!

[Mishka1965]

Thanks all. The repairs with solvent are really for those experts that know the exact details. I'm not one of those I'm afraid, and although I gave it a shot or 2, never felt the solvent worked well. In better hands I recon, it should be fine.

I stick to the heat melting method that I see factories work. It's real magic to see them repair and get dolls ready for sale.

Here's a few vids of the pros doing this.
In case you're interested, I have many of these such vids- I can post if you post

fillinggelbreasts.mp4

(11.21 MiB) Downloaded 44 times

Siliconeskin-repair.mp4

(4.3 MiB) Downloaded 41 times

[homersexual]

I'm glad your repairs are going well, Socratus.

I've had just the opposite experience as described above. Heat has been very tricky, and I know Primer is popular, but I've had even worse experiences with that. When I get my hands on "TPE Glue" I feel like I have near total control of the repair process.

I think it comes to what we're individually better at. Mishka's tutorials have been extremely beneficial for a lot of us (myself included), and seeing those heat repairs are a marvel (the factory videos from China make it look like child's play). I think heat was best for my own dolls facial scarring, but the major repairs have been easier for me with solvent, especially concocting and applying a repairable paste.

I guess what I'm saying is there is no one best way, it's about what works best for the person doing it. I won't crap on any method that works, it's just wise to keep one's mind open to all possible methods.

[Socratus]

I'm glad your repairs are going well, Socratus.

I've had just the opposite experience as described above. Heat has been very tricky, and I know Primer is popular, but I've had even worse experiences with that. When I get my hands on "TPE Glue" I feel like I have near total control of the repair process.

I think it comes to what we're individually better at. Mishka's tutorials have been extremely beneficial for a lot of us (myself included), and seeing those heat repairs are a marvel (the factory videos from China make it look like child's play). I think heat was best for my own dolls facial scarring, but the major repairs have been easier for me with solvent, especially concocting and applying a repairable paste.

I guess what I'm saying is there is no one best way, it's about what works best for the person doing it. I won't crap on any method that works, it's just wise to keep one's mind open to all possible methods.

I'm sorry to hear that, m8. I dunno. I was quite scared at first. That said the cut was very severe. I was trying to put one part of her neck back on again. I tried TPE glue AND gorilla glue. Dumb. I had panicked and acted without thinking. Both didn't work although the gorilla glue tried. Had to clear all that up.

Came here in desperation. Gave myself time and patience, then prepped and used my old soldering iron practising on a spare bit of TPE I had. Seemed easy enough as long as I treated it carefully, a bit like hot painting.

Went on to the major job and it all worked. That TPE is really amazing stuff. It is like wax, like a kind of shaping a bit of sculpture, like art in a way.
The TPE is very maleable, and adheres nicely to itself, and as long as you keep a watch on the heat you can keep manipulating it until it's right. Most of all you can make mistakes and correct it. I followed Mishka's instructions quite closely, going over his vid several times.

The only thing I didn't do was use that temperature gauge- I didn't have one, but the tPE again was very forgiving. I could tell when it threatened to burn.

But like you say, it's probably that the glue thing does not work as intuitively with me, but better with you.

[jojoquinoa]

Awesome videos, thanks for sharing! The factory vids make it look easy as you said, they probably do hundreds of these repairs a day. TPE is a pretty versatile material, I have some 3d printing filament in TPE, different formulation for sure (higher temp probably) but they do come in varying degrees of firmness. Too bad they don't come in the different shades of skin tones used in doll production.

It sure helps to have some extra material around and in the right skin tone, it seems. Not only to practice on prior to the actual repair as well as to have some for the jobs that may require some filling. The gel breast filling literally looked like a softer TPE was used instead of what I would consider gel or jelly. Very interesting none the less.

[photoguru]

Hi Mishka
Do you think this technique will work on larger tears? This is so close to the butt curve I don't want to fuck this up and disfigure her butt cheek.
see photo

[Mishka1965]

I think heating up the area a bit, and melting in TPE - very small bits at a time to fill in will work. Then smooth with a hot spoon or something similar.
Let sit to cool and then powder well

It should be very doable

Mishka

[seagull]

Use mineral oil on the spoon surface, in case you missed that on Mishka's tutorials

[photoguru]

Thanks for the feedback Mishka & seagull, lets hope I don't fuck this up!!! I'll post the results photos.

[Coeros]

Thank you for this video. I started repairing TPE dolls based on this video last year.
I tried a few times this year with the aim of finding a suitable hot melt gun, but I haven’t found a suitable one yet.