Caley's knee repair

[IanEvans]

It would seem that 7+ years of riding cowgirl has finally taken its toll, and Caley has suffered a broken knee. While I’ve seen the numerous threads about skeletal replacement, the idea of taking Caley apart and putting her back together again was just something I couldn't bear, so I figured the best course of action was to simply fix the break. I'd let it go for a while, but I decided yesterday that it was time. So I made a quick trip to the hardware store for some wire, epoxy putty, silicone tape, and zip ties, and then I was ready to begin…




I opened the seam on the back of her knee and removed most of the stuffing (note that I left some in place for the photos just to keep everything visible). The break was actually just above her knee, so I cut off a half inch of wire above the break and 2 inches below it.




I chose this triple 12-gauge wire because I figured it’d be easier to surround the original wire with it, and I was right; it just gripped the wire naturally, and then I added the zip tie to secure it in place.




I then cut off the end of the zip tie and poke the wire through some wax paper to protect her skin from the epoxy putty. If any gets on the fabric, it’s NOT coming off. I likewise wore gloves, because getting it off of one’s skin isn’t exactly fun.




I smoothed a lump of putty completely over the join, making sure to press it through the individual wires as well. The package said it was a 5-minute setup time, but I gave it 15 just to be sure before proceeding to the other side.




This time I poked the original wire through the wax paper before attaching the new wire to it, as it’d’ve been impossible afterwards. I likewise measured to make sure it the new portion was 2 1/2 inches before adding the zip tie and putty.




After waiting an hour for the putty to cure, it’s time for the silicone tape…




This stuff was kind of a pain in the ass to wrap around the wires, as it kept folding and sticking to itself. I quickly found that it was easiest to cut off smaller pieces and remove the plastic backing as I went, and to start from either end and overlap them in the middle.




Now all that’s left to do is restuff her and stitch her back up, and Caley has a brand new knee.

standingunsupported.jpeg (587.3 KiB) Viewed 2379 times

Here she is at last, standing unsupported for the first time in months. We’re both quite pleased with the results.

[Stewie studmuffin]

Fantastic job! She's looking good!

[LaDollyVita]

Hey Ian. Glad to see this went well. Handy work, as usual. Cheers to all at The Shoebox.

[KarmaMusic]

glad to see Caley is back in action such a sweet Teddy babe that for sure
Good work Ian!

[eyespyone]

"A true labour of love"
In my dictionary ... "Work undertaken for the pleasure of it or for the benefit of a loved one."

Clever engineering as well - well done

[samara78]

Good stuff about Caley being on her feet because of your tender loving care.

[DarkOne]

Very nice repair. I especially liked the part about using wax paper to protect her skin while working on her.

Everyone please take note of steps like that. whenever doing anything mechanical/chemical/glue try and get some fabric or plastic or wax paper between your work area and the doll itself. This will help keep the doll clean and sometimes you really can't get these glues/greases/etc off a doll!