White Knight Cl737 door catch not holding

[iain3915]

The door catch on my very old White Knight CL737 recently stopped holding the door closed. The door handle is flappy as though the spring isn't doing it's job. I've bought a new spring kit but I can't figure out what I need to do to get this to work - any ideas what is wrong in the photo below?


short lonely poems

 

[jj4091]

It looks like the pin should pass through the spring, but hard to tell what the diameters are from that pic.

 

[dishman]

Good spot @jj4091

Yeh, the spindle needs to go through the centre of the spring.

It should also be clear that the spring is under tension by the each leg being against something so there is resistance.

Failing that, a youtube video I found gives a good guide and looks similar to yours:

 

[rsgaz]

Shouldn't this leg of the spring be above the plastic like the blue shape I have drawn?
Isn't that why it seems to have that little horizontal lump to stop it sliding off?

 

[dishman]

I was looking at that too. It does look as if that plastic part under your blue outline has some damage too. Has it been broken off and re-glued in the past? I can see a crack in it.

 

[rsgaz]

I'm not the OP @dishman!! I just nabbed their picture and drew on it!!

 

[dishman]

lol - oh I realised that - I was just agreeing with you but asking the OP about it in the same sentence lol.

I looked at the same thing initially, but the crack could be a clue to why it failed in the first place.

 

[iain3915]

You guys are correct - I found another picture somewhere that confirmed the spring should sit on the little plastic sticky out bit. It has cracked so that is the source of the problem. Time to break out the glue!

 

[jj4091]

It might be an idea to try & find a small metal tube that you can slip over the end of the spring so that the end rests past the crack onto good plastic as I doubt gluing it will do much good.

 

[dishman]

How bad is the crack? Have you tried fitting it correctly in the position suggested above? Or are you reluctant to try due to the crack.

Rather than trying to find a tube to lengthen the spring arm. Why not re-enforce the plastic with some epoxy filler.

Specifically, my favourite, Milliput! It works like soft clay and dries harder than stone. A thin-ish layer of this over that area should be enough. It is super strong.

These are my repairs with it, I posted these elsewhere as a recommendation recently.


I used it to totally re-build the support arm for the lawnmower.Most of the bracket is missing under the yellow milliput area. It takes a lot of force from the push/pull of the lawnmower. So a super strong repair. All my glue efforts with the original bracket piece failed after a single use.

And sculpted a new catch on a dishwasher lid after it got smashed off.

I also used it to re-enforce cracked plastic around the screw holes as you can see.

So a thin layer similar to the last image is all I mean.

You can get the standard yellow version for about £2.80 on ebay.

It is a two part expoxy that comes in two sticks like plasticine.
Totally worth it. You don't need to use it all at once. You would need a tiny slither of each stick for a repair that size.

 

[iain3915]

Thanks Dishman - I have ordered some Milliput for £2.89

 

[dishman]

When you get the stuff, lay the sticks side by side and cut off the same amount from each. Maybe 1cm. Remember, because you are cutting a bit from both you double the amount you have.

Mix them well. I normally mix them for 5 mins until it is all the same yellow colour.

I would dismantle the handle and spring mechanism so you have more space to apply it.

Make sure the surface is clean. It should stick anyway, but you may want to lightly sand it to key it for better adhesion. This is not vital as this stuff sticks to anything. Even underwater.

When you apply it make sure you support the cracked bit from the other side as you will have to press it on to the surface.

I would make the layer a few mm in thickness, in the rough shape below to ensure it has some kind of support over a large area.



Make sure you retain that bump to ensure there is still something to keep the spring arm in place. You could even go over it with milliput to.

I would also apply a similar amount and shape to the other side for extra support. It looks like it is hidden by the handle so it won't be visible. This way it will be supported in a sandwich of milliput.

It takes about 24hrs to dry super hard. But it will start to get moderately hard within an hour.

Only re-assemble it after 24hrs+ and it is rock hard.

You can always add another layer after if you feel it still needs more support.

 

[iain3915]

Thanks for that detailed response, Dishman. The Milliput worked a treat and the catch now functions properly

 

[dishman]

Glad it worked, I knew it would.

Milliput is fantastic stuff, very cheap, especially compared to other less good stuff. There is a decent amount there for small repairs so it lasts a long time.

Recently I experimented with adding a tiny bit of artists water colour (new version of oil based paint in tubes) to see how it worked with colouring it. It worked really well too. It only needed a tiny amount to colour it.