HELP:Improving ratchets in figures

[hYpNoS]

So I thought I'd break g1 cannon and put my grimlock into combined mode but his waist despite an obvious ratchet was terrible, it clicks and spins freely even without limbs.

I took him apart and it seems the teeth do fit (unlike cw skylynx) they just can't support it at all, how would I go about improving the ratchet clicks?

I can't force them together closer like with my cw skylynx because they fit, and not sure if using the old polish method would be safe to try, any tips?

[SMHFConvoy]

Can you post a photo of the disassembled ratchet?

[hYpNoS]

https://imgur.com/a/2DDDi

First pic is the main ratchets doing all the heavy lifting

Second is what makes it click, its that very tiny nub (left one leg on so I don't get lost later)

Third is what they look like when together, I tried applying pressure between them but still too soft a connection

[M-bot]

https://imgur.com/a/2DDDi

First pic is the main ratchets doing all the heavy lifting

Second is what makes it click, its that very tiny nub (left one leg on so I don't get lost later)

Third is what they look like when together, I tried applying pressure between them but still too soft a connection

If I'm understanding the pics, the little nub visible in the second pic is like a flexible rectangle piece that has a bit of give in it, with a nub on one flat edge. It acts like the spring in a larger ratchet. Any chance you could elevate that piece a little bit? Might need the piece in pic 2 to be separated for access.

[SMHFConvoy]

M-bot is suggesting what I was thinking.

Maybe slip some paper under the nub piece, it looks like it's a separate piece, like a clip.

[hYpNoS]

If I'm understanding the pics, the little nub visible in the second pic is like a flexible rectangle piece that has a bit of give in it, with a nub on one flat edge. It acts like the spring in a larger ratchet. Any chance you could elevate that piece a little bit? Might need the piece in pic 2 to be separated for access.

You're right, infact it slid right out, thought it was molded part of it but yanked it out with tweezers (its been added to the folder on the previous link btw).

So let me get this straight, the suggestion is to bring the piece forward from its housing, its already a tight fit, is the thought behind it just to eliminate the "give" the piece has so it holds stronger, am I right?

I'll give this a shot, will report my findings in due time

Edit:For those who wish not to click the imgur link its a rectangular ringed shaped piece, gonna try some rods from old gundam model kit runners to see if that can prevent the give followed by adding something behind the bar

[hYpNoS]

tried adding a bit of sprue to the plastic "spring", improved one leg ratchet like this but not the other, tried adding material to the back of where the "spring" sits, like a royal idiot closed it up with the nub in backwards so the nub is trashed.

and because of the material the spring rotates so it doesn't even grip the teeth, im giving up before I destroy this thing

[SMHFConvoy]

Sorry to hear that. Maybe someone will make an upgrade kit like Nonnef did for the ratchets on CW prime/ motormaster and silverbolt.

[M-bot]

I’m doing a bit of a deep dive on my spare parts box later today, if I see another of those pieces (I’ve seen them on a few different TFs I’ve dismantled) I’ll save it for you. You wouldn’t have the dimensions of the rectangle piece?

[UltraMarginal]

you could potentially design and use shapeways to manufacture a replacement part. the trick would be to ensure it wasn't so stiff or hard that it damaged the cog part of the ratchet joint as that would be a lot harder to replace.

[AJ_Prime]

Another option may be to resin cast a piece? You could use the existing piece (with mods) as a mold base to cast a solid component.

[SMHFConvoy]

Another option may be to resin cast a piece? You could use the existing piece (with mods) as a mold base to cast a solid component.

Resin is fragile and at that small it'd snap

[Deonasis]

I notice the rectangle has a longer “stick” on the opposite side. I hope this is only to keep the rectangle in place. If so, you could flip the rectangle (and keep it in place with glue perhaps?) and trim the longer stick to a good ratchet length.

I may have it all wrong as it is hard to follow exactly what is going on.


Failing everything else, i would buy a thick enough piece of styrene (or 2 thinner ones for easier cutting and glue them) and recreate the rectangle with longer nubs. It is tough stuff. A stanley knife (or even dremel for the tricky bits) should be all you need and a sheet of styrene will give you many attempts.

[M-bot]

Styrene is not a bad idea. Get the same thickness (depth) as the piece you’re mimicing. You can always make a stronger rachet that way, by altering the thickness of the piece you’re trying to replace. Only problem is that you will likely end up with way more styrene than you need.

[hYpNoS]

I won't quote everybody but essentially I got another grimlock, seems to be a shared issue, what I found was his right leg ratchets (between both copies) was bent in slightly, adding a piece of plastic into the ratchet plastic spring thingie (the original plan to improve the waist ratchet) fixed that without an issue.

Sadly though the waist thing didn't get improved so what damaged it in the end was frustration and something stupid I did, I added plastic behind the ratchet thingie to move the whole thing forward and I noticed I ended up putting the thing in backwards, as noted there are 2 points on this thing with the fatter "stick" meant to hold the ratchet spring thingie in place, without it (because the added plastic blocked the locking hole) the spring thing would shift about preventing the ratchets from doing their job, and the waist ratchet's teeth were getting damaged because of the fatter end I used, I tried to shave it back into place but the damage was done, not only was the original nub damaged because I put it in backwards but the teeth themselves were compromised.

To add insult to injury I couldn't even get the waist to close properly, I even used a vice to hold it together while screwing it together but it would pop open ever so slightly making the waist even worse, so my new grimlock is stock for the time being unless someone has a better less intrusive method to hold it together as I screw it (the vice was bolted down to my old man's work bench, its for heavy duty work so I was just clamping it down opening the vice and then screwing while trying to hold it together, yeah that doesn't sound right does it :S) but I would like to open this one to at least fix that leg because that leg only makes posing even more difficult in combined mode.

Also, no need to be concerned about the cost of the second grimlock, nor sending me spare parts, I have poor modeling skills so fashioning my own stuff isn't an option, its basically hack and slash with a screw driver and jamming stuff into places.

In short the biggest problems was the waist not closing up and requires additional force (I feel that may have contributed to why the additional reinforcement failed) and human error :rolleyes:

[UltraMarginal]

that's frustrating, someone mentioned having a loose leg on their Grimlock in one of the podcasts I listen to this week as well.

It would take a fair bit of investigation to see what the problem is specifically, is there mould flash somewhere that's effecting the tolerance stack up of the join? perhaps it's something to do with the geometry of the spring. Maybe putting a small piece of soft foam in the gap in the middle of the 'spring' will add enough stiffness to help it work.

I'll be getting a Grimlock at some point and will probably pull it apart to have a look if it's a problem then.