Lunchbox / VesperBox hinge repair

The hinge of the lunchbox broke and I wanted to save to 500g of plastics from the landfill. The lunchbox is from the brand "MyVesperbox" and the model called "Len".

If you have the broken parts try weld them with aceton (see assembly guide). The original parts will fit better then any printed part. If this is missing or shattered in to many pieces, then you can try this repair.

This repair requires a lot of attention and steady hands!

For assembly you need:

• a good small flat needle file.

• aceton (do not try to use glue, this is not strong enough)

• small brush 

• tweezers may become helpfull

Note: working carefully with aceton, you should wear gloves - (but with gloves it could be hard to handle the tiny pieces)

Print instructions

• use ABS or ASA (important!)

• use brim

• print in given orientation 

• because this part is very small it could be good to slowdown the print so material has time to cool between layers (depends  heavily on your printer and material settings)

Assembly

• file the area of the part where it is broken until smooth to create a good mating surface.

• use file to flatten the mating surface of the printed part. take your time and make the surfaces match perfectly!!!

• if you reach the perfect fit use the brush to apply aceton on the mating surfaces

• then join both parts together and press them gently together

• apply a tiny bit of aceton to the seams

• let it cure an hour or so

• clean the box!

The hinge repair for the base part is quite easy, the tolerances are ok. The hinge repair of the lid is another story ... 

Repair of the base hinge: before I put on the printed part, I applied a tiny drop of superglue onto the rod to help keeping it in place. Perhaps this is not necessary, but it might make it hold longer.

If you have to repair the hinge part of the lid, the follow this additional instuctions:

• close the box and turn it upside down

• do steps above

• let it dry for ~10 minutes

• then look from the side, if there is some material that is higher then the base hinge part, file it down very gently. If the printed part is kind of wobbly, the press it back in place and wait longer

• open the box very gently and look if the hinge collides with with the base of the box. if so close the box and file down the collision area. This process can take a while. Tolerances are very tight here

Additional notes

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