plastic welding

[ida400ex]

my front fender is cracked and i want fix it for when i sell them on ebay. any help on how to fix this would be appreciated. thanks.

[400exrider99]

you could plastic weld it, i have a bunch of cracks and i just stiched them up. i have never seen a plastic welder or know how they work. i ahve only heard of them

[Kaleigh]

All i did was drill some holes and use zip ties.. kinda like how the Dr would stitch you up.. works great..

[blasterandy]

You can buy a fiberglass comp. patching kit from autozone for about 15$ or you can use a heat gun and a piece of plastic flux to weld it make sure its long tho cause i slow baked part of my hand. :eek: Hurts like a ***** the next day. all hard and scabby for bout a week.

[northwest Texas]

I'd sell as is if you're putting it on ebay. I don't think you'd get your money back unless you wanted a plastic welder anyway.

In that case, drill 2 small holes one at each end of the crack. that will prevent it from growing. I've never welded with plastic so can't help you there but don't stitch it like earlier responses. While it works, it looks terrible and if I were interested in buying your fenders, I wouldn't if I saw that.

[ride_red666]

i would just use the drill holes and put metal to the back and rivet it on there. plastic welding is rly hard to do and takes patience. i work at a industrial shop that makes plastic tanks and i kno from eperience its not easy to weld plastic.

[firefighterjosh]

http://www.urethanesupply.com/ :D

[welpracing]

Originally posted by firefighterjosh
http://www.urethanesupply.com/ :D

has anyone used this before? if so what do you think of it. I am thinking about getting one but dunno if i can believe what it says.

I have a small 2 inch crack on my fender and it is not in a stressing place so i thought of trying this and sanding the plastic and puting a sticker right over it.

any info would be great.

Thanks Brandon

[Barrymaxx]

I can weld plastic with a soldering gun. But you need some of the same material plastic to weld with. It is kinda tricky. You need to penetrate all the way through, but without going all the way through. You also need to keep the plastic your welding with flowing.

If you get good at a weld will be just as strong as teh origional plastic.

[<DRS>GPF]

the best device ive seen for plastic welding was like this device, but more industrial..
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130100409966&ssPageName=ADME:B:EF:US:11
ebay Item number: 130100409966


basically its a large soldering iron with a hole through tip that air is lightly blown through.. the air is heated to a couple of hundred degrees and melts the pvc without actually touching it..

i repaired a rear set of fenders on a polaris i used to own and you had to really look to see the difference.

i cut away about 1/4" strip along the edge of the fenders, under the seat where it wouldnt show, then used that as my welding rod..
on the outside it showed a bit of wrinkle toward the uppermost welded area, on the inside it looked like a metal weld bead.

if you use anything other than the PVC material youre welding, it wont stick or itll be too brittle..

[250Renvy]

Originally posted by firefighterjosh
http://www.urethanesupply.com/ :D


I bought this kit thinking it would be the answer to my many sets of cracked plastic and I'll tell you it is much harder to do than the description. The tool is small and in my opionion not meant for big cracks as it would take forever and many of their rods to fill in a big crack. I used a complete rod on a crack the size of an inch. I haven't tried to tackle anything larger as the tool gets very hot and I burned my fingers by touching it accidentally.

If you could get the technique down and can keep the tool clean (after it gets too hot the plastic starts to burn on the tool and turns the new melted welding rod, brown) it might be a good solution. My first two attempts were very ugly after I was done. The plastic is remarkably strong but FUGLY and looks very much like slabbed on hot glue. I'm going to have to sand it down to get it smooth.

For your cracks it would actually probably work pretty well because they are clean and are not separated and worn. I wouldn't recommend welding both sides like they say but just mend the bottom with the welder(if you try it)

On cracks like this and anything that is clean and small I would recommend this welding kit to prevent something from getting worse. The traditional method of stiching with zip ties is even FUGLIER and doesnt prevent it from cracking more. If anything the stiching method makes it weaker because you add more holes. Luckily if you have a small stitched crack you can fill in the drill holes with plastic.

[Yak]

Try this. Get a regular screwdriver and a small torch. Make sure the screwdriver is clean, and heat the hell out of it with the torch. Lay it flat across both sides of the crack and slowly drag it down the crack. You'll melt both pieces together. Get underneath and do that side too. Wetsand it smooth and polish it up. I make custom windows for a living and do this with vinyl all day long...lol. Just make sure your screwdriver is clean or you'll melt dirt into the plastics and it won't come out.

[400excaleb]

they also sell plastic welders at rocky mountain atv for like $40 i think