Removing top arm part from its sleeve

Does anyone have any tips for getting a MDD's top arm joint out of the arm sleeve itself? Mine's a bit loose, so I wanted to adjust the screw, but I can't for the love of god get the joint out. 😐

To clarify, I'm talking about this joint:

3 minutes ago, ChrisFhey said:

Does anyone have any tips for getting a MDD's top arm joint out of the arm sleeve itself?

I believe the f3 instructions indicate that you push the part protruding from the top in, and the frame falls out the bottom of the arm. Instructions are here: https://dollfie.volks.co.jp/dd/support/basebody/howto_ddf3_mdd.html

About halfway down you will find the Adjustment of the Upper Arm section.

Yes, I know. I had looked at that guide, but the joint won't budge.

It's completely stuck, and doesn't go any further than this. I can't get it out at all.

You may need to heat with a hairdryer and push the part through once the vinyl is a bit softer.

I'll give that a try tomorrow. I've given up for today.

Thank you for the tip though.

Having done this recently, and had a horrible time, yes, you’ll need a hairdryer and some kind of stick (I can’t remember what I used right now) to push the joint from the top to get it to come out the bottom enough to start to try to also pull on it.  I honestly at points thought I’d never get it to move.  They didn’t make this one easy.

Not easy at all! Thank you for sharing your experience.
I'll give it a go with a hairdryer tomorrow. Hopefully with a little more luck than I had today. :3

You can also use a freezer food bag and put it in hot water! This will make the vinyl nice and squishy.

45 minutes ago, Subaru said:

You can also use a freezer food bag and put it in hot water! This will make the vinyl nice and squishy.

Do you know how long I should leave them perhaps?

I don't want to overcook them, so to speak. 😄

3 minutes ago, ChrisFhey said:

Do you know how long I should leave them perhaps?

I don't want to overcook them, so to speak. 😄

You won't be able to overcook it lol but I think ~5 minutes is more than enough. You don't have to have super boiling hot water either. Just hot enough to make the part soft

All right, I'll give it a try! And don't worry, I wasn't planning on actually boiling my doll. 😄

12 minutes ago, ChrisFhey said:

All right, I'll give it a try! And don't worry, I wasn't planning on actually boiling my doll. 😄

save me a cup of doll broth though

Well, after about an hour of hairdrying, one doll broth, and an arbitrary amount of general violence towards this arm joint later I've managed to get it out of its sleeve, tightened the joint, and wrestled it back into the sleeve. I would not wish this upon my worst enemy.

Worst bit is that, for the second arm, I figured out that I could actually wedge my small screwdriver in between the vinyl and the joint and reach the screw that way.

Complimentary Miura facepalm

Thanks for the various tips in this thread (especially the previous one). When I bought my MDD Mochi-Ashi Misaki the seller said her arms were floppy, so she's just been in intensive care to correct this annoying issue.

If anyone is wanting to tighten the top joint (i.e. the shoulder joint) then you can try the following procedure. For what it's worth I never managed to do the Volks method of removing the skeleton piece from the vinyl. Incidentally this is for a DD-f3 but maybe will also apply to other frames.

• Remove the arm from the doll.
• Remove the lower arm from the upper arm.
• Warm up the vinyl. I put my girl's arms on the storage heater. The vinyl needs to be warm, but not hot to the touch.
• Ram a large screwdriver down the elbow end so it touches the skeleton - this is useful to grip the arm, and also to poke the shoulder part up as far as it will go.
• Carefully prise apart the shoulder vinyl with a small screwdriver and fasten the screw as shown in the photo below. Note that it takes quite a bit of strength to prise the vinyl apart. I'd also be very careful doing this on an older doll in case the vinyl tears. It may also take some trial and error to work out what side the screw is on too.

Good to know you can actually get to the screw without removing the whole joint if you really need to. 

I had to tighten the same screw on my Mochi Ashi girl Asphodel, but I went the other way: hair dryer, took pliers covered in masking tape, and gradually wiggled the joint out the top. Annoying. . .but still easier than getting the frame out of a DDII thigh, so my perspective on what is hard to take apart on a DD miiiiight be a little skewed after this long in the hobby lol. 

Main reason I took the whole joint out is because I disassembled it, and applied Loctite Blue to give it more gription. And MAN that worked like magic; been like 8 months, with her holding props and weapons, and her shoulders are still doing great. Honestly I need to do this same thing to my larger girls that have been re-bodied on F3. 

TLDR: You can take the joint out of the top of the arm if you need to. Also, ALL HAIL LOCTITE BLUE