Repairing Freezer Plastic Drawer fronts

SootySweep1

Hi
Has anyone had any success repairing the plastic drawer fronts that have cracked ?
I've got plastic glue but my concern is that the crack will always be a weak point and so I'm wondering whether I should try & reinforce somehow.
Any advice ?
Cheers
Jen

-taff

I've been waiting for years to say this...Sugru!!!

TELLIT01

I use gaffer tape / Duck tape.  Not pretty, but effective.

pramsay13

Not very money saving but I would just buy a new one. 
Freezer drawers often get stuck fast and need a hefty pull to open, so any repair is going to be weak.

victor2

Superglue and duck tape. As TELLIT01 says, not pretty, but effective.

Took a few types of glue before I found one that held that type of plastic, but it's always useful stuff to have around in my clumsy life!

Edit: I did try buying a piece of PETG plastic sheet and glueing that over the break, but it didn't hold very well. I figured the two plastics were of a different type, so the glue didn't work on both. The fridge is no longer manufactured, and replacement drawers are not available. Tried that first!

Jeepers_Creepers

Hi Sooty.
Do the drawers have any recycling marks to indicate the type of plastic they are? Are they clear or white? If clear, most like acrylic or polycarbonate. If white, most likely the latter. 

Anyhoo, as you say, the repair will be  a weak point. The solution is to reinforce it as Victor says, but it'll have to be the same plastic, and is has to be 'solventable'. Have a look at your recycling centre and see if you can pull a similar drawer out of a dumped freezer there. 

Get some plastic solvent - not necessarily actual glue - which is watery and volatile. The drawer must be dry - so let it get to room temp. Wet both broken edges with the solvent and press and hold together - use some form of bracing to hold it in place until the stuff dries (two piles of books will do...). Once set, you now have the repair held in the right place whilst you add strips to both sides if you can - nicely wet with solvent until the surface is 'melting' nicely, and clamp in place. 

Oops - are we talking flat surfaces here? If not, ignore what I said...

If it's a complex break around securing clips etc, then if that Sugru will stick to these plastics, it could be a good bet. I'd still solvent the parts together first because that will add some strength, but mainly it'll hold the parts in the correct place until further strengthening is added.

Finally, keying up the surfaces on the sides - where you'll be adding further adhesive/stuff - will help it to stick.