Please help me fix the growing tear of my doll's anus

Maor166 · Post by **Maor166** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 9:56 am

Hello. I have had this tpe wmdoll for about 10 months and she has been suffering this anus tearing for some months now and Im wondering what I should do to fix it once and for all. I have used tpe solvent for this but it didnt work and instead enlarged the tearing. I've attempted it for 3 times already.
I have heard that I need to use melting devices such as iron soldering, heatgun but also understood that it can be too dangerous for the tpe. So im worrying now.

I would like to hear some more opinions from others and those who practiced with it already. I would be very grateful if you could please give me an advice on what materials, tools I need to get and also instructions on how to get this thing done.
Thanks!

RGC_0767 · Post by **RGC_0767** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:23 am

Solvent works good for minor cuts. behind ears, that sort of thing.
To repair a tear in sensitive, stress prone areas, melting new TPE in will fix it. and will make it stronger than just trying to glue it back together with solvent.

a 30 watt solder iron has been very helpful to me, but you'll need to be a bit creative and make some tips for it.

solder-tools.jpg

These are just basic ideas, can be tweaked some if you wish.
Some of these things have helped me a lot where any solvent wont.
This takes a whole lot of practice, so get a couple cheap TPE toys from Ebay, and it will help get you familiar working with it.
A hot air solder rework station is another small investment to help keep your doll in great shape. and helps to clean up surfaces decent. Once initial repairs are
complete.
Here is some damage I did to her foot lol, all fixed now. This is what will happen if there is ANY tension on the TPE, whether it be a solvent fix or using heat. I did this using heat. Was curious to see how foot was made and made a massive cut to have a look. Upon trying to stitch it back up, the TPE was splitting toward ankle

Hacked-foot.jpg

here is some finishing madness via a video I did a while ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-XIwv2sI-I
LOL

Good luck!

Maor166 · Post by **Maor166** » Thu Jan 03, 2019 12:08 pm

Thanks for the broad response! sorry it took me time to answer I didnt receive any notifications in my mails when you replied to my article. damn that poor foot tho lol. it would make me very nervous if i did that to my doll's foot XD. in that video i see you are using hot air solder rework station. do you think hot air solder rework station will be better than iron soldering in terms of focusing on the area I want to melt? and will it be with enough heat to make it soldered?
Also I saw that you put some wet/gelly material on that foot before applying the heat what is that?

Thanks!

RGC_0767 · Post by **RGC_0767** » Thu Jan 03, 2019 12:56 pm

Maor166 wrote:Thanks for the broad response! sorry it took me time to answer I didnt receive any notifications in my mails when you replied to my article. damn that poor foot tho lol. it would make me very nervous if i did that to my doll's foot XD. in that video i see you are using hot air solder rework station. do you think hot air solder rework station will be better than iron soldering in terms of focusing on the area I want to melt? and will it be with enough heat to make it soldered?
Also I saw that you put some wet/gelly material on that foot before applying the heat what is that?

Thanks!

I'd used both an iron and SMD rework. An iron (30 watt) with a thin copper blade for a tip to seal the cut. This is where I'd discovered it had tension on the seam, making it worse. Material was splitting towards ankle. Making the holes bigger.
Standing a non standing doll for any length of time, it had damaged the heel. This is why the heel looked bad. And all along the seam, because of tension/splitting.
I'd used the hot air to initially fill low spots by adding new TPE in. This can be done with an iron, but is much easier with hot air.
Adding mineral oil (light viscosity) while working helps prevents tools from sticking to the TPE. Just brushing a light coat with a small brush, or even a sponge.
Tools will glide over nice.
As far as what is better? An iron or hot air?
Both have better uses over each other. Hot air and various size tips offer greater control. Temps can be controlled easier.
An iron will fuse a small area easier as well.
It's all the case of one day it all goes smooth, the next is a pain. LOL
Here is the basic idea in this video. It did not go as well as it could have. But we got her patched up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjap9keAues