Baby Gate Hinges

Project:
Fixing the baby gate hinges my son broke by slamming the gate

Difficulty Level (Easy, Medium, Hard, Insane):
Easy

Process:
So my son had a fit and decided to slam the baby gate door so hard that the hinges broke right in half. Not sure where replacement hinges could be bought and needing the baby gate rather quickly I figured I'd use some of the left-over plastic resin I bought after the The Fix That Wasn't to make two new ones.

The process was pretty simple: make the pattern, create the mold then cast the new part except for usually I use my Propane Burner and Home Foundry to make them in aluminum but this time I used the Smooth-On two-component plastic resin.

The whole thing took about an hour and I've had the new hinges installed now for one day and it seems to have done the trick.

Pictures:

The broken hinges

Using crazy glue to temporarily fix them

Filling the cavity with playdo to strengthen cast

Preparing the mold

The alginate I used for making the mold

Universal release agent to make it easier to separate pattern and final cast

This hardens into a white plastic in 10 minutes

Pouring the alginate over the old pattern to make the mold

Letting it set for about 10 minutes

Once the cup was removed

Flipping it over reveals the pattern in the mold

Once I poured the plastic resin into the mold

The hardened resin

The rough casts revealed and the mold in the background

The new casts beside the old hinges. Note the hole is now filled in for the new hinges

After the casts were cleaned up and drilled

Ellie thinks it's the coolest thing ever

The installed baby gate with the new hinges

Close-up of the top hinge

Close-up of the bottom hinge

Tools:
Knife
Spoon
Drill
Sander
Hot glue gun

Materials:
Smooth-on alginate
Smooth-on plastic resin
3 paper cups

Cost:
$0.00

Time:
1hr

Savings:
No idea how much those brackets are

Conclusion:
Looks good. Not sure how strong they are. I guess time will tell