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Elbow poke

Ding! POP! Crash! Thud! oops...let's get her all fixed up!
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dollguy
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Elbow poke

Post by dollguy »

Was posing her tonight and noticed this. What is the best way to go forward?
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Arthur1960
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Re: Elbow poke

Post by Arthur1960 »

Hi there, this can be a common problem as the elbow is an area where the tpe can be thin and the skeleton can poke through the material it's wrapped in on the joint so it's then able to stick into the tpe there. The late and great Crazy Cajun made a thread about this I'm sure, where he added extra material into the elbow. I've got to do a similar repair myself on my eldest gal who has a loose elbow joint so I'm going to have to go in and tighten it. I've been giving thought to the best way to seal it up and think that once I've fixed the joint, I will wrap some crepe bandage around it and then try sealing the cut up with heat. I suspect heat will be the best way forward and is probably the best thing to try with your gals elbow. For this I would recommend getting a hot air rework station as it has regulated heat and air flow so is much more forgiving when your a novice. Hot air guns are cheaper and fine in skilled hands but for the beginner I would say a rework station is easier to use and they can be got on eBay and Amazon fairly cheaply. To see how to use heat to seal up small cuts etc then check out Mishka's excellent video tutorial. One thing that is VERY important is to only apply heat to any area when its relaxed, so in this case the arm must be out straight so the elbow isn't under tension. If you apply heat to stretched tpe it will just open up a larger hole. So the area must be cleaned well with baby oil and then the heat carefully applied. There is a skill to this so it's highly recommend to practice on some pieces of tpe if you can get them. I have been able to seal up small cuts like those by using the smallest nozzel on my rework station and gradually closing the cut as heat is applied and then smoothing the surface with an oil soaked cloth like in Mishka's video. Get as much info as you can before attempting this and be prepared, also you must take precautions to avoid inhaling any toxic fumes given off so you will need a filter mask rated for toxic fumes (available on eBay) plus have good ventilation and a fan blowing any fumes away from you. That may sound like a lot but once you've done it a few times it becomes fairly straightforward, you can see the factory workers doing this sort of thing in the factory pics that are sent out. In practice you will probably find that the tpe softens well before it gets to 100c (an IR temp gun is handy too) so most minor cuts and abrasions can be sealed and smoothed over quite easily. Hope that helps.

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dollguy
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Re: Elbow poke

Post by dollguy »

I have a 2inchx2inch block of tpe. Hypothetically, should i cut a small piece and insert in the hole. Then straighten the arm nd then apply heat?

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Arthur1960
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Re: Elbow poke

Post by Arthur1960 »

dollguy wrote:I have a 2inchx2inch block of tpe. Hypothetically, should i cut a small piece and insert in the hole. Then straighten the arm nd then apply heat?
Yes you could try that, if you can loacte it on here, see if you can find the video posted by the late Crazy Cajun as I'm sure he had a fix for this. I have a feeling that because it's a high stress area the pieces of tpe are unlikely to stay stuck to the surrounding tpe but it might just work if you get it right. It's something I would probably try myself. The other option that springs to mind is trying to get hold of some tpe filler which a few vendors can provide. I've used it myself with mixed results and it's not for the faint hearted as it will melt into the surrounding tpe but I've seen repair videos posted on Love Doll UK's thread which have been successful but you need to follow their advice precisely otherwise you again risk making it worse. Personally I would try heat first and take it from there.

Here's the link to a thread I started about this sort of repair:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=104304&hilit=Hot+air+rework+station

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Arthur1960
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Re: Elbow poke

Post by Arthur1960 »

Just looking again at your pics and if she were my doll I would actually seal up that hole using a tiny bit of loctite 406 glue. Now I know some folk say you should keep this stuff away from tpe and that's for good reason as it will go hard and forms a crust on any exposed surfaces but it will stick tpe together in a minor cut like this, I've done it several times but you must be careful. So, using a cocktail stick, get a tiny drop of the glue and very carefully poke it into the hole, run the stick around inside so the glue is deposited inside the hole then pinch the hole closed and hold it for a few second. Have a makeup wipe at hand with some baby oil on to immediately wipe off any glue that gets squeezed out as you don't want any on the exposed surface but if you do it right then this won't happen. Once you have sealed any holes closed you can then do your smoothing out as per Mishka's advice using some heat. I've done this a few times now and the results can be impressive but it pays to prepare and take your time. Good luck.

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Dollyman25442
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Re: Elbow poke

Post by Dollyman25442 »

Use Permatex flowable silicone windshield sealer to add material internally to prevent another poke through.
Seal the cut with TPE glue and remember for the TPE glue to work you have to hold the area together for 5 min. It is a pressure type glue.

Note-the sealer will have a nozzle perfect for adding into a poke through.
Also, don't freak out about this product being silicone. Perfectly ok to use. Ask Samara (doll repair specialist). They use it all the time.
https://www.permatex.com/products/adhes ... ss-sealer/

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Re: Elbow poke

Post by RGC_0767 »

Paste filler
Easy to make easy to use.
Melting a piece of TPE in will work too, just a bit more tricky

Here is a video on how to make paste. It's a piece of cake. Once you fill the hole and it sets up (24-36 hours) you can heat with hot air, and smooth it out.
Just make absolute certain there is no stress/tension on the area when heating. It will make the damage worse.
Check out LuLu's Foot video LOL, she got burnt!!! no, but she split worse from heat. But she's all better and fixed up decent

Snip some TPE from her neck and make a paste from it.

The paste mix HAS to be the consistency of thick gorilla wood glue. Not runny.

It works.
check it out... plug plug LOL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m62ssoXHvMc

I cover a lot of stuff in my videos... may be some hack jobs but it's all research and fun at the same time :)

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