The Energon Pub

fenrir72 wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:Magnus' left ratchet knee joint has blown out today. Any suggestions?

ebay.

Very helpful, thanks.

But never mind. I managed to open up his thigh and I see how to fix it.

The tiny four teeth that the ratchet was tabbed into gave up. The broken part should have been made from metal. But gluing the back of the ratchet to the piece should be an easy fix, hopefully.

Good luck with the repair. Maybe post some pics?

Ravage XK wrote:Good luck with the repair. Maybe post some pics?

Thanks!

You got it --



These four white pins broke off from the base and that is what caused the trouble. The ratchet was no longer anchored to anything.

It's glued now, waiting.

Don't know why they didn't glue it in the factory. Or why the grey part wasn't molded with the white piece.

I see, so the twisting force of moving the knee just snapped those 4 small white pieces off. They seem very small. A warning for owners to go easy with their figures.

If you glue that grey piece at the wrong angle could it affect the ability to have a properly straight leg?

Ravage XK wrote:I see, so the twisting force of moving the knee just snapped those 4 small white pieces off. They seem very small. A warning for owners to go easy with their figures.

If you glue that grey piece at the wrong angle could it affect the ability to have a properly straight leg?

Possibly. But thankfully there's a molded cross in the white piece, so it's not challenging to glue it in the right position.



Anyway, the fix is good, the ratchet-y sounds were back. But I need a stronger glue! Will try another type next.

I recommend Gorilla Glue. It's incredibly strong.

Sabrblade wrote:I recommend Gorilla Glue. It's incredibly strong.

Thanks! I need something really, really strong. Which one should I get?


I'm starting to wonder if glue will be enough. Wish I knew 3D scanning/printing, I'd replicate it as a single piece. What was Kobayashi thinking when he made it two separate pieces held up by tiny pins?

Cyberpath wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:I recommend Gorilla Glue. It's incredibly strong.

Thanks! I need something really, really strong. Which one should I get?


I'm starting to wonder if glue will be enough. Wish I knew 3D scanning/printing, I'd replicate it as a single piece. What was Kobayashi thinking when he made it two separate pieces held up by tiny pins?

Cost issues?

ISP hiccups...

fenrir72 wrote:Cost issues?

Wouldn't it have been cheaper though (or cost the same) to mold these two pieces as a single part?

Cyberpath wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:Cost issues?

Wouldn't it have been cheaper though (or cost the same) to mold these two pieces as a single part?

mold.jpg

Maybe their suppliers know something we don't? Iirc, even waaaaaay back during the design phases, in a Hobby magazine interview the cost factor was prominently mentioned. Not that I'm defending it. It's because of this shoddy parts why I didn't get the Rodimus Convoy set.

Well, I had to call the experts.





Yes, Tracks is looking at his own reflection.




Looks like the epoxy did the trick, at least for now.

Tracks!

Cobotron wrote:
Tracks!

So in the end what did you use to keep it from coming apart? Did you go with the Gorilla Glue like suggested?

Emerje

Emerje wrote:So in the end what did you use to keep it from coming apart? Did you go with the Gorilla Glue like suggested?

Emerje

Looks like a realy bounty of adhesive.

Emerje

Both of the knee joints on my MP Ultra Magnus recently gave out. He's one of my favourite figures and I really want to fix the joints but I have never taken a figure apart and I'm afraid I might screw up. If anyone is willing, could they please make a tutorial on how to fix the knee joints? I know this is a lot to ask but I really don't feel safe taking the legs apart without some sort of guide.

Thanks,
OggytheAug

Here goes..

Unscrew his knees and back of his thighs.

Open his white knee and thigh panels (don't recall in which order. Maybe the thighs first?)

It'll look like this:



These four small pins that hold the ratchet in place broke off:



So you'll need to glue this grey ratchet piece to this white thigh piece. There's a molded cross so placing it correctly is fairly easy --



Use a really strong glue, I used 5 Minute Epoxy by DEVCON home. Naturally, be careful not to over apply the glue.

("Roughing up" the surfaces will help. Before you apply any glue, lay a piece of sandpaper on the table and rub the bottom surface of the grey ratchet on the paper once. If you can use the sandpaper to also scratch the cross just a little bit that'll be good too.)

Glue, then clamp them together if you can. Wait a day. And reattach his knee, see if it holds up. (The other piece of the ratchet goes over the first one then the spring.) If it does put everything back together. Hope this helps.

Cyberpath wrote:Here goes..

Unscrew his knees and back of his thighs.

Open his white knee and thigh panels (don't recall in which order. Maybe the thighs first?)

It'll look like this:

These four small pins that hold the ratchet in place broke off:

So you'll need to glue this grey ratchet piece to this white thigh piece. There's a molded cross so placing it correctly is fairly easy --

Use a really strong glue, I used 5 Minute Epoxy by DEVCON home. Naturally, be careful not to over apply the glue.

("Roughing up" the surfaces will help. Before you apply any glue, lay a piece of sandpaper on the table and rub the bottom surface of the grey ratchet on the paper once. If you can use the sandpaper to also scratch the cross just a little bit that'll be good too.)

Glue, then clamp them together if you can. Wait a day. And reattach his knee, see if it holds up. (The other piece of the ratchet goes over the first one then the spring.) If it does put everything back together. Hope this helps.

So the damage was that once the 4 pins breaks, the knees just flops. To prevent this is to glue the gray circle part permanently to lessen the stress to the 4 pins right?

Cyberpath wrote:Here goes..

Unscrew his knees and back of his thighs.

Open his white knee and thigh panels (don't recall in which order. Maybe the thighs first?)

It'll look like this:

These four small pins that hold the ratchet in place broke off:

So you'll need to glue this grey ratchet piece to this white thigh piece. There's a molded cross so placing it correctly is fairly easy --

Use a really strong glue, I used 5 Minute Epoxy by DEVCON home. Naturally, be careful not to over apply the glue.

("Roughing up" the surfaces will help. Before you apply any glue, lay a piece of sandpaper on the table and rub the bottom surface of the grey ratchet on the paper once. If you can use the sandpaper to also scratch the cross just a little bit that'll be good too.)

Glue, then clamp them together if you can. Wait a day. And reattach his knee, see if it holds up. (The other piece of the ratchet goes over the first one then the spring.) If it does put everything back together. Hope this helps.

Thanks a lot! Need to get the epoxy first though

OggytheAug wrote:Thanks a lot! Need to get the epoxy first though

No problem. Let us know how it works out.

fenrir72 wrote:So the damage was that once the 4 pins breaks, the knees just flops. To prevent this is to glue the gray circle part permanently to lessen the stress to the 4 pins right?

Yes, I suppose. But I wouldn't go through the whole rigmarole just to spare the pins. If they continue to endure, great -- if they break then I'd open up his knee.

Now I'm totally afraid to play with Magnus.

I guess the bright side is, if anything happens, I know it can be handled.

Cowboytron wrote:Now I'm totally afraid to play with Magnus.

I guess the bright side is, if anything happens, I know it can be handled.

Yeah, at least there's a fix so don't worry.


I still have to figure out what to do with LG30 Weirdwolf. Any solution will probably involve extracting the pin.
I read that it's common with the Hasbro edition, too; so watch out for that. Wish I knew how to make replacement pieces.

Oh DANG!