Refrigerator Bins and Shelves Redo
The repairs reported in Refrigerator Bins and Shelves seemed to be good, but then two of them started to fail, one in a shelf, the other in a bin.
Rather than attempting to again repair the cracks with epoxy, I found the video below which explains how to repair plastic and decided to follow the procedure described, just as I had done for the dishwasher control panel (see Dishwasher Control Panel Redo).
I used Plastruct to reattach the two pieces that had broken off of the shelf.
From the 12" x 12" sheet of 1/16" ABS plastic I had bought to repair the dishwasher control panel I cut a piece to lay across the cracks and attached it with Plastruct to the outside of the shelf to reinforce the repair.
Although the repair on the other side of the shelf had not failed...
...I reinforced it with a piece of the ABS plastic.
The similar repairs on the other shelf had not failed, but I also reinforced both of them with pieces of the ABS plastic.
Although I was confident that the repairs to the shelves were now good and would last, they all soon failed.
David Brorein suggested I use J-B Weld Plastic Bonder Epoxy rather than Plastruct to attach the broken piece to the shelf and the ABS plastic pieces to reinforce the repair.
I added two more small pieces of ABS plastic to the inside of the shelf.
I also reattached the ABS plastic piece on the other side of the shelf.
In order to redo the repair to the bin shown in the second picture of this post, I bought some ABS plastic 1/16" x 5/16" angles. I used the Plastic Bonder Epoxy to repair the crack and then reinforced the repair with one of the angles.
The repair (with tape) on the other side of the bin had not failed, as is also the case for the repairs in the other bin. Eventually I might reinforce the three remaining cracks in the bins with ABS angles.
After I let the epoxy cure overnight, all the repairs seemed good so I returned the shelf and bin to the refrigerator. I then reattached the two ABS plastic pieces which had come off of the other shelf. After the epoxy cured overnight I returned the shelf to the refrigerator.
Both bins and shelves are back in the refrigerator. Once more I'm confident that the repairs will hold. If they're still good after a few weeks I will reinforce the three remaining cracks in the bins with ABS angles.
Thank you, David Brorein, for guidance through this repair, and John from The Lucky Needle for the video showing how to reinforce a repair with a piece of plastic across across a crack.
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