What fastener is this?

January 4, 2010 11:04 AM

I have this baby wipe warmer that has a bad power cord. Tried to open it up but quickly became flummoxed when I looked at the fasteners.

I have the jigger the wire near the rear of the unit to get the power to come on. I hate buy another one, so I figure I could just open it up and correct the problem. But I have no idea if I can open this up, and or even close it back up.

Here's a closeup. Any ideas if/how I can open this thing up?

posted by rdhatt to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

It looks like the parts snapped together with a pin & hole arrangement, possibly aided with a little melting action. If you don't get any other responses, and you don't mind destroying the device, you might try drilling out the holes. Start pretty small, and use a larger & larger drill until you manage to disconnect the top & bottom.

When my kid was little, we used a mini electric blanket that just wrapped around a standard package of wipes. You'd think a heater that heats from the top wouldn't work as well (but maybe your whole appliance has heating coils around it?)
posted by spacewrench at 11:15 AM on January 4, 2010

That looks like a vibration weld in the plastic, not a fastener. You will probably have to break the case open and then glue it closed.

Do you really need such a contraption? Honestly, how warm does a wipe need to be?
posted by clvrmnky at 11:15 AM on January 4, 2010

I don't know how to fix it, but I must say that perhaps you ought not bother. Everything I've read about baby wipe warmers has indicated that they are just a money-making scam and that they actually cause more problems than they solve - they are, among things a breeding ground for bacteria.
posted by lodie6 at 11:16 AM on January 4, 2010

They look like those plastic melted rivet things you sometimes find. Basically there's a little plastic peg that goes through a hole and is then melted to form a flat disc.

You can only remove those by drilling or cutting them out, then replacing them with some other type of fastener. If you're very careful you may be able to drill a small hole down the centre of the plastic stub and insert a small screw.

And anyway, seriously? A baby wipe warmer? These truly are the end times.
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 11:18 AM on January 4, 2010

It's defective. Return it and get your money back. You'll probably have more difficulty doing so if you crack it open.
posted by sageleaf at 11:19 AM on January 4, 2010

A malfunctioning electrical appliance in a baby's room is probably something that's best not fiddled with. If you're determined to have a baby wipe warmer, it'd be safer to just get a new one, but I'll echo others who say they're not necessary. My kids were infants before baby wipe warmers were invented, and I just warmed the wipes in my hand on particularly chilly days.
posted by amyms at 11:22 AM on January 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

Pretty sure that's a weld or a rivet (plastic, obviously) and it's not going to come apart in one piece. You could drill it out and probably glue the thing back together with epoxy or silicone of some sort.
posted by chairface at 11:32 AM on January 4, 2010

A malfunctioning electrical appliance in a baby's room is probably something that's best not fiddled with.

I want to reaffirm this statement. The risk of electrical fire from a malfunctioning cord is not something to keep in your home, much less in an infant's room. I very much appreciate the desire to do it yourself and not waste money, but this is not the place to do it.

Live without a wipe warmer, or buy a new one.
posted by shinynewnick at 11:36 AM on January 4, 2010

A malfunctioning electrical appliance in a baby's room is probably something that's best not fiddled with.

Also a rigged-up "hey honey I fixed it" appliance would not go into my toddler's room, and I'm pretty confident and handy.

We had a warmer for awhile but it go so scary hot on the bottom that we tossed it. I know use the wipes as a very effective way to teach my toddler what "cold" means.
posted by Big_B at 12:56 PM on January 4, 2010

The increased fire risk of a homemade repair isn't worth the non-existent benefit the device provides. Toss it, forget it. But yes, it's a plastic rivet that could be drilled out, but cannot be reattached -- by design, to keep people like yourself from attempting to make repairs, for safety purposes.
posted by davejay at 1:05 PM on January 4, 2010

The two parts of that plastic box are fastened by an ultrasonic weld, which can't be undone. Welds like that are useful because they are cheap and no one is expected to need access for repairs.

The only way I would suggest fixing your appliance would be to drill out each welded rivet, repair your wiring and then re-attach both halves with small nuts and bolts that run through the holes that you drilled.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 1:15 PM on January 4, 2010

I'm sure once you get this open, you will find that the power cord connects with two crimped wire nuts to the guts of the device. I imagine one of those crimped connections has come loose.

You should be able to cut, strip, and re-wire-nut the connections in short order without increasing the fire risk at all. I'm a little surprised at the OMG NOT NEAR MY KID reactions here. Really, what magic does the new device possess? It's not filled with Magic Anti-Fire Vapor or something.

Of course, if this is your first repair of an electrical appliance, I'd advise maybe bringing it to a handy friend.
posted by chazlarson at 2:09 PM on January 4, 2010

It's child safe. Take it as a challenge, and take a sledgehammer to it.
posted by carlh at 5:04 PM on January 4, 2010

I've always thought of these as rivets, although they are probably thermal or vibration welded as mentioned earlier. It is meant as a one-way operation, not for disassembly. It's also very inexpensive for the manufacturer. I did a bit of design for components such as this that are meant to be non-removable or non-serviceable though in my case it was for actual safety reasons. I think you can safely disassemble it to investigate the cause of the finicky power cord. When it's apart you can make a game-time decision about whether you want to repair it or discard it. Personally I think some of the other posters in this thread are being alarmist.

Through much trial and error (to the chagrin and dismay of my parents) I have found a way to take these apart and leave it in reasonable shape for reassembly.

First unplug the device. This step takes care of itself if you bring it down to your workshop/work bench/kitchen table, but if you want to repair it on the spot you should still unplug it, or at the very least move the baby to another room.

Then drill the centre of each rivet slightly with a drill bit that's about half the size of the outside diameter of the rivet, but bigger than the inside of the hole. Do this lightly on each and see if you can pry the lid free. When you get it apart, check the electrical contacts and all that jazz as suggested above.

If you successfully drilled a small enough portion the boss that was vibe-welded into the head of the rivet may have enough material to support a self-tapping fastener.

To reassemble, get some sheet metal screws or plastic self-tapping screws. Sheet metal screws are usually short, stubby and tapered along their entire length. Even though you'll be installing them in plastic, they have "tall" threads that bite well into plastic. Many suppliers have self-tapping screws for plastic (McMaster, MSC, etc.) that are available in much smaller sizes.

Godspeed and good luck. Feel free to drop me a line if my tinkerambles aren't clear.
posted by KevCed at 8:09 PM on January 4, 2010

PS: I am a mechanical engineer but I am not your mechanical engineer and this is all on you.
PPS: In life you only need two tools. A hammer for when it's stuck, and duct tape for when it isn't.
posted by KevCed at 8:10 PM on January 4, 2010 [1 favorite]

The fasteners are a thermal weld of some kind. I like to use a piloted spot weld cutter in a pin vice to cut the top off the weld. You can then use a wide flange plastic screw to put the device back together.

Depending on clearances you might need to glue it back together. If you can see a plastic type stamped on the inside you can look it up to see what kind of solvent and filler to use. A lot of the time these things are ABS or PVC and widely available plumbing solvent will do the job.

amyms writes "A malfunctioning electrical appliance in a baby's room is probably something that's best not fiddled with."

There's no massive capacitor inside this thing or other device that would make it dangerous to repair. It's a simple element, thermal fuse and switch. Mine is low voltage to boot getting it's power from a wall wart. Once the case is apart, the cord fixed and put back together it will no longer malfunctioning and will be fine for it's intended use. Easily as safe as any new one and possibly safer as it's a known quantity where as a new one may have a manufacturing defect.

As an aside I use a baby wipe warmer to keep lotion warm in our bedroom in the winter. Maybe it's horribly decadent but 10 degree body lotion is a real mood killer.
posted by Mitheral at 12:10 AM on January 5, 2010