'Fridge Crisper Drawer repair

Somehow one of the feet of the crisper drawer has become detached.

Offending parts

It's a clean break, in a slightly awkward place, but probably not too much of a challenge. The drawer is moulded from the same styrene-acrylonitrile resin that the cup I partially repaired was made from.

OK, repair strategies? From best to worst those that I came up with were,

• Solvent weld the parts back together
• Use a contact adhesive
• Use a two part epoxy to fill whole socket and stick the foot into well
• Fit a screw (would have to be stainless steel)
• Buy a whole new crisper drawer

Why is solvent welding best? As with ordinary metal welding it physical melts and reforms the structure of the plastic.

Although it didn't work brilliantly in the repair of the plastic cup I brought out the acetone again. After brushing on the solvent and replacing the part I left it overnight to harden. The next day an exploratory wiggle to see if the bond could withstand the lateral forces created by dragging the drawer across a surface resulted in it parting again, confirming my suspicions that acetone is a bit pants for gluing SAN.

The next step was to try a MEK/DCM mix; I had seen Tensol 12 used for ABS so that seemed a good place to start. A web search threw up a few similar glues, SciGrip 16, Ventex Channel Bond and Evo-Stik ExtruFix (I would provide links for Tensol and Extru-Fix but they are made by a French company that doesn't understand the internet). All seem to have dichloromethane (DCM) as a base with 3/4 containing methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) along with a smattering of other components, probably for the purposes of wetting and/or prevention of crazing. None of them were really that cheap (£8 for 60 mL of Tensol 12 was the best price I could find) and I couldn't find anything to say that they would definitely work with SAN. After a bit of swithering (look it up) I decided to buy a litre each of the main constituents and mix my own. If it didn't work then at least I would have the solvents to hand, so not a complete waste of money.

After deciding to buy the components I tracked down a reference to solvent welding SAN in the Handbook of Plastics Joining (p.442), which suggests that MEK is the required active component and that DCM can be used if a fast drying solvent is required. All good then.

But what proportions to mix the DCM and MEK to? A rummage about in the material safety data sheets of the ABS glues gave me a place to start In the end I plumped for a 3:1 (v/v) mix, but weighed out the solvents rather than measuring the volumes as I was dealing with small amounts as a trial.

Solvent mixing

The result was positive.

Reformed part

Given the lack of effect of acetone I did splash the DCM/MEK mix about a bit and have obviously overcooked it, there is quite a bit of crazing in the foot well. But the part is certainly joined, if a tad melted. Next time I will be a bit more cautious and only brush on the required amounts. I just popped the foot back on and slid it back into the 'fridge.

JOB DONE

Time: 30 mins (with overnight setting time)
Cost: £19.44