TPE Dolls Hands Upgrade

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    • 04/24/2020 at 4:03 PM #82050
      adminlovedoll
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      TPE DOLLS HANDS DIY UPGRADE

      Difficulty: Hard – Estimated time: 1-2 hours

      This topic is courtesy MannequinFan here Fine Love Dolls has synthesized the whole process for more readability, but you can check the full topic on DollForum here.

      You can tip MannequinFan for his outstanding work as a token of support here.

      Please note that this DIY upgrade is only compatible with TPE Dolls with hand palms plates. Brands such as JY Doll or AS Doll are not eligible for such upgrade as the approach of this manufacturer is different (with finger wires extending from the wrist).

      TABLE OF CONTENT

      I. REQUIRED TOOLS & MATERIALS
      II. HANDS ASSEMBLY
      III. REMOVING THE OLD HANDS
      IV. INSTALLING THE NEW HANDS
      V. CLOSING IT UP

      I. REQUIRED TOOLS & MATERIALS

       

      1. EYEBOLTS (x2)

      There are two eye bolt options – the U.S. standard #204 and the metric M6 x 30mm.
      For U.S. the #204 is inexpensive and is available at hardware stores. The M6 is less common and more expensive, but offers a smaller eye that will fit the M6 wrist bolt without an insert. The smaller size may also make the TPE repair at the wrist a little easier.

      Where to buy the eyebolts:

      2. SMALL SHEET METAL SCREWS (x20)

      You are going to need 20 metal small metal screws (6.5mm | 1/4″ long) in order to attach the finger wires to the plates. We recommend set screws (without heads) for a better result.

      Where to buy sheet metal screws:

      3.  STRANDED COPPER WIRES

      You can usually buy copper wires coil at places like Home Depot or Lowes in the U.S.  Common brand names are Cerrowire and Southwire. What you need here is:
      You will need around 5″ (12.7cm) of wire for each of the 10 fingers.
      4. 3D PRINTED HAND PALMS + FINGERS
      You will need to order these online directly on Sculpteo website. Create a Sculpteo account, and add the below items to your Sculpteo cart:

      We recommend that you select the lightest possible color, in order for it not to show underneath your doll’s skin (as this part of the TPE is quite thin). If you cannot choose a light plastic color on Sculpteo, we recommend that you paint these plastic part with some flesh or white color paint.

      5. TPE GLUE

      TPE glue will also be needed to close back the hand palms skin once surgery is complete. You can purchase some with our TPE repair kit here. We also recommend to get the heat gun included in our kit or your own to smooth the area once glue has been applied.

      6. OTHER ITEMS

      Other necessary items include:

      • Small bathroom scissors (to open the hand palms)

      • Pliers (to pull the old wires out of the fingers)

      • Phillips screwdriver (to add the screws to the new hand palms)

      • Cutting pliers (to cut 3D printed pieces apart as well as wires from the coil)

      • L shape hex key

      • Socket Wrench (you can use pliers instead)

      All set? If you have already ordered your MF Creations hands set and have all the tools, then let’s get started!

      II. HANDS ASSEMBLY

      You can watch the step by step video here or follow the tutorial below:

      STEP 1: Start by cutting off the pieces of wires that are going to be needed for the fingers. Using the cutting pliers, cut 10 pieces of copper wires. The size should be about 5 inches (12.7cm) you will adjust it smaller afterwards.

      STEP 2: Snip off all the end caps (tip of fingers, piece #1) at first, and place it onto each wire. We don’t recommend to detach all the other pieces at once or you might get them all mixed up.

      STEP 3: Using the thin spacer, add piece #2 into the wire and place a screw

      STEP 4: Using the thin spacer again, place the piece #3 into the wire and place a screw

      STEP 5: For the last section, use the thick spacer this time, and place the last piece #4 which goes into the palm plate. Pass it here again into the wire and place a screw to fix it onto it.

      STEP 6: Cut off the excess of wire coming out of piece #4

      STEP 7: Place the finger into the palm (go all the way in so that screw holes line up), and add a screw. This step #7 can be achieved later on after adding the hand plate onto your doll’s wrists, and the fingers into their respective skin sockets. Some people find it easier to proceed the other way around (See section IV. Installing the new hands).

      STEP 8: Screw the eyebolt into the palm like the picture above

      Once you have added all fingers onto each hands, this is what it should look like:

      Not too hard right? Let’s go onto next step.

      III. REMOVING THE OLD HANDS

      Alright folks, this is where the surgeon works starts. Place your doll a way so that it will be comfortable for you to work on it. Lying down, sitting, up to you as long as her palm is presented to you like if you were going to read her palms lines.

      You can watch the step by step video here or follow the tutorial below:

      STEP 1: CUTTING THE PALM OPEN

      Using a pair of small bathroom scissors (best way to make a nice, clean cut) place these right below the wrist at the top of the palm and start cutting through the TPE. Trying making it a one cut only if you can. Make an horizontal cut of about 4cm long (1.57″).

      Usually factories use fabric to wrap the palm. Using your fingernails peel the TPE inside the cut off of it, until you are able to expose the hand plate. TPE is very resilient and can be extended without tearing.

      STEP 2: OLD FINGER WIRES REMOVAL

      Expose the hand plate to access the part where it connects to the fingers. Using your cutting pliers, cut each of these out from the hand plate. Be careful not to poke into the TPE on the other side of the hand with the pliers.

      Once all the fingers are free, next thing to do is pull off the fingers. Using a regular pair of pliers, expose the extremity of the finger wire, and grab it with the pliers.

      Once you get a firm grip with the pliers, using your index and thumb, get back to the peeling motion from step 1 to get the inside TPE of each finger off of the copper wire. Peel it all off until you are able to remove the copper wire from the finger.

      STEP 3: REMOVING THE OLD HAND PLATE

      Once all finger wires have been removed, it is now time to expose the handplate to remove it. Here again you are going to have to repeat that peel off motion with your fingernails. Be careful as the top of the hand has less TPE than the inside of the palm so go little by little until you have fully exposed the palm out.

      STEP 4: DETACHING THE WRIST

      Using both hands peel the hand back so that the whole hand is inside out from the cut you made, to expose the wrist articulation.

      Picking back your pair of small scissors, cut through the fabric surrounding the wrist to expose the nut and bolt articulation.Remove the part of the fabric that you just cut off.

      Now it’s time to unscrew the wrist, this part gets a little tricky. Certain manufacturers such as WM will make a spot weld so you will have to force the nut to make it bust loose.

      Using the L shaped hex key on one side of the wrist, and the socket wrench on the other, force the weld spot until you hear a snapping sound, then unscrew the nut from the bolt. Do not throw these away as you are going to need them for the new hands.

      If you do not have a socket wrench, you can use your pliers instead.

      Remove both the nut and the bolt, and the plate will fall right off.

      IV. INSTALLING THE NEW HANDS

      You can watch the step by step video here or follow the tutorial below:

      Now it is time to install the your awesome new upgraded hands on your doll! Some people prefer to only screw the fingers onto the hand plate once the hand plate has been screwed onto the wrist, and the fingers inserted into their skin sockets. This is up to what you feel seems easier.

      STEP 1: Roll the hand back in as it initially was. Be careful that the wrist doesn’t poke through the TPE.

      STEP 2: Now let’s start with the fingers insertions. It is recommended to use lubricant here to ease the process. Using a Q-tip, lubricate the inside of each fingers, make sure to go all the way to the inside. Also add some lubricant to the fingers of your new hand.

      Insert all fingers into their respective skin socket one by one.

      STEP 3: Place the new hand’s eyebolt into the U-shaped wrist bolt. If the wrist U-bolt is a bit too large, use pliers to carefully squeeze it so that it fits the eyebolt better.

      STEP 4: Pick up the nut and bolt you removed earlier, and insert in into the wrist U-bolt and the hand eyebolt. Use the L-hex key if needed to screw it back in, and screw the nut on the other side using the socket wrench, tightening everything up firmly.

      Move the wrist up and down and adjust the stiffness as prefered. We recommend adding some superglue on the nut, to make sure it doesn’t unscrew overtime.

      STEP 5: Once everything is in place, roll the skin back and screw the fingers onto the new MF hand plate if you have chosen to do it last. Your new hand is now in place, we are almost done!

      V. CLOSING IT UP

      We are now entering the final phase of the hand upgrade. You are now going to need the TPE glue from our repair kit to close the cut back.

      You can watch the step by step video here or follow the tutorial below:

      STEP 1: Carefully apply the TPE glue into the cut. Be careful on the edges as this glue operates by chemically melting the TPE so do make sure to only apply it inside the cut. Make sure to evenly apply it onto the whole inner area for both side to close back smoothly.

      STEP 2: Keep the cut closed so that it can seal itself (you can move the wrist down so that it stays closed).

      STEP 3 (optional): If you have a heat gun, you can apply it onto the closed cut once the glue has dried (do wait for a couple of hours at least) to make it seamless. You can read more on how to use a heat gun to repair TPE on this tutorial.

      That’s it we are done, congratulations! Hands are now much more solid and posable than the standard ones.

       

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