Refrigerator Door Repair
The door on our 30+year-old refrigerator was sagging and it was letting air inside causing condensation near the top.
![The door on the right was sagging and letting in air to the fridge.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_175019-1024x768.jpg)
It was very obvious the top of the door wasn’t flush with the top of the fridge and it wasn’t level with the freezer door next to it.
![Very obvious difference in door height.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_175014-1024x768.jpg)
The condensation forming inside was getting bad, so this problem had to be fixed.
![Condensation forming on the inside of the fridge.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_194925-1024x768.jpg)
After removing all items from the fridge door, I loosened the top hinge and then removed the door to reveal the bottom hinge.
![Loosing the hinge on the fridge door.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_195253-1024x768.jpg)
Low and behold, the bushing on the bottom hinge was severely worn.
![Super worn bushing on the lower hinge. Please ignore the dirty underside. This fridge is 30+ years old!](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_200444-1024x768.jpg)
Please ignore the dirty underside. This fridge is 30+ years old!
The bushing appeared to be made out of a hard type of plastic. I didn’t have a spare one on hand, but heck, I could make one with my 3D printer! Knew that thing would eventually come in hand one day!
![The worn bushing.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_163926-1024x768.jpg)
So, after getting some measurements from the old bushing, I fired up Fusion 360 and quickly designed a replacement part.
![Bushing designed up in Fusion 360.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Fusion-360-1024x609.jpg)
After some slicing and dicing in a slicer program, it was time to dust of my trusty Prusa 3D printer and print! Since I haven’t used the printer in a few months, the z-axis was off a bit and resulted in a really poor first few layers. Luckily, though, the print went to completion without any problems.
![Finished part. Initial layers of the print weren't so good.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_180749-1024x768.jpg)
The new part looked pretty close to the original. I had to guess what the original height of the bushing was since the old one was so worn.
![New bushing vs. old bushing.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_203159-1024x768.jpg)
I just hope the PLA plastic I used is hard enough to stand up to the stress and wear from the fridge door.
![New bushing in place on the fridge hinge.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_200512-1024x768.jpg)
After remounting the door and tightening down the hinges, it was back to being level!
![Door now level!](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190421_202349-1024x768.jpg)
The condensation was much less but there still was a little bit. After looking around the seal, I found a small hole. After patching with some silicone sealer, there was no more condensation.
![Final touches to the repair.](https://makeshiftengineer.com/01/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190428_151725-1024x768.jpg)
Now the fridge door closes level and water no longer condenses on the inside!