Harbor freight Plastic welder - anyone with experience?

[alvald83]

I just pick up a plastic welder from HF. does anyone have experience with this welder? I have some hairline cracks on my boxes and a couple small cracks on my fairing that i want to try to repair before i have my bike painted. Here is the welder i picked up.

http://www.harborfreight.com/plastic-welding-kit-with-air-motor-and-temperature-adjustment-96712.html

[rbig1]

i want to do the same thing. post up how it turns out. i have quite a few crack to repair. was thinking about glue from plastic mfg.

[Eck]

I have to go make some pop corn..this ought to be a good discussion..

 

If there is a place where a solution to fixing plastic is wanted and or needed, this VR family would sure love to find it. I have no experience with using the equipment you speak of but I will surely listen to those who have the know how. I would like to see before and after photos of anyones repairs..Im sure all would like to see them..

[bryan52577]

Never used one but a local farmer down the road had one to repair is boys 4 wheeler fenders about 15 years ago. (Those two were h$!! on those 4 wheelers)

It would melt the two pieces back together and leave like a "weld" type of a finnish. Not sure you could sand it down smooth or not. And the new ones may work a bit different?

Bryan

[dacheedah]

I have one of those in my garage, I bought for my first gen, and never had any luck with it. Like a soldering iron and some compressed air, I watched video's , tried on other plastics, like old dock floats, tried with the first gen and eventually it ended up sitting on my shelf collecting dust. I do have a friend that worked in a factory that does injection molding and he said the ones they use are far more complex, he tried it and his first comment was that it does not get hot enough and if I remember they use co2 gas with them. His other instructions were that you must sufficiently heat the plastic to the point you almost burn through it for it to work. If you can get it to work I want to see the video's and then see how long it lasts.

[Mel]

Many, many years ago we got a Spin Welder (toy) kit for one of our sons. Battery powered, looked kinda like a hand drill. Little plastic inserts that loaded into the "gun" then spun while being held against two pieces of plastic. The heat from the friction would melt the plastic and when it cooled the two pieces were solidly joined. I haven't seen anything like it for years, but I've had times that I wished I had one to try to fix some broken plastic parts. Might be a market for 'em for the 1st Genners.

[alvald83]

This gun allows you to adjust the temp and is used with plastic rods that you feed in like the glue gun sticks. The plastic rod pack comes with different types of plastic rods (ABS,PVC, and PC PP). I have a young coworker who gave me the idea because he bought the cheap Harbor Freight version to work on his car. I bought this and told him that he could use it to figure it out for me. When i get it back i will practice on some extra body parts that i have.

[Wizard765]

Here is a video that shows how to use it..

 

 

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVr8wHIcgCo&feature=related]Plastic Welder Instructions - YouTube[/ame]

[djh3]

Gorilla Glue. Hard to belive there is not an adhisive type glue that works well on ABS.

[JohnT]

We use plastic welders on whitewater kayaks, but the plastics are totally different. I would be interested in hearing and seeing what the end result is. Seeing as my bags have hairline cracking around the latches.

I was thinking of using 2 part epoxy or fiberglass resin and cloth this winter. Then painting and (or) covering the repair with lighting panels. (if they turned out ugly)

[SilvrT]

We use plastic welders on whitewater kayaks, but the plastics are totally different. I would be interested in hearing and seeing what the end result is. Seeing as my bags have hairline cracking around the latches.

I was thinking of using 2 part epoxy or fiberglass resin and cloth this winter. Then painting and (or) covering the repair with lighting panels. (if they turned out ugly)

 

Only use a product that is designed for ABS.

 

There are ABS 2-part epoxies out there.

 

Plastex is also a good product http://www.plastex.net/

 

Fiberglass... while seemingly a usable fix, does not bond well with ABS. I would not recommend it.

 

When I repaired my '87 (which had some serious cracks and breaks), I first welded everything with my soldering gun. Then, I applied a 2-part ABS epoxy, sanded it all smooth and primed/painted it.

 

When I was doing the welding, I used some ABS material from ABS pipe scraps I had to fill in any small holes, etc and to build up the weld areas with material.

[KIC]

I have played around with a soldering iron and ABS plastic scrap. You have to have the same type of plastic to use as a filler. You melt the plastic while adding the additional filler plastic and it holds. I made some new side taps and soldered/welded/melted them onto the the existing side covers. They look pretty good. Used a pair of dikes to cut and trim the taps.

 

Used the other side's tabs as a pattern. This HF system looks interesting but at $80.00, my cheapo iron works pretty good.

 

Go to a plastic manufacturer in your area ( makes signs etc) and ask for a piece or two of scrap ABS. I got a big piece for $2.00

[SilvrT]

There's a vid somewhere that demonstrates or shows how a guy repaired some bike parts by welding the plastic and embedding small lengths of wire across the breaks for added strength. It was very interesting. Dunno where that is but I'm sure some searching either here or Youtube will find it.

[SilvrT]

Just did a youtube search for ABS plastic welding ....

 

here's one, there's several others

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8rTwWRYb0c]Motorcycle Fairing Repair - ABS Plastic Welding - YouTube[/ame]

[HotRodYJ]

I just did some plastic welding for the first time ever on my 83 plastics. I used a cheap old pencil type soldering iron and used black plastic zip ties for filler rod. I was amazed at how well it works and how simple it is to do. No need to buy anything, this was totally free and I know it's fixed right.

[JohnMidnight]

Going to be looking it to attempting this. Got some cracks in the upper body work, and the lower body work.

 

All I remember is put the broken peices together, clean with a alcohol or acetone if I remember right. Dremel the crack good, scrub, and clean again, then start welding the plastic in, make sure both areas are nice and hot to promote adhesion.

 

Let set, and cure, repeat otherside. When all is done, it can be sanded, primed, and painted.

 

Just afraid such thin plastic, theres just not enough.

 

That HF looks like the more expensive hot air plastic welder than what we got. You can also use the hotweld gun, like soldering, that works too.

[wkoepke]

i have that same one. works well, set at 4.5 on dial. make sure you start it with the dial on zero and return to zero when you are done. takes a few minutes to warm up, but when it is you have to keep moving. just like anything, you have to get the feel of how it works.make sure to grooveout crack with dremel tool first so plastic was a place to flow into. after weld cools you can sand with no problem. turn dial back to zero and let it cool down before you shut it off.

[timgray]

Gorilla Glue. Hard to belive there is not an adhisive type glue that works well on ABS.

 

 

There is one that works far better...

 

http://www.plastex.net/

 

If you own a motorcycle, a large kit of this stuff is required. It repairs cracks well, I use thin sheets of abs to back the crack from the local hobby shop to make it stronger.

 

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXSM11 is what I use, they have even thinner stuff as well.

 

I figure my 83 will gain about 50 pounds in ABS repairs by the time I get rid of it, every month I find a new crack as the Fairing and parts are all drying out and getting brittle.

 

Plastex is the only way to repair a crack and not destroying the paint on it.

Edited June 15, 2012 by timgray

[TRnCO]

I found a product called PLASTEX that I've used to repair several cracks in the main trunk on my '87 VR. Its a liquid that I dribble onto the crack and then a powder that I sprinkle into the liquid/crack and it basically melts it all together. Works pretty slick. I use a dremel to make a small valley for it all to go into, and put enough powder into the valley to fill it, and it turns out pretty good and has been holding up pretty well.

The part #2002 is on the container that it comes in. For just cracks this stuff works pretty good, although the package says it can be used to repair stripped threads, remake tabs, etc. I've not used it for anything more than crack repairs.

 

And on edit, I see Tim just posted a link to PLASTEX.

[PGunn]

I have not tried this yet but my brother swares by it:

Wet surface with super glue, sprinkle on baking soda. Keep doing this to build up surface. When done you can sand, drill, or do anything you want to do to machine and dress up the repair (even paint) to a super smooth surface. It works super, just slop it on, let dry , sand and paint. Now as far as flexablility goes I also don't know. I would take a small "V" shaped chisel and open the crack up a bit to form a channel then follow the process. This would act more like a weld then a surface glue job.

 

[dacheedah]

C A U T I O N ! ! ! DON'T BREATHE THE SUPER GLUE FUMES, They are bad bad bad, and it was that mistake when they found out super glue fumes develop fingerprints on hard surfaces and makes people really really sick. If you put a lamp or heat superglue, it actually produce cyanide gas.

[cabreco]

I just pick up a plastic welder from HF. does anyone have experience with this welder? I have some hairline cracks on my boxes and a couple small cracks on my fairing that i want to try to repair before i have my bike painted. Here is the welder i picked up.

http://www.harborfreight.com/plastic-welding-kit-with-air-motor-and-temperature-adjustment-96712.html

 

I picked up the same welder & rebuild most of my plastics with it. I also bought the

Hobby Woodburner as well.

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-in-1-hobby-woodburner-38593.html

 

Here are a few pix of what I did

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/album.php?albumid=994

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/album.php?albumid=996

 

[ame=

]

[/ame]

 

 

It's a real simple process. just make sure you use the HF white ABS plastic welding rods.

Just take your time and be very patient.

If you have any questions drop me a note.

 

Andy

 

The attched is a pix are of before the fix (brown seat no trunk) & the finished repair & fully dressed bike.

Edited June 17, 2012 by cabreco

[alvald83]

Perfect video! Were your tack welds with the hobby tool just to keep the pieces together? Most of my cracks are just hairline cracks that keep creeping. How would you handle those? BTW, Thanks again for the great video.

[cabreco]

Perfect video! Were your tack welds with the hobby tool just to keep the pieces together? Most of my cracks are just hairline cracks that keep creeping. How would you handle those? BTW, Thanks again for the great video.

 

The hobby tool just keep the pieces together. As you can see I was dealing with shattered pieces. You can also make tabs if you break & lose some. I use the hobby tool to heat up paper clips or pieces od copper romex wire into the plastic like a spine. Those tabs are stronger than OEM. For $9 it's a great tool & much hotter than a soldering iron.

 

If they are just hairline cracks then there is no need to tack. Using the Dremel to make a V channel is essential since the filler material needs someplace to bond both sides completely. The aqua prep is also a must. A clean surface will hold the weld forever. I picked that up at a Sherwin Williams auto paint supplier. I'm sure all auto body supply shops carry some brand of this.

 

In order to stop a creeping crack you have to drill a small relief hole at the end of the crack. This will stop the crack from continuing. It will also give you some time if you want to wait to do the repairs until after summer without having them get worse.

[Havetime]

I just ordered Plastex to repair my '87 Venture Royale fairing. Another member, "Saddlebum" used this to restore his first gen. and when I met him last year and saw how nice his bike turned out I decided it was the way to go. They offer various kits of clear, white or black depending on how much and what you need. Their website is "http://www.plastex.net". Since I haven't used it yet I suggest dropping a message to Saddlebum for a few pointers if you have any questions. I'm sure he'll be happy to help. In fact he just gave me a lower fairing piece for mine. They dont get any better than him. GOOD LUCK!

Havetime