Amana refrigerator handle

thingiverse

I have an old Amana refrigerator still running great, but its door handle is completely trashed. I could buy a new one for $95.00, but why would you spend that on a 20+ year old appliance? The handle measures 18 inches long, so it needed to be designed and printed in two separate parts - quite a challenge. I created a prototype by joining the two pieces with a collar I super glued, and surprisingly, it's incredibly strong. Initially, I printed it in grey, but my refrigerator is almond-colored, so my wife joked that it looked like it was covered in duct tape. To solve this problem, I bought an almond spray paint can, and now it looks fantastic. After four weeks, the handle has performed flawlessly. The design shown here is the one I'll be printing soon - I created an inlay to fit together perfectly and added a dowel rod for extra strength, although I'm not convinced it's necessary.