The Energon Pub

by **hokieken** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 7:57 am

Hey all. I am working on customizing my FOC Grimlock. I want to remove the translucent plastic inset in his chest cavity but have hit a sticking point. His arms attach to 2 swivel joints that are pinned inside his chest cavity and block the removal of the inset. They are pinned with through pins (no heads) but I can only get to one side of the pins. The bottom end is blocked by the bottom of the chest piece. It appears these pins are pressed down from the top and then cut at the bottom and there's not enough room in there to push them through from the top because they hit the bottom of the chest piece. I've tried using a dentist's pick to press them up from the bottom, but they won't budge and they're small and sunk into the plastic so I can't get a soldering iron on them to "encourage" them to let loose.

Anyone taken these joints off on this mold? If so, any suggestions would be much appreciated.

News Credits: 1 · by **durroth** » Sun Dec 08, 2013 3:22 pm

hmm... what about using a piece of thin wire to conduct from the soldering iron to the pin? rig something up to hold the figure and wire in place beforehand and then use that to get heat to the pin without melting the plastic

by **hokieken** » Wed Dec 11, 2013 10:32 am

durroth wrote:hmm... what about using a piece of thin wire to conduct from the soldering iron to the pin? rig something up to hold the figure and wire in place beforehand and then use that to get heat to the pin without melting the plastic

Thanks for the suggestion, but I already gave that a shot. I got it hot enough to start to deform the plastic and I still couldn't get it out. I've decided to leave it in place and work around it unless I find someone who's done it. The pins appear to be something other than straight and smooth. Maybe a large knurl or something? and I still can't decide which way I need to press them. :BANG_HEAD: