How to replace a broken latch no longer made?

September 12, 2010 8:09 PM

[home repair] How do I get a broken piece of a vintage door latch fabricated?

Our laundry area has accordion doors with a plastic latch. The latch is broken, so the doors won't stay together:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5991693/spacesaver.jpg

(this is about an inch long and 1/2 an inch high)

I'd like to find a way for the latch to function. This could be through replacement (no luck finding parts from Space Saver, a WA-state company that went OOB years ago), fabrication, or DIY. Any recommendations?

posted by Señor Pantalones to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

What does this piece attach to? The easiest solution is most likely to add an entirely new latch, but maybe that doesn't work for you for some reason.

It might be helpful to post an image of the latch area on the actual doors, so that we can see what the problem is. Fabricating a part like that would be quite expensive and the DIY options may not be easy (but a picture would help to indicate how strong it needs to be, etc.)
posted by ssg at 8:22 PM on September 12, 2010

Wouldn't be too hard to fabricate a replacement out of steel. I've done this before on a number of antique cabinets. It looks like the only critical dimensions are the hole spacing on the baseplate and the height of the latch aperture.
posted by tim_in_oz at 8:22 PM on September 12, 2010

Response by poster: @ssg - thanks for asking. the piece is part of a +/- latch system integrated with the handles on either section of the accordion doors. The left door has the + (a V piece on a spring latch) and the right door has the -, this extended [] shape that locks into the V. But since the [] shape is now a U, there's no _ part for it to latch against.

Here are the two parts:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5991693/spacesaverL.jpg

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5991693/spacesaverR.jpg

@tim_in_oz any recommendations on where one begins fabricating out of steel? this is new territory for me, and google's uselessness simply turns up a bunch of industrial metal fabrication vendors.

Thanks to you both!
posted by Señor Pantalones at 8:44 PM on September 12, 2010

I'd happily do it for you, but you couldn't be in a hurry; as my username hints at, I'm in Australia. But seriously, if you're not in a blinding hurry, mail me the bits and I'll make you a replacement.
posted by tim_in_oz at 8:47 PM on September 12, 2010

Best answer: Was going to make the same offer as tim_in_oz, only I'm in Canada. This would be a pretty simple/fast project.
posted by davey_darling at 8:55 PM on September 12, 2010

Same old story - all the manufacturing industry has gone offshore.
posted by tim_in_oz at 11:03 PM on September 12, 2010 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Yeah, that looks like a simple enough object for any bodger with a few hand tools to replace with a bit of metal and some wire.

If you want to feel as if you're Living In The Future, though, you could make your own replacement out of a tough, nylon-like plastic that has the unusual quality of turning into a pliable, transparent putty when you put it in hot water. Then you shape the thing you want, let it cool, see if it's right, and if it's not, just heat it up and try again, as many times as are necessary. Broken and no-longer-needed creations can similarly be repaired/recycled, and the hardened plastic can also be carved and drilled like nylon. It's suitable for just about anything nylon can do except, of course, for high-temperature applications.

The technical name of the plastic is "polycaprolactone", and it's available under a number of brands - "Shapelock", "Polymorph" and "Friendly Plastic", for instance. It's remarkably useful stuff; I rambled on about it in this blog post.
posted by dansdata at 12:04 AM on September 13, 2010 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Check around with some local jewelry artists or foundries. That part is small enough that a duplicate could be quickly carved from wax and a replacement made via lost-wax casting. Or sand casting. Either way will work.
posted by jdfan at 3:32 AM on September 13, 2010

Even if the company is out of business, you may want to look in the door accessories section of your local big box home improvement store. A lot of those parts are interchangeable between brands or you might be able to replace all of the hardware. Here is some of what Lowes has; local stores often carry more, especially cheap parts that are not worth selling online.
posted by TedW at 8:18 AM on September 13, 2010

Seconding asking a local foundry, if you can find one.

I had an odd-shaped plastic part [a car interior door handle] break once, I glued the broken part back together and got a local foundry to cast a replacement in aluminium. Fast, simple & really cheap.
posted by HiroProtagonist at 7:37 PM on September 13, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I've taken someone up on his offer, but the information here is valuable nonetheless. I appreciate the link to polycaprolactone -- I'll be looking in to that.
posted by Señor Pantalones at 12:38 AM on September 14, 2010