Ironing Board Repair
A broken ironing board; you can look at this problem in two different ways. If it’s broken, you can’t iron, yea! But than again, you may need to iron a shirt for your job interview, bummer. Anyway an ironing board is a fairly simple appliance. The only complexity is the mechanism that allows the ironing board to fold up. And wouldn’t you know that this is what normally breaks or stops working.
Repair your Ironing Board
The first thing most people will do is purchase another board. Which is what I tried to do at our local hardware and home accessory stores? What I found out was that most all folding ironing boards are designed in a very similar way. These boards cost from $15 to $50, and they all had the same design. The more expensive ones were built to be more durable but the folding mechanisms were very much the same. The $30 board was actually a cheaper looking board than what we already owned. So I decided to repair it.
The folding mechanism consisted of a steel rod 3/16” in diameter, a catch plate that the steel rod slides through and a spring that puts pressure on the catch plate. There are two possible issues that cause the folding mechanism to stop working.
It is always recommended to inspect the folding mechanism so you know exactly how the assembly works. If needed, make a diagram of how the pieces fit together.
First is that the steel rod gets bent and won’t allow the board to fold correctly. And once the rod is bent, there is a weak spot where the bend was and it will easily bend again. Second is that the spring gets weak and can not put enough pressure on the catch plate to stop the steel rod that holds up the board. This mechanism is similar to hydraulic screen/storm door closer found in many homes, without the hydraulics.
I decided to replace the steel rod and the spring. The catch plate itself was in good condition, it is just a piece of metal with a hole through the center. After disassembling the folding mechanism, I purchased another steel rod of same diameter (3/16”) and a new spring of about the same size and tension, both found at most hardware stores. I had to cut the rod with a hack saw to around 16 inches in length. The spring pushes on the catch plate which is at a slight angle to the steel rod. This pressure of the catch plate onto the steel rod stops the rod from moving and thus stops the ironing board from collapsing. There is a lever that un-catches the steel rod by keeping the catch plate perpendicular to the steel rod when it slides.
For assembly, one end of the steel rod goes into the catch plate, the spring and a hole in the ironing board frame. Then I used two pliers to bend other end of the rod around the metal shaft holding the steel rod onto the ironing board. Another tip here is to place a small clamp on each side of the steel rod where it attaches onto the board frame to keep the rod in alignment to the catch plate. This reduces the chance of the rod getting bent.
If you can not find a new spring or after assembly find that the catch plate is not stopping the steel rod as desired, you will need to add more pressure on the catch plate to keep the rod from sliding through the plate. This can be easily done with a small bungee cord pulling the catch plate in the same direction that the spring is forcing pressure on the catch plate.
So for $5, you have a like new ironing board, probably better than the new one for $50. The bad news, now you can iron that shirt, no excuses.
Related Information:
- Laminate Countertop End Repair Loose laminate at the end of your countertop is not only annoying but unsightly. So do a quick repair before the loose laminate breaks....
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