RV refrigerator door latch that doesn't fail

Wayne

Wayne

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Staff member
New Horizons installed this fridge door lock at the factory. They said they tried several types of locks, but none were foolproof until this one. All of the plastic parts are 3D printed and the latch even has a spring. I don't know how they did that, but it's pretty cool.

Doors closed, latch on
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The insert has a magnet do it will stick to the door for storage
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The metal frame bolts to the existing hinge
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Close up
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Latched
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Unlatched
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It has never failed us in 18,000 miles of towing.
 
That looks a bit like a bigger beefier version of the one I made. Little more complex with the latch. I just made my 'lock' portion out of a flexible material that friction fits and won't come out.

It is a pretty gnarly-looking print though, they must have just started doing them. Works though so you can't beat that.

Looking at the latch, it is probably a 3 piece print. The toggle latching part, the body, and then a cover for the spring (that probably also contains the pivot point). It wouldn't have been printed in situ but separately and then assembled.
 
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Wayne said:
Would the parts be epoxied together?


That's what I thought, but I wonder if the texture was purposefully to give it a good grip in your hand?
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Yea, epoxy or CA. Either one would work.

Nahh, they're either new to printing, or are just cranking them out as fast as possible and have their stuff set to the equivalent of 'draft mode'.
 
ctechbob said:
Nahh, they're either new to printing, or are just cranking them out as fast as possible and have their stuff set to the equivalent of 'draft mode'.
Click to expand...
I suspect cranking them out as quickly as possible. How much time would it take to print this in draft mode vs. super nice finish mode?
 
Wayne said:
I suspect cranking them out as quickly as possible. How much time would it take to print this in draft mode vs. super nice finish mode?
Click to expand...
Ehh, not a giant difference in time, maybe an hour vs 90 min. That's to print all 3 parts at one go. For really nice stuff, I'll print the parts separately so the print head never has to stop and move to another part. Just a wild guess on my part

Thinking about it more. They should just make that latch piece out of a flexible material. Way faster, easier, no assembly, and they wouldn't have to mess with gluing felt to the backside of it since it is a soft material that won't mar the finish. And you could still embed a magnet into it super easy.

They're using cubic infill to make it faster or save materials, that's where this pattern comes from. It is the infill pattern just under the outer layer. Almost looks like they only did 1 layer instead of 2 or 3 to hide it.

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I'm not knocking them, mind you, it is great that they are using the technology to help customers. Maybe they'll release the design so people can print their own. Although you'd have to fab up that metal bracket.

Here's a closeup of the disk I just printed. I used a little bit of infill and you can see the difference from where the printer head goes from doing circles, to back and forth, there are 3 layers over the infill so it is smooth, albeit textured.

My layers are also blended together a lot smoother. Even though I did speed through this print since it was fairly simple. Similar scale to the two pieces as well.

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If I remember correctly, the guy who makes these is a retired RVer and has been overwhelmed with orders.
 
we have two shower styple suction cups on ours... with a bungee.
I don't think the thing ever actually opened up on the road, but its something my wife though was a good idea.
stuff is from Walmart.

another good thing to have is pool noodles ... cut to fit to hold items in place.



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