Quick umbrella fix
How I fixed my umbrella in a few tens of minutes
Today I will show a quick fix, not to show off, but rather to show that even this small umbrella problem can be repaired quickly.
My favourite umbrella is from the German store Müller for just a few euros. I like how colourful it is, but it's not the rainbow that everyone decided to buy a few years ago, so in the end, the rainbow umbrella isn't really that cool anymore.
My umbrella broke a few months ago. One of the handles that hold the fabric to the metal poles broke and got lost. The umbrella thus became unusable. Honestly, a few years ago, I would have thrown it out because there was no way to fix it. But it would take my heart to throw it out.
Let’s be glad we live in the 21st century with 3D printers at home. I decided to fix this problem with 3D printing.
First, I had to measure all the dimensions of the handle. The diameter of the handle in the lower part was 6.7 mm, but in the upper part, it was only 5.7 mm. So, although it was not visible at first glance, it narrowed a bit and ended with a hemisphere. The total height was less than 26 millimetres, and there were two holes in the hook—one for holding the fabric and one for sticking to the metal bar.
The one for attaching the fabric was 12 mm high and 1.25 mm in diameter. I chose a 3.7 mm diameter for the metal pole hole and cut it inwards to 11.5 millimetres.
The printing was fast; it was done in 15 minutes. I was willing to wait for this print because it wouldn’t take long, so I printed it in 0.15 QUALITY.
The longitudinal hole was not entirely perfect because I didn't print with any support. I fixed it with a tiny rasper and removed the imperfections.
Then I sewed the fabric to the printed handle and the bar with black thread in the same style as the original handles. I did it well, and it can’t be distinguished from the original handles.
