Author Topic: plastic welding  (Read 1288 times)

Offline Scat Pack Fever

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plastic welding
« on: May 22, 2017 - 08:47:52 PM »
Hello all!

Has anyone ever welded a crack in a grille? I bought a plastic welder from Harbor freight and I cant get it to work properly. No matter how much heat I put on the welding stick, it wont adhere to the grille. plus, I am melting the grille as soon as the heat gets near it. I heat up the abs welding stick away from the grill and it gets soft, but it wont stick. I even sanded the grill where the crack is.  I used a flat peice of metal to push the soft welding stick into the grill, but it still doesn't stick, plus, as soon as I remove the heat from the stick, it gets hard again. Maybe I need a better welder not sure.




Offline Cudakiller70

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Re: plastic welding
« Reply #1 on: May 22, 2017 - 08:57:43 PM »
Did a little pvc welding long ago it was really just a oversized glue gun and it took multiple passes. I would be nervous about doing a grille. I have had good luck with JB weld epoxy, but never repaired a grille. Some one here knows your best solution. If it's just busted and you have all the pcs JB would work. Good luck
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Offline Scat Pack Fever

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Re: plastic welding
« Reply #2 on: May 22, 2017 - 09:32:15 PM »
Good point! I guess its too thin.

Offline 1 Wild R/T

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Re: plastic welding
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2017 - 12:21:49 AM »
As posted years ago by Scott Smith Harms

Repairing a cracked grill

Start with 100% pure Acetone, buy a gallon. 
Pour an ounce or so into a glass jar (small open mouth jar). Take a scrap grill and using something sharp, scrape off peelings (like pencil shavings size) into the jar of acetone. Put allot of shavings in, the acetone will gradually melt the plastic into a goo. Add enough plastic until the goo reaches toothpaste consistency. Once you have a good batch melted put the lid on the jar tightly and set it aside. Now, prep your grill as normal, V out cracks on both sides, etc. Use clamps near the joint to align the two sides flush and parallel. Smear on some plastic goo, leave it crowned up over the crack like a regular weld looks, let it cure overnight. Sand to flush the next day, fill any pinholes with JB Weld. The crack will practically disappear at this point, paint as normal
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Offline xtopfuel

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Re: plastic welding
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2017 - 04:58:38 AM »
fantastic advice

Offline GoodysGotaCuda

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Re: plastic welding
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2017 - 07:26:54 AM »
I used the HF kit and had good results. I had the best results with using the same material i was welding to [not the stick].

In my case I was welding on my gauge bezel and used scrap pieces that I cut off as my filler. I also did a lot of "stirring" to try to mix the base material with the new as much as I could. Overall I had pretty decent results.

The acetone method works well too.
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Offline Scat Pack Fever

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Re: plastic welding
« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2017 - 11:07:37 PM »
Thanks for the responses!!!!! I appreciate it!!!!!