Plastic welding kits?

Does anyone have experience with them? If so whose kit do you use?

I need to repair some cracks in my Dart's grill.

 

[410Fortune]

Joe Deitz has one, the harbor freight version I believe

It only works with ABS plastic

He used it to build custom fender skirts for his Gen I truck, he had his metal fenders rolled at a local 4x4 shop for clearance, finished it up by welding two gen I skirts together to fix the gap... it came out realy sick!

then he used it to make a heater box for his 5.0L conversion , again it ws awesome (way better then my rivet together metal then fiberglass patch)

Fan shrouds, heater boxes, anything black ABS plastic it works awesome.
THe best part is you can cut up your old ABS plastic parts for more "glue"

I have never seen him do the actual welding, but I have seen the final product, they are sweet!!, with some practice

definatley a HANDY tool to have around

 

[Maniak]

I have this kit..

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=41592

Basically it just put out really hot air and melts the plastic.

I was able to weld a poly water tank (I can't remember which type of poly it was).. It was one of those big 2500 gallon water tanks.. Since I couldn't tell which type of plastic it was I could not use the welding rods. What I had to do was drill a hole in the tank up high, put in a bulkhead fitting and use what I drilled out (hole saw) as my welding material...

To get things to weld the way I wanted I used a thin putty knife and used the heat from the welder to heat up the plastic I was trying to weld (crack) and the putty knife so that I could use the putty knife to push/maneuver the new material into the crack etc and get things together.

What I found was that thick plastic is very hard to weld.. you just don't get the penetration. The plastic I was working with was over 1/2" thick.

I also welded the ABS fairing on the motorcycle but I didn't have the ABS welding rod and learned you MUST use the same type of plastic welding rod as you are trying to weld.

I've seen plastic welders that use heat on a metal foot which is sort of like what I ended up with but I had both the hot foot and hot air...

Oh yea.. Practice on a spare piece (same type of plastic and same type of weld) before you work on what "needs fixin".

~Mark

 

[corkey]

there is another kit ,it uses a hot tip and injection system , you have to melt both sides and than the filler goes in the middle, than shape and sand , and refinish in your own coating,

http://www.drader.com/drader/injectiweld/injectiweld.html

i have used this one a bit, it is very easy to use,, kind of like a big hot glue gun, but uses better filler,,

 

[Rick]

Thanks for the info

 

[MONMIX]

I tried one on a demo from a tool guy.
It was over ten years ago and I do not recall the brand.

Didnt work worth a crap.
I have never met some one who has one and uses it or likes it. Knowing more than a few people in the automotive industry.

Dont know if that helps or not.

 

[BrooklynBay]

These are airless systems: http://eastwood.resultspage.com/search?p=Q&ts=custom&w=plastic+weld

 

[martin123]

Welded plastic in the Prosthetic shop. Just used an industrial heat gun with a special tip add. The tip allowed the plastic rod to feed right in front of the gun, while the gun had a very narrow tip. Would not recommend it. Would rather replace the whole piece or remold it. Was never as strong as one complete piece. Never looked to nice.

But can be done.

 

[4x4xbrian.com]

I have an "urethane supply company" kit it works great I have fixed bumper covers, fender flares, interior panels, bedliners, etc. it is key for bodywork. You will find one in any good bodyshop. rule of thumb: if it melts, you can weld it.

http://www.urethanesupply.com/5600ht.php

 

[Charlie]

I've used them quite a bit before, but not for things like that. They work pretty well for what it is, but it takes some getting used to. They actually are pretty strong.

I think it would work for your cracked grill, it would take quite a bit of work to get it looking good (cleaned up/smoothed).

 

[Rick]

I have an "urethane supply company" kit it works great I have fixed bumper covers, fender flares, interior panels, bedliners, etc. it is key for bodywork. You will find one in any good bodyshop. rule of thumb: if it melts, you can weld it.

http://www.urethanesupply.com/5600ht.php

That looks like a good kit. I have seen the same one sold by other distributors.

The grill needs to be completely repainted anyway, so it won't be too hard to get it to look nice. Weld, sand, use a little body filler as needed, prime, and paint...