How to - Miscellaneous

[fishmilkshake]

Welcome to the Action Figure Blues: Custom Board "How to - Miscellaneous" thread. The purpose of this thread is to try and take the knowledge our forum members have regarding topics not covered elsewhere and share it with others.

The index below will be added to over time as different products, techniques, ideas, etc become available. If you'd like to have something added to the thread, then please contact the moderators for details and they will ensure it gets added to the index too.

INDEX - Miscellaneous

PAGE # - TOPIC
01          Boil and pop for injected plastic joints

[Errex]

Boil & Pop for injected plastic joints.

List of tools and materials:

- Needle nose pliers.
- Thin brass wire.
- A kitchen cloth.
- A cup of water.
- Microwave oven

Step 1:

Cut one lenght of wire that is four times the length of the piece you want to remove. Then insert the wire as far in as possible into the joint on both sides.

Step 2:
Twist the ends of the wire on both sides like a tourniquet, keeping the limb roughly at the middle point.

You can do one joint at a time, but it is far more efficient to tourniquet all of the joints you are going to pop well in advance of the next step.


Step 3:

Heat one cup of water in the microwave (one minute should do), then dip the figure inside for about 30 seconds, making sure the joints are covered by the water.


Step 4:

Grab the figure using the kitchen cloth, and pull at both ends of the tourniquet using the pliers, slowly but steadily.



You can use the same method for the ankles or any other similar joint.


Step 5:

To reassemble, dip the figure in water again, and insert the pins back in place.


   

[fishmilkshake]

Great stuff E. Have added this to the index in post #1

[Scotty]

Very nice indeed Errex! Some great pointers there, and awesome pics! 

[NiteOwl]

Yep, I agree. Good work!

[Errex]

 It struck me as odd that there was no similar guide on the board, and decided to take a stab at it.

I'm glad you guys liked it. 

[Engineernerd]

Actually, for as much as Boil & Pop is mentioned online, I've never seen a good tutorial. The wire bit is real clever.

[Errex]

Well, as usual, I came by the wire tourniquet idea after snapping the rubber axle on the calf on that same figure the first time I disassembled it. Thing is, since the plastic is rather soft after the hot water dip, if you try to pull the joint directly with the pliers, the axle snaps as the force is directly applied to it.

Using the wire, the force is applied instead to the plastic outside of the articulation disc. 

Luckily, I could fix that using rubber cement.