What to do when the screw eye comes out of the hand, foot or headcap

For refrence, what was the solution? *perks*

 

So...I think one of the hooks in Nell's hands might be a little loose, because in the past two weeks it's popped out four times at total random (I haven't been twirling it around or anything, just twisting it a little). I think I'm going to try gluing it in now (and she can just be Little One-Handed Nell until then). Has anybody else done this? What's the best way -- put the glue in the hole for the hook, or on the hook itself? Best type of glue to use? (We have hot glue and a glue gun, but that stuff dries practically before it's come out of the gun).

Thank you!

 

Okay, I'm hoping this is an okay place to put this, since it could apply to all sizes of BJD. My Soah's foot screw keeps coming out of the foot. The screw is how it hooks to the string, and its like the hole is stripped. I've tried super glue, and putty, and nothing works. The super glue seems to hold, but as soon as I put tension on it - pop! I guess I could string her really loosely and it would hold, but whats the fun in that?

Any tips? I'd really rather not get a new foot, because a)I'm not sure that's possible and B)her foot is blushed, like the rest of her body.

Thanks!

 

Unfortunatly, you have really only have two options.
1) get a replacement foot. Becasue once the resin is striped, it is striped.
2)Maybe use epoxy or whatever that stuff people use to make mods with use and fill the hole with it and screw it in (basicly making a new hole).
Problem with this second idea is that I am not sure the epoxy will bond to the resin, and glue may not hold the filling in place.
Best thing is to go to the customizers section of the forum and ask someone there who makes mods for dolls.
Good Luck!!!

 

Oh yeah...you can buy replacement parts and I believe www.sunrisedolls.com has them and/or can order them. They are really nice and that is where I got my Nabee (Ltd Ryung).


Acutally! They have a pair of feet in stock right now and they are only $15.00. ^_^
They are made by Elfdoll and are official replacement parts.

 

Apoxy would definitely hold it. Fill the hole, then screw it in and wipe of the extra that gets squished out. In 24 hours it should be completely solid. I've got some apoxy, I can mail you just a little to fill in the hole if you want to try it.

 

Thanks! I knew someone here would figure out what I was trying to say!!
^_^

BTW: I just love the replacement parts pics! You should check it out! http://www.sunrisedolls.com/store/elfp.html

 

Haha trust Omichao, she knows what she's talking about XD

I'm agreeing with her.

 

*cough*he*cough*

But thanks XD;;

 

on the elfdoll site is a tutorial on how to re-scew the hook back into the foot, it is here:

http://elfdoll.com/skin/elfdoll/bbs/view.php?bid=2&uid=7&page=1

hope this helps...

 

Yeah, I think some over zealous dumbass (who cannot spell and BTW I mean me!) here made that mistake before!!


Anywho, I believe she tried the super glue idea.
I am sure one of these ideas will work out.

 

HOLY CRAP OMI!! >_<" rofl, I'm going to be OT a minute to apologise my ass off XD

OMFGI'MSOF*CKINGSRYILUVYOUPLZFORGIVEMEIPROMISEI'LLREMEMBERFROMNOWONPLZDON'TKILLMEKTHX!!

You were just so nice to me...I usually don't have many guy-friends that are nice to me...O_o holy crap I am so sorry dude!!!

 

I wou;d say fill the hole with epoxy and don't put the screw in untill the epoxy is fully cured. You might need to trill a tiny pilot hole with a small drillbit, smaller than the shank and thread of the screw ~ again after the putty is fully cured, just so the screw will go in the right way. You could also drible some superglue in the hole just before you put the screw in.

If you decide to buy a new pair of feet instead, could you please PM me, I'd be interested in buying the "broken" pair.

 

My Ryung's foot fell off. I filled the hole with 5 minute epoxy, then reinstalled the screw and let it cure overnight. It has held so far.

I don't believe there is any permanent fix for this. The screw threads are so small that there is not much area to grip the resin. Plus there is a lot of tension on the foot. I fear that eventually, these will continue to pull off unless a better way to attach them is found. But they do repair well. I haven't bothered to buy a set of spares YET.

 

She was sitting on my lap and thunk, her foot hit the floor. I couldn't believe it happened! There's a screw in the ankle ball, and a hole in the foot, which I can't seem to get to screw back into the foot. The screw has some little bits of resin on it, and obviously it stripped the threads in the resin of the foot when it pulled out. Why on earth is this designed this way?! Now I'm waiting for the other foot to fall off. Are the hands connected the same way? I'm afraid to pull them out, to look! For all this money, to have this happen. I am one unhappy camper. I believe she'll be my last Elfdoll... Any suggestions are appreciated. Oh - and I wrote to the shop I got her from.

 

That happened to my HyperManiac boy, too -- it's pretty common in dolls with the foot-screw arrangement.

Put some SuperGlue in the hole, then screw the screw back in as tightly as you can, it'll hold really nicely in my experience, Kumiho hasn't come apart since!

Sorry this happened to you with your brand-new girl :/

-- A

 

Thanks, hon - it's just that I can't get the screw out of the ball - the tension is so tight. I removed the other foot in hopes of loosening the tension, and of course it didn't work. Hubby is going to help me with it tomorrow. I already bent my thumbnail back till it's bleeding, and now I'm just so disgusted I can't look at her. I'm sure I'll feel differently if we can get the screw out. Lol...

 

My girl's left foot fell off a couple times when I first got her, she wasn't a brand new doll though, and it wasn't stripped... it simply came unscrewed. What I did, was grab her and pull back as hard as I could on the ball (this actually involved feet at one time), slide a chopstick between the two strands of tension cord, and then released the ball. The ball would of course snap back, but the chopstick prevented it from going back into the socket. I then screwed the foot back on very tightly, and pulled out the chopstick. Her foot hasn't fallen off since, and that was several months ago.

 

Wow I was thinking about getting Lydia. Hope you can fix her up, not that you should have to. It annoys me to read this kind of thing. It shouldn't happen.

 

The same thing happened to my Lydia. Poor girl and I have no time to unstring her and put her foot back. I really think the screw is to short that Elfdoll used.

 

StephG, you haven't tried tweezers to get it out, have you? Probably you have, but if you haven't, it's worth a shot.
I'm sorry this happened to your new doll. (T_T)

 

happened to me too. i was taking foot comparison pics with a narin doll and realized i was staring at the ball of the ankle joint

the screw fortunately didnt ever pull through the ball up into the leg, no matter how hard i pulled. too big thankfully

what i did was pull the ball away from the shin/calf part and stick a pencil in there to hold the ball away. then i grabbed another pencil and a friend.

i pulled the ball away from the 1st pencil and stretched the elastic about an inch, then held the elstic at the pencil so when i relaxed the ball i had slack. then i pushed the slacked elastic [and the screw!] back through the ball on the foot side and had my friend shove a pencil in to hold it, so now there is a pencil on both sides of the ball.

i removed the pencil on the leg side of the ball. leaving the one on the foot side of the ball. now the screw is no longer in the ball XD

then i put on my glasses and used pliers to screw the hook back into the foot, then removed the pencil. i have been careful since then not to twist her feet too much.

i hope that helped!!! i'm so sorry this has been such a bad experience, elfdolls are really beautiful creations imo, though i do think molding resin hooks into the foot and hands would be better than screwing into them.

 

I always thought the screw hooks elfdoll uses was a bit of a silly decision on their part. But like others have said, unstring her, superglue (or apoxie) that screw back in and let it set overnight. She'll be good as new!

 

Thanks, everyone, for your advice! But unfortunately, I can't get the screw to come out of the ball of the foot, because the tension is so tight. I CAN get the ball away from the leg, but the ball won't slide back. Until I can get that screw out of the ball, there's not much I can do. On the efldoll site they show how to make a new hole.... What the?!!!! Obviously they KNOW there's a problem, and yet they continue to do it this way. Frankly, I'm bewildered as to why... For now I have a girl with both feet off. Edit to add: I have not strung any dolls, to date, and really don't want to. Yeah, it's cowardly. But until I watch someone do it, I won't try it myself. *sigh* With a new doll, one shouldn't have to, anyway...

 

This sounds weird. Does someone have any pictures of what kind of a connection it is?

 

Here are the Elfdoll site instructions...it has pics of the whole thing... http://elfdoll.com/skin/elfdoll/bbs/view.php?bid=2&uid=7&page=1

 

My doll lost a foot months ago. My screw went clean through the ball and up into the calf. It also turned around so that the sharp point embedded itself up there. I made some hooks out of long brass wire from the local hobby shop and had to go try and hook the elastic and pull it out (along with the screw of course). It took several hours until I finally to catch it and pull it out. Several times I got it moving only to have it snap back.

I used 5 minute epoxy to set the screw and I let it cure for about a full day before reattaching it. Elfdoll says superglue but superglue doesn't take sheer very well and twisting the foot will put sheer loading on that screw so epoxy is better. That foot hasn't fallen off since nor has the other.

The problem isn't so much the length of the screw as the fine threads on it. When that screw first cuts into the resin, all that is holding it there are the threads it is cutting into the resin. Take a look at the screw threads and imagine that for all the grooves, it's only that much resin that's keeping it from tearing out of there.

We have a lot of Rainy dolls in our group and I would have to say this does happen although the level of occurance is like only 5% or less. Still when you're one of that 5%, it can be very frustrating. We have had one person have it happen to a hand but almost all the time, it's a foot. And in all cases, only one foot has ever fallen off. Nobody has said it happened to both of them. Of course none of us know what the long term effect will be since these dolls have only been on the market for only a year and a half.

The best thing for owning bjds in the long run though is to have a pair of hemostats and also some elastic hook pullers as your basic tools. It makes repairing these sort of things a lot faster and also easier on your nerves.

 

This* is VERY helpful - thank you! If I can make some sort of hook to grab onto the eye of the hook and pull it down, that will help a lot. I do have an elastic hook tool, but the head is too large to get into the ball to grab the screw eye. It's jammed up against the upper hole of the ball. Our plan (hubby and I) is to pull the ball out as far as we can, wrap some cloth around the edge of the calf, use a vice-grips to hold the elastic (maybe it will hold) and then try to pull the ball back. If I can make a hook to grab the screw-eye at the same time, perhaps I'll be able to dislodge it. I have a drill with a small enough bit to make a new hole (according to Elfdoll website instructions), and I'll look for 5 minute epoxy. But I come back to this: This shouldn't happen in the first place. If they know they have a problem, and they do, they need to address it - not just tell people how to repair the problem.

Thank you so much for the information, because I think the idea of the hook on wire will really allow me to get the screw out!

 

Gah, I can't believe this happened, you just got her fer crissakes.

Sure hope you can get this fixed so it will hold for you.

 

Yeah, that is frustrating!! It sounds like the Elfdoll system is a bit different from the HM system, it *looks* the same, but the screw going up into the ball . . . maybe the Elfdoll ankle-ball has a smaller stringing opening and that's why it's stuck. Ugh!

(Kumiho's screw just shot up into his body, still attached to the stringing, so it wasn't hard to capture it with a Luts stringing tool and drag it back out again.)

Sorry about your thumbnail -- this IS a problem!!

Wasn't there a dolly-related injury thread a while ago? I've had quite a few that would qualify . . . BJD-collecting is a dangerous, dangerous hobby, and not just for the wallet!!

BTW, do you have any local friends who could restring her for you? It's SO easy -- I was terrified of it at first (and, in fact, Aislinn has never been restrung -- she never needed it, though), but then I got some dolls that needed work on their posing, screwed it up a few times, got the hang of it (a stringing tool is REALLY helpful, as are chopsticks and hemostats -- although I don't own any of the latter, I just use needle-nose pliers, which are less ideal but I already had on hand) . . . and now I take 'em apart and restring them all the time as necessary.

Wish I was closer -- I'd do it for you in a heartbeat :/

Random aside -- Bev is here (yay!) and was just talking last night about how awesome you are ^_^

*hugs*

-- A

 

Thanks, honey! You should have seen Tom, holding her foot and trying to figure out how to fix her. Any wonder why I love the guy? :>)

 

Oh, that's so sweet! Hey, Bev's pretty awesome herself. I'm in awe of her talent, I can tell you. I WILL have one of her faceups one of these days. Give that girl a hug for me!

I'm not sure if anyone local can restring. I've had a couple nice people write and offer to restring her if I send her to them. And thank you for offering, too! Believe me, I will if it comes down to that! But I'm hoping I'll figure out how to deal with the darned feet without restringing at all. We'll see. If I put a little glue over the screw that is in the other foot (which I took off), will that be sufficient, or do I need to unscrew the screw and then rescrew it, in the glue while it's wet? I know some of this is obvious to some people, but with SOME things I'll just sit and ponder the possibilities until I drive myself (and hubby) crazy... Lol...

The stupid thumbnail hurts like the dickens, but it looks ok, so I think it'll be ok... But on top of being sick with bronchitis and just feeling lousy, the whole doll foot thing was the last thing I needed. Yes, I am feeling sorry for myself. (I am pouting, in case you couldn't tell)

It should be interesting tonight, to see what luck we have with her...

Thanks for the support!

 

oh dear that sucks!

Unstring her would probally make the task much easier.

 

Angelregion uses a screw-hook for the foot as well, and incidentally, my NT Kai's foot came off the other day...(Which means I should stop playing with his feet).

A useful stringing tool to have is actually a crochet hook. One of the long ones, with a decent size hook. Then you can pull elastic through legs pretty easily.

 

One of my friends had the same problem with the screws on her AngelRegion Ren girl....on both hands and feet.She secured it all back together with super glue.I totally freaked out when I saw her hand pop off like for the first time(granted of course I SAT on the poor little girl...Who the heck puts a doll UNDER a pillow on a couch!!!??)I think personally that all companies that use that system should change them.It seems like it causes too dang many problems for people.I will still definately be buying from Elfdoll though,even if they have that problem.

 

This kind of hook system is common in BJD. I think all of my dolls are strung this way. The only ones that have a problem are one of my BFs and my phantomdoll. I think its a matter of the individual resins' ability to hold up to the tension of stringing. If the resin isn't strong enough the threads break and the hook comes out. Its probably not even a case of "the resin from this company is stronger than this company..." so much as just the particular batches of resin, and the way the chemicals cure. For example, I have two old BF boys and only ever have problems with the hands of one, not the other.

 

I would say for strength, you would need to unscrew it and allow the glue to adhere within the threads in the resin. So yes, take it out and put a bit of glue and screw it in while it's wet.
... and get your mind out of the gutter! lol

 

I just found this thread today.
Did you ever get her Foot Fixed Steph? I hope you were able to. Thats very disappointing to get a Brand new doll & have that happen. I have Lydia Standard on Order. I sure hope it doesnt happen to me. I have never strung a doll either.

 

I had the same problem with a standard Soah that I ordered from Elfdoll - only she arrived with her foot detached and a crack in her leg, which made it very hard to try to fix myself. Firstly, you really need the proper tools, which I didn't have. You need a hook to pull the string out and a clamp to hold it, without breaking the edge of the leg. I wasn't able to do it, and was really unhappy about it. I emailed Elfdoll and never got a response. Some kind folks on one of the elfdoll yahoo groups (fans of the dolls, not associated with the company) gave me advice and said to post on the elfdoll Q&A section on their website. That got me a much faster response. I posted some pics of the doll with her foot off to prove I wasn't making it up either.

I was able to ship the broken doll back to their California person (so I didn't have to send it to Korea), and they sent me a brand new one that wasn't broken. And they reimbursed me for the shipping. So if you are unable to fix her, I would do that - it's not worth breaking the doll yourself and being stuck.

Anyway, elfdoll was responsive. But I'm bummed to hear that some of the Lydias are having the same foot problem that my Soah did. I want to get one, but I really don't want to deal with the same potential problem and have to send another broken doll back!

 

First, the good news-- I got my first actual BJD this weekend, a Rainydoll Soah She's a big girl.

Now, the bad news. We were trying to get her apart to do some body blushing. Her hands and feet are attached by eye hooks screwed directly into the resin. We got the feet off, but the hands put up a better fight. Long story short-- the hand came off, but only because the eye hook broke off right at the resin.

I'm at a loss for what to do next. The break happened where the hook is embedded in the resin, so there's no way to remove the rest of the eye hook. It looks like Elfdoll may have had a hook break off in the other hand, and they just screwed another one in next to the old one, but... this is my first resin doll, and I'm too discouraged by this and scared to jump right in just screwing another one in and compromising the integrity of the hook under tension, etc.

If someone has any tips for this situation, I'd love to hear them. It'd be a real kick in the head to have to send off for another damn hand not even one day out of the box with her...

 

Do you have pictures? I don't have an elfdoll, so it would help to have a picture or two. If the problem is how I picture is to be, maybe you can try to patch it up with some epoxy that you can get at home depot. Then again, I might be wrong since there is no picture I can see. Maybe someone can comment on my solution?

 

Is this the page you were talking about?

http://dec66292.dreamweb.co.kr/boar...=DREAMBOARD4&choose2=&choose1=&pagenow=1&ID=9

As Perrett said, epoxy might be able to attach the hook on again. I would also suggest asking on the Elfdoll board about what to do, since hands are smaller than a foot.

 

Here's a picture of both hands...



The little dot that you can see in the socket of the hand on the left is what's left of the eye hook. Pretty much everything you can see of the eye hook on the other hand broke clean off. I'm guessing puttying isn't an option, since the stringing pulls straight out from where the hook screws in to the resin.

It looks like the Elfdoll link will probably be what I end up doing.

Thanks for the link!

 

I'm not sure where else to talk about this as I couldn't find a forum regarding the particular problem I'm having.
I have Hypermaniac Ishta. When I was changing her eyes, the screw eye, that is screwed into her head cap, that holds the stringing from body to head, snapped off. Luckily, I could grab it and save the stringing from slipping into the body.
At this point, I am using a washer, with the stringing pulled thro and stabilized with an S hook. Her head cap is held on with tape.

Anyone have any suggestions about this screw eye situation, or stabilization stringing in the head cap on the Hypermaniacs? I wrote to them and they said, something about working on a manual for those who have had this problem. But, nothing has been forthcoming, as yet. That was two months ago.
Looking forward to responses.

 

As soon as possible after getting my HMs, I put a 'duck' (the little thing sold by Volks for $7 ish that goes into the headcap and is a place for resting the hook) in with a proper S-hook. Then I take a small rubber band and double it over and slip it through the hole and hook both ends to the S-hook.
H

 

Hmmm, I've got to get some of those 'ducks,' which I didn't know Volks sold separately!!! But, when doubling a small rubber band, what 'hole' are you referring to, in the head cap, to slip the rubber band through? My Ishta's head cap doesn't have a 'hole' in it. I know what you are referring to from other dolls' headcaps but, 'my' HM girls only have the screw eye, which the one broke off.
Thanks, very much for the 'duck' idea... and I can see why it's called a 'duck.'
Another question would be, how would one take the elastic from the screw eye? Untying the elastic? My screw eye broke off, so, when a friend asked me how to take the head from the body, I didn't have an answer for her.

 

Just get a new screw eye (Actually I think they come with either the 'duck' set or the "S hook" set sold by Volks. I have some kicking around if you can't find one). What I did with mine was just unscrew it and then bend it slightly to remove the elastic. Oh, and I meant the hole in the screw eye.
Good luck!
H

 

Actually, some screw eyes did come with the Ishta... in her body bag. Will give it a shot. And, will pass on the info... plus order that little duck deal from Volks. Really appreciate your info.
Thanks

 

So, if you unscrew the screw from the headcap, does that make it looser when you put it back in again? Would it make the hole where it goes bigger?

I have a couple of those "duck" things from Volks but am unable to visualize how you use it. I couldn't even figure it out from the Volks insert that came with it. Guess I'm dense about things like that.


Thanks for this info. Thanks for starting the thread Wendy.

Jay

 

Hi Wendy!
If the hook snapped off then you can't replace it easily, you'll have to drill a fine short hole to screw a new hook into... Someplace near the original location. I can do this for you if you wanna send me yer headcap ^_^

If it unscrewed itself all the way out, then it's simply a matter of screwing it back in... but you probably knew that XD! What I did with my Eujquiv when I gave her a "tune-up" one-time, was to take all the hooks out, put some epoxy on the threads and then screwed them back in.

All Hyperdolly parents should periodically check those eye-hole-hook thingies to make sure they aren't unscrewing themselves... and they do. It's a shock when a hand or foot (or headcap?) flops off and the stringing goes "bye-bye!" LOL

Raven

 

Oh, isn't that the truth!! I think we've all had that happen!

At any rate, I haven't had a screw break off before but if there's any left you can take some pliers and unscrew it like that. I've never used epoxy when screwing mine back in, I just do tighten them periodically. I've actually had MORE trouble with the foot screws in my 2003 Rui than with any other screw. Sometimes in the course of trying to remove shoes the whole foot just comes off. This happens often enough that I just slip a disposable chopstick (I wash and re-use them for various things) so the elastic doesn't go flying.

As to installing the 'duck'... basically you have to thread the plastic up through the big hole and hook the S hook through the elastic loops once they're through the duck. All of this should be inside the head and for tightly strung dolls it is a PAIN. The 'handle' part of the duck should be pointed upward and I usually point it toward the nose, sort of in-between the eyes to keep it out of the way. The S-hook then rests in the little indentations in the top of the circle of the duck when you release the tension on the elastic.

Tips and tricks! I use my Unoa threading wire for EVERYTHING. It's virtually unbreakable and if you lose hold it's long enough it still sticks out of the body (most of the time anyway). Also, I use pliers to pull since my fingers have a tendency to slip on the wire, and wrapping wire around your finger and pulling hurts like a... If you don't have Unoa threading wire, then any reasonably small but strong cord will do. You might want to tape up the ends so they don't come unwound.

I hope that description made sense. I can picture it in my head but it's hard to explain with just words. I need pictures!

Hyla

 

Wow! Thanks so much, Raven and Hyla... I see that I have some work to do to check the tightness of the screws in Ishta. I wasn't even thinking about the 'other' screws in her body. The screw in her head broke off flush with the resin!!! Raven, if I can't do it, I may write to you personally about helping me with putting in a new screw. Hey, I don't want Ishta to 'have a screw loose'.... hahahaha
So, Jay, hope some of this information will be helpful to you in one way or other. I would suggest asking these folks about dealing with taking the head off.

Thanks, thanks, thanks. Tomorrow will be tightening screw day and figuring out how to screw another one into the head cap.

 

Wow, this is really good info. Hyla, your description about the "duck" did make sense. Thank you, I appreciate it.

I got Ishta's head off. Decided what I had to do what pull up the cord and clamp it so it would be loose enough to untie the knot. That worked great. And I didn't have much trouble putting her head back on. But I now live in fear of losing or breaking the screw.

Wendy, what a drag to have that screw break flush with the resin! ARGH! I think HM needs to think of a better way to attach the head. Just my opinion. To have so much relying upon one, little screw seems kind of fragile or something.

Jay

 

Is there anyone who can mod the headcap to make it attach with magnets? I am not too handy, and barely got the eyes in the first time. After reading this, I am afraid to touch it to do anything.

 

I don\'t have a Hypermaniac doll, but a couple of my other dolls had a rubber band in the head to hold the cap on, but I don\'t use it. I find it more convenient to tape the cap on with masking tape so that I can pull it off completely when I need to. I also have one doll that uses magnets and I always worry that the cap will fall off, so again, I use masking tape.

 

Well, admittedly, I changed them to the duck system for convenience, but out of 6 Hypermaniacs, I've never had a screw break. I've had a couple come unscrewed (usually from the foot) but they were easily screwed back in. So, I wouldn't worry about it too much.
H