Epoxy advice needed.

[Reman]

Hi all, Mum's got a small polycarbonate water tank on a carpet shampooer that I apparently need to fix. It was dropped and although still in one piece, it's cracked to all hell and back over it's bottom half and leak like a colander. Replacement tanks aren't made for this anymore, and when they turn up second hand they usually cost almost as much as the whole cleaners worth ! So my only cost effective option is to fix the one she's already got.

I'm thinking that if I pour small quantity's of thin resin into the tank I should be able to move it around to coat the inside. If I do it several times until I get a 4 or 5mm coat I'm guessing it should be strong enough to outlive the rest of the machine. Worst case is that I'd also need to glass fibre the outside of the lower tank. The biggest process problem I can see is if I need to plug the outlet valve as it's not a straight shot from the fill hole.

The actual problem is, I've never had to buy epoxy with specific properties before. I've used epoxy in the past that's like water, and some that's almost like honey the second it's mixed. I need something that's thin, but not quite water thin. It also needs to set reasonably quickly. I'm thinking 15 to 20ish minutes until it's starting to gel up or I'm going to loos my rag with having to keep the resin from pooling.

It also needs to be available in small quantity's (A total of 250 to 300ml mixed should be plenty). Money's tight, and I rarely have a need for epoxy, so I don't want to end up with nearly 5 litres of the stuff going off on a shelf for the next 20 years.

So, What do you good folks think would be a suitable product for me to be looking for?

Scott.

 

[angellonewolf]

got a pic ?

 

[graffian]

What about gluing the crack with some Methylene Chloride.

By the way don't get solvent like paint thinners on it.

 

[angellonewolf]

ive resealed a strimmer fuel tank by using a solding iron poss worth a go as a last resort

 

[graffian]

I glued something together with paint stripper. it took about five years to go hard.

 

[Bryan Williams]

Get a fiberglass repair kit from halfords, 250ml tin in the box. Pour it down a v shaped bit of cardboard.
Was using it the other day, runny enough and sets quick.

 

[Matchless]

or a motorcycle size petrol tank sealer kit? ebay...

 

[Reman]

I think it's way too far gone to try individually gluing the cracks, And it would be hard to get glue into all of the fine ones without hitting all of them with a Dremel to widen them out.
I really think the only option is to coat the inside with something to strengthen and seal it.
When looking into what to use I did read about Methylene Chloride, But it seems to be a lot harder to get than epoxy.
I'm about 90% sure it's polycarbonate, so epoxy should stick to it well enough.
The resin and hardener in the GRP kits would probably do it, But I was hoping to get some that wasn't pee coloured.



Oh, And in case anyone's looking at those screw holes and getting any ideas, I think the screws were only used to hold it together until whatever evil sealant they used to stick it together set.

 

[Bryan Williams]

I used the halfords kit on the outside of the plastic drum of our washing machine when, ahem, someone left a screw in thier jeans pocket and it poked a hole through the bottom of the drum. Lasted years.

 

[mr haynes]

Tub of fibey bodge, fibral, p40 etc scuff up the tank and slap on
Jobs a goodun

 

[brightspark]

i used to hire carpet cleaners out and the plastic cases used to crack .i used solvent weld cement that plumbers used to paste over the cracks and used strips of plastic cut from some cable capping and stuck them on . it worked a treat

 

[Reman]

Tub of fibey bodge, fibral, p40 etc scuff up the tank and slap on

i used solvent weld cement that plumbers used to paste over the cracks and used strips of plastic cut from some cable capping and stuck them on . it worked a treat

Nice ideas, But the area that's cracked is around the bottom where it sit's in the cleaner. There doesn't look to be more than a couple millimetres of clearance for anything on the outside. I could probably get away with a couple layers of lightweight wove glass fibre cloth and resin, But I don't think I'd even be able to use the offcuts of chopped strand mat I've got in the shed without then having to start hacking at the cleaners body with a Dremel.

There is one positive note I discovered today though. The valve on the bottom is actually a tight push fit into a sealing grommet, So I can take that out and plug the only hole that could give me trouble when giving it an internal resin layer.

The more I think about the septic green tinted Isopon resin (As available from pretty much EVERY auto factors in the known universe), the more I think I really don't give a damn about the tank on mums cleaner looking like it's half full of piddle. Mum uses the thing to spot wash carpets after family members visit with their dogs, and the excitable hounds end up weeing in the house, so it almost seems fitting that BOTH the tanks on this machine would then be stained greeny yellow.

 

[fizzy]

Use superglue first - a very runny one. Will wick into those cracks.
Better still solvent weld as suggested by Brightspark.

 

[Turbo]

Mum uses the thing to spot wash carpets after family members visit with their dogs, and the excitable hounds end up weeing in the house,

If anyone did that in my house they would not be invited back, family or not!

 

[bert]

Are you not able to order a new part from VAX?

 

[bricol]

If you pour runny epoxy into it, how do you stop it all simply slumping to the bottom rather than up the sides? Or gluing your bung in?

Brushing glue over the outside seems a little more controlled.

 

[brightspark]

If you pour runny epoxy into it, how do you stop it all simply slumping to the bottom rather than up the sides? Or gluing your bung in?

Brushing glue over the outside seems a little more controlled.

pasting the outside with just the weld cement melts the plastic and will fuse together on its own

 

[Reman]

Are you not able to order a new part from VAX?

Oh god, If only........ It seems Vax ended production of the tank pretty much at the same time they superseded this model. The cynic in me thinks that they knew the tank was weak due to their spare parts sales numbers, and decided to risk making the old model unrepairable in the hope that at least some of the customers will replace them with a new Vax model. It's annoying because when these were available they were only about 20 quid, and I'd have happily paid that NOT to have to faff about trying to fix this one.

If you pour runny epoxy into it, how do you stop it all simply slumping to the bottom rather than up the sides? Or gluing your bung in?

Brushing glue over the outside seems a little more controlled.

The idea is to add epoxy a little at a time, then keep the tank moving to distribute it around the lower sides and bottom. Once it starts to gel it should stay put without the rolling. For the plug I'm thinking of just casting a 3 or so inch long slightly tapered bung out of silicon sealant. After the epoxy cured and I'd pulled out the bung, if I needed to remove any build up from the inner face of the area, I can use a cutting disc and an inverted sanding disc on the dremal.

pasting the outside with just the weld cement melts the plastic and will fuse together on its own

The problem I've got is that this tank is pretty much irreplaceable at this point.
I've watched glass style plastics react really badly to some pretty innocuous chemicals. I've used E-Cig's for quite a few years, and there's a fair few e-liquids that will even craze polycarbonate atomiser tanks in a matter of minutes (Mainly it's menthol based liquids). I've also watched glues react with plastics and melt or bubble them into an unrepairable mess. As I'm only about 90% sure its polycarbonate (I also have no idea what the factory sealing material between the two halves is) I'm REALLY nervous about using any polymer specific chemical that could react and make this tank unrepairable. From what I've read, epoxy will stick OK enough to pretty much any of the plastics this tank might be made of, and it's a lot less likely to cause a reaction than any of the chemicals that works by softening the plastic and allowing it to sort of reflow itself back into one piece. an extra layer of epoxy on the inside would also help reinforce the tank enough that hopefully it wouldn't crack anymore.
It would be great if there was some solvent that I could swill around inside, then paint on the cracks outside that was 100% guaranteed to work, but as the tanks are like finding hens teeth covered in unicorn poo, I'm really uncomfortable about trying a method that might damage it beyond alternative repair options, even if there's only a 10% chance of the repair attempt failing instantly.

If anyone did that in my house they would not be invited back, family or not!

I think mum's scared that if she starts dictating which dogs can come into her home she might also limit when her grandkids and great grandkids can visit. To be honest though, all but one of the extended family's dogs are usually clean. The issue is when a few groups of the family all visit at once, then there could be 6 or 7 dogs playing, and the little "excitement widdles" are more likely to happen. The one that isn't exactly clean has stomach problems, but has a strict diet that keeps the issue under control .......... that mum 100% DOESN'T adhere to ("But I can't give the other dogs bit's of cheese/buttered toast/crisps/etc but leave her out" !!!), so I see that as a self inflicted issue on her part.
I can't really moan too much though. My "fLabrador" can also get a bit "Piddley" when she first meets groups of the family's dogs together, but then again, knowing this, I'll always take her around into their back garden for 5 minutes with the other dog/dogs to get that meet and greet bit out of the way before she then get's to go into the house.

 

[bricol]

I think I'd try some decent super glue in/on the cracks from the outside - do a few of them each day.

To be fair to Vax, when ours kept busting something on a tank, they sent a replacement tank a couple of times - when they realised it was a design issue, we got a free replacement machine of the new design - which has worked pretty much fautlessly for a good few years.

The old one became my garage vac.

 

[pcwizme]

There are a few on eBay for 15- 30 quid currently, I think personally I would be looking at replacing (even if it meant replacing the whole machine second hand)