Volks pureskin SD, SD13 leg break

heh i don't mind at all haibane luckily my crack hasn't gotten worse, but to tell the truth, i worry with a lot more handling it could need repairs soon.

 

I spent some time pouring over all the details of mel's excellent SD10 body guide:
http://www.denofangels.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39768

What she says there is consistent with my theory about why the breaks happen:

My guess is that Volks basically corrected the knee cracking issue with the suwarikko body. (which would also mean that they're very well aware of the issue...)
Look at mel's thread for pics.
The smaller teeth means they don't grip the back of the leg as hard so the joint probably is less prone to jumping out. It might help to sand the teeth of the standard SD10 knees down a bit, it seems the legs would lock fine for standing anyway, just not the same super hard lock.
Also, looking very carefully at the suwarikko body, it looks like the knee joint is flatter and less rounded at the sides, so even if the joint jumps out it wouldn't force the sideflaps outwards.
If I get around to it (I haven't even restrung my Kun yet... though the body needs it) I think I'm definitaly going to try to sand the knee joints down and then fill the sides of the knee flaps with epoxy putty.

Is anyone reading my rants btw? It's hard to describe joint movements in words, so maybe they're not making much sense. I don't have a camera now but I hope I'll be able to take some pics to describe the way I think the knee joints should be handled to avoid breakage.

 

Haibane, you're helping alot! I see what you mean about proper handling and positioning of the knees. The knee teeth & groove system seems to be the cause of most of the stress on the leg.

Also, if you look at the picture (in the link you posted) of the sitting with knees bent comparison, the pureskin new body cannot keep the feet together which is putting alot of pressure on the "trouble spot".

Thanks guys, you're helping me alot! :grin:

 

I sent a note on behalf of dirtywings since I was the original purchaser, and this is what I got in response:

If I'm the only person who's written, I can understand their reply. One random person out of thousands wouldn't sway me either.

I would encourage anyone who's had the part break to contact them. It may be a very small percentage of their actual sales, but at $600+ per doll, it shouldn't be occuring at all. My hope is they would at least make replacement parts available - even for a fee - so that no one is stuck with a broken doll piece.

 

Gah, I forgot to come back to the thread. O_o;;

If your doll's knee cracks you need to unstring them to reduce the tension, or at least not touch them or move the knee to make the problem worse.

Nakitama, your doll's knee will easily break, if it hasn't already, so don't play with her/unstring her.

The companies' customer service has been lacking lately. T___T I heard about the DoD fiasco, Volks has been hard to get replacement parts from since oldskin's discontinue and scams back then.

It's not uncommon for dolls to have problems, products are fixed as they go along. It's the companies that need to be there for the customers and right their bad.

 

Warrenty only last for forty days after purchase. I asked them at the store this past Sunday. It does not last long at all.
Question: My kness tend to "pop" when I move them. that is they stay in place mostly, but make little poping sounds as they move. Kinda of like it is clicking into place. Is this ok? Also, when me girl stands up straight her legs are kinda like this ) instead of straight. I do not want my girls knee to crack!

 

Just curious, is this problem occuring only on the girl bodies?
What about the pureskin boys? (T_T)" <--- is waiting for fcs boy

Is it possible that the breaks are occurring due to tight tension?

 

nakitama: glad it's making sense to someone! :smile: you can actually see pretty clearly in the middle pic you took of the broken knee that it's popped out of the joint. I'm guessing that's why the broken piece is sticking out so much.
And yeah, I've been looking at the legs flailing out.. but from what I can tell that pressure alone shouldn't be enough to cause the knees to break, but of course if it's already cracked that pressure is not helping. -__-

Try looking inside at the back of the knee as you bend it. The pop you're hearing is probably the teeth leaving the groove they rest in. This is fine. It means you're bending it correctly.
It is also possible to get a popping sound if you bend the knee the wrong way and the joint snaps back into the socket, slamming into the front of the leg with a kind of pop.
When standing up, as long as the thigh part is resting solidly on the lower leg it's fine. The ) look I think is mostly due to the bulk of the calves. I don't think your doll would be able to stand up if the joints were not solidly in the sockets.

HappyBentoKid: I think the SD10 boys have the same knees. They certainly don't have the suwarikko body since that's girls only...
Tight or loose stringing doesn't really matter much since the knee joint bends out of the socket either way. Very tight stringing *might* cause more stress since there's just more force with tighter stringing, on the other hand tight stringing might also help keep the knee joint in place. But since I haven't restrung I haven't really tested it. But the basic cause is the teeth and the knee joint, not the stringing.

I won't go into a rant about Volks' customer service, but I think they could at least cast a few spare left thighs and *sell* those to the people with broken knees.
Those with broken knees should definitely contact Volks so at least they're made aware that it's rather widespread.
I'm happy they've fixed it with the suwarikko body. Hopefully they will make those more available in the future. And with mel's pictures of it, it gives me the chance to see how I could fix my standard SD10 to keep it from breaking. :-)

 

Forty days? That's an improvement. When I got my Isao, they told me I had seven to report any damage, and after that... oh well. I remember it because he arrived with a broken hand and I thought I was just about going to have a heart attack.

I actually expected this doll to be out of warranty, but I was really hoping they'd at least offer to exchange the piece if we sent back the broken one. I was disappointed by their answer because in essence it's like saying, "it sucks to be you." No replacement parts, no exchanges, no refunds; you're stuck with a broken doll leg, end of story.

 

OMG that is complete and utter BS. 40 days?! That's friggin nothing! >.< I thought Volks would have a long warranty... And they don't have the parts either?? D:

Oh, I'm glad to hear this! There may be hope for me yet!! I need to ask the person I bought mine from how long ago the doll was purchased. It's a slim chance, but... T_T I agree, I wish they at would at least let you buy the piece...

I hope anyone who's reading this and has had this problem will email Volks and tell them about it, even if you don't need/want a replacement and even if your warranty is up.

I don't want people to get the wrong idea from my post; I don't hate Volks, I love them. I like their dolls more than any other company, and I like them as a company too. But if there's a problem, you gotta say something, right? Otherwise, how is it gonna be fixed?

Thank all you guys again for all your help!

 

erm will the owner of the megu contact me? lol i got the perfect glue.... hahaha ok i am kidding... no on a serious note i do that this super glue that i used on Akito today when his finger broke.... if u want please send the part over....

 

Does Volks have severely limited service through the website? In Japan, if a part breaks, we can bring it to the store and for a fee, buy a replacement. The prices for the parts are listed in one of the Perfect Catalogues. You can't just buy any part you want, it has to be a replacement and you have to present the broken one, but they WILL allow you to buy a new one.

I would think the LA store should offer similar services, at least if someone goes in there to exchange the part in person. :-? This doesn't make any sense to me.

 

Thank you for telling me this! If my doll's warranty is up, at least I can get a replacement from the LA store. Yay!


Haha Kagari, how bout you send me the glue? XD

 

lol i need the glue so i think if u want i'll repair it for free..

den again u'll have to send the body over and pay shipping 2 and fro?

 

Thanks for asking I was wondering the same thing and looking worriedly at my SD13 pureskin...

 

Just a quick update, I glued my doll's leg back together with a kind of super glue called "Zap" or something like that, and so far so good! :grin: But I'm still gonna write a letter to Volks explaining the problem, just so they know about it.

 

Oh good! I am so glad to here that you got it fixed!
I hope it stays that way too. ^_^

 

Just curious, is this problem occuring only on the girl bodies?
What about the pureskin boys? (T_T)" <--- is waiting for fcs boy

I have a pureskin Ryo and he has the same problem. Also, Mortimer has said it happened to her too and I guess she means her Anais boy.

(BTW, how do you do the "quote" thing? The little frame with "Originally posted by"...)

About the reply from Volks, I find it dissappointing. They *must* be perfectly aware of the problem. Some people in my Spanish forum has sent them mails about it and not received any helpful reply. As has been said, I love Volks -I love their dolls. But the customer service seems somewhat lacking to me.