THIS IS A TUTORIAL ON HOW TO REPAIR A DAMAGED KNEE JOINT, WHILE STILL ALLOWING THE JOINT TO REMAIN FULLY FUNCTIONAL. I HAVE USED ONLY A FEW SIMPLE TOOLS. NOT GLUE OR TAPE OR HOSE. THE REPAIR IS SECURE, AND SHOULD STAND UP TO SOME NORMAL PLAY WEAR.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, FEEL FREE TO SHOOT ME A MESSAGE, OR ASK HERE!!
Since this thread will be image heavy, I will be so kind as to stick my images under cuts/spoilers!
So recently I purchased a Sig Clawd online, with all his clothes but missing his pet and diary.
(I feel I may have gotten a bit hosed on the price. Oh well. ><"" A learning experience for next time I suppose!)
TO THE MAIN POINT OF THIS POST!
I bought Clawd knowing that he was broken at the knee, snapped off, a kid was too rough with him or something of that nature. I searched online (in vain) to find a solution to a broken knee. I got a few, though none were really too helpful, the most popular ones seemed to be.
A: Glue it.
It sounds like a good idea in theory, but when it comes right down to it, that is a horrible idea. All this accomplishes is gunking up the joint with stuff that is near impossible to remove once dried, and, it is not really 'fixing' your doll. It may work if you never ever moved his or her leg again, but if went to bend it at the knee, even just a little, it would snap back off, and you would be no further than you were in the first place. Please don't. Ever.
B: Tape it.
Some people suggested using thin strips of... duct tape? You do four or five strips vertical, connecting the calf and the thigh, and then another two to four horizontal. The horizontal strips hold on the vertical ones. You could still bend his or her leg at the knee, but it could hardly be called a 'joint'. It was floppy, and dangly, and didn't do much for posing. Not to mention not only does this look horrendous, but after a while that tape was going to start peeling, and leave you with a great big sticky mess.
Lets not.
C: Stick a bit of clear tubing over it.
While this looked a little better, it did about as much for you as the tape did.
I didn't want to go with any of these methods, obviously. I love to play with my dolls, as does my friend, so having a barely attached leg was not going to cut it! But the wheels in my head were turning, and I already had ideas flowing, so I took a chance, and went for it. Clawd would be my first male doll and I would love him, even if he did have a slightly gimpy leg for the rest of his existence!
Fast forward to when Clawd arrived!
The first thing I did was to whip the poor thing's pants off!
The first thing that I noticed was that someone had tried to GLUE his leg back together. Let me just tell you again. PLEASE DON'T DO THAT.
I had to carefully go around and scrape it all off with a razor blade. Hopefully you won't have to do this, but if you do, PLEASE BE CAREFUL! If you're just a kid, get an adult to help!
The second thing I discovered was I still had the missing piece of his calf, and the peg that had originally held his leg together. Try as I might to get that peg out, it just wasn't happening, I gave it up for a lost cause, and sawed off the chunk of his calf instead. Hoping maybe I could salvage that. If you're lucky, you will have both halves of your doll's calves in tact, but if they're like Clawd, and only have one remaining you can do one of three things.
1. Try to reattach it. This is messy and I had no luck, but you're welcome to try!
2. Reconstruct the missing portion of their calf. I didn't have luck here either, but again, welcome to try!
3. Leave it. I did this, and he still seems pretty secure.
Spoiler
visitors can't see pics , please
register or
login(this is after I drilled a hole in it.)
Later I gave it up as a lost cause as well since it would just not stay, try as I might.
Apologies for I do not have pictures of these next steps!
With the peg still rooted firmly in his leg, and the ring still firmly attached to that I decided to let that stay, they were in good shape, and I could use them!
(However if your 'ring' is broken, you may able to substitue with a small screw in eyelet/eye bolt
http://www.terralec.co.uk/product_images/info/prd%7BFA7CC122-3115-4E8B-9AF6-1789FCD263ED%7D.jpg. Simply try an remove the remainder of the ring as best as you can, with wire cutters, sand paper, etc. LEAVE THE PEG IN THE LEG. Once your original 'ring' is removed, use a small drill bit, a bit smaller than the screw part of your eyelet, (to ensure a tight fit) and drill into the remainder of the peg. Then screw the eyelet into the newly created hole. Use this as your new 'ring'. Now I have not personally tested this technique, but in theory, it should work! you may want to use a minute amount of super glue when screwing it in!
)
The center of my ring though was filled with the remainder of the 'peg' which was still cemented inside of it. grrr.
I drilled it out though easily enough, and after that was done, I ended up with something like this!
Now you're going to want to drill an aligning hole in the side/s of his/her calf
Spoiler
visitors can't see pics , please
register or
loginThe scratch (or maybe it's super glue) was on his leg when I got him.
Here is a the trick to your success! A small, thin, screw! It can be as long as you want, but I would suggest at least a quarter inch to a half inch or so longer than your doll's leg is wide. Mostly it just has to be thin, a little larger around than the holes you've drilled!
Use this screw as your new "peg"
If you have both halves of your calf in tact, screw it in from whichever side you like, but be careful to leave yourself room on both ends for the last steps.
If you only have one half intact, I would suggest screwing it in from the vacant side of their leg, then you don't have to muck about with removing the screw head!
Whatever you do, don't screw it in too tight!
At this point test the movement in your doll's leg, because there is no going back on the last step! Bend their knees, and see if you can twist the lower portion of their leg. If all seems to be working properly, then continue!
Now for the last step, I found a Dremel tool worked best for this, but you could also use some heavy duty wire cutters and good old fashioned sand paper!
Cut off the excess pieces of screw, and touch it up around the holes so that it is smooth, flush, and will not snag on clothing! I left the screw head alone since that is in the gap in his knee, but whatever floats your boat!
Your dolls leg should now be securely reattached, and able to move freely! Clawd's leg at least, is a little bit tight, but not terribly so, and at least his knee isn't drooping!
http://youtu.be/_W2bx7aMbsEhttp://youtu.be/xwrhuMgRXdQAnd now with some pants on, no one would ever know he was ever broken!!
visitors can't see pics , please
register or
loginHappy fixing my friends!
If you have any questions, I am happy to help, and answer as best as I can!
If you are afraid of doing this and damaging your doll, I may be able to open some repair commissions if anyone is interested!!
Welcome to the MLP Arena! 
Guests: 900
Hidden: 0
Users: 5
