Guard for GE Ice Maker Bucket

thingiverse

Update 4/5/18 - My worst fears about using PLA for this model came true yesterday. One of the glue joints broke, or possibly ice caused part of the guard to crack and break, resulting in a full bin of shattered pieces. Next step is to redesign with added strength and likely print in something other than standard PLA. Using screws instead of glue seems like a great goal also. It may take months at this rate I get around to fixing things! Update 12/26/17 - I finally assembled the guard, see photo. The printed parts are a mix of two or more iterations and only the splint on the top of the guard remains the same as those uploaded. The print is sturdy but looks terrible. The temperature was high and speed too fast. There's a green glue-on piece in front of the guard where the screw fastens it to the bin. In the photo, you can see the original part, broken into two pieces. I failed to notice that the mounting hole isn't centered on the original part. I designed the part from half of the original and never removed the bin during the summer when I printed parts to double-check them against the bin. The right side piece (the mirrored piece) is shorter than it should be by about 11-12 mm. You can adjust the Z scale factor to increase size by that amount, and the whole assembly should be very close to original size. There were several mm of clearance on each side of the bin in the original part. The center glue-on piece was widened to compensate for width change. You probably should print left side and fit-check it in the bin before printing mirrored right side that needs adjusted Z scale factor. I'll add an update if there are any problems that show up in the future. I'm not convinced my choice of PLA was the right one for this part. This is a replacement part for the plastic guard that fits on top-front of interior of Ice Bucket in GE refrigerator. The PN of the Bucket in my refrigerator is WR17X11429. You can find them on eBay. I call this piece a Guard; I don't know what anybody else calls them or if they are available as a spare part. The original part broke a long time ago, before I had any idea of its function. It turns out that it's needed to prevent ice from jamming up at front of bin and prevent the bin from being opened. Print one piece of guard, and another that is a mirror or the original. Glue pieces together with CA glue, using splints to strengthen them and provide mounting screw hole at front of bucket. The splint with hole touches front surface of Ice Bin where it's attached with a screw. It's glued on outside of V-shaped section.