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The plastic glide rail on which my refrigerator vegetable drawer (bin) traveled recently broke.

The rail was part of a large plastic shelf, which is no longer available for purchase.

I'm thinking about 3D printing a new glide rail and attaching it (somehow) to the existing shelf.

Can 3D printing be used for this task to make the repair any easier or more successful to complete than simply cutting a piece of plastic and (again, somehow) affixing it to the shelf?

Note that the glide rail needs to be somehow attached to the shelf at a 90 degree angle. I keep using the word "somehow" because I haven't figured out how to make that magic happen yet.

Amazon Dies In Darkness
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Can 3D printing be used for this task to make the repair any easier or more successful to complete than simply cutting a piece of plastic and (again, somehow) affixing it to the shelf?

Yes. 3D printed parts can be plenty strong enough to handle the kind of load you're considering. You'll need to create a 3D model of the part you want it a CAD program, which is something that takes some practice if you don't already know how to do it, so it may or may not be easier for you than milling the from a plastic blank.

One advantage that 3D printing brings with it is the ability to iterate rapidly on your design: you can model and print the part that you think will work, try it out, adjust your model to incorporate what you learn from the first try, and print new versions until you get it just right. If the existing shelf is broken in some irregular way, for example, you can design a new part that mates tightly with the broken edge of the part you have.

The rail was part of a large plastic shelf, which is no longer available for purchase.

Perhaps you've already looked, but there are a great many parts suppliers online. If you have the part number, be sure to look beyond just what the manufacturer can supply -- it's very likely that someone out there has the part you need.

Caleb
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This is one of those tricky problems where the form of the repair and the materials that you need have to go hand in hand - you need a way to fix the new rail to the shelf and you need the repair to be strong enough to do it’s job. Perhaps consider screwing the rail to the shelf - cyanoacrylate adhesive is good for 3D prints but doesn’t like low temperatures. Once you know how you’re going to fix the rail, the design requirements will be clearer.

Frog
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