Squeaky Waist Articulation: A quick and easy fix!

LEGO BIONICLE
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Hello everyone. I think many of you have already picked up the 2016 sets, and I’m also pretty sure that many of you have witnessed the new hip design’s main flaw: due to its different type of plastic and connection, the gear function tends to be very tight, and to produce a HORRIBLE squeaking sound!
So far, the only ways I have heard of to fix this were to either:

-swash the pieces with a wet queue tip, which greatly weakens the gear function and makes posing very difficult.
-disconnet the two elements, which is insanely difficult and may very well damage the pieces.

Thankfully, I have recently come up with an effective way to get rid of this issue with an extremely simple method, which does nit involve any disassembly what so ever. All you’ll need is:

-Water
-Liquid soap.
That’s it. Let me show you, by using lewa as an example (as he is the squeakiest set I have).

DISCLAIMER: make sure to read this topic carefully before using this method yourself

A. PICK UP THE SQUEAKY 2016 SET YOU WISH TO FIX

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B. DISASSEMBLE THE SET AND TAKE THE BODY PIECE (DON’T FORGET TO GET RID OF THE HIP GEARS AND OF THE ROD THAT GOES THROUGH THE WAIST)

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C. ONCE YOU HAVE THE PIECE…

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… POUR WATER IN THE SMALL HOLE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIECE.

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D. APLLY ONE DROP OF LIQUID SOAP IN THE HOLE AT THE BOTTOM, AND ON THE WAIST GEAR PART

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E. POUR WATER IN THE HOLE ONE MORE TIME

F. CLEAN THE PIECE WITH A TOWEL

G. REASSEMBLE THE SET

And there you go! Your set is no longer squeaky!

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The friction is greatly reduced, but thankfully, it isn’t so much that the set flops around everywhere, and from my experience this doesn’t really get in the way of possibility. It doesn’t affect the unity modes either, and makes playing with the function a lot less tedious and a lot more fun!

WARNING!

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I have not used this technique on Umarak the Destroyer, and honestly I advice you not to! I fear the set’s natural top-heaviness would be greatly affected by the reduced friction.

Either way I hope this method will prove effective to you guys! Let me know!

If you like the artwork at the top, you can check out my artwork gallery right there:

23 Likes
2

Huh, I’ll have to try this out some time. It seems to be pretty effective.

2 Likes
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It is! The important step is to not apply too much soap but aside from that, not to brag or anything but I don’t see a downside at all

4

Interesting.
The squeakiness doesn’t really bother me, tbh, but I would try this if it did.

1 Like
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cool fix

6

Sorry, instructions unclear. Got my cat stuck in a pipe.

3 Likes
7

THAT Unclear?? I can’t believe I messed it up that much.

(Btw is this real? I can add photos if it’s not clear enough)

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Do you not know the definition of a joke, maybe I should make it clearer for you next time roflmao.

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It’s just that I wasn’t sure, I take criticism very seriously, even when it’s not criticism. Sorry about that
And hopefully you can get your cat out of there

1 Like
10

I know a far easier solution.

Simply taking a piece of clean cloth (like a ■■■■■) and rubbing the two areas where the parts connect removes a lot of the dust. While it still might have a little too much friction, it mostly solves the issue and leaves some stability in the set.

1 Like
11

I have heard of this too, and I guess it could work. I’m sharing this method because it’s permanent and dust doesn’t even really come into play (It’s been two months and my sets still aren’t squeaky even though their on a shelf), and because it makes the play feature more fun to use without interfering with posing all too much.

Still thanks for sharing this, I’l try it when I get kopaka :slight_smile:

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You know a joke only works if it’s funny, right?

Gotta say, this seems pretty fantastic. I’m gonna have to try it out some time.

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K bud. :slight_smile:

5 Likes
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I never put any soap in it, just water and it gets rid of the squeaking.

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That works well too, I use soap so that the squeaking goes away forever that’s all.

1 Like
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Mate, only the last part of the 1st post sounds like a joke.

Anyways, nice lil’ tutorial, @Folk!

I’ll try this if I got any squeaky 2016 torsos.

(supprisingly, I’ve been blessed with having none! Then again, I ownly own 3.)

17

Lucky you

1 Like
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I cant believe how inexperienced you all are with these types of jokes. Its almost like you never seen these instruction posts before and comments related to them on the internet before.

I mean not a problem if you didnt, but if you did and not notice it, dang man.

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BTW, mate, if you’re gonna reply, click the reply button at the bottom of the post, so that way the user you’re replying to knows that you’ve replied.

20

That’s exactly what I did, that’s weird

2 Likes