Carefully drill a hole into the ankle ball, straight through the scar of the broken peg.
If the ball slips in the ankle cup whilst drilling the hole, pinch the sides of the ankle cup.
While removing Cool Girl feet two things can go wrong: the ankle cup breaks, or the ankle peg breaks.
A broken ankle peg is usually caused by a material defect (an air pocket inside the plastic of the peg).
When an ankle peg breaks, two things need to be done:
Tools and materials needed:
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Left to right: drill bit with tapered shaft, drill bit with straight shaft, pin vise, leg with broken ball in ankle cup. |
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Select a drill bit (size about 2mm) with a straight shaft and insert it into the pin vise. Carefully drill a hole into the ankle ball, straight through the scar of the broken peg. If the ball slips in the ankle cup whilst drilling the hole, pinch the sides of the ankle cup. |
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Remove the drill bit from the pin vise and insert the rear end of the drill bit into the drilled hole in the ankle ball. |
| Then use the drill bit as a lever to pop the ball out of the ankle cup. |
I tried various ways of repairing a broken ankle peg, a fairly easy way would be to use a piece of threaded rod to attach the ball to its peg (similar to my knee repair),
unfortunately the material is not strong enough and the ball will work loose after removing and inserting the foot into an ankle cup a couple of times.
The ball and peg need to be a single piece and need to be solidly anchored in the foot.
Fortunately FemBasix feet and pumps come with two pairs of ankle pegs, one set longer than the other,
treasure these spare pegs ! Usually the pair of long pegs is not used and those are exactly what you need to repair a broken ankle peg.
Tools and materials needed:
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Remove the boot sleeve and disassemble the foot. |
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Cut the remains of the broken peg flush with the top of the base. Using the 4mm drill, drill a hole in the base of the peg straight through the center of the scar of the peg. |
 Left to right: base of the peg, modified FemBasix peg, original FemBasix peg. |
Take a spare long ankle peg from a set of FemBasix feet or pumps. Use the knife to chip away the mushroom shaped head of the peg. Leave a flat spot on two opposite sides. Using the 2.5mm drill, drill a hole in the end of the peg through the flat spots. The center of the hole should be at 16mm (0.63in) from the top of the ball. Then make the flat spots round, the end of the peg should be straight and round. Then glue the FemBasix peg into the base of the old peg, using a suitable glue that dissolves plastic (such as Plastruct Plastic Weld). Make sure the hole in the end of the peg is aligned with the hole in the base (use the rear of the 2.5mm drill bit as a guide). Let the glue cure for at least a day. |
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Finally a locking pin needs to be inserted through the base and the new peg to prevent the peg from working loose.
A paperclip or a cloth pin should work fine. Select a drill bit with the same diameter as the locking pin and drill a hole all the way through the base and the peg. The position of the hole should be about halfway between the 2.5mm hole and the edge of the base. |
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Push the pin all the way through the base, the cut the ends off and sand the ends of the pin smooth using a file. On the picture one shiny end of the pin is just visible. |
