4 February 2020

IKEA EFFEKTIV replacement handle

Get the STL for your replacement IKEA cabinet handles here.

By In Make 2 min read

When we moved into our new apartment we got some of the previous tenant’s furniture, things that only really fit in strange spots here or that they did not want to take with them to their new house. That included an old IKEA EFFEKTIV cabinet. The EFFEKTIV is a fairly dated IKEA product, a once popular line of modular indoor office furniture that was discontinued in 2012. For our apartment the EFFEKTIV cabinet functions as outdoor storage. That of course isn’t what the cabinet was designed for, so the 10-year old recessed metal handles were taking a beating – exposed to the elements, paint flaking off and rusting. I wanted to replace both of them.

The IKEA EFFEKTIV with new white PLA handles

With a screwdriver I could easily remove the handles from the cabinet, copy the measurements with a digital caliper, and design a replacement handle in Fusion 360 that largely mimics the original part. I printed the new handles in white PLA to match the color of the cabinet itself. The M4 thread holes were originally modeled in but did not turn out printable in our resolution (0.15 layer height with an 0.4 nozzle). That’s why in this version, I used self-tapping screws instead of the original bolts to fix the handles in place.

The original handle on the left versus the 3D-printed handle on the right

It was a pretty easy build and I am very satisfied with the end result! It looks so much better without the rusty, flaky handles on it. If you happen to need a replacement handle for your IKEA EFFEKTIV cabinet too, I’ve uploaded the model to Thingiverse.

What do you think?