niVL@Boy Posted March 8, 2010 Posted March 8, 2010 Thanks graham!!! Received the hinges yesterday....sorry for spamming your inbox..accidentally clicked "send" one time too many..... I tried to replace my VF-1S shoulders yesterday....quick question (sorry if this has been asked before).... How do you guys yank the ball joint out from the socket? I tried yanking it hard...but i think it'll damage the socket more before it'll pop out... So I need to pop the shoulder armor off to remove the screws so that I can remove the ball joint am i right? Thanks!!! Quote
m0n5t3r Posted March 8, 2010 Posted March 8, 2010 "ouch!" - VF-1 you need to slide off the shoulder cover and loosen the 2 shoulder screws. Quote
niVL@Boy Posted March 8, 2010 Posted March 8, 2010 (edited) "ouch!" - VF-1 you need to slide off the shoulder cover and loosen the 2 shoulder screws. Thanks....Hmm...i tried to...but it wasn't like slide..more like pry...hehe will try again tonight.... hope i don't end up amputating him Edited March 8, 2010 by niVL@Boy Quote
David Hingtgen Posted March 9, 2010 Posted March 9, 2010 Pry, then slide. It'll come off in one piece. The nubs holding the shoulder armor only poke out by 1mm or so. (Honestly I suspect we're going to see a lot of requests for new shoulder armor or ball joints by the end of the month...) Hint to everybody: "yanking hard" is rarely the correct procedure for a Yamato. (except the feet). Quote
sidearmsalpha Posted March 9, 2010 Posted March 9, 2010 Just got the hinges! Thanks, Graham! By the way, I'm assuming these all have the smooth pins? Just wondering, so I don't have to extract the pins to check them all. Angel Quote
Graham Posted March 9, 2010 Posted March 9, 2010 Just got the hinges! Thanks, Graham! By the way, I'm assuming these all have the smooth pins? Just wondering, so I don't have to extract the pins to check them all. Angel I was told they all have the smooth pins and looking at them, they appear to be smooth. However, I did not actually extract any of the pins to check them. Graham Quote
BradBot Posted March 9, 2010 Posted March 9, 2010 I just ordered a VF-1J Hikaru Ichijo with Super Parts from HLJ and I'm glad to have stumbled upon this thread. Is this cracked shoulder problem guaranteed to happen, or just highly likely? I have to say this is pretty disappointing BTW I'm new here. Hello friends Quote
brenttoyou Posted March 9, 2010 Posted March 9, 2010 Argh, I opened my Hikaru 1A today and the left shoulder is cracked. G-man, do you still have any off-white hingers? Quote
BlueMax Posted March 9, 2010 Posted March 9, 2010 I just ordered a VF-1J Hikaru Ichijo with Super Parts from HLJ and I'm glad to have stumbled upon this thread. Is this cracked shoulder problem guaranteed to happen, or just highly likely? I have to say this is pretty disappointing BTW I'm new here. Hello friends Welcome! Good chance of it happening, especially from the high risk earlier releases, but generally fixable even if you don't have the replacement shoulder joints You can even do pre-emptive measures Quote
bouncing boy77 Posted March 9, 2010 Posted March 9, 2010 got my hinges today. thanks again graham! Quote
David Hingtgen Posted March 9, 2010 Posted March 9, 2010 Praise be to the alternate source, for he hath provided in our time of need through his emissary, Graham. (I got my hinges too) Also, inspecting them, the smooth-ended ones actually work how the knurled ones were intended to---the pins are immobile, only the "inner" hinge plastic piece rotates. The knurled ones were supposed to work like that, but they don't and the pin itself rotated--which is what stresses the ends. Interestingly, that actually means the knurling was never needed in the first place. Quote
Javabean Posted March 10, 2010 Posted March 10, 2010 Got my hinges yesty, tks again Graham! I was replacing my 1J Hikaru (non GBP) & realised the one of the hinges already hv a crack on it. So the hinges arrive juz in time Quote
ff95gj Posted March 10, 2010 Posted March 10, 2010 Graham, my 1S and 1A said thank you. They feel so strong now... Quote
buddhafabio Posted March 10, 2010 Posted March 10, 2010 i wonder if they made the part out of diecast would it still break. Quote
derex3592 Posted March 10, 2010 Posted March 10, 2010 Feeling VERY lucky today. FINALLY got moved into my new place and got a chance to start unpacking all my Valks. I checked my VF-1S and VF-1J FIRST! Happy to report NO broken hinges or stress cracks on either after being in storage for quite some time. :lol: Now if my display cabinets would just show up......... Quote
Graham Posted March 10, 2010 Posted March 10, 2010 Argh, I opened my Hikaru 1A today and the left shoulder is cracked. G-man, do you still have any off-white hingers? Sorry, no more off-white hinges. They all went very quickly. I'm trying to get more. Will let you know later if I can. Graham Quote
ff95gj Posted March 10, 2010 Posted March 10, 2010 Dear Graham, I have over 30 1/60 VF-1 valks and frankly I am still uncomfortable whether a crack will develope on one of them next week. I am wonder Yamato will ever sell replacement parts for the shoulders (980 yen for 6, say)? I don't mind to pay for extras, but I hate to have broken arms for my beautiful valks. Let's face it that it's a common problem... The new hinges are much better, but I expect some strong-grip MWer can still break it by accident. P.S. I've tried to order from OD two arms for my VF-0A who has both arms exploded... They don't do it anymore right? Quote
GGemini Posted March 10, 2010 Posted March 10, 2010 Received the hinges yesterday, thanks Graham! Quote
ChristopherB Posted March 12, 2010 Posted March 12, 2010 Received the hinges, thanks Graham. Hope to perform some shoulder joint replacement surgery tonight, and without any anesthetic. Ha, ha That'll teach my valkyries not to break so easily. Quote
ff95gj Posted March 12, 2010 Posted March 12, 2010 Received the hinges, thanks Graham. Hope to perform some shoulder joint replacement surgery tonight, and without any anesthetic. Ha, ha That'll teach my valkyries not to break so easily. My Hikaru 1A twitched when I changed its shoulders. And then what. Look at manly Focker! Quote
Silvestri Posted March 13, 2010 Author Posted March 13, 2010 Overtightening screws = bad. I cranked down on the part that binds the shoulder to the body and the retaining ring snapped in two and flew out somewhere. Just be careful not to overtighten anything.. mine was loose until I tightened it another 1/8 of a turn at which point the ring snapped. Thanks again for getting the shoulders Graham! Quote
Chronocidal Posted March 13, 2010 Posted March 13, 2010 Note, you really don't want to tighten those at all.. you want some play in those connections, because it gives the shoulder mounts a bit more room to move over the stops. Quote
David Hingtgen Posted March 13, 2010 Posted March 13, 2010 Many people (including me) loosened those screws for that exact reason. Quote
flayn80 Posted March 14, 2010 Posted March 14, 2010 Am I too late to order the hinges? Mine broke last night. Quote
Silvestri Posted March 14, 2010 Author Posted March 14, 2010 I think the key is to tap the holes first with the screws then thread them in. Or I just don't know my own strength. Quote
David Hingtgen Posted March 14, 2010 Posted March 14, 2010 The screw threads for most of the arm bits are finer than average--back them out until they slip in just *perfect*. Not just "good enough for most things" but PERFECT. Be sure you can get a good 3 resistance-free turns using just the tiniest effort, not just 1 or 2 turns with moderate effort. Quote
Dr. Z Posted March 14, 2010 Posted March 14, 2010 Haven't read the entire saga, but has it been explained why they ended up using knurled pins at the factory? Assembly error? Faulty design? Quote
David Hingtgen Posted March 14, 2010 Posted March 14, 2010 Knurling isn't some evil thing to be avoided---every transforming toy ever uses knurled pins. It's how they're designed---smooth areas to allow parts to glide by, knurled areas to grab parts and hold them tight. Some pins can have multiple knurled areas and multiple smooth areas, carefully arranged to allow some parts to move and some to stay put. Somehow, the clearances on some of the parts came out wrong on the V2 hinge parts, and it ended up that the pin rotated WITH the center piece of the hinge, locked to it--the part with the ball joint. That is not how a pinned joint like that is supposed to work--the knurling is there for the express purpose of PREVENTING pin rotation so that the plastic piece moves AROUND the pin independently, not with it. So the fact that the pin does move, means something else is wrong somewhere else in that joint assembly----namely, things are so tight and applying so much force to the pin that the knurling isn't enough to prevent pin rotation. I suspect the new pins are actually like .02mm narrower EVERYWHERE, thus freeing the center piece to rotate independently of the pin, with the pin staying fixed, like it was designed to. (the new hinges do operate properly---but removing the knurling alone wouldn't do that IMHO, it'd actually make it even more prone to pin rotation) It's just a lot easier to switch pins than to re-design or re-tool the hinges. And since the hinges are (now) known to be overly tight, even a smooth pin is now enough to hold itself in place and prevent itself from rotating. Quote
Dr. Z Posted March 15, 2010 Posted March 15, 2010 Makes sense, thanks for the explanation. I still wonder why no one caught the problem before the release at the factory. Aren't they testing their own products to ensure they work as they should? Or they just dropped the ball hoping no one will notice? Quote
Vi-RS Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 Sorry, no more off-white hinges. They all went very quickly. I'm trying to get more. Will let you know later if I can. Graham Got mine in the mail today. I really appreciate your efforts to service MW member. Looking forward the off white hinges. Quote
BlueMax Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 Got the shoulder hinges last Saturday. Thanks to the G-man for coordinating, not forgetting the "alternative source" for getting them! Hopefully this fiasco really drives the message across that they REALLY should look more closely at this issue, and how to prevent it. Quote
Guppy Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 Bugger, been away on work most of the last 6 months! Recently bought a 1J and was distraught to find it's arm dropped off out of the box. I'll keep checking your sig Graham, in case you do another round. I went and loosened my 1S's shoulder screws in a fit of paranoia. Quote
len_d69 Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 (edited) Haven't received mine yet Hehe got home and a small brown envelope was waiting for me. Thanks Graham, really appreciate you helping us Edited March 17, 2010 by len_d69 Quote
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