Mechanical Engineering and Dis-assembling klickies

[Timotheos]

Hiya!

I read a lot of how-tos for disassembling klickies.  Many advise me to turn the klickie's head to the left, bang it on its butt, and --wah lah!-- it comes apart.

But, I studied a disassembled klicky last night.

1) the neck is radially symmetrical except for notch under the chin that prevents the klickie's head from turning more than 180 degrees.  The notch descends into the cone of the klicky's neck hole, but doesn't penetrate the chest cavity (it is in the chest cavity where the neck is held in place by the chassis pincers).

Because the neck is, if not radially symmetrical, at least bilaterally symmetrical, at the least it doesn't matter whether you turn the head left or right.

The only possible advantage that turning the head might provide you is that the chin notch, when twisted against the restraining groove of the neck hole, pushes the head upward, perhaps giving you a slight mechanical advantage in prying off the head.

Otherwise, it doesn't appear to matter whether the head it turned right or left of facing forward.

2) The "stick-togetherness" of the klicky boils down to a pair of pincers that extend from the body chassis and grip the lower cone of the neck.  The only way to remove the head is by widening the gap between the pincers that hold the neck in place.  There are restraining structures inside the klicky torso that confine the klicky head piece to rotation around the body-spine axis, otherwise you could tilt the neck backward and slide it horizontally free from the pincers).

You can widen these pincers either

A) By forcing the rim of the lower neck cone against the chassis pincers until the sheer stress the harder neck plastic exerts against the softer chassis plastic forces the soft-plastic pincers apart.
-or-
B) By inserting some sort of tweezer-like tool up the lower abdomen and widening the pincers by opening the tool, which allows you to pull the neck out.

So, as it stands, whether you use Hans method, string method, rubber band method--

The entire process boils down to using the harder lower neck cone piece to drive the softer chassis pincers apart.

You can do this fast--in one swift motion--or gradually with the rubberband method.  Perhaps the gradualness of the rubber band method results in fewer instances of snapped plastic, because the plastic is better able to compress, rather than snap-off, in response to the force.

Otherwise, all roads are the same highway, with maybe some techniques being less mechanically efficient than others. 

Possibly:

Considering that the chassis is made of softer plastic than the neck piece, by boiling the klicky or exposing it to heat, you can cause the softer plastic to expand (soften up) at a faster rate than the harder plastic, thus allowing you to more easily separate the pincers with the force of the neck.

===============

Sorry about this long-winded, possibly pretentious, posting.  I just wanted to bring some mechanical engineering analysis to the process and maybe devise a better way of dis-assembling the klicky than the practice of ripping off the head and hoping for the best.

[socrates]

Thank you for this detailled analysis... 

Finally, someone busted the myth of "first, turn the head sideways..."... 
What about the argument that those parts of the neck that are hold by the
pincers are most protected by the force when the head is turned?

As you pointed out, I always have the feeling of better controlling the force
outside the torso when the head is turned.

Finally, I would like to comment on the different techniques...
First of all, everybody I know has its own technique, mainly because of the
personal skills, abilities, and tools available to the person.
I, personally have had always problems with just pulling the head out of the
torso, because often deep scars in my klicky-heads were the price to pay... 
I heard from others and they had problems with the rubber band.

A second differentiation is to make about the klicky you want to dissemble.
The thick klickies just as well as the klickies with creased trousers are not to
be dissembled with hans method. The same goes for vintage klickies, because
very likely the force is leading to orthopedical damages of the hip. 
On the other hand, the rubber band method is not working properly when the
klicky has a collar or similiar accessories around its neck.

These are my 2 cent...

Thank you for your detailled survey...

best
socrates

[Timotheos]

My poison of choice is the string method, but like you said about the rubber band method, Klickies with chainmail neck collars are a problem.

That's what led me to seek some sort of engineering solution.  I think a pair of tongs or reverse-tweezers could be designed to go up the torso and safely pry open the neck pincers while you gently slipped the head out with your free hand.

Short of making that tool, if I can't get that knight's head off, I'll tie the string around his legs and give them a yank.  It's the same concept.  Though I'm fearful the legs will snap at the hinges.  I could remove the legs and tie a wire through the holes in the lower part of the chassis, too, then yank the chassis away from the neck while holding the torso.

[Little Jo]

I also had in mind, making a special tool for removing the head, but more in the direction of using a pair of pincers and adapt it more to a klicky head. (also cf. here)

For klickies with a collar I also used the pincers method setting the picers above the collar; increasing the pressure slightly will press the princers against the collar and removing the head also. Most times the collar didn't take any damage, but not always.

Because I'm to lazy to fetch the pair of pincers from the workshop for new klickies I nearly almost use the hands-on method, because I recognized that new figures' plastic is more flexible and with this the head jumps out more easily without any damages on the head or the inner "sceleton".

Another reason why I turn the head to left or right is the following observation: not always the head is harder than the inner "sceleton" so it sometimes happens, that from the cone of the head's bottom small pieces break off at the sides where it is hold by the sceleton. Reassembling this head afterwards make the head not fit tight on the body.  But turning the head 90° left or right before "breaking open" will damage the cone just in front and back position, so that after re-assembling the head and when face is headed to the front the sides of the cone where fixed by the sceleton are still intact and the head fits tight to the body.
With this keeping in mind I prepared those heads, which have to be swapped frequently (e.g. at my avatar for changing clothes and switching between shaved/3-days-beard) in that way, that I "enforced" the damage and removing parts of the cone in the front and the back. So when turning the head to left/right I can pull out the head easily by hand and when facing to the front is resides tight to the body.

(Explanation clear what I mean or do I have to provide detail photos?)

[Martin Milner]

Another reason why I turn the head to left or right is the following observation: not always the head is harder than the inner "skeleton" so it sometimes happens, that from the cone of the head's bottom small pieces break off at the sides where it is hold by the sceleton. Reassembling this head afterwards make the head not fit tight on the body.  But turning the head 90° left or right before "breaking open" will damage the cone just in front and back position, so that after re-assembling the head and when face is headed to the front the sides of the cone where fixed by the sceleton are still intact and the head fits tight to the body.
With this keeping in mind I prepared those heads, which have to be swapped frequently (e.g. at my avatar for changing clothes and switching between shaved/3-days-beard) in that way, that I "enforced" the damage and removing parts of the cone in the front and the back. So when turning the head to left/right I can pull out the head easily by hand and when facing to the front is resides tight to the body.

(Explanation clear what I mean or do I have to provide detail photos?)

I understood that - and I use the Hans On method because it is quick and easy. I turn the head for the same reason - sometimes a bit of the neck ring will crack off (usually on older klickies), just a tiny but, but by truning the head first you determine where that chip will be, and if you have to disassemble the same klicky, there won't be another random chip.

Most of the klickies I disassemble have collars or neck rings, so the Hans On method works best for me. When I've tried pliers, I've just damaged the klickie's head.

[Little Jo]

When I've tried pliers, I've just damaged the klickie's head.

Me too, and that's the reason why I now use a towel inbetween 

[tanotrooper]

the method I use and hasnt failed me is using a rubber band AND a plier. The rubber band gets in the neck joint making the head easier to remove and protects the neck from having any scratches. It was the only way to disasemble 3 older red coat figures.

TT

[Arizzo]

hi there

I used to use pliers for chopping the heads off since a year ago (or so) - most of the times without a towel (think it depends on the pliers). I never had any problems with damaged heads, collars or else - except for one time, when a neck broke.

A year ago I learned the "Hans"-Method and since then the klickies get beheaded this way - unless the klicky is of older age , then the pliers are once more in action ... I usually turn the head to left or right, exactly because of the reasons Joe described.

[Timotheos]

Would somebody be able to explain what the Hans-on method does?  Basically, you smack the klickie's butt on a hardsurface, that pushes the internal chassis upward and loosens the grip on the neck?

I've seen pictures, but still haven't figured out how to do Hans method.

[Martin Milner]

Take off hat & hair and any other head attachments. Turn head 90 degrees to left (this is VITAL). Put arms up above head, or as high as they can be raised, so you can hold the klickie by its sides. Put Klickie in sitting position.

Put a pad of paper or wodge of cloth on a hard surface (to prevent damage to the surface), and gripping the klickie in your right hand (assuming you are right handed), index finger resting on the top of the head but NOT curled, thumb on left side of body and middle finger on right side of body, making sure your fingers are NOT projecting between the legs & front of the body body, smack the ankles on the pad of paper. This should pop the leg chassis loose, and the arms and head will fall out.

It takes a bit of practise to get the "smack" strength just right, too weak and you just bounce.

I usually put a wedge of paper between the legs and the body to prevent dents in the front of the body or the front of the legs, and to help increase leverage.

I often "pop" my klickies on the carpet. The amount of padding there seems just right. If you use newspaper, you may get blackened ankles.

I've yet to break a klickie leg doing this, but I have broken a few chassis, always old ones with degraded plastic, and sometiems get chips on the neck ring (hidden inside the body when the head is in place. Neck chips are not a problem, as long as you don't keep chipping in different places, hence the instruction to turn the head.

I think there's a video of this technique on the net somewhere.