How come HF ball joints get tighter when you blow on them?

[thoduo]

Sorry if I sound dumb but am I missing something here? When I blow on the ball joint a bit and attach a piece to it, it gets tight for a little while before becoming loose again.

Edited March 4, 2014 by thoduo

[The Kumquat Alchemist]

I suppose the moisture would add friction, which is lost as it evaporates.

[thoduo]

I suppose the moisture would add friction, which is lost as it evaporates.

That makes sense. Is there anything else I could do to tighten joints for a longer period of time?

[WaysofSorting]

Toy customizers often do this simple trick - not for purists, but it should work -

Superglue (hear me out) - take the ball joint and apply a very thin amount and let it dry completely. Repeat if you need more thickness. This may add just the amount of friction to give a bit more "hold" to the joint. Useful for displays and such, I would imagine.

Superglue also useful for sealing paint (for you super-customizers) around or on moving joints - less obvious than varnish, and often much stronger.

I haven't tried this on HF or Bionicle pieces myself...so caveat.

[TheBrickPal]

*Vitruvius voice* That idea is just, the worst.

In all seriousness, I have never heard about that. Trying it now, I realize that it does work! It doesn't last long enough to have a long-term effect, though, but still. It's an interesting find!

[Taaron]

Toy customizers often do this simple trick - not for purists, but it should work -

Superglue (hear me out) - take the ball joint and apply a very thin amount and let it dry completely. Repeat if you need more thickness. This may add just the amount of friction to give a bit more "hold" to the joint. Useful for displays and such, I would imagine.

The same method for the super glue can be done with clear nail polish as well. Just detach the ball and socket, brush on a coat on one part, let dry. Reassemble, and if it's not the tightness you want, try it on the other part. Let dry, then reassemble.

That said, I haven't had to tighten ball n socket joints on Lego before. Just for models and the occasional Transformer.

Usually, if I have a loose connection with a Lego Ball and Socket, the socket is usually damaged.

[Lyichir]

Blowing on them doesn't actually help. In fact, the moisture in your breath can damage the connections over time. The only reason it seems to help at all is that it forces you to remove and reinsert the ball joint, which can fix any loose connections caused by not inserting the ball joint properly in the first place.

(in case you couldn't tell, this is satire.)

[bacem]

if you connect a ball joint on a ball-cup, and then elave them be on a safe place, they will get tighten on their own after 1 day or more. works for me.

[obsidianheart]

I used to use the nail polish trick on old Xevoz figures!

[thoduo]

*Vitruvius voice* That idea is just, the worst.

In all seriousness, I have never heard about that. Trying it now, I realize that it does work! It doesn't last long enough to have a long-term effect, though, but still. It's an interesting find!

Good to know that I'm not just a weirdo. When I blow on the ball joints reasonably hard, they stay quite tight for a day before getting loose again. Not sure how or why this happens.

[VBBN]

The super glue and nail polish ideas are extremely common amongst transformer collectors, though I'm not sure they would work as well with the style of joint that hero factory uses

[ShadowWolfHount]

I have no idea what you are talking about, I try it and it haven't gotten tighter.

[3rdeye88]

Super Glue, nail polish, clear coat spray paint, I've even heard of using like stick-em or other adhesive like substances. Basically you want to add to the surface of the ball joint so that the tension in the socket is stronger. The same can be done on the socket as well, but like everyone said, let it dry otherwise you'll have a permanent joint and that's not good.

This is also a good solution if you have a cracked joint and you can't use any other part because its the last one you've got, would mess up the color scheme, etc. The glue would fix the cracked joint and work to increase surface tension between the ball and socket. I did this on an early version of Matteo that had HF 1.0 arms for his shoulders. I only had two and one of them cracked so my step dad gave me some model glue to fix it Put it back on was stiffer than the not cracked joint. I was quite impressed. Of course on a black part it showed and it looked a little funky if payed too much attention to.