plastic welder

[bfullmer]

Anyone used a plastic welder ? I have a canopy on my lawn tractor that has some cracks from hitting trees- can these be welded and there are some big chips can these be filled in ?

 

[glennster]

heres a couple pics of a lawn mower hood i plastic welded. the hood was broken in several pieces. i used weed wacker line as welding rod, it worked really well.

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[rrlund]

I bought one from Harbor Freight. Don't remember the brand right off the top of my head,but I can check if you want me to. Mine uses air and 110 volt electric. The big catch with mine is that you need a regulator for the air. I use the regulator/filter dryer for my paint sprayer. I have to turn it down to about 4 psi. It works good once it's set. I've welded poly spray tanks without using any rod at all. I just take a screwdriver and mold the plastic together after I get it heated up.

 

[SDMike]

I have also seen some use wire screen mesh on the back side. Cut the mesh about an inch wide, then push the mesh into the plastic with the welder/soldering iron, and the plastic will ooze through the mesh. Doesn't look the best, but adds strength.

Mike

 

[jeffcat]

Holy cow what the blank did you hit? Those hoods will flex but only so far. They really blow up when they get real cold. Neighbor found out when snow blowing with his Johnny Deere garden tractor. Found a whole hood at a mower shop for like around $100.oo.

 

[glennster]

jeff it wasnt me!!! i got the mower as a basket case. some kids must have been using it for a go kart. beat the snot out of it. mower only has 200 hours on it. deck was all bent up, blades trashed, and hood was shattered in pieces. got the deck straightened and welded, and fixed the hood. got it running finally too. will make a decent back up mower after i get the bugs ironed out!!

 

[Stephen Newell]

The plastic welder works alright to put the pieces back together but it doesn't have much strength. What works better is after you get the pieces welded back together you roughen the plastic and coat it epoxy for plastic and cover the repair with fiberglass cloth. You just don't coat over the fiberglass cloth with more epoxy. From there you can work it like fiberglass and coat it with fiberglass resin and another sheet of cloth.

 

[egbinor]

Anyone else used weed wacker line, itsounds like it would work pretty good. I have a pretty serious crack on a tanaka weed wacker fuel tank, anyone else tackled this?? EGBinOR

 

[glennster]

most plastic welders come with several different filler rods depending on what type of material you are trying to weld. if you can figure out what it is, you just select the correct rod. if not, do some trial and error on a small section. but, to answer your question, it does work really well on lawn mower hoods.

 

[Dune Country]

We've been using one for years on our rental quads, actually we are on our 3rd one.
in bed wire mesh or window screen (the old stuff) in the backside and your good to go