plastic welding the easy way

[gremlin]

i found this on you tube. it mite help some of us out at some point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmTWCzJb ... re=related

[YellowFever]

nice, I have a pontoon that needs repair and this looks like the trick!

[Hoser John]

Harbor Freight sold these welding units for years. Most important is the removal of the slick finish from plastics extrusion or mold release glazes,roughen the surfaces and clean with a non residual cleaner like alcohol for best results. Old keene wax impregnated rough surfaced yellow pontoons don't hold good at all. Wax impregnation ruins the adhesion but many others good to go. Black pitch like sealent sold on rolls for underground sealent for pipes,cables and such works great and nuttn' to buy but it. Same same as above to prepare,cut a patch 2" bigger than hole/crack lay down with no air bubbles. Take a can,push hard and roll a few times to conform to hole. Leave in the sun for a few hours to soften the patch or at home use the wifes/shackup hairdryer to soften,roll again and good to go for many MANY years. Underwater or out don't matter and sticks great to old school wax marlex pontoons. The only boonie fix there is with no electricity-John

[gremlin]

you can make the tools easy, the only thing you would need is a torch, many all ready have that, and some wire mesh. the plastic you can get almost any hardware store or plumbing supply shop. they will sell you scraps cheep.

[linuxabc]

This burns the plastic easily and the welding will be weak. Any plastic hot air welder or special glue will do a better job.

[russau]

the method Mell suggested, i saw over the net. it looks good and looks real strong with the screen material in there for strength! i have the HF hot air welders and have used them alot! theres a learning curve with them but its EZ to pickup!

[gremlin]

we friction weld plastic tanks at work.

[russau]

Mel i saw a application where 2 metals (titanium) were friction welded together. it looked like they were useing a mill to turn/feed a highspeed device across these two metals and the weld was 100% penetration.this is a very simplified explaination of how they did it.

[gremlin]

with plastic, you use a router and a coupling, cut a hold ware you need a water fitting. put the fitting in the coupling, spin it on till the plastic melts. it takes only a few seconds. all you need to do then is plumb up the water tank.