Elwyn has suffered a grave injury :(

[Jimbofod]

Thanks for the ideas, Mike, Forb, Olivia...I think re-welding would be the best, cleanest solution, though the idea of new supports is interesting as well. I could also envision a custom thing that would be in the form of a "T" and have 3 clamps, 2 to grab onto the hips and one for the spine. But by the time such a thing could be made, it would probably just be simpler to re-weld the original connection.

I just got a Skype back from Sanhui! Here's what they said.

Hi Jimbofod,

Mechanics have been inspecting and researching over the whole Elfie’s skeleton. But after shown to mechanics, the attached video was too short. It may well be for you to take a video or a photo of a fuller view on where the cut is and a clearer photo on where the breakage is. Conditional maintenance with your arranges shipping back and forth, our mechanics can accomplish better welding and/or replacement of necessary parts for you. Parts of Stainless steel are rather strong even resistant to hammer. Mechanics are wondering how the previous owners led to such outcomes  

Best regards,
Coco&KK
Sanhui

I had been asking if there was any closer service here I could use. As expected, there is not, so I'm inclined to have them do the fix directly. I'm not sure I fully understand the "conditional maintenance" wording, but it sounds to me like they can do it if I've sent the doll back for repair. I made a new video and some more images for them to see more clearly, so now I'll wait to hear back from them again. So now both times I've been able to communicate with them it has been a Sunday (US Easter time), FYI. This seems to be the best time to reach them. I'm not sure if they got my emails or not. Probably they prefer Skype, which is how I reached out to them initially about this.

[Olivia F1]

Good to hear, at least a professional repair is on the negotiating table.

[MannyCan]

Hmm does Samara do skeleton work?

[Jimbofod]

Hmm does Samara do skeleton work?

I think she has. She chimed in with some work on the old Sanhui skeleton in this post:
viewtopic.php?f=261&t=94222&start=15

Whether Samara does welding, I don't know. I'll wait to see what Sanhui can offer before I bug her directly. I don't know for sure how much of the skeleton construction Sanhui does in house vs. outsourcing. Whether they specifically make the weld that broke on my doll is therefore uncertain. Either way, it's part they probably want to quality check more rigorously in the future. As they mentioned, their mechanics were shocked that this broke. Maybe previous owners were rough, but I doubt they were trying to bend the doll in half or "hammer" her (not in that way, anyway). Such force would have certainly left marks on the soft silicone long before the metal would break. This part is deep inside the doll, so you couldn't do much with it on purpose without disrupting the silicone. Again, I don't know welding, but I'm sure there are nuances and ways it can be done better or worse, maybe even ways that are not visually obvious afterward. If, say, they get them pre-welded and can't control that quality directly, maybe they should put the skeletons through a stress test before use in a doll? All I really know is the end result which shouldn't have happened. Maybe it's a rare bad skeleton, but then some kind of stress test should be do-able without adding much time or expense. How they address it in their processes is up to them, but given how Sanhui tend to address things that are brought out into the open pretty directly, I would expect them to make some change going forward.

Olivia, sorry to hear about your doll, especially the need to keep her opened up for regular maintenance. I think I saw in some other repair thread people were putting Loctite glue onto the screw threads to keep them in place longer. Maybe worth a try in your case?

[haremlover]

Samara hasn't been well recently.

I'd see what you can negotiate with Sanhui directly

Best wishes

Harem

[Jimbofod]

Samara hasn't been well recently.

I'd see what you can negotiate with Sanhui directly

Best wishes

Harem

I'm sorry to hear that and hope she gets well soon.

I do have an update. Sanhui will do the welding and also pro closeup of the silicone for me. I just have to get her there and back. This to me is beyond reasonable since I bought the doll used and they aren't actually obligated to do anything for me. They could probably use some help speeding up communications, but they are great once you reach them.

They said shipping from China to the US is about $238, but I have to research how to get her there. Any recommendations?

I left them some more questions like what service they use going this direction. Maybe I can use the same, or maybe not if they are not English speaking.

Also, I'm not sure if I should include the head or not. If I leave it out, it saves weight, but maybe it looks weird if customs checks it on the way back being a small body but not an elf head? Her boobs are big for the body but not giant. Well, hopefully Sanhui can advise on that as well.

Here's what they think is the cause:

"From pics and video sent, Mechanics assume U-shape metal broke upon level force before coz the first owner kinda forced that way when he couldn’t manage the joints "

So, I was thinking about this. The back joint is pretty stiff (which is good), but not so much that I think moving it would cause a weld to break. But, because the head does not tilt up beyond level, one is more likely to arch her back to get the same effect. If the joint is already at the maximum bend, and more pressure is applied, this could weakened and eventually brake the weld. Maybe more likely since she is a small doll, so the skeleton and weld are not able to withstand quite as much. Just a technical point to share with any other owners so hopefully nobody else has this issue. I think with Forb's recent doll they fixed the neck so it could tilt up, so I assume they will make such fixes to the rest of the lineup, but having this ability would preclude some of the back bending. Anyone ordering a new doll might want to check on this, especially for small dolls where you are more likely to want her to look upwards.

[MannyCan]

I think DHL operates there .. that's what was used to deliver my doll from China to the USA.
Yeah .. I'm pretty sure.

[Jimbofod]

Thanks, Manny. Got a DHL quote and it was $582. Looking into to some other options....

[Anung Un Rama]

Hi Jim. gave you a reference in your other welder request topic.

Anung

[Dollsampler]

Any doll skeleton may be repaired easily without welding provided (this has to be verified) the place where the Weld broke concern hollow pieces that is piping.
I have worked on three such skeletons amongst other to modify non standing dolls to standing (two had wired feet and one a goose neck feet). The best way to link pipes together is to make, using threaded rod (of a diameter allowing the threaded rod to enter Inside the tubes with at least four mm clearance for the resin/putty)) a junction piece.Here the junction piece may be Simply straight. and link the vertical pipe to the horizontal one trough a hole (let us hope such a hole already exist for holding the vertical pipe when they welded it. Then you use a high resistance époxy putty to secure the threaded rod Inside the tubes to link again the two loose parts.The use of threaded rod is important(use galvanized onze) because that is strong medium high tensile steel (50 kgs/mm2) and the thread help the époxy resin/putty for perfect adhesion and also avoid the linking rod to rotate easily after repair. Dont forget to push paper Inside the pipes before repair not to have the resin/metallic putty Moving down from the repair area before curing.Also if possible at the repair place it is better to make a rough surface Inside the pipe using gross Emery paper before putting the resin/metallic putty.

[Jimbofod]

Dollsampler, thanks for the reply. I don't normally do mechanical repair work, so I had to read your post a couple times, but I think I get the gist of what you are saying. Reading it when I'm not up late helps as well.

The U-shaped "hip" is hollow, but the spine is not. Well, at least the end that connects to the hips is sealed. It actually forms a cupped shape to match where it would be welded to the top of the hips. It is probably hollow inside, but if so a hole would have to be made to create a support per your suggestion.

Supposing this is done, I guess I would still be a little concerned that an epoxy would hold everything together because the support rod could only go a small bit into the spine before stopping for the ball joint. Bending the ball joint, which is quite tight, might creat enough leverage to break the support assembly loose again. When you made this kind of mod on other dolls, was this an issue, or did you have longer pipes to work with?

Many thanks

[Jimbofod]

Sanhui got back to me today. They checked with their shippers and learned that shipping to China would incur excessive fees. This is kind of in line with what I was seeing when I looked.

A replacement body is a possibility, price quote pending but probably not much less than a full doll. Also, hopefully color matching would not be an issue.

It seems the best solution would be to work out a repair with help from TDF members. I have a lead or two thanks to Dollsampler and Anung's reference. Maybe Forb's bracket idea is not a bad one either, or some combination of the above. Maybe she can be rebuilt, stronger....the bionic elfie!

[Allifan]

Had a thought ...... instead of trying to make a strong, rigid repair make one that might flex a bit yet still hold the two parts together. I am a sailor and used stainless steel "safety" wire to prevent bolts from backing out. (aircraft industry uses this too). I am wondering if you might be able to drill small holes (tough! into stainless) or use other connections to wrap and possibly "sew" the two parts. The stainless wire can really be twisted tightly without breaking to tighten it.

On model aircraft (yes, I'm a RC airplane nerd) you could make a very strong connection by wrapping two parts with thread or wire and then coating with epoxy to keep the thread or wire from moving.

The best epoxy resins I have come across are JB Weld and "West System" from West Marine ..... amazing polymers.

Sorry this happened to you, but if you can be the successful surgeon in her life, you will earn her loyalty for life haha! Hang in there!

[Dollsampler]

Boring in Stainless steel is very difficult. The only tool easy to use with the skeleton is an Handy size sanding disc machine (15 cm blade or so). It can be used with precautions to enlarge a hole in Stainless steel tubing.
As the spine piece is not a tube but a solid rod then I suggest the connecting piece to be made in two parts (galvanized steel) the first part connecting the holed horizontal hips pipe with an Added on vertical ring (second part) is the straight threaded rod.
The Added ring (pipe lenght) of galvanized steel will have Inside the diameter of the spin piece and be époxy fixed to it on the upper side. On the lower side this Added ring will touch the horizontal hips pipe and contain the threaded rod which penetrate also in the horizontal pipe.Of course in this case the threaded rod bit will have a greater diameter; All will be époxy filled as before.

[Dollsampler]

A dremel could also be used to bore a hole in the hips Stainless steel pipe where the spin piece was welded.

I have not the dimensions of the spin piece which was welded on one side and is connected to the ball joint on the other side.It seems to be short.Anyway a repair without welding will probably elongate the spine of the doll by one or two centimeters.Epoxy resin is only used to secure the junction pieces.They will resist to the torque because they are interlocked.

The junction piece is made of two pieces but of course if somebody could weld the two pieces together for you that could help for your epoxy resin repair as the junction piece will be only one.
Please find hereunder an approximative schematic view of a possible repair without welding.

P1020266.JPG (4.94 MiB) Viewed 2280 times

If you drill a hole in the cup shaped spin piece provided it is hollow then the threaded piece could be of a smaller diameter and be longer in order to interlock in the hollow spine piece also.Such a double interlocking system (Inside and outside) would make the repaired junction far stronger