Repaired the fridge with superglue

[Hans6049]

Today I repaired my fridge while “on the road”, doing Europe west coast from Belgium to Gibraltar.
The screws of the gas strut came loose from the lid, a known issue with the T5. For the repair I rebuild the holes using a mixture of superglue (cyano acrylate) together with baking powder. Using the same I also fixated the piece of metal to the lid to prevent it moving sideways.
This superglue mixture is really wonderfull, repairing and rebuilding plastic parts that cannot be repaired otherwise.
For now the fridge is working again, and drinks stay cold!

 

[WelshGas]

Your first post and Not a question but a useful and informative post. Thank you.

It would be nice to see some photos of your adventure.

 

[burnercan]

Nice work with the baking powder mixture . Enjoy the trip and welcome to the forum!

 

[motacyclist]

I’ve never heard of that tip, be interesting to see how durable it is!

 

[Hans6049]

Hi Colin, the mixture is well known, see: http://www.instructables.com/id/Superglue-Hack/

 

[motacyclist]

Cheers Hans, I can’t wait for something to break now so I can try it out!

(Probably won’t have to wait long ....)

 

[Hans6049]

I’ve never heard of that tip, be interesting to see how durable it is!

Repair lasted for 4 weeks, although some cracks appeared in the rock-hard mixture.
Looking for a more permanent solution I noticed that the lid does have reinforced screw holes, but unfortunately in the wrong position -see photo. Apparently the lid was misplaced during assembly.
I decided to reinforce the holes from the inside with a metal plate, so removed the lid from the fridge. Using a dremel I cut out a square piece of plastic, cut out part of the insulation foam and glued the plate in position. Closed the square in the plastic almost invisible with the white mixture from superglue/baking powder. Next put the lid back in the Cali. Now the screws of the gas strut are really fixed.

 

[motacyclist]

That looks pretty good!