Perfect Grade 00 Raiser Photo Journal 5

Joint Gears and Errors in Quality Control

Unlike its predecessors, the Perfect Grade 00-Raiser does not use hydraulics for its joints. Instead it uses a spring loaded, locking gear mechanism in the knee, wrist, elbow, and shoulder. The knee and elbow are supported by a secondary joint which allows for additional articulation controlled by track mounted assemblies to keep them alligned.

Turning each joint requires the clutch to be depressed on a given location to release the mechanism and the limb to turn. Releasing the clutch will lock the part in place once it reaches the corresponding locking point.

While connecting the shoulder clutch to the central gear ring of the shoulder assembly, I encountered a serious quality control error. While appearances are deceiving to the naked eye, the error would have caused problems for the completed model. The teeth of the central ring are supposed to be molded in a straight line, however the mold press shifted and the teeth were molded in an offset position. This blocked the clutch from being fully inserted into the shoulder which could have caused the joint to not function properly. This problem occured in both shoulders and was corrected using a sanding file.