I suppose at least the guide told you how to take him apart   Honestly I think it quite nice that Hasbro used to pins or rivets to make it easier to fix issues like this.

 

Thank you for posting this fix! Oddly enough, I just compressed the spring inside for a few minutes similar to the hip fix and that helped the tail move much better.

 

Just adding my opinion to help this work better. I glued mine after reading this tutorial and it still busted loose. Another part of the problem is that the piece we are glueing is able to slide on the shaft, which allows it to seperate from the small tabs and damage it (the tabs give out before moving joint does). I don't know if it is a design flaw or missing piece but if you add a filler to the peg (The threaded side of this joint) it will help keep it solid. I tried adding a spring and washer first but the spring wasn't strong enough so I am adding a solid piece now to my Black Friday Trypticon purchase

 

I have added a filler piece to keep pressure against the non moving side of joint and I also molded filler for inside the non moving side. Last but not least I'm going to glue it too. I can't afford another Trypticon

 

Well the glue dose help the hip from self destructing the real issue is they forgot to give one part a grooved track for the internal gear (in picture it has the tabs on the sides) to slide on and well higher pressures causes the external part of the gear to give (part your gluing) more or less less space to move higher pressures and something gives sometimes the right joint sometimes the wrong joint, by gluing the external part of the gear that prevents it from allowing give and the internal gear works as intended once again and kinda lucky if you think about it.
As much flak as this figure gets its has some minor yes minor woops moments but workable and fixable. He is a good figure and i am happy to own him. Besides people wanted cartoon accurate well he has authentic broken cog from Thief in the Night, its not broken its a feature.
People have been getting some discounts due to issues so Hasbro needs to step up the game and yes keep the staff its a learning lesson and lets hope they are better for it. Besides we complain because we care, if nobody was complaining then nobody cares.

 

I don't agree that the missing notch is causing the problem. The area you have pictured doesn't need the deeper notch since the moving gear makes contact with out the deeper notch. I'm not certain why they made it that way unless it is for the remold into Scorponok. Just my opinion but having the other side notched shouldn't hurt anything.

 

Okay 5 parts to this 1. Main body
2. Tail
3. External gear (has 4 v joints also the same gear we glue, the part we glue is a tongue and groove joint side that requires pressure from both sides to keep it together)
4. Internal gear (has 6 slots to receive v joints from external gear also has 2 guidance tabs)
5. Spring (applies pressure to internal gear to keep them engaged but allows the gears to separate and shift positions)
Now the internal gear can not slide because of the lack of guidance grooves on one side. So internal gear is making partial contact with external gear. external gear requires pressure from internal gear to keep it in its tongue and groove slots (part we glue). The internal gear is not flush so external gear has space to slide inward then get wedged (think putting coins in those paper rolls and a coin dose not sit flush it effects the rest in the roll) then when you go to move the tail it warps the tongue and groove tabs (part that gets glued). In the picture you posted I am pointing out that part that is warped where the rest of the tabs are fine but only the tip is warped of 1 tab. If i was to make the toy i would personally have screwed in the gear part we glue, but with the math that went into the design it should of never separated but with the lack of movement by the internal gear to keep pressure on external gear well then the missing groove is the root of the issue.
If you take the tail off again look at the internal gear is it flush or on a angle it needs to be flush to work properly. so yes the lack of the groove I pointed out is the root of the issue, keep in mind with how many products are made and this one had some woops moments. Likely to be a collector item with how rare a toy is put out that is like this.

 

So has anyone tried to notch out an opening for this? I imagine it can’t be that difficult with a rotary tool or a hobby knife and lots of patience

 

I’ve not bothered as my Trypticon has remained fine since I did the Tutorial

 

Personally I would not alter the plastic since those grooves are very specific only if your a expert but then if you look at the pics they had support for the parts they grooved out. So altering that part might result in further issues. The secure the gear by glue works, lucky Hasbro tends to over engineer and with that gear working at 50% it still holds the weight and clicks into place. Lets hope if they do reissue with that fixed, but all and all i am very happy with this product. If they had secured that gear that we glue there was a chance none of us would of ever known about any tail issue.

 

If you want to notch the plastic, go ahead, but the spring side of the gear cannot travel past the center plastic seam. When fully engaged with the glued side it sits flush with seam

 

Nice pictures, ya if was to make edits to that mold there would be 3 things I would change.
1. Extend the groove till as needed.
2. Make the part we glue secured via screws would just take 2 at most.
3. I would of flipped how the gear and spring sit to the other way so the people making the toy would have a easier time assembling it.
Now not sure about the legs and their cause yet so can not make comments about them.

 

Used your guide to fix my tail.. Mine worked but had a loud thunk when I used it. Found out that the piece on the inside was starting to show signs of warping and used this fix and now it works as intended. However it doesn't take much to make it move, like the slightest shake of the table and the tail will fall down now but at least it doesn't make that loud noise now.

 

Sorry to hear how loose it is but better then cracking noises till the tail dose not hold a position...

 

It is what it is, I'd rather have it the way it is rather than broke. lol

 

Huge props for this handy guide @Rotorstorm! Don't know what I would've done without it!    

 

You have the right idea. I did this fix waaaay back when I got my Tripticon and ended up making a filler part on my 3d printer and gluing it in, I then uploaded it to shapeways.

The problem is that the cross section used to hold the ratchet teeth in place are free floating and just way to thin. So you really need a filler part to brace it.

Another idea I had that would probably work is to mix up some 2 part epoxy, fill the joints some, close it up, and turn it upside down so the resin pools in the grooves. My only concern with this method is that the 2 part epoxy might get way to hot and melt the plastic due to needing so much to get a good fit and hold.

 

My tail broke the day I got my copy, would Hasbro customer service replace the figure? I'm not savy at all when it comes to surgery on toys and fear making it worse

 

have a link to that shapeways part by any chance?

 

Is there a video tutorial? Words don't work so good for me