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Separating Mata Eyes from Heads


Illuminatus

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I once read that removing the eye piece from a Mata head causes damage somehow? Can anyone tell me if that's true and which of the two parts gets damaged in the process?

 

I've done this to at least 18 heads (all Toa Mata, all Turaga and 6 additional pieces); when I inspected them, they appeared to be intact but I can't be sure.

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I’ve never personally attempted it, but I’ve heard it’s far easier to damage parts than keep them intact (I have bought a grey Mata face piece off of Bricklink that looked like it had been forcefully separated, pitted and such). I swear I’ve seen a tutorial on how to do it safely, but I’m not sure where.

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I don't remember where I saw it (it was probably here, like five years ago), but I remember someone had come up with a pretty simple, effective mechanism (consisting of LEGO) that could pop them out easily. Based on that (and the fact that many other people have been changing them out for a while), I'd say they're probably fine as long as there isn't, like, a visual defect after disconnecting them.

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In my experience, they only get damaged if you do it like an idiot. When I bought separated Mata heads in bulk from Bricklink, most of them had a nick at the top of the head piece where someone clearly separated the pieces by prying them apart with a metal instrument. This is not the way to do it.

 

The best way is to use a Lego-made apparatus that gives you enough leverage to push/pull the pieces apart using force that is perpendicular to the interface between the two pieces. There is one device in particular that I'm thinking of, but I can't find it on Brickshelf at the moment. Even as a kid, I never damaged pieces using it.

 

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In my experience, they only get damaged if you do it like an idiot. When I bought separated Mata heads in bulk from Bricklink, most of them had a nick at the top of the head piece where someone clearly separated the pieces by prying them apart with a metal instrument. This is not the way to do it.

 

The best way is to use a Lego-made apparatus that gives you enough leverage to push/pull the pieces apart using force that is perpendicular to the interface between the two pieces. There is one device in particular that I'm thinking of, but I can't find it on Brickshelf at the moment. Even as a kid, I never damaged pieces using it.

Is this what you were thinking of? It's the 2012 orange brick separator, and I've used them to separate those parts, too. I've also used the old construct method (here). Here is a more recent update that looks more stable.
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Thanks a lot for the info, you guys. I used a similar axle solution to separate the pieces in 2012 and they looked just fine.

 

Someone on Facebook once mentioned that a "stub" of sorts inevitably gets broken when separating the two pieces and I never found out what they were talking about.

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In my experience, they only get damaged if you do it like an idiot. When I bought separated Mata heads in bulk from Bricklink, most of them had a nick at the top of the head piece where someone clearly separated the pieces by prying them apart with a metal instrument. This is not the way to do it.

 

The best way is to use a Lego-made apparatus that gives you enough leverage to push/pull the pieces apart using force that is perpendicular to the interface between the two pieces. There is one device in particular that I'm thinking of, but I can't find it on Brickshelf at the moment. Even as a kid, I never damaged pieces using it.

Is this what you were thinking of? It's the 2012 orange brick separator, and I've used them to separate those parts, too. I've also used the old construct method (here). Here is a more recent update that looks more stable.

 

 

No to the first one, yes to the last two. I don't recommend prying them apart.

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