Repairing plastic part for fridge

[RJSakowski]

My 1st thought but no plans anywhere for this part

It's a fairly simple part and it shouldn't require much effort to reverse engineer it. If you can get dimensions and send some photographs with a sketch, I would take a stab at creating the model for you.

 

[Asm109]

Not aluminum. Not springy enough. For use in a refer I pick a high tensile stainless steel shim, 1/2 hard should do.

 

[martik777]

It's a fairly simple part and it shouldn't require much effort to reverse engineer it. If you can get dimensions and send some photographs with a sketch, I would take a stab at creating the model for you.

Thanks for the offer, I'll try the double sided tape first

 

[ChazzC]

It's a fairly simple part and it shouldn't require much effort to reverse engineer it. If you can get dimensions and send some photographs with a sketch, I would take a stab at creating the model for you.

Someone here has to have a scanner; @martik777 could send them the part for a scan then modify the output to put the broken tabs and print.

 

[ChazzC]

This sounds like a job for a 3D printer.

We have a Frigidaire dishwasher that has some complicated little clips to hold one of the plate racks upright. The one of the clips of broke. I managed to weld it together and added some extra material to strengthen it. It lasted about a year. The clip has a fraction of an ounce of plastic and the cost for molding one would be a few cents but the replacement part is $50.40

Material a few cents, but labor, injection molding machine time, amortization for the mold and maintaining an inventory for a multitude of parts run the cost up. That’s why they steal & strip cars: the sum is greater than the whole.

 

[MikeInOr]

double tape will probably not stick because it's cold. Once it does stick it should be good.

3M VHB double sided tape will work. It is the sole fastener that holds windows on to the sides of most newly built hi-rise buildings.

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When my current piece of junk Samsung refrigerator finally finishes falling apart into a pile of useless pieces I swear I am going to scavenge a small commercial compressor and coils and build my own refrigerator. All the crap that is being sold these days is a super expensive waste of money!

 

[ChazzC]

3M VHB double sided tape will work. It is the sole fastener that holds windows on to the sides of most newly built hi-rise buildings.

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www.3m.com

When my current piece of junk Samsung refrigerator finally finishes falling apart into a pile of useless pieces I swear I am going to scavenge a small commercial compressor and coils and build my own refrigerator. All the crap that is being sold these days is a super expensive waste of money!

Probably a little more permanent than you would want on a bulb cover.

 

[RJSakowski]

Material a few cents, but labor, injection molding machine time, amortization for the mold and maintaining an inventory for a multitude of parts run the cost up. That’s why they steal & strip cars: the sum is greater than the whole.

Sorry, I don't buy that. I've been involved in injection molding of far more complex parts than this. The plastic is fed into a molding machine and parts coming out are dumped into a bin, no labor involved. Literally millions of these parts were made for all the models of the dishwasher over the years and the mold would have been depreciated long ago. As to the cost for maintaining inventory, it shouldn't cost more than maintaining an inventory for a custom bolt. The part is unique enough that they have you by the short hairs and they know it so they gouge you on price.

 

[ChazzC]

Sorry, I don't buy that. I've been involved in injection molding of far more complex parts than this. The plastic is fed into a molding machine and parts coming out are dumped into a bin, no labor involved. Literally millions of these parts were made for all the models of the dishwasher over the years and the mold would have been depreciated long ago. As to the cost for maintaining inventory, it shouldn't cost more than maintaining an inventory for a custom bolt. The part is unique enough that they have you by the short hairs and they know it so they gouge you on price.

My experience is with older injection molding equipment on relatively simple parts, but they had high fiber content which made the process finicky (one operator per machine) and also was rough on the molds. For plain plastic I can see the molds lasting forever and the process more straight-forward. Also, if they were made overseas they could be made quite cheaply.

 

[RJSakowski]

My experience is with older injection molding equipment on relatively simple parts, but they had high fiber content which made the process finicky (one operator per machine) and also was rough on the molds. For plain plastic I can see the molds lasting forever and the process more straight-forward. Also, if they were made overseas they could be made quite cheaply.

We molded complex parts requiring high dimensional and geometric accuracy. We also molded parts using a proprietary insert molding process. The parts in question for both the O.P. and in my case were plain plastic. In my case, the genuine parts are available with a little searching of the internet for 20% of what the manufacturer charges. Still way too high but more palatable.