[bazzoo]

i would like to alter a milk crate that i am currently using on my sit in kayak, i have seen some reference on the forum to "welding plastic", how is it done ? and what is needed, your help needed guys

 

[DavidF]

I'm no authority, but we have someone come into work regularly to do repairs for us, so I'll repeat what he says.

First thing is to work out what sort of plastic it is, 2 basic types, thermo setting and thermo elastic. Type 1 is difficult to repair cos it wont "remelt" so to speak as heat is applied without turning to charred goop. Type 2 will melt if carefully heated[ our guy uses a soldering iron setup] so you can fix cracks or whatever. Quite tricky methinks.

So you have to work out what the plastic will do when you heat it and go from there. I think the cheaper or more utilitarian[ ie milkcrate]the plastic involved the more likely it will be the no 1 type . Hope this helps....

 

[Fishpod]

Hi, I'm the same no expert but when i bought a heat gun (Makita) it came with some lenghts of plastic specifically for "welding" type jobs. I use thermoplastics in my job but i have no experience in welding them on a kayak but would imagine its pretty easy once a bit of practice is done. Most thermoplastics have a temperature band when they will re bond if held cleanly together - too hot = too sloppy and not hot enough= no join. I hope this helps.

 

[Dodge]

Baz I have only picked it up here on the forum and use a soldering iron, and find a heavy tip better than a fine one

Where you have a join to weld just zig zag acros the seam to melt both side together, and then work along the line to the end, then let it cool.

If possible weld the reverse side as well

Anything plastic is good to learn on, wheelie bin, buckets, ice cream containers etc.

I told a mate and his first weld was the thin plastic on a whipper snipper fuel tank that constantly leaked and was cured in one weld.

When I welded some screw holes on my yellow espri I found that the colour could be scorched if the iron was left to long on one spot

 

[Captain]

I've used a Leister welding gun that vinyl installers use to repair one of my kayaks. It's basicly a hot air gun with a tip that a welding rod of the same material that you are welding slides through. I work in building maintenance and was able to borrow a tool from work. I would imagine that this tool would be available for hire but it does require some experience to use one. http://www.leister.com.au/main%20leister.html

Brian
Cobra PF

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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[Magicrik]

Someone put this up a little time back and you might find it interesting.......hope it helps

http://www.urethanesupply.com/kcwelder.html

 

[Kevin]

Electrical cable ties!

They are a very simple and strong method of joining a milk crate back together once a section has been cut out (i.e. to fit into a tank well). Done neatly by drilling holes either side of the joint they are not obvious at all.