DD3 shoulder rotation failures

And now Miku needs a new body. We're at the start of a heat wave here so I wanted to get my girls out of dark clothing, including this top that Miku's wearing,

Miku by bodolza, on Flickr

As I rotated her arms up so I could lift the jacket off, I heard a little clicking sound and thought ugh, the new f3 bodies are so much nicer. Then after getting it off I tried putting the arms back down and her left arm wouldn't move. Then I immediately remembered what happened when Yaya's shoulder failed after making clicking sounds too. This is a post mortem photo of Yaya's old body,

The friction tape coating on the shoulder peg came apart and jammed the joint from rotating anymore.

Also, Miku isn't using the Coocat shoulder braces. Her arm's stuck like this now,

I'm not going to try to move it anymore but IMO there isn't going to be a way to move it without breaking it. I can't leave her sitting with her arm pointed straight back like that so I've brought out Melty's old DDS body (normal skin) and Miku's got a little tan right now (ｰｰ') 

I still have the set of those 01 arm decal stickers, I hope it's still in usable condition to apply to a new body.

 

I swear I'm not abusing them, I just rotated their arms! 

This happened to me with my DDIII Lucy 1st (white skin).  Cool Cat has a replacement shoulder joint part.

http://us.sk-coolcat.com/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=kss_15

Of course, Miku being SWS, the temptation to upgrade to F3 is real, and a viable alternative.  Still, at least the DDIII body can be repaired.  

If you need a new internal frame, there’s one available right now from Dollyteria as well - though perhaps delaying the inevitable when it breaks as well ><
 

https://www.dollyteria.com/product/232449

I kind of suspect @foo wants Miku to have a new f3 body, and this is a ready excuse to upgrade.

2 hours ago, foo said:

I still have the set of those 01 arm decal stickers, I hope it's still in usable condition to apply to a new body.

I did a quick comparison between a DDIII and DD-f3, and the vinyl shell on the upper arm seems to be identical between the two, so if you want to move the part with the decal over to the new body it should be possible. IIRC all you have to do is push the exposed part of the upper arm frame back in through it's slot and then the frame slips right out of the arm, so no manhandling of the arm that might damage the decal should be necessary. Pretty sure that's what the f3 body guide showed.

The decals on my SDGr Belldandy were perfectly fine after years of sitting in a box, so I expect you will be ok there too if you decide to just re-apply.

Edit: BTW your Miku is lovely in that wig and outfit, very nicely done.

Given the rate headless Miku bodies show up on mandarake they aren’t the first 😂

Can I ask why the friction tape was needed? Was it too loose before? 

You should be able to take her head off and her other arm and then warm up the stuck one at the joint with a heat gun or hair dryer.  I've found that warming the frame can let it loosen up just enough to wiggle things apart without breakage.  It's worth a try to save the arm and inner frame piece.  If you break them or don't want to deal with it, I do know a guy who buys broken bodies and parts down in SC.  😉 😄 

 

 

Billy

I still need to repair saber's body too... God I'm so lazy. 

On 6/27/2021 at 10:27 AM, Jezrah said:

Can I ask why the friction tape was needed? Was it too loose before? 

That's just how they're made. They wrap thin tape around the peg to get them to the right thickness.

Edit: Having pulled the other arm out and inspecting it, I don't see a coating, but I didn't put the tape there (ｰｰ') Maybe it's on the inside of the socket.

Edited June 29, 2021 by foo

On 6/27/2021 at 4:15 PM, baldylox said:

You should be able to take her head off and her other arm and then warm up the stuck one at the joint with a heat gun or hair dryer.  I've found that warming the frame can let it loosen up just enough to wiggle things apart without breakage. 

I guess it's worth a try, I've been leaving it alone because I didn't have any better ideas yet other than breaking it f^_^')

Edit: Well I've taken stuff apart as much as I can. But I'm sitting here 10:30 at night, room temperature is 36° C/97° F in my home, and I have sweat dripping down my cheek.

Do I want to use a hairdryer?

No.

Nope.

I'll try it later I guess.

Edited June 29, 2021 by foo

Well Miku's enjoying an M-bust courtesy of her new f-3 body, until I decide how I want to rescue her old bust from her cursed shoulder joint.

Miku f3 by bodolza, on Flickr

When I made this topic, I checked Volks Japan's site for bodies and they were sold out, but Volks USA had one in stock so I jumped on it. It arrived today And wow, as soon as I took it out of the packaging I was amazed at how smooth the arms rotated. I guess it's my fourth f-3, but from having to deal with her old body so much recently (and my other DD3s, Rin says hi) it was just surprising.

It's interesting though, I got Yaya & Miku one year apart, and their bodies failed 1 year apart. For Yaya it was extreme cold, and for Miku it was extreme heat (I didn't have her near the windows, but there's not much you can do when it's 37° C in your home). I guess this is a failure point on DD3s as they age.

I haven't had luck taking the old arm apart yet so I can't see exactly what's wrong with it. I'm trying to pull it out without breaking it but it's really jammed tight. I'm trying to use heat too, but the vinyl gets reaally warm and stretchy and that can't be good. I don't gain much by trying not to break it so I may as well do it.

Well I finally got them apart. TL;DR: I have absolutely no idea what happened, this smurf just got stuck.

I ended up breaking the arm part off to separate it. I'm actually a little disturbed by how easy it was to break by forcibly bending the part in the wrong direction (･･') I wasn't able to get the peg out of the thing using my hands. After a few days I decided I really wanted to get it out and find out what happened so I used pliers to try and pull it out of the socket. That did not work. At all. So I tried rotating the thing using the pliers to see if that helps, and I started to get it out that way (it made more clicking sounds as I did, I guess they're squeaking sounds as it jumps positions). It was tight. 

So I got it apart and I've examined them, and I've learned nothing. Something about the hot weather just made it get really, really tight.

Now I'm curious to try and take apart the peg that's still stuck in Yaya's old frame to see what that tape is.

Hmm.. Like how hot? 90°f +? I guess the plastic could've expanded due to the heat. But either way that is a terrible loss. 

Gosh I still need to fix Mash's glasses and my DDDy. I need a good plastic glue. 

47 minutes ago, mayaiincho said:

 

Hmm.. Like how hot? 90°f +?

 

It was 37°C, which is 98.6°F. 

I'm glad to see you got it out and that she got herself a brand new body!  That photo of her is extra cute!   

 

 

 

Billy