Plastic Welding?

[valley]

Greetings, My wife bought a plastic welding outfit for my birthday. Do they work? Have you used one? Any tips? Thanks Richard

 

[Workstead]

Greetings, My wife bought a plastic welding outfit for my birthday. Do they work? Have you used one? Any tips? Thanks Richard

Great question, Richard. I was wondering the same thing.

Clem

 

[MMagis]

There are two types that I'm familiar with, extrusion and sonic. Both work for certain applications, but not everything. Sonic is usually easier to get a stronger weld with, but you can fill with the extrusion type.

 

[valley]

The one I just got operates with hot air. It is intended to hook up to the compressor. The heating unit inside is electric.

 

[MMagis]

Sounds very much like an extrusion welder, though perhaps there’s no extrusion to it. An extrusion welder works sort of like a hot glue gun, though it uses air to force the plastic out instead of mechanical pressure. What does the tip look like? Is there a small tube near the tip?

 

[valley]

Yes, the tip is simply a metal tube. There is a heating unit in the handle and the air moves the hot air through the tip. There is plastic rod, three types, that come with the unit.

 

[MMagis]

Sounds like it works something like tig welding? I suspect it'll take some practice, but it will work. It will be mostly suface "welding", so anything too deep/thick will need multiple passes.

 

[valley]

That sounds correct. Like to talk with someone who has used one a good deal.

 

[George2615]

I have the plastic welding unit that Harbor Freight sells. It hooks to an air compressor as described with a regulator to adjust air flow and has a heating element. It does work for surface welding certain types of plastic. I've only used it a few times.
Some of my welds have not held up, I suspect they were different types of plastic than the plastic rod that comes with it and the fact I've never done this type welding before. Not enough air and everything melts, too much air and the plastic rod doesn't flow or sets up too quick not fusing the pieces together. I guess it takes a lot of practice.

 

[valley]

I have the same unit. I think I saw a post by you saying you had fixed a bucket that had worked well at the time.

 

[Trails2004]

You will need to learn the different types of plastic- each type will have different charecteristics and repair medium.

 

[valley]

Have you used these welders? Can you weld to your satisfaction?

 

[Trails2004]

Have you used these welders? Can you weld to your satisfaction?

Valley

If you are replying to my post- Yes I have- we have "succesfully" welded some floor boards in a Yamaha Rhino. They seem to be holding up real well-

As I eluded take the time to learn of the difference in the types of plastics- we made a couple mistakes- but that is just- how it is

 

[valley]

Trails, Yes, Thanks for that. Did you use the rod or bits of the plastic from another source? This unit is from HF. Richard

 

[Trails2004]

Trails, Yes, Thanks for that. Did you use the rod or bits of the plastic from another source? This unit is from HF. Richard

Hi Richard- we used the rods- which reminded me of repairing snow skis with p-tex- OK I prolly just dated myself

Experiment and have fun!!! Good Luck

 

[valley]

Trails, Snow skis? We are professional ski instructors, wife and I. Nicole is a Senior Examiner for P.S.I.A. Time for dinner.

 

[Matt_Jr]

Skis? What's that.

I've used plastic welders at work to repair broken tabs on trim inside cars. Luckily all the repairs were hidden, 'cause my plastic welding isn't pretty. The trick is to get the temps set for the type plastic being welded, and heating all the plastic and filler correctly.

 

[timswi]

That does sound like an extrusion welder. They are tough to get "pretty" welds with, but you can make some stong connections on the right types of plastic..Plastic tanks are assembled using a simiar unit to the one that you have.

I have welded with them and they do work well.

 

[jda1961]

yea i have one too, its called super glue lol,

 

[ray66v]

I can tell you when these welders came out many years ago, we were quite excited in the body shop business.

After many years of different techniques, out of all the guys I know, and all the facilities that remanufacture bumper covers that I have used, and myself, no one uses a plastic welder.

All of us are using epoxies, with fiberglass cloth for reinforcement.

This is because the welding plastic in general, just doesn't work very well.

Some plastics are made to be intentionally difficult, or impossible to repair.

Yes, it can sometimes work. It really depends on the type of plastic, and there are a lot of different types.

I have seen some demo's where they make it look like the answer to the world's problems. But in the real world, it is not.