Oven fan element cover problem

shiraz99

The fan cover on the inside of my electric oven is held in place by a single screw but the screw hole has worn/corroded so that it no longer holds in place and just drop down as soon as the oven heats up. I've tried putting in a larger screw, I'm using a black, zinc coated, flange head self tapping screw, similar to the original but this doesn't seem to last long and the same thing happens. Any other ideas on how I can fix the cover in place. I'm not keen on permanently fixing the cover on as I'd still like to be able to access the fan element should that fail in the future.

Apart from this the oven works really well and although is a few years old I'm not keen on having to replace it. Foe reference the oven is a Baumatic BO636SS single electric oven.

shiraz99

Here's a pic:

Bendy_House

I don't understand why a larger screw doesn't work - it should.

Even tho' the metal is fairly thin, you should even get away with thread-tapping and using a machine screw in there; try a 5mm to begin with, so - if needed - first drill that hole out to ~4mm (should be slightly larger, but 4mm should be fine as it's thin).

The cover plate will, of course, need drilling out to 5mm or slightly more - a clearance hole.

flashg67

Can you re-drill the cover and back plate in another place nearby?

shiraz99

flashg67 said:

Can you re-drill the cover and back plate in another place nearby?

Unfortunately not, the cover has an indent where the fixing is located, elsewhere along the edge the gap between the cover and the oven would be too big 

fenwick458

use a bigger screw, or drill another hole in another place

shiraz99

fenwick458 said:

use a bigger screw, or drill another hole in another place

As already explained, because of the design of the cover I can't drill another hole.

fenwick458

shiraz99 said:

fenwick458 said:

use a bigger screw, or drill another hole in another place

As already explained, because of the design of the cover I can't drill another hole.

well that leaves the bigger screw option

Ganga

You can get a screwed bush to fit in the back ,i think they made by Advil , we used to fit them by pushing them about 90% into the hole then tighten up with a special tool that rivits them in place ,remove the tool leaving a screwed socket in place or even a metal cavity anchor ,the type you fit in a wall at home to fit a mirror or shelves.

shiraz99

Ganga said:

You can get a screwed bush to fit in the back ,i think they made by Advil , we used to fit them by pushing them about 90% into the hole then tighten up with a special tool that rivits them in place ,remove the tool leaving a screwed socket in place or even a metal cavity anchor ,the type you fit in a wall at home to fit a mirror or shelves.

If you can provide a link for this that would be brilliant, I can't seem to find it via Google.

molerat

Look for rivet nuts, threaded insert rivets, nutserts  or Rivnut.

You can make your own inserting tool with nuts, bolts and washers.