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plastic welding, any experience?
Reply:Use O/A with a small tip...  Me!
Reply:Are you talking about the industrial type process or the home hobby stuff?Me!
Reply:when i worked at a dealership, i helped the body guy out a couple of times when he needed a bumper held or something for plastic welding. it was kind of interesting. i didn't think there was very much to it, but after he let me try it, the customer had to buy a new bumper. anyway, it's basically a soldering iron (metal tip gets hot) and there is a hole in the middle of the tip. think of it as a cross between a SMALL mannual hot-melt-glue-gun and a soldering iron. the tip is flattened out and the hole is used to add filler material. it is added through the middle so it can be controlled easier and it will melt before it gets to the root plastic. it's pretty interesting, but definately not for me. he explained that when he started out he was pretty bad at it and would usually heat the iron up too much... that's the main problem as he explained it to me. people think that if the plastic is heated up a lot, it will be really runny and easy to work with, but they do not take into account the affected heat area. they also do not realize that if you are plastic welding on the inside/un-painted side of a bumper/body piece, that the heat travels all the way through the plastic and can bubble the paint and cause the plastic to warp into undescribable shapes (once again, pretty interesting to see someone ELSE do. you get mad at yourself very quickly when you screw up something like that on your own.) it's not like metal where you can just tack it and walk away right away (on hobby stuff... professional and code work is not as easy from what i understand). with plastic, it takes longer than you woudl think to set hard enough to let it go. also, jsut because you take the iron off the piece, doesn't mean that you will stop applying heat to the area. the melted plastic will continue to heat through the piece and can still make the outter shell of the bumper soft and pliable, once again, to a funky-looking shape. it's not neccisarily a pain to do, it jsut takes getting used to. i persoanlly hate it and find that it's easier to jsut pay someone to do it, rather than mess up enough stuff that i have to go buy replacements for.hope that helps...Later,Andyp.s. it can get very messy for the beginer. the filler plastic gets everywhere when you take it from the part you are trying to repair. it also is very hot and like to stick to skin.  think of it like a burn from hot oil out of a car, but it never seems to get off your skin without taking a chunk of you with it, or leaving a piece of itself behind. whenever i woudl burn myself, the body-shop guy would always tell me... "third degree burns never hurt no-body" and laugh hystaircally as i clench my hand, stare at the burning flesh and scream in pain. he was an awesome guy though and i'd go work for him in a heart-beat. funny how those relationships work, huh?
Reply:Originally Posted by i_draggplastic welding, any experience?
Reply:Originally Posted by i_draggplastic welding, any experience?
Reply:I fabbed and welded hundreds of feet of polypropolene duct. the ducting was used to move acid/caustic air.I used guns mentioned above. I heated the plasic until it got really shiny then moved along while pushing the rod through and kinda smooshing it onto the shiny hot plastic.
Reply:thanks for everybody,i mean industrial thinks, later i show pictures.