A neighbor recently donated an old Samsonite hard case that is large enough to fit some of my folding bikes perfectly. The internal storage is roughly 80cm x 60cm x 50cm. There was one catch: it had a broken main latch. The case was in decent condition otherwise and with both side latches still working well, it’d be a shame to pass on it. I took a look at the broken part and discovered it was only held in place to the main shell with 2 Torx screws- this made for an easy swap if a replacement part could be found.
Unfortunately, this case was far too old to nail down any sort of model identification. It was a large Oyster 2 style case but there were quite a number of those under the same product line. I couldn’t find any reasonably priced parts that could be fit with any level of certainty. I didn’t need any kind of locking mechanism for this latch so a homemade replacement design would only need to fulfill the latching part.
After a bit of Googling, I learned this mechanism has a specific name: the toggle latch.
After a bit of measurement, examination of the recepticle, and an hour in Onshape I had a design!
Fast-forward 2 prototypes later, I had a working latch fully printed in PLA with no additional hardware. It’s assembled by pushing the two pins into the main lever, the cam arm, and mount body. Then it’s secured with those 2 torx screws.
Result
It works well and hold the case together so it can be confidently lifted when full by the handle. For the STL files needed to print your own please check out my part page for it on Makerworld. Another feel-good 3D printing repair! Great success!