Anyone experienced with plastic welding (repairs)?

mjw357 · Jan 27, 2017

Trash day, one of my cans has big crack. These are Toter cans, heavy PE not cheapies. Harbor Freight sells a welder for under $50, thought it might be fun to play around with.
Anyone try anything like this?

k0ua · Jan 27, 2017

mjw357 said:
Trash day, one of my cans has big crack. These are Toter cans, heavy PE not cheapies. Harbor Freight sells a welder for under $50, thought it might be fun to play around with.
Anyone try anything like this?

I have done some with a soldering gun and plastic scraps.. It requires some practice.. But then again what welding process doesn't. Be sure to have adequate ventilation and keep your head out of the smoke plume..

Lineman North Florida · Jan 27, 2017

My wife poked a hole in the gas tank on one of my Gravely zero turn mowers, I bought one of those cheap plastic welding kits from Harbor Freight and repaired the hole and it has never leaked a drop, so it is doable, have at it.

Tractor Seabee · Jan 27, 2017

They work good though it takes a lot of practice to make good looking beads. I repaired the gray water tanks on my 40' motor home in the overhead position. Heat control and fusion before total melt is the key.

Ron

petegoud · Jan 28, 2017

It's essential to use the correct plastic welding rods. By that, I mean the same material.

pmsmechanic · Jan 28, 2017

I have a small soldering iron with a plastic welding tip on it. I'm on my third roll of plastic "wire".

I try to grind the crack out just about all the way through with a small angle grinder or a die grinder and then fill the crack back up with melted plastic. You need to go slow and make sure the new plastic melts into the old. If I'm welding thicker plastic I'll preheat with a small propane torch just to get everything up to temperature faster.