It's all (stuck in) the wrist

April 4, 2015 6:45 PM

My favorite action figure has a broken-off ball joint in one of its wrists. Can it come out? Difficulty: no sophisticated power tools.

The figure in question

There's a review there about a hand breaking off in the wrist, and he got the joint out with a power drill. But I don't have one. What else can I use to get it out? I have screwdrivers, an Acto knife, and other simple tools.

(Yes, I've thought of getting a new figure, but I'm pretty sure it's out of print now and thus wil be expensive on eBay and co.)

posted by curagea to Grab Bag (4 answers total)

Best answer: I would recommend you search for and buy a pin vise. It's a little tiny handheld drill - you can switch out drill bits and carefully drill little holes in things. You could probably just drill it out with successively larger bits, depending on how thick the post it you are trying to get out. You might be able to get one at a Home Depot type place or I am seeing several examples at HobbyLinkJapan for $5-$8. Good luck!
posted by Slothrop at 6:53 PM on April 4, 2015 [1 favorite]

It looks like this one would give you lots of different size bits - Amazon link.

With a pin vise you just spin it like a screwdriver and as you carefully apply pressure it starts to work into your surface. I've used it on plastic before; it works fine.
posted by Slothrop at 6:55 PM on April 4, 2015

Best answer: A pin vise would be good. When I was in the miniatures business, me and my dad would use dental picks for a lot of things, too. You can get them at s lot of army navy surplus stores. You sink the tip of the pick into the ball joint and gently lever it out.
posted by boo_radley at 10:33 AM on April 5, 2015

Response by poster: Ha, I managed to get hold of my brother's tool kit while visiting him. After some tiny drilling, fishing with tweezers, cursing over them bending, and more wrangling, the joint is out. Sephiroth now has a new hand :D

Regardless, I'm going to get a pin vise for future use. Thanks for the tip!
posted by curagea at 8:54 PM on April 5, 2015