Of note is the original poster’s complaint of the genuine replacement’s price tag of $26, and the thread’s eventual proposed fix’s $26.50 cost. Yeah, the new version will not break, but that still seems a lot for what it is. I guess because my budget has always been finicky, and I was raised to engineer my own resolutions before replacing parts on a farm where time was too often weather critical, I’d still consider alternatives to the thread’s solution. I’m sure there are relatively high material costs due to low-quantity pricing, and the guy has to make a profit for his time. But involving another marketer diluted the original purpose, to help fellow RVers, by just adding cost.
I reckon I might be forced to that option myself should any of my latches be abused into breaking. To this point, 3D printing them hasn’t worked due to material choice and inherent layering that’s not appropriate to the stress involved. I’m not that up on 3D printing... so they can use metal now? Aluminum has a tight melting point window - such a machine would be quite the thing. But if it’s like flyreels, machined aircraft aluminum is much preferred over the cast version that it seems 3D printing approximates.
Sans my own substantive epoxy repair, or making my own aluminum one from bar stock at my workbench, I reckon I’d see if my local machinist could fashion one. His prices in the past have always been more than reasonable, and with an original in hand his copying wouldn’t be inaccurate.
Joel
