Broken DDIII shoulder joint. Ouch.

So, after having Moe for only a week or so, I have broken her. I am really upset with myself, and just upset in general, but I think the problem may actually be in the design of the DDIII body. I'll try to explain. I actually took some photos, too, in the hopes that maybe someone else can use this information, but I haven't uploaded them yet.

 

Yesterday I noticed that Moe's right arm was just hanging limply in her long-sleeve shirt sleeve. I tried to push it back in, but nothing was holding it in place. I took her apart, and discovered the the round circular thing that holds the arm in place was broken on that side into two pieces.

 

Then I freaked out for a while. I tried super-glue, but trying to put the peg back into the hole just broke it open again in the same place.

 

I remembered then that Baldylox had a similar problem with Mamimi's DDS body. I searched his old posts, and I have to give my very deep thanks to Billy for posting about his repair process. He posted about a plastic weld product, and I went to my local Canadian Tire and found it (it was in the automotive section, it's called Permatex 5 minute Plastic Weld). I mixed it up and reattached the bits, and waited until this morning (you need to wait at least 4 hours, I waited much longer).

 

So this morning, when trying to put the arm back into the now-repaired hole, it broke again. This surprised me, because that plastic weld stuff is supposed to take something like 3500 psi of pressure without breaking. On closer examination, there peg for the arm is actually just too big for the hole on the right side. The broken bits of the ring/hole do not meet up with the arm peg in place. Any rotation, in particular, just shears it open.

 

So I've re-welded the hole bit now, and I'm going to sand down the peg on that side. Hopefully this will work.

 

I have to say, I'm disappointed by the fragility of the DDIII body. In particular, it seems like the engineering of the shoulder was faulty, or the quality checks not in place or something. The arm peg is simply too big. I'm very frustrated, and mad at myself, too, for breaking my new girl.

 

I will post an update when I have one. Suggestions are welcome!

The exact same thing happened to us. It was close enough to when we got her and she was purchased from Volks International so we could ask for a replacement part. It is really upsetting how fragile that part is! It shouldn't be at this point. DDS has the same problem. It should have been improved by now.

 

I am not sure what you can do if you got her second hand. Maybe the original owner can make an inquiry to Volks International and see if they would send a replacement part. It seems to be a common problem.

I bought her here on the forums, so I could ask Ren, but I'm not sure where she got her from. I would be happy to buy an extra part if Volks offered it, but of course, they do not. I'm not sure if the DDS part would fit.

 

I tried the plastic meld stuff again, and then sanded the peg on that arm so it was quite a bit smaller, and I'm happy to say that she has been repaired. If anything, the peg is a it loose now. If you manipulate the arm a lot, it comes out fairly easily. To prevent it, I just have to hold the shoulder when turning the arm. She looks as good as new, and still maintains a pose well, so overall I'm happy. It's just that I know that she is not perfect, bothers me.

 

I will post pics soon, so that my experience can hopeully help others.

Ahhh, seems that Volks hasn't fixed this issue just yet.

 

I'm glad my mention of this for Mamimi helped you out some. I fear I may not have gone into as much detail as I should have tho.

 

For the arm/shoulder joint tubes, you need to spread them apart with a ballpoint pen or something similar to get the cracked area to open up. Then you have to get that epoxy DOWN inside the crack. I used a toothpick to do this and it worked out well. That is what will make the joint stable and not able to break again. Just putting the epoxy on the surface of the crack won't solve the issue completely.

 

You did very well by wanting to sand down the arm peg... I also did that with very fine grit sandpaper, like 600-800. That way you're not roughing up the peg, you're smoothing it which is what you really need.

 

I did this with Mamimi and so far, she has had no problems with the repairs. She had BOTH arms do this and at the time, I was freaked the hell out too so I know how you felt PC!

 

I hope this time the repair holds for you and that Moe is fixed until replacement parts can be found. I know Volks isn't selling them for the DD3 yet but hopefully they will soon.

 

 

Billy

Thanks again, Billy. It wasn't a crack, it was broken into two separate pieces, one completely off of the body. So, lots of the epoxy did go between the two pieces. I think it broke the first time because I had not sanded the peg down enough, so it just forced it to break again.

 

Right now, everything seems to be working fine, so I consider it a successful repair. The joints a little loose if I turn it a lot, the arm wiggles out. But otherwise it is fine, and I'll just be careful.

 

I have to say, without your previous post, I would have freaked right out and had no idea as to what product you used. So thank you again!

Ouch indeed. Thanks for sharing your experience and what types of repairs you tried!

 

With the Yukino/Aoi 2nds and the new Sabers both being non-lottery dolls and hence higher production runs, there's going to be a lot more DDIII bodies out there soon. It's good to know what types of issues to watch out for and how to work on them if they do happen.

 

Maybe you will have just helped others to not freak out, much as baldylox helped you ^_^.

Did it break like this?

 

http://www.figure.fm/post/en/31578/Akira+with+a+broken+shoulder.html

 

There was someone on Figure.fm that reinforced the round shoulder hole with a piece of plastic pipe or something.

 

Maybe this might help?

http://www.figure.fm/post/en/34072/DDS+Joint+Reinforcement.html

 

Good luck repairing her. I hope that maybe the reinforcement method will help?

 

I have to say, I'm disappointed by the fragility of the DDIII body. In particular, it seems like the engineering of the shoulder was faulty, or the quality checks not in place or something.

 

The quality checks are a bit lacking lately... My Moe v.2 arrived with 2 of the same foot, and ChibichibiUSA's Akira came from Volks USA with 2 of the same arm!

Archangeli, that is exactly the type of break that happened to Moe (the first picture). I haven't reinforced the other shoulder, but that pipe thing is interesting. It might be beyond my abilities, due to my lack of tools. I'm hoping the Plastic Weld stuff holds. I wish the arm didn't come out so easily now, but that's better than it being too big to fit.

 

And ouch ... I remember the two of the same foot thing, which at least a shoe can cover, but two of the same arms would be hard to gloss over.

That's a real bummer that she broke. I was hoping Volks had been smart enough to address this issue on the DD3 given the issues on the DDS, but it seems not. When I look at the design of the DDS/3 I can't help but feel some of it was done not to improve the movement but to reduce the cost. There's just less plastic in the inner skeleton.

 

I hope this doesn't turn out to be a frequent problem with the DD3, but I guess the Aoi/Moe/Sabers combo will greatly increase the numbers soon and if it's a common problem it will become pretty obvious.

 

I'm glad you were able to affect a repair. If the arm is really too loose now from the sanding, you can always get some super glue or nail polish and put a very small amount on the part you standing to make it a bit thicker or rougher for more friction. Of course this pushes you right back towards the original breaking problem. Perhaps if done in conjunction with the pipe reinforcement technique it would be ok.

Yeah, I could thicken it up a bit, but it's really only minorly loose. Still holds a pose, and so on. The arm just comes out easier if I am rotating it back and forth.

 

The pipe thing looks interesting, but the poster did not say what type of pipe, or how they cut them. I have no tools to cut pipe with, but that might be easier than it seems. Right now I'm probably just going to leave things as they are.

From the pictures, the reinforcements looked like a small size gray PVC pipe like you could buy at a hardware store. You could bring the DDIII skeleton part with you to match the size exactly amongst all the pipes in stock.

 

For the precision cutting at a small scale, it is easy to use a Dremel tool with the basic cutting wheel part attached. It's a handheld rotary tool about the size of a pen (but much thicker). Such a tool, if you need one, is also sold at hardware stores. You can get the cheapest bundle for maybe $35 - what a deal compared to Dollfie prices huh! (plus you can then use the Dremel to cut plastic or metal on other projects later on. It's really useful to have around.)

unfortunately, first batch of Saber Extra DDIII are also prone to the same problem. Mine already got a crack within 3 weeks.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1919&start=80#p40425

unfortunately, first batch of Saber Extra DDIII are also prone to the same problem. Mine already got a crack within 3 weeks.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1919&start=80#p40425

 

I'm so sorry to hear about that. Hopefully you can fix her with the tips on this forum. PlasticFantastic has a good tutorial:

 

viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2213

yeah, that is 1 good tutorial but I probably will look at other options also as I try to gather the necessary tools.

 

thanks to the tips and experience shared by everyone here, i not so paranoid over this kind of mishap like i used to be.

yeah, that is 1 good tutorial but I probably will look at other options also as I try to gather the necessary tools.

 

thanks to the tips and experience shared by everyone here, i not so paranoid over this kind of mishap like i used to be.

 

If you want a little kit with all the pieces we used we do sell them~ ^_^

yeah, that is 1 good tutorial but I probably will look at other options also as I try to gather the necessary tools.

 

thanks to the tips and experience shared by everyone here, i not so paranoid over this kind of mishap like i used to be.

 

If you want a little kit with all the pieces we used we do sell them~ ^_^

 

thanks for the offer, i will consider it after i check out what is available in my place,

can even't remember if i got any drill at home.

 

but your tutorial really give me a peace of mind on solving the crack problem.

This is pretty scarey news. I have been wanting a DD III body for quite some time now but if it's going through problems like this now I am a bit concerned. Scared mine will break like the ones happening and might not be able to fix it properly >_<;; agh!

This is pretty scarey news. I have been wanting a DD III body for quite some time now but if it's going through problems like this now I am a bit concerned. Scared mine will break like the ones happening and might not be able to fix it properly >_<;; agh!

 

sand the pegs....i believe that the way if you don't want to use the cable tie method by PlasticFantastic.

 

do both if you want extra safe.

This is pretty scarey news. I have been wanting a DD III body for quite some time now but if it's going through problems like this now I am a bit concerned. Scared mine will break like the ones happening and might not be able to fix it properly >_<;; agh!

 

sand the pegs....i believe that the way if you don't want to use the cable tie method by PlasticFantastic.

 

do both if you want extra safe.

Yeah, there's fixes available to you - which you can either do yourself or ask one of us to help you with. I've crowned Sam the Dollfie Doctor. ^^;

I've crowned Sam the Dollfie Doctor. ^^;

 

I can just picture him in a white labcoat, wearing a stethescope and holding his cupped hand under a DDdy breast asking her to cough.

 

 

 

 

Billy

I've crowned Sam the Dollfie Doctor. ^^;

 

I can just picture him in a white labcoat, wearing a stethescope and holding his cupped hand under a DDdy breast asking her to cough.

 

 

 

 

Billy

 

Erm . . . that's the wrong place to check for hernias. Maybe you should check on your doctor's credential's Billy? I hope he/she doesn't spend a lot of time during physicals cupping your breast!

Erm . . . that's the wrong place to check for hernias. Maybe you should check on your doctor's credential's Billy? I hope he/she doesn't spend a lot of time during physicals cupping your breast!

ZING!

Erm . . . that's the wrong place to check for hernias. Maybe you should check on your doctor's credential's Billy? I hope he/she doesn't spend a lot of time during physicals cupping your breast!

 

 

I guess you missed the joke. I just thought it would be funny to see Sam dressed as a doctor, looking all serious and then messing with the DDdy girls by doing that. It's a joke. I guess it fell flat.... unlike the DDdy that Sam was cupping.

 

And no, I don't get breast exams. My doctors hands are cold enuff where they go now.....

 

 

Billy

Erm . . . that's the wrong place to check for hernias. Maybe you should check on your doctor's credential's Billy? I hope he/she doesn't spend a lot of time during physicals cupping your breast!

 

 

I guess you missed the joke. I just thought it would be funny to see Sam dressed as a doctor, looking all serious and then messing with the DDdy girls by doing that. It's a joke. I guess it fell flat.... unlike the DDdy that Sam was cupping.

 

And no, I don't get breast exams. My doctors hands are cold enuff where they go now.....

 

 

Billy

 

This is getting graphic, do I need to lock this thread?

 

(I'm kidding)

This is getting graphic, do I need to lock this thread?

 

(I'm kidding)

 

 

Hee hee. Sorry about that. I guess that mental image could be pretty bad. We can move on now. Nothing to see here.... these aren't the Droids you're looking for.

 

 

 

Billy