Help, what was this part of an electric fire

twopenny

Ok, interesting thought.
We have a kids code club at the library. We used to have a 3D printer. On my way there this morning.

Scrounger

twopenny said:

Just an idea:

A small piece of silicone rubber tubing / sleeving (heatproof) pushed on the 'prongs' above the bulb.

Then a pin or small nail pushed upwards piercing through the rubber far enough to support the fan.


Scrounger

Section62

Scrounger said:

...
A small piece of silicone rubber tubing / sleeving (heatproof) pushed on the 'prongs' above the bulb.

Then a pin or small nail pushed upwards piercing through the rubber far enough to support the fan.

A short length of heatshrink tubing would probably do the job - stick the pin/nail through one side of the tubing (so the head is on the inside), then slide the tubing over the metal bracket and apply heat to shrink the tubing to a tight fit.  The heat from the lamp won't be enough to do the heatshrink tubing any damage.

Ectophile

twopenny said:

Ok, interesting thought.
We have a kids code club at the library. We used to have a 3D printer. On my way there this morning.

It may have to be an unusually high temperature printer filament.  The usual PLA has a very low melting point and is unlikely to survive inside an electric heater.

WIAWSNB

I suggest 3D printing is waaay overkill, and might not even work.

Scrounger's and S62's ideas look very goable. 

WIAWSNB

I wonder if a drawing pin has a long enough spike? If so, then the large head should be easier to fix down in that bracket, say by using a tape wrap with the pin pressed through upwards. 
Wrap a few turns to secure, and then stick the pin through the last turn. Finish taping. 
A fabric sticking plaster?!

Section62

WIAWSNB said:

I wonder if a drawing pin has a long enough spike? If so, then the large head should be easier to fix down in that bracket, say by using a tape wrap with the pin pressed through upwards. 
Wrap a few turns to secure, and then stick the pin through the last turn. Finish taping. 
A fabric sticking plaster?!

There's heat involved - quite a bit judging by the state of the old part - so tape or sticking plaster probably wouldn't be a wise choice. (if nothing else, the adhesive is likely to go hard/break down fairly rapidly)

Scrounger

Or glue (silicone) the drawing pin to the topside / underside of the prongs with the pin pointing up.


Scrounger

twopenny

So having studied the missing part closely it's as I thought, the raised bump in the middle is what actually fitted into a hole in the plastic.
The fan sits cop shape up.

I wonder if a pin, holding it cup shape down would create too much heat in the bulb.

So I need to create a holder for the pimple bit to rest in.
I have some Milliput somewhere if it's still viable, easy to get from the car part shop if not. It says electrically insulating (which I'll look into) and now I have the photo I could possibly reproduce that with some experimenting.
Odly I was only thinking I missed clay modelling 😉 not quite what I had in mind.

The 3d printer is a no go. Library only uses it for planned courses.

I'll email dimplex first then 

As the repair cafe is in a weeks time I might try that first as they have a treasure trove of bits and skills.
The fire will be a great weight to add to their statistics=funding 😊

WIAWSNB

twopenny said:

So having studied the missing part closely it's as I thought, the raised bump in the middle is what actually fitted into a hole in the plastic.
The fan sits cop shape up.

I wonder if a pin, holding it cup shape down would create too much heat in the bulb.

So I need to create a holder for the pimple bit to rest in.
I have some Milliput somewhere if it's still viable, easy to get from the car part shop if not. It says electrically insulating (which I'll look into) and now I have the photo I could possibly reproduce that with some experimenting.
Odly I was only thinking I missed clay modelling 😉 not quite what I had in mind.

The 3d printer is a no go. Library only uses it for planned courses.

I'll email dimplex first then 

As the repair cafe is in a weeks time I might try that first as they have a treasure trove of bits and skills.
The fire will be a great weight to add to their statistics=funding 😊

Not sure I follow. 
You need an upwards pointing pin, yes? And some way of holding it in place. See Scrounger's post above - if a drawing pin is long enough, then just stick it on top of that metal bracket using whatevs - a blob of silicone, or whatever you have.
My 'plaster' idea should get you through Chrimbo - it ain't a permanent solution. I'm just hoping it's stuff you may have in. 
Do you have a drawing pin, or similar? Does your postie sometimes drop wide rubber bands on the ground? Anything like that will do, just to get it going.