PLEASE HELP! KENNEDY SUFFERS MAJOR INJURY

[Stepford_CT]

Now, if you had been able to grab here around her neck and waist, then it would have been reduced.

Jeff

I am alway SOOOOO careful with her and it was just an "all of the sudden/super panic mode" situation. I always carry her, one arm under her legs, one arm behind her back, like she's my bride being carried over the threshold!

She was standing next to me, I opened the spare bedroom door, she started falling forward, my hand was around her waist, when I went to put my other hand around her chest, it hit her shoulder making her fall forward faster and all the sudden I heard the "pop" and I dropped to my knees yelling "NOOOOO!!!"

I put her on the bed and did the initial "check up". I was HOPING it was just a "ball socket" that popped out. I should have known with my luck that it's a broken weld.

I will keep you posted on what reply I receive ....

I am still dealing with my doll's broken hip from last year. All I did was bend her leg to sit her on a bar stool and the bolt snapped. The u-joint they use isn't sold in any hardware store and Jeff was great at getting me one. I tried LocTite and JB Weld to keep the nut from coming loose to no avail. I even put two nuts back to back to keep the joint tight and her thigh is loose again.

I feel your pain and panic; I went through the same feelings with my doll.

The reason JB Weld won't work is because the TPE inside is EXTREMELY MOIST and the JB Weld will not cure properly; it will crumble. Welding will melt the TPE. Your only viable option is replacing the body and I hope the vendor will do that.

This skeleton design is precisely why my next doll will be 6ye.

[Tyr]

I think it's sad when you think how much we pay for our dolls that the manufacturers can't be bothered to ensure that they are fit for purpose. They know how difficult it is to repair these dolls and have a duty of care that they obviously aren't fulfilling. If you are going to build a skeleton that you know is going to be virtually inaccessible, then you should make damn sure that it is robust. it's not rocket science, For Cripes Sake! Sure they can be repaired, the doll carries a scar for the rest of her life and we all have to become master craftsmen. Its well beyond time that the manufacturers upped their game. Don't even get me started on the joke that is the hands!
If your doll is only a month old, go hammer and tongs for a replacement.

My two pence,

Tyr

[siliconelover]

I even put two nuts back to back to keep the joint tight and her thigh is loose again.

You need to place a split or lock washer in between the two nuts and it will stay tightened.

[Stewie studmuffin]

Tyr nailed it. It's inexcusable for dolls to break like this under normal usage. Even if we aren't dealing with top end dolls, the manufacturers can do better.
While they don't have to give their dolls a hyper-alloy combat chassis, they can certainly use higher quality metals. Doing so would add very little to the cost while allowing the doll to last a lot longer.
But no matter the quality of the metal, something will still break without quality welds. Which are seriously lacking on a lot of skeletons that I have seen. In a lot of cases it appears that a simple tack weld is used. For anyone unfamiliar with welding, a tack weld is a light weld used to hold something in place before laying a proper bead. But there is no way that a tack weld alone can be expected to hold over the long term.
In any case, I feel bad for the OP and his lady and hope that he can get her fixed as I know that he was quite fond of her.

[BWheeler1]

I agree with Stewie, if they're using tack welds, then they're lacking in that department. Also, I've heard talk (from other places) about "cheap Chinese steel". Now, I've never used Chinese steel in anything I've fabricated, so I can't attest to its strength or durability. But I can definitely say that I've dealt with some cheap, weak steel and if what is being used is anything like it, I can see why these failures are happening.

That said, incidents like this make me think about what I would do in a case like this. True, you can't weld on a skeleton with TPE on it, because you'd melt it instantly. I wouldn't even think of JB Weld, I don't trust it enough for something like that. What I would do is fit the broken parts back together and take measurements to make a sleeve that would fit over the broken area and clamp or screw into place so heat wouldn't be necessary. The sleeve could be welded together outside of the doll and installed after it cools. U bolt clamps (like exhaust clamps or cable clamps) could be used to hold the sleeve over the tubing.

Of course, at only a month old, the vendor should be taking care of the problem, and going after the manufacturer to fix the problem for future dolls.

[Stepford_CT]

I even put two nuts back to back to keep the joint tight and her thigh is loose again.

You need to place a split or lock washer in between the two nuts and it will stay tightened.

Been there. Done that. Didn't work.

[Tyr]

I even put two nuts back to back to keep the joint tight and her thigh is loose again.

You need to place a split or lock washer in between the two nuts and it will stay tightened.

Been there. Done that. Didn't work.

Castellated nut and a split pin. Ok, you'd have to drill the bolt, not a big deal. Back in the Aviation biz, We'd wire lock anything we really wanted to stay secure.

[RainKing]

Like this... and then DARE it to back off

[MIGuy1740]

THANK YOU to EVERYONE for your concern and words and PM's, this has not been easy for me I assure you. Kennedy is my "first" so I'm not dealing with it very well.

Right now, I am out of town on a whirlwind 4 day trip for work but I contacted the vendor at the same time i was posting this initial thread on this site.

They wrote me back overnight (considering they are in China, that was good!) and they asked for photos which i did take. I was worried about her skeleton popping thru the body so I put her back into her original shipping box and basically took the photos of her bent in a 90 degree pose backwards and forwards, twisted to the side, etc. I sent those but haven't heard back.

I haven't cut into her because as i mentioned, i am out of town and took Jeff and Samaras advice and contacted the vendor to see what they would say and do for me.

I've pretty much given into the idea that this is just a total loss and if I'm going to get another body, I'm going to have to purchase another body. If they decide to step up to the plate and fix everything, I'll be happy as happy gets, but I'm not counting on it.

I will keep everyone posted on exactly what they say, do and what eventually happens.

I'm not afraid to cut into her or perform any work on her. I'm a "hands on" type of Mechanical Engineer and have access to anything I need to fix her and can do whatever it takes to fix her, I'm just afraid all I will be doing is putting a band aid on a bullet hole.

I have the money to buy a new body but I want to find out if they will cover this accident. It's not like I dropped her down the stairs or did anything violent, all I did was stop her from falling and this happened.

The WORST thing about all of this, and I hope this doesn't make me sound REALLY strange. But I HATED the thought of leaving her at home to go on this trip and I am genuinely worried about her MORE THAN I am worried about anything else. I guess it's just my nature to be this way!!!

I will be contacting them again today, I am hoping they are going over the photos and making a decision instead of just ignoring me. I added one photo to this post which is one of the photos I sent the vendor which shows her bending over backwards 90 degrees.

I'll keep you posted....

[djcdoll]

THANK YOU to EVERYONE for your concern and words and PM's, this has not been easy for me I assure you. Kennedy is my "first" so I'm not dealing with it very well.

The WORST thing about all of this, and I hope this doesn't make me sound REALLY strange. But I HATED the thought of leaving her at home to go on this trip and I am genuinely worried about her MORE THAN I am worried about anything else. I guess it's just my nature to be this way!!!

Hi MIGuy1740,
It must be tough at the moment with your Kennedy suffering her back injury. It's obvious that you're very fond of her.

I know how you feel about leaving her at home for a week.
I had to leave my Tiffany at home alone for a week while I was away. It was horrible, even though she wasn't injured.
I worried that somebody would break into my house and steal her or even worse, injure or damage her!
Luckily nothing like that happened but I was glad to get back home to her.

I agree, it does sound strange but we do get really attached to our girls.
When I first ventured into our doll world I never ever thought that I'd have so much empathy for my girl.

Judging by the positive comments you've had it looks like everybody is rooting for you and we all hope you manage to get the situation sorted as quickly as possible.

[Booty Call Dolls]

I got one of BCD FMers a new doll when this happened.
One month
Back gave at the weld.
If your vendor will not replace her, kindly PM me and I will let you know what you need to do.
Jeff

[BWheeler1]

THANK YOU to EVERYONE for your concern and words and PM's, this has not been easy for me I assure you. Kennedy is my "first" so I'm not dealing with it very well.

The WORST thing about all of this, and I hope this doesn't make me sound REALLY strange. But I HATED the thought of leaving her at home to go on this trip and I am genuinely worried about her MORE THAN I am worried about anything else. I guess it's just my nature to be this way!!!

Hi MIGuy1740,
It must be tough at the moment with your Kennedy suffering her back injury. It's obvious that you're very fond of her.

I know how you feel about leaving her at home for a week.
I had to leave my Tiffany at home alone for a week while I was away. It was horrible, even though she wasn't injured.
I worried that somebody would break into my house and steal her or even worse, injure or damage her!
Luckily nothing like that happened but I was glad to get back home to her.

I agree, it does sound strange but we do get really attached to our girls.
When I first ventured into our doll world I never ever thought that I'd have so much empathy for my girl.

Judging by the positive comments you've had it looks like everybody is rooting for you and we all hope you manage to get the situation sorted as quickly as possible.

Same here. I hate leaving my girls home while I'm at work. Never thought I'd worry about something like that.

I'm hoping you get this taken care of by the vendor. Worst case, if you DO end up having to cut into her and fix her, you should definitely be able to fix her permanently, not just a band aid fix. They're metal, not rocket science. You can fix her. Assuming of course the vendor doesn't just send you out a new one.

[Stepford_CT]

I even put two nuts back to back to keep the joint tight and her thigh is loose again.

You need to place a split or lock washer in between the two nuts and it will stay tightened.

Been there. Done that. Didn't work.

Castellated nut and a split pin. Ok, you'd have to drill the bolt, not a big deal. Back in the Aviation biz, We'd wire lock anything we really wanted to stay secure.

You cannot drill thru bolt. Second, not enough shaft left between nut and end of bolt if you could. Third, cannot access bolt because it’s inside doll near spine. No way to get drill bit there.

[MIGuy1740]

*UPDATE*

As soon as I sent that post this morning, I had to go to work. During a PONDEROUS speech/presentation someone was giving, I went to check my email and it was like MINUTES after I posted on this site this morning that I received an email asking if I could send photos of the "serial number" on the box along with pics of her head.

Fortunately with me being an anal "warantee card/registration" kind of person, I HAD those pics on my laptop and after the meeting, I was able to send all the photos I took of that information.

The pics I sent were from the bottom of her head which actually had a number molded into the plastic threaded portion as well as my address on the shipping label next to the serial number on the box. I took 15 photos, they asked for like 5, I sent them all!

I hope tomorrow yields positive results....fingers crossed.

Jeff, i had already made the "purchase", BEFORE I knew my way around this site and I registered on this site 2 days after I made the purchase. If I WOULD HAVE known these issues that we all deal with were a constant, and after reading what everyone says about you, I would have had you as my middle man, I assure you.

I am a "one woman man" so if this all works, I will be happy for as long as Kennedy is with me. If this DOESNT work out, you can be assured I WILL be contacting you for the advice/assistance you are offering as well as if I need to replace my Kennedy's body.

I hope it doesnt come to that but it's great to know you are on "our side" when it comes to the issues people have on this site. You're a good man.

[MannyCan]

sigh ... always comes back to skeleton quality.