Plastic welding

[wristpin]

Does anyone have any information and advice about "welding" ABS using an electric heat gun?
I have Makita gun that goes to 650 degrees c and see that they do a welding attachment and packets of filler rods in ABS and a couple of other types of plastic but it's ABS that I'm interested in.

 

[jinjahbiscuit]

I have a book called "Farm and Workshop Welding" by Andrew Pearce that has a section on plastic welding (albeit a short one). It covers most weldable plastics - the technique being the same, just changes in temperature for the various types.
It's a pretty good book and covers the basics. You can get a copy for less than £15 from Amazon brand new. Secondhand can be cheaper.
Abe books is also worth a try.
I've not tried plastic welding yet (not having a great deal of luck with metal to be honest), but I'm planning to buy some kit soon to have a go. Good luck, let us know how you get on.

 

[shenion]

I had a heat gun plastic welder. Worked ok except it died only a few weeks later.

ABS and PVC seem to work well. Other types not so well. Hardest part is getting the temp right. Now I have a fancy soldering iron one that just works ok. The heat gun one seemed to be easier to use.

There are "speed tips" that I'm interested in making, basically a foot with a tube to feed the rod into.

 

[norlander]

I've used the UV resin to weld the broken arms on some sunglasses, have not done much bigger stuff with it. It worked well and is flexible.It can be tricky to set up as it does not go off until the UV hits it.
Not sure if its available in the UK but this video might help.

 

[Rocketman]

Worth considering solvent weld, makes very strong joins.

 

[wristpin]

That UV system looks very interesting. Now for obtaining some!

 

[lionleg]

It is possible, but, depending on the job itself, I would look at solvent welding for ABS first . Definitely stronger than hot air welding.

 

[norlander]

That UV system looks very interesting. Now for obtaining some!

forgot to say it can be a little tricky to use-not really a problem for a welder though-I just used masking tape to hold the joint in position, points to note are:
there is no fusion of the parent material in the joint
there is no tack or grab in the resin itself until the uv light hits it
the uv light cannot penetrate into the joint so the resin is laid over and around the joint
the repair/joint will be proud of the base material in most cases.

 

[Tman]

Hi no expert on plastic but had good results with placing thin metal gauze on top of crack. Heating old motorbike tyre lever up with oxy ace and pressing the gauze below the surface. Add filler until it over flush and sand for invisible repair.

 

[Wendelspanswick]

We bought a job lot of plastic kayaks on eBay for the kids and us to use including a Perception Dancer kayak which had a split in the cockpit where the Spraydeck attaches.
I modified a car boot special Red Devil (Great Mills own brand I think, shows you how old it was) hot air gun by chopping out the thermal overload and making an adaptor to take the output down to 8mm diameter.
I cut a thin sliver off the cockpit edge to use as a filler and it worked a treat, an almost invisible repair.
The kayak took years of abuse and in the end when I shoved it on eBay I turned a decent profit!

 

[norlander]

forgot this link-its from bike (m/cycle forum)

http://www.visordown.com/forum/workshop/diy-plastic-welding/85538.html also forgot that mate made a repair on a fairing using cable ties as filler.
Think he used soldering iron as well. Hth.

 

[Jan]

I've used the UV resin to weld the broken arms on some sunglasses, have not done much bigger stuff with it. It worked well and is flexible.It can be tricky to set up as it does not go off until the UV hits it.
Not sure if its available in the UK but this video might help.

I don't know how this compares to the soliq, but it's available here in Blighty for far less than on eBay.

 

[chriso]

Stainless backing mesh melted into the parent with a Weller style soldering gun with smoothing tips.

I use a hot air rework station from Amazon - easier to manage than a big hand gun - also the adaptors for air guns are stupid money.

I've got many different repair rods HDPE, ABS etc etc but the best stuff is Fiber Flex as it sticks to anything - got mine from Amazon who are out of stock so Google for
or try Fishpond.uk


Worst problem with plastic is determining what it is - that's why I use fiber flex as it doesn't matter.

Fiber flex is very expensive but worth it.

This is the rod/air tip for bulk filling gaps from Amazon - I've got one with a reducer to fir air gun but have never used it - I tend to grab a big old nasty soldering iron.

Most of the repairs I do are in thin mouldings and I find stainless mesh melted in is often sufficient as I'm not looking for car body finish just strength.

I also make glue from the parent by dissolving in Acetone or just use acetone weld bits together.
Today I made a part from ABS rod, used Acetone to remove sanding marks and also to glue it into position.
By dissolving in Acetone you can make a pourable filler - wet the parent with Acetone and off you go.