Plastic welding
- tescr500
- Oil Injector
- Posts: 742
- Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:05 pm
- Location: hampshire
- Howie
- Avgas Sniffer
- Posts: 2055
- Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:33 pm
- Location: East Yorkshire
Sorry I've only just progressed to Oakleys.Hey Howie, seeing as you are now our "Resident plastic welder" can I book my Rayban's in as I broke them in half on my hols
This first pic shows a mend to the airbox from my Ke175, the hole was caused by the exhaust burning a hole in it (about the size of a 20p)
This was done by bridging the hole using the plastic rod. Tack to one side then tack to the other. Once I had covered the hole with the rod, I melted them all together, not pretty but effective.
The next pic shows a repair to my Kx250's airbox
Once again, not pretty This was just a split. The plastic on this part of the airbox is very thin, so I'm not going to dress this weld either.
Here's the ear
This ear has fallen off once but now feels strong. Stronger than the fibre glass repair done by a previous owner. This will need grinding down & filling before repainting. Just need to find a good flexible filler now, any suggestions?
Finally here are some of the stuff you need.....
I also have spring clips to hold things in place & a dremel type tool to grind back the excess weld.
- Howie
- Avgas Sniffer
- Posts: 2055
- Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:33 pm
- Location: East Yorkshire
Best to just get stuck in Bernie.
I practised on a few old crappy fairings first, just to get a feel for it. Then thought 'bugger it' learn from your mistakes & all that.
Obviously I'm no expert regardless of what twostrokesmoker thinks but I think with more practice I could get a better finish.
I'm not sure what the technical term is but if you 'pool' the plastic (swirl it about with the soldering iron) you seem to get a better 'fix' to the original plastic.
I've got another weld to do on the Ke175's plastic. If I remember I'll do it stage by stage & post the pics on here.
I practised on a few old crappy fairings first, just to get a feel for it. Then thought 'bugger it' learn from your mistakes & all that.
Obviously I'm no expert regardless of what twostrokesmoker thinks but I think with more practice I could get a better finish.
I'm not sure what the technical term is but if you 'pool' the plastic (swirl it about with the soldering iron) you seem to get a better 'fix' to the original plastic.
I've got another weld to do on the Ke175's plastic. If I remember I'll do it stage by stage & post the pics on here.
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- Premix Junkie
- Posts: 1587
- Joined: Wed May 16, 2007 2:24 am
Plastic welding with Hot Stapler
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so a month or two back saw on aliexpress Hot Staplers
These have probably been in the bumper repair industry for years
but could increase crack repair strength without requiring full penetration hot air plastic welding skills
A trimmable wire insert is halfway melted through/into the plastic thickness to lock together the halves of a crack.
The tails of the wire insert is trimmed back and filler applied
Kits for not much more dollars than traditional solder iron
plenty example videos on youtube
https://youtu.be/1VN6lxdC9LY
https://youtu.be/ig9FAdMZ8Xk
the V shaped hot knife blade is then be used to melt ABS filler rod to fill the crevice left by the insert
.
so a month or two back saw on aliexpress Hot Staplers
These have probably been in the bumper repair industry for years
but could increase crack repair strength without requiring full penetration hot air plastic welding skills
A trimmable wire insert is halfway melted through/into the plastic thickness to lock together the halves of a crack.
The tails of the wire insert is trimmed back and filler applied
Kits for not much more dollars than traditional solder iron
plenty example videos on youtube
https://youtu.be/1VN6lxdC9LY
https://youtu.be/ig9FAdMZ8Xk
the V shaped hot knife blade is then be used to melt ABS filler rod to fill the crevice left by the insert
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- Light Smoker
- Posts: 39
- Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2019 6:39 am
Re: Plastic welding
Thanks for sharing, this looks very easy to use. I'll try this.