Dddy III loose joints

I got my DD on Friday. I have now noticed that her legs are very floppy, mostly just one of them, but sometimes it's both legs. She can't sit up unless she's leaning on something and has some trouble standing. I don't know why this is happening, I've been very careful with her, haven't dropped her or anything. It wasn't like this the first few days. I even tried putting tape around around the peg like I read but, It doesn't help at all. This is driving me nuts because, she's my first girl and I've had her less than a week but I feel like I can't even do anything with her. I contacted Volks last night but, they haven't replied. I don't even know if they will since the website is closed right now. What should I do?

Are there any cracks in the legs where they attach to the torso? Those will cause the looseness you describe. I'm amazed the tape wrapping thing didn't work for you, I've done that on many DD's and always had it work. Can you take any pics of where the problems are? It might help to figure out what the issues are and get your girl fixed up.

 

 

Billy

This is my first DD and I've never seen one in person, so I don't really know what it's supposed to be like, but I have some guesses.

This is what I think is causing the problem.

Dollfie dream joint 1 by Dogs081397, on Flickr

 

This is the other leg, which isn't as bad, but still loose.

Dollfie dream joint 2 by Dogs081397, on Flickr

 

This is the inside of her torso, I think there might be a problem with this too.

Dollfie dream joint 3 by Dogs081397, on Flickr

It's hard to tell whether the leg socket has cracks or not in the photos. Do you see any hairline cracks on the socket? It maybe easier to notice when you have the leg connected and inspect the socket while moving the leg.

 

In my opinion, i generally wouldn't wrap tape around the peg. It may seem like a good idea, but it would just make the situation worse, as generally the point of failure is the socket in the leg. So making the peg wider will just split the socket more making a larger crack. That is unless you have reinforced the sockets.

 

I would suggest to get the Coolcats reinforcements both leg and shoulder ones (most people know about this) if you haven't already bought them.

http://us.sk-coolcat.com/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=dp-01c&Category=382741

Those look like the correct ones, measure just in case.

 

My policy for getting a new girl or parts is not to mess around with it until i have reinforced the sockets, but i'm just paranoid

 

I put the leg reinforcements by adding a few drops of superglue on the tip of the socket, then placing the metal parts over the socket. It can be a tight fit so having a hammer will be handy. If it is lightly tap the metal part until its flat with the socket.

 

How i put on the shoulder reinforcements.

http://xohimitsuox.blogspot.hk/2013/10/dds-bf-01-ver-3-cool-cat-metal.html

 

All that said, we don't know if it's a crack issue or not. But you got some info if it is

 

BTW, was the joints stiff when you got her?

It's hard to tell whether the leg socket has cracks or not in the photos. Do you see any hairline cracks on the socket? It maybe easier to notice when you have the leg connected and inspect the socket while moving the leg.

 

In my opinion, i generally wouldn't wrap tape around the peg. It may seem like a good idea, but it would just make the situation worse, as generally the point of failure is the socket in the leg. So making the peg wider will just split the socket more making a larger crack. That is unless you have reinforced the sockets.

 

I would suggest to get the Coolcats reinforcements both leg and shoulder ones (most people know about this) if you haven't already bought them.

http://us.sk-coolcat.com/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=dp-01c&Category=382741

Those look like the correct ones, measure just in case.

 

My policy for getting a new girl or parts is not to mess around with it until i have reinforced the sockets, but i'm just paranoid

 

I put the leg reinforcements by adding a few drops of superglue on the tip of the socket, then placing the metal parts over the socket. It can be a tight fit so having a hammer will be handy. If it is lightly tap the metal part until its flat with the socket.

 

How i put on the shoulder reinforcements.

http://xohimitsuox.blogspot.hk/2013/10/dds-bf-01-ver-3-cool-cat-metal.html

 

All that said, we don't know if it's a crack issue or not. But you got some info if it is

 

BTW, was the joints stiff when you got her?

 

i use a tiny g clamp from woodshop to press them together

It's hard to tell whether the leg socket has cracks or not in the photos. Do you see any hairline cracks on the socket? It maybe easier to notice when you have the leg connected and inspect the socket while moving the leg.

 

In my opinion, i generally wouldn't wrap tape around the peg. It may seem like a good idea, but it would just make the situation worse, as generally the point of failure is the socket in the leg. So making the peg wider will just split the socket more making a larger crack. That is unless you have reinforced the sockets.

 

I would suggest to get the Coolcats reinforcements both leg and shoulder ones (most people know about this) if you haven't already bought them.

http://us.sk-coolcat.com/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=dp-01c&Category=382741

Those look like the correct ones, measure just in case.

 

My policy for getting a new girl or parts is not to mess around with it until i have reinforced the sockets, but i'm just paranoid

 

I put the leg reinforcements by adding a few drops of superglue on the tip of the socket, then placing the metal parts over the socket. It can be a tight fit so having a hammer will be handy. If it is lightly tap the metal part until its flat with the socket.

 

How i put on the shoulder reinforcements.

http://xohimitsuox.blogspot.hk/2013/10/dds-bf-01-ver-3-cool-cat-metal.html

 

All that said, we don't know if it's a crack issue or not. But you got some info if it is

 

BTW, was the joints stiff when you got her?

Her joints were stiff for the first day or so, but after that they started to get loose. I see something that I suspect is a crack, but I don't know how that would happen, I've been very careful with her. What causes the cracks? She hasn't fallen or anything. If it is a crack, are the cool cat joint reinforcements the only way to fix it? I ordered a wig cap from cool cat weeks ago and it still hasn't come, but I'd like to be able to fix this as soon as possible.

Gonna add my 2 cents to the discussion

 

First off definitely get in touch with Volks USA. Even though their website is down they can still be contacted for customer service. You have 14 days from the day you received your girl to get in touch with them to see if replacement parts can be sent to you. But they will only send you replacement parts if a part is actually broken. Be sure to send very clear pictures and describe the problem you are having. Here are the various ways to contact them:

 

E-mail: service@volksusa.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/volksusa/info [They say to message them via FB for questions]

Phone: (310) 782-8324 [This number may or may not be their current # since they have moved warehouses]

 

Now I'll tell you about my experience in buying a brand new DDdyIII Base Body.

 

I bought the new DDdyIII Base Body the day they released it during their 2nd to last release event at the store. I was so excited to finally upgrade my Momoko's body! So I grabbed one of the boxes off the shelf, paid for my goods, and went out to my car to switch Momoko onto her new body since the store was super crowded. I put her on the body, got her dressed, and spent the rest of the day inside the store talking with friends and whatnot.

 

While trying out her new body to check how everything was I noticed that as soon as I tried to pose her legs up they would immediately fall back down. This concerned me a lot and I asked one of the employees if this was typical of the DDdyIII body since I have a girl on a DDIII and her posing has never failed me. She told me she didn't really know since they had just gotten them in. When I got home I did exactly what you did and checked for cracks, but there were none. I pushed the legs in as much as I could in case they weren't pushed in all the way, but that still didn't help. I already had the Cool Cat Reinforcements and put them on. Again this did not help. Nothing was broken, but Momoko couldn't hold her legs up. After reading some older posts I realized that the pegs inside the waist that you slide the legs onto weren't thick enough thus it wasn't creating enough friction for the legs to hold their pose.

 

I did go back to Volks USA and told them about my problem. And like I mentioned earlier they told me that since there was no actual damage that they did not consider the body defective and thus they would not give me any replacement parts. I even showed them how my Seraphina (Saber/EXTRA on DDIII) had no problem holding her legs up and that it doesn't make sense for a brand new DD body not to be able to hold a simple pose like that. But there was no use arguing because I was told there was nothing they could do and being that it was the new manager who was telling me this I couldn't do much more.

 

So you aren't alone in this! Today I actually bought some super glue to try to thicken up the peg by putting a thin layer of the glue around the pegs (need to make sure I let the glue dry completely once I do it otherwise Momoko will be stuck in one pose forever ). It was something I read in one of the older threads that someone suggested doing. I'll report back to this thread about if this fixes the problem or not. I also already tried using plumber's tape around the pegs, but the motion of moving the leg back and forth would just tear it to shreds. But even though it didn't work it showed me it really was because the peg wasn't thick enough because the first few times her leg would stay up before the tape got shredded. Regular tape also didn't work as one of the employees at Volks USA tried this before I went home with the new body that day. So maybe this will work~

 

Do let us know if you get in touch with Volks USA and what their answer is.

I contacted volks a few days ago and they didn't respond, but I'll try again. I'll let you guys know what they say.

Did they ever get back to you? This past weekend I decided to go ahead and try the super glue on the pegs inside the waist. Took the frame completely out of the waist and made sure the pegs were clean. Did some practice runs on a pair of chopsticks to see how fast the glue would dry. Once you pour some out you do need to be quick to spread a thin layer around the pegs. Also make sure the glue doesn't touch the area where the peg slides up and down the frame. Since I had nothing proper to use to spread the glue I just cut out a piece of hard packaging plastic and used the rest of the packaging to pour the glue onto. After pouring some of the glue out I quickly took the piece I cut to pick some of it up and spread it around the peg and once done did the same to the other peg. Left the piece out to dry overnight just to be sure it was not wet still. Thankfully it was a success! Momoko can now hold her legs up like she should've been able to do when I bought her. So if you are unable to get replacement parts this problem can be fixed

I had an email conversation with them over the course of multiple days, during which they told me there was nothing wrong with her joints. Even though she is still loose I haven't emailed them anymore, because at this point the 14 days have gone past and I don't think they will replace the parts. Even though she is loose I can still get her to sit if she is either leaning on something or sometimes if she sits leaning forward. I may do something in the future but, I'm a little nervous to try the super glue thing, because I've never done anything like that before, but I may try that in the future.

I had an email conversation with them over the course of multiple days, during which they told me there was nothing wrong with her joints. Even though she is still loose I haven't emailed them anymore, because at this point the 14 days have gone past and I don't think they will replace the parts. Even though she is loose I can still get her to sit if she is either leaning on something or sometimes if she sits leaning forward. I may do something in the future but, I'm a little nervous to try the super glue thing, because I've never done anything like that before, but I may try that in the future.

I'm not surprised by their response since your problem was the same as mine in that nothing was actually broken, but also not working right. At least you tried to get them to help. And don't worry about feeling nervous to do that sort of fix. I was a bit nervous myself until I just went ahead & did it. It makes me feel better that Momoko can now pose fully like my other girls. If the glue makes you too nervous you can also use clear nail polish, but it'll wear down faster & need to be applied more often. I've read about other members using it so that's also an option. In any case I hope you are still enjoying your DD girl despite this minor setback

Okay, I might try that. I am enjoying her still.