Maytag UMV1152CAS Microwave Oven door trim piece necessary?

[Reggie382]

The latch on our door broke away from the frame and I 3d printed a piece to secure it. That works great but the door still seemed to come loose enough to stop the oven while it was running. You could push on it and tell there was a little bit of given ad play with it.

I found that removing the plastic trim piece allowed the door to close in a way that felt very secure and the oven has not stopped mid operation since doing this. I just wanted to make sure that the trim piece was not functionally necessary. It seems that the trim piece is not sitting flush enough and is basically like a spacer between the door and the body and causes the door to not close all the way.

I couldn't imaging that plastic in any way provided protection from the electromagnetic energy of the oven but just wanted to make sure.

I've attached some pics and just placed the trim piece on the door so you could see what I'm talking about. It's clearly not inserted all the way and just there for reference. The other pics show the door without the trim piece.

Thanks,
Reggie

 

[citizenX]

No, the trim piece is just cosmetic. The plastic does nothing to stop the microwaves. It's the metal framing and the grid on the glass with all the tiny holes that stops them.

That said, I'm not sure what part you printed but if you changed the length or geometry of the latch arms in any way, it could allow the unit to run without the door being properly closed, which is a big no no. If you had to remove the trim piece to get the door to close all the way then something isn't right. Either the trim wasn't snapped in all the way around due to a broken/bent plastic tab or edge or something, or the piece you made is interfering with it.

The service tech liability part of me says you need to get the correct factory part and don't screw with homemade door parts on a microwave, and don't use it until you have the door properly tested with a microwave leakage detector. The other side of me says, ehhh if it works then cool. Just turn off your pacemaker and if anyone there grows an extra arm out of their forehead then that's on you! 

[Reggie382]

Hey, thanks for the info and sorry for the slow response. I wanted to get some follow up photos and didn't have a good chance with everything going on.

That's what I expected on the plastic trim. I didn't see how plastic could in any way be involved in microwave protection but you just never know so I wanted to double check.

On the latch arm, I didn't change anything and made sure the piece kept the arm at the same distance as it was supposed to be. Basically the piece that holds the latch arm is a very thin piece of plastic that's obviously designed to break as they wouldn't have made it so thin otherwise. There's no way to repair that as it snapped off and was part of the entire door piece. 

So I made a piece that clipped on to the metal fins around the door and it did a good job of keeping the latch secure and in the approximate location as the original piece.  When the door closes, it feels very secure and I can't push it inward any further so it appears to be holding it firmly in place.

Here's some pics of the piece I made.

Thanks again,

Reggie