DD Head cracking

After the DDIII breakage thread and some people discussing how Lucy's head is suffering from this I thought I'd do some dobleepentation of my own.

 

When I saw photos of Lucy's head they were familiar - I'd seen these sorts of cracks before!

 

 

They're visible on the inside of the head but on the outside:

 

 

Totally fine~

 

I wonder if you guys can guess whose head this is - it's a newer headmold with the softer vinyl and one of the first heads to feature the squishy headcap: Airy!

 

If some of you check your Neris, Airy, and newer you may find that yours also suffer from these cracks. So far I haven't noticed them grow or interfere with the way the head fits on the body. I checked one of my older heads (Asuka) and she's fine.

I am not sure if you know this Laura.... but the vinyl around the hole that attaches to the body for Odette is really scratched up. It seems like it's only the outside though. O_O" What happen to it?

I am not sure if you know this Laura.... but the vinyl around the hole that attaches to the body for Odette is really scratched up. It seems like it's only the outside though. O_O" What happen to it?

I didn't take a good look at it. Could be any number of things. PM me shots? Or what are you doing this weekend? XD

Agatha's got those cracks too; found them when taking her faceup off and prepping her for stain treatment a week or two ago. She was manufactured in 2010, so I thought I'd check Nanoha too, since she was made a year earlier. Interestingly, Nanoha's neck hole is perfectly fine. On the other hand, while Nanoha's a year older, Agatha's been here in arid Arizona for a year and a half, while Nanoha spent most of her time in the far more humid Japan until this past November, so I do wonder if climate may make a difference?

I am not sure if you know this Laura.... but the vinyl around the hole that attaches to the body for Odette is really scratched up. It seems like it's only the outside though. O_O" What happen to it?

I didn't take a good look at it. Could be any number of things. PM me shots? Or what are you doing this weekend? XD

 

LOLLL What have you been doing? XD

Ill PM you pics later, craming stuff right now.

 

As for weekend, I will be using it to finish up one last project. I will be free after that until exam starts on the 16th. Will most likely use that time to work on Nkei's Alna.

I think this may be connected to the manufacturing process and the material.

Heads are cast inside a mold and the vinyl may have different thickness. As You can see in movie from Obitsu factory, they pour molted vinyl inside the mold, let it cool for a while and pour out the remaining.

Different batches also may differ in elasticity, so thicker and less elastic vinyl may break a little in this area, being pushed by the neck connector.

I think I saw some people cutting a split there just to ease the head change.

 

If You're very concerned about it cracking and the crack is long, You may drill a little hole just at the end of the crack, to make it like a keyhole |--o - excuse my poor ascii art skills

You have to make sure the crack isn't going after the hole because it won't have the desired effect.

This prevents further cracking in many materials.

Agatha's got those cracks too; found them when taking her faceup off and prepping her for stain treatment a week or two ago. She was manufactured in 2010, so I thought I'd check Nanoha too, since she was made a year earlier. Interestingly, Nanoha's neck hole is perfectly fine. On the other hand, while Nanoha's a year older, Agatha's been here in arid Arizona for a year and a half, while Nanoha spent most of her time in the far more humid Japan until this past November, so I do wonder if climate may make a difference?

It might but it's fairly humid here in Toronto, and when it is too dry we use a humidifier so I think the cracks are more of a material stress/strain result than a climate one.

 

I think this may be connected to the manufacturing process and the material.

Heads are cast inside a mold and the vinyl may have different thickness. As You can see in movie from Obitsu factory, they pour molted vinyl inside the mold, let it cool for a while and pour out the remaining.

Different batches also may differ in elasticity, so thicker and less elastic vinyl may break a little in this area, being pushed by the neck connector.

I think I saw some people cutting a split there just to ease the head change.

 

If You're very concerned about it cracking and the crack is long, You may drill a little hole just at the end of the crack, to make it like a keyhole |--o - excuse my poor ascii art skills

You have to make sure the crack isn't going after the hole because it won't have the desired effect.

This prevents further cracking in many materials.

 

Yes, I understand what you mean. I'm not really concerned with it but I wanted others to see that it isn't just limited to Lucy or other new girls. ^_^