plastic welding tutorial?

[truckeeboater]

Does anyone know of any good online sources for plastic welding, preferably video? Also, where would i get some of the tools necessary for the job? Thanks!

[PatrickOC1]

my next question if the last one went well

[Sir Adam]

I ordered a kit that include a video (and cheesy metal music and graphics from the 80's) and all the equipment / some raw materials, I think it was from Urethane supply (I went looking for my kit... and can't find it. Now to recall who I loaned it out to...)

http://www.urethanesupply.com/Airless-W ... -Welders-1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[driftwood]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bos4lfOA3k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

cut plastic of the boat if you can, if not ask a dealer if they have color samples, plastic that is cut out of the cockpit of kayaks when they come out of the mold.

heat guns are cheap and worth owning, useful for lots of things

John

[cheajack]

I bought a plastic welder from Harbor Freight with temp controls and forced air for $80 and like it a lot. I use cockpit rim material for welding rods. Be careful to control the heat to the area of interest. It is easy to overheat the surrounding material which will warp and affect the cosmetics of the end result.

[truckeeboater]

Thanks for posting that LL vid, Driftwood. That was great stuff! I've already got a Dremel and a heat gun, but does anyone have any idea where I could get one of those cool rasps that the guru uses in the video?

[Silent Bob]

[quote="truckeeboater"]does anyone have any idea where I could get one of those cool rasps that the guru uses in the video?[/quote


Most any hardware store will have something similar in the paint department. Ask for a molding scraper. You could also probably order one from Rockler or Woodcraft or the like.

[truckeeboater]

Thnx!

[Todhunter]

I just started dabbling and welded my C1 - it's held so far. I use pieces of deck material from my L'Edge when I opened it up.

I picked up a nice Steinel heat gun that is temperature controlled and am using a Bahco ergo pocket scraper to vee out the cracks prior to welding. The scraper is carbide and is really sharp...maybe too sharp. It's hard to get it started following the crack and not wandering, but once you get it going, it really hogs out material. I use a surform shaver to shave down the weld after welding. A piece of 2x4 or anything really can be used to press on the weld while letting it cool.

John Wood posted the best video I have seen. If you are making your own weld rods, cut them thin - thinner is better.

Get some scrap to practice on before you go to town on a boat.

[arhdc]

I just bought an Ace Hardware digital heat gun for $35.99 and for the price it's awesome, 100-1100 degree range, two fan speeds.