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Fixing Broken or Cracked Makie parts

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Fixing Broken or Cracked Makie parts Empty Fixing Broken or Cracked Makie parts

Post by pvlaughingmoon Sun Jan 24, 2016 11:07 pm

I first posted this info in News>Makies Moving to the US, because purple flying monkfish mentioned her makie has a broken arm. But I think people are really going to look for it in troubleshooting to here it is (again):

Purple_Monkfish wrote:
in regards to dolls. Today I managed to break one of my Makie's arms. -_- and i'm annoyed knowing I can't get a replacement part.
Disclaimer: I have never tried this procedure or the glue mentioned below. I'm just reporting what I found on the interwebs regarding fixing broken nylon parts.

I went to the Shapeways site to look on their forums for help; my thinking is printed nylon is printed nylon, right? 

Anyway the general consensus there is to use thick formula cyanoacrylate glue or epoxy glue. However that is just going to hold together the broken edges, and the piece is going to remain very weak and vulnerable at the join.

I think I would try to dowel the joint by drilling matching holes* in each section of the broken piece (arm, limb, whatever) and then using a blank rod as a dowel to add strength to the mend. Wood painted/sealed with white acrylic paint might make a good dowel. Otherwise TAP plastics sells rods of acrylic plastic, epoxy, and carbon fiber. 
http://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/plastic_rods_tubes_shapes

*only have one makie and she's an IM body. Are 3-D bodies, limbs solid or hollow?? If hollow the dowel idea would still work but you might need to carve a custom dowel.

Whatever solution you decide to try -- I would strongly advocate doing some serious experiments with cheaper prints of little stuff from Shapeways etc. before trying to repair a best-beloved-doll. Plus there is some very cute stuff that my makie can't be the only one who want to have it as desk ornaments and playthings so experiments/customizing would be a win-win.

Added Note: Apparently there is only one good choice for gluing nylon parts: Surehold Plastic Surgery which comes in a liquid (302) and also a gel formula (304) -- I would try the gel (thicker) one first.

Best of Luck!

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Fixing Broken or Cracked Makie parts Empty Re: Fixing Broken or Cracked Makie parts

Post by Purple_Monkfish Mon Jan 25, 2016 8:39 am

I've got two dolls with cracked arms (shoulder socket on one, elbow on other). I used superglue, sorta poured it over and let it seep into the crack. It doesn't magically fix it and does leave residue but it stops the crack spreading so easily and helps to secure it a bit more. you'll still have a slightly floppy limb though. The cracked neck on my other doll which the lab reprinted for me is NOT fixable with this method, the pressure of the head slotting in pulls the repair straight out again no matter what. I was thinking of using Epoxy for that, but i'm not sure that would even be strong enough. Sadly it's a rather integral piece of the body.

But yeah, sadly the arms particularly are very prone to cracking at the shoulder if you bend them the wrong way (easy to do if you're putting them into tight clothing)

that glue sounds like a good attempt though, I wonder if you can get it in the UK/
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