Case Study Overview

Site Domestic property
Location United Kingdom
Repair Type High-strength bonding
Defect Collapsed magic corner kitchen unit

Repair Products

Superfast Steel Epoxy Putty

Case Study PDF

Case Study Details

A magic corner kitchen unit makes use of dead space in corner cupboards which are otherwise hard to access. A slide out mechanism attached to a cabinet door allows items to be easily stored and retrieved from blind corners.

There are several reasons why magic corners can break. Wear and tear is one. Frequent opening and closing of the cupboard and stress on the sliding mechanism will take its toll after many years.

Magic corners will often be overloaded in excess of the weight the manufacturer recommends they carry. Because they are attached to a cupboard door rather than being a part of the actual unit, overloading can lead to units collapsing and damage to the door itself.

In this case, the magic corner unit was very old. The client also admitted that they may have overloaded it. Eventually, this led to the magic corner collapsing, detaching it from the kitchen cupboard door.

Upon inspecting the broken corner, the problem was discovered to have been caused by a vital pin on which the mechanism pivoted breaking away from the frame and causing the detachment.

A replacement magic corner would have cost £290 and required some advanced DIY skills to fit. After the homeowner consulted Sylmasta to see if a repair was possible, it was decided to attempt to fix the magic corner kitchen unit using Superfast Steel Epoxy Putty.

Superfast Steel is used for filling holes and cracks, restoring profile to a damaged surface, fabricating new parts and for high-strength bonding between materials. For this particular application, it was Superfast Steel’s adhesive properties that were required.

To use Superfast Steel, the required amount is cut from the 114g epoxy putty stick and kneaded by hand. This causes a chemical reaction to take place between the resin and hardener which form the stick. Within 10 minutes, the soft putty will have cured into a material as hard as steel.

The damaged pin was around 100mm in length and had been welded to the magic corner prior to the collapse. The pin was to be reattached to the unit using Superfast Steel, which would provide a bond as strong as the previous welding.

Completing the reattachment took less than 30 minutes. Within an hour, the putty had fully hardened. The magic corner could be filled with kitchen items again – although the client was careful not to overload it this time.

One Superfast Steel Stick was all that was required for the application. At an outlay of under £20, the repair represented a huge saving compared to the cost of replacing the magic corner.

Products Used

Superfast Steel
Fast-working epoxy putty permanently bonds broken parts back together

Related Case Studies

Case Study: Hospital Maintenance Team Seal 80mm Diameter Hole in Cast Iron Wastewater Drain Pipe

A hospital seal an 80mm diameter hole in a cast iron drain pipe through which wastewater was pouring whenever a bathroom was used in a repair taking under 15 minutes

Case Study: Corroded & Leaking Worthington-Simpson Pump Head Repair

The inside of a Worthington Simpson pump for which replacement parts no longer exist is sealed and reinforced after pinholes were left in the casing during the removal of corrosion

Case Study: Repair of Underground Clay Drainage Pipe Cracked During Building Work

Two cracks in an underground clay drainage pipe – one of which was severe enough to almost split the pipe into two – are sealed by a UK homeowner making a DIY repair

Case Study: Boat Owner Repairs Pinhole Leak in Rubber Hose Connected to Engine

A hardened rubber hose playing a vital role in cooling a boat engine undergoes repair after developing a pinhole leak in an area of the vessel which was extremely difficult to access

Case Study: External Surface Damage Repair to Restore Integrity of 400mm GRP Pipe

Areas of external damage on the surface of a 400mm GRP pipe at an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia undergo repair to restore integrity of the line and lessen the chance of future leaks