DIY repair of the broken cup holder

Riba

Member
Ireland
As many people found out, the cup holders are prone to failure. After 20 years the plastic becomes brittle and the ring the pops out is the one that breaks at the front hinges. This part is impossible to find as most of them are already broken so the usual path is to find the complete cup holder assembly and replace it.

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This got me thinking and I decided to try and repair the hinge and pleased to say it was a success! You need a good adhesive (I recommend an epoxy based glue), two short M3 bolts, two or more M3 nuts, two M3 washers, a toothpick and a steady hand.

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Prepare the adhesive and apply a tiny bit on the inner side of what remains of the hinge. Note: way less than shown on the photo, just a very thin layer as you don't want to glue the bolt in, just the washer.

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Next, carefully place the bolt with the washer in the broken hinge and secure it with a nut. No need to make it tight, just enough to hold it in place.

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Leave it until tomorrow and then unscrew the bolt and remove it. I recommend you carefully add more adhesive to keep it in place. This thing isn't going anywhere. :)

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Happy to report it works like a charm. I decided I will glue washers to the other cup holder which is not broken, as I suspect it is matter of time until it breaks. This should keep it in one piece for a long time.

Hope this inspires someone to do the same. :)
 
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Good Evening,

An excellent piece of repair and post. Is there a reason you only put a reinforcing washer on one side of the fracture? (Might be because I do not know the intricacies of the cupholder mechanism).

Andy
 
Thanks Andrew - mostly because the pins are long enough to go through the washers in this setup so there was no need to. Also, pins are facing inwards and putting the washer on the other side increases the width and may make them rub against the assembly on the pin side. I was planning to explore different approaches but this one proved to be perfectly adequate right away. I can try to take a photo with the ring in place, but it is very difficult.
 
Didn't know about it, never had much luck with super glue....the only thing that it bonded for me were fingers. :) Epoxy is more forgiving and less runny.
 
Didn't know about it, never had much luck with super glue....the only thing that it bonded for me were fingers. :) Epoxy is more forgiving and less runny.
As well as being a far superior bond that will last far longer.
 
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