Last night whilst trying to make myself some popcorn the microwave refused to open. I quickly resigned myself to buying a new machine. After googling away and eyeing off 100’s of microwaves, I realised the fault actually seemed mechanical and I might actually be able to fix it myself.
I quickly removed the cover and discovered the problem, a hinged component of the locking/unlocking mechanism had failed.
Now the microwave was probably 10 years old so I knew trying to source parts would be a waste of time. With a 3D printer ready to go making a replacement should be pretty simple.
I sat down on my trusty laptop with some callipers and I soon enough had a new part drawn up in Fusion360. Improvements were made to the weak points by adding more material and thicker bracing where possible.
My first print was close but a fail, my tolerances were simply too small. Version 2 worked a treat. (Th
