Microwave mounting flange is cracked

[WhiskeyDelta]

Hi all! New guy here. 1st post.

I have a 1993 Cobra Passport 25' Ford E350 Class C. Above the stove is a Goldstar microwave. Years and years of bouncing down the road have taken its toll on the steel mounting flange that holds this microwave in its cabinet space. Even though there's a block mounted inside the cabinet to support the back of the microwave the stresses were enough to put cracks in all four corners of this flange.



I've done some perusing of this site and found many microwave issues related to power problems or the microwave itself. I did find one mount-related post where a poor soul had his entire microwave fall through the cabinet. Ouch.

I've mulled over some solutions in my head, the first one being a replacement made of heavier sheet metal. (I have to bribe a sheet metal shop foreman for this.) I might estimate this cost to be around $100.

Another sound fix is sheet metal patches held in place with rivets. Total cost: zero dollars. The little woman says it can't look "ghetto" so this one is out.

RV salvage yards in Washington state all seem to be closed today. I'll try them tomorrow.

My last option is ditch the metal and go with wood. The original flange was punched for ventilation purposes so I believe it would be well to ventilate the replacement. Simply drilling holes in the wood will lean toward "looking ghetto", so I'm considering rectangular cutouts with rounded corners above and below, adhering grain-matching finishing tape to the inside of the cutouts (assuming that I'm not buying a real piece of white ash or whatever that wood finish is...), and then tacking pieces of metal mesh material to the back. This solution involves trying to find a piece of pressboard faux-finish wood that matches the cabinets. (And hitting up my cabinet-maker buddy for some shop time.)

Any and all thoughts, comments and criticisms are graciously welcomed. Thanks for listening to this long-winded first post.

[bob109]

Quote:

Originally Posted by WhiskeyDelta Hi all! New guy here. 1st post. I have a 1993 Cobra Passport 25' Ford E350 Class C. Above the stove is a Goldstar microwave. Years and years of bouncing down the road have taken its toll on the steel mounting flange that holds this microwave in its cabinet space. Even though there's a block mounted inside the cabinet to support the back of the microwave the stresses were enough to put cracks in all four corners of this flange. . Any and all thoughts, comments and criticisms are graciously welcomed. Thanks for listening to this long-winded first post.

Get yourself some JB Weld and apply it to the cracks on the rear side of your flange. JB Weld is extremely strong and can be worked with a file or sandpaper. For less than $10.00 you should have excellent results. You can also reinforce the corners by applying some small metal backing strips over the cracks and imbed them in the JB Weld

[ctpres]

Have same problem. Not sure any repair will hold up. I think problem is caused by back end of MW bouncing up on rough roads. I am looking for some way to secure the back end. Next time I take it out to run wire I will figure out something. My best idea so far is a short L bracket with verticle secured to MW and horiz. piece fitting into slot on piece of wood at rear of cabinet.

[WhiskeyDelta]

Bob, CT, thank you. I even have some JB Weld! I've used it for a lot of stuff but didn't think about it for this application.

Prior to the JB Weld patch I'm thinking I can reinforce the corners by riveting some 20ga sheet metal pieces to the inside corners of the flange like so:



I like the stabilizer idea, CT. I'm sure it's that bouncing on rough roads that tore up this mounting flange. The block keeps the MW from dropping but doesn't do anything to prevent it from being tossed up in the air.

It wouldn't be too short of an L-bracket. I've got about seven inches of space from the back of the MW to the wall. And due to the irregular shape of the housing on the rear of the MW I might have to get creative in mounting the bracket(s). I don't want to drill holes in the center of that housing and shelf brackets of sufficient strength won't lie flush along the rear edges. (The right rear edge, anyway.) Some 3/4" metal standoffs might do the trick here. These brackets would need to be at least seven inches on the short end and eleven inches on the long end.

Another "anti-bounce" solution I've been thinking about is a wad, stack or roll of some soft foam insulation between the top of the MW and the ceiling. It's a gap of five inches. I'd have to finesse it in there while I was sliding the whole assembly back into its space. There's no ventilation holes on the top that could be blocked.

Thanks for the ideas, gentlemen, and thanks again for letting me ramble.

[ksg5000]

For what it's worth --- you can anchor the microwave by a number of means - toss the cracked flange and buy a suitable trim package for your sized microwave.

[WhiskeyDelta]

I think I'm going with the mount repair route.

After a dozen calls around the area (I'm in Seattle) I was referred to a place called Northwest RV Supply in Eugene, OR. They buy out RV manufacturers leftover parts for resale. They had a number of new microwave mount flanges but none were the dimensions I needed.

There used to be a huge RV Salvage yard in Rochester, WA (near Olympia) but they closed their doors about four years ago.

As far as a mount provided or recommended by the microwave manufacturer, it doesn't exist. This is info from a Goldstar parts distributor.

I thought this was interesting:



It is just a household MW with rubber feet on the bottom.