How to repair the telescopic handle of a suitcase in an emergency?

The best way to repair a suitcase is to take it to a workshop, where they will certainly put it back on its feet, or rather, on its wheels. But what if you need to repair the retractable handle of your suitcase urgently, right during your trip? And craftsmen sometimes charge so much for their work that this money would be enough to buy a simple replacement for a broken suitcase. If you are not too worried about the aesthetic appearance of the case, you will be able to repair it, even if you are very far from nuts and bolts. How exactly can this be done? It all depends on the degree of damage.

If the handle breaks on the road...

When the handle breaks right on the road, there is no talk about the beauty and durability of the repair. It is important to do everything quickly and relatively reliably: so much so that you don’t have to drag your suitcase in your hands to your destination. And a real pro of express repairs – tape – will help us do this.

So, the most common problem is a fracture of one of the tubes of the retractable handle. In terms of DIY repairs, the situation is very similar to applying a splint to a person with a fracture.

1. Find a rigid frame that will act as a tire. This may be a small metal pipe, but in the field you usually have to rely on a pencil, ruler or comb - the stronger, the better, of course.
2. An improvised splint is applied to the fracture site along the pipe.
3. Now the fracture site is wrapped with tape or tape along the entire length of the tire or at least 5-7 cm in each direction from the fracture.

Of course, it will be impossible to put the handle and tire back together, so if you still have to check your suitcase as luggage, limit yourself to simply wrapping the break in several layers of tape.

Advice

Not everyone takes adhesive tape or electrical tape with them on trips (but in vain!), so the short-sighted will have to try to replace this irreplaceable product with improvised means: a handkerchief, cling film from sandwiches, office clips, if they fit the size.

By the way, this method can be used even if the handle has broken in several places, practically crumbling. You’ll just have to find a slightly longer tire or increase their number, and you’ll need to wrap it with tape more securely.

How to fix a pen at home?

So you brought your broken suitcase home, and now you have enough time to slowly deal with the problem and try to repair the telescopic system yourself. Let's say right away: without experience in welding and polishing metal, it will not be possible to make the handle look like new, so all aesthetes will have to go to workshops. But if you only need functionality from a suitcase, you can improve the method of strengthening the break by replacing the tire with a pin.

• Unscrew the bolts of the telescopic structure and remove the broken part.
• Insert structural reinforcement into it in the form of a metal rod slightly smaller in width than the cavity itself.
• Secure the broken area with the same tape or tape.
• Secure the reinforced structure back with bolts.

If the fault allows, you don’t even have to unscrew the pipe from the telescopic holders, but it is important that the length of the pin is equal to the length of the handle itself, otherwise your reinforcement will dangle inside.

Another possible problem that you can solve yourself is unscrewing the bolts holding the structure and, as a result, the handle dangling from one or both sides. To repair it, it is enough to tighten these or put new bolts and nuts in place of the old ones, for which you need to get to the frame from the inside through the upholstery.

If it is not the telescopic handle that has unscrewed, but the stationary handle, you can also secure it with a bolt and nut, if it has not been mechanically damaged (not cracked or broken into pieces)

Advice

Choose suitcases with telescopic, stationary and side handles, so that if one or even two of them break, you have a backup transportation option.

A quick way to wedge a handle

The second most common problem with telescopic systems after their fracture is jamming inside the suitcase. This is especially unpleasant if the suitcase is heavy: you won’t be able to carry it on wheels!

• To begin, feel inside the frame through the upholstery for the frame of the handle. Your task is to find holes with springs that secure it.
• Now you need to press these springs simultaneously: the handle will release and “shoot” out of the groove.

The opposite situation is also not uncommon: the handle refuses to fit back into the groove, and the suitcase must be checked in as luggage. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to solve this problem without disassembling the structure.In order not to completely break the structure during transportation, you can try to dismantle it completely with your own hands, tightening the bolts under the upholstery from the inside, or ask someone more experienced to do this for you. Then pack the pen in a suitcase, and wrap the suitcase itself with packaging film so that things don’t fall out through the hole and get dirty.

Advice

The telescopic handle and its quality are almost the main criterion when choosing a suitcase. Give preference to wide handles made of strong and thick metal, and then the likelihood of them breaking will be lower.

To avoid having to repair the telescopic handle, just roll the suitcase by it, and do not carry it, do not sit on the suitcase, and do not stuff it with heavy things under the maximum permissible weight. Well, if a breakdown does occur, now you know how to deal with it in an emergency and at home without the need to resort to the help of a specialist.