Great video man. Great idea. For the people who are picking on what he should have done and not done, please make your own perfect video with a perfect solution and watch others comment on it. At least he made a video and we can build upon it. We all came to this video on how to plastic weld, meaning we weren't sure.
Stumbled across this video as I am totally new to the plastic welding world. So much practical information in under 5 minutes. The clear instructions make this now seem completely approachable. Thanks for taking the time to make this video.
Thanks man!! After watching your video and one by another RUclipsr, I decided to make an attempt at fixing a broken cup holder in my truck. It worked perfectly; nice strong bond. I'm pretty sure it will last for a long time. Another "skill" added to the skillset!!
Thanks a bunch, I have an old Christmas Decoration that had a door opening mechanic, but it broke on the inside, so I was originally planning on using a simple glue to repair it, however when that failed that's when I came across the idea to look videos up about this. I would have never thought to use my iron to plastic weld, but thanks its really effective.
Excellent Welding Plastic 101 Tutorial, Greg! Take away quote "weld plastic... sounds a lot more sophisticated than it is"! Thanks for adding "I'm just going to use a soldering iron" part too... it's not what you got but how you use it that counts, right? Love the steel wool reinforcement and zip tie welding rod tips... Thanks for scoolin' this old nailbender! Best, Matt
Nice plastic welding video. I would've never of though to use steel wool as reinforcement mesh. I have always used 2 part epoxy glue as it's cheap and readily available at the dollar store for $1.25. Nevertheless, this method is an excellent alternative if you don't happen to live near a dollar store. Example you provided is very clear and easy to follow. Good work!
FANTASTIC Iwas goiny to throw out my boiler with the cracked base and after watching you for 2 minutes I went and fixed my boiler base. Thank you so easy
nice video. I like the idea of using the steel wool. I have been using small pieces of paper clip bent into a Z pattern to melt into the fracture line. Except for the initial tack welds, most of what you are doing is cold welding, just melting filler onto the site without much "welding" or melting of the primary plastic. It may bond the area but is far from a true weld in strength. Thanks
I was thinking that, primarily because he's using what I'm thinking may be a non-compatible plastic (zip ties=nylon; not sure what the repair item is made from, but I doubt it's nylon.)
Lay a V between the cracks with the iron, same effect as grinding a v in metal before welding two pieces together. Then follow up with using the iron to sweep plastic from surrounding area or a filler piece of the same plastic (you didn't even use the same plastic, your trying to mix nylon zip tie and PP or whatever that was) into the V. Trick is, just like welding, you need enough heat to actually melt the base but in the case of plastic not boil and char the plastic, that makes it brittle. You sweep the plastic into the v and smooth it over flush with the surface. I cut tiny pieces of metal out from a sheet and burr them up with the cutters of a pliar. You them melt those into the surface, pushing the iron on them until they sin/k in and become embedded, crossing over your weld like a stitch. /Keep a wet towel nearby and cool the iron if you notice it smoking and getting too hot. Do it like that and you'll be pod racing in no time.
I need to reprair a 130 gallon fishtank frame, this would be the safest way to do it without shutting the entire community down for a day. Good job! thanks😊
Not for those of us who is broke who just fix everything we can! XD I just got done fixing an office chair plastic lumbar support using a similar method. I have another one I need to fix and figure how other people do it. Mine was mix with plastic filler, cover with hot glue, top it all off with epoxy! Little black paint if I cared about aesthetics.
@@ktmediavideo Funnily enough, still holding up strong! Although found a alternative fix using just 6 zip ties rates for 100 pounds each. When you are a broke high school student with no job because of lockdown, you gotta get clever with limited supplies you find at home!
For people looking at doing this : Please clean the piece, you're gonna get impurity in the weld And plunge the welder a lot deeper in the plastic, to weld correctly to the center of the piece (and you can integrate clip to the weld)
thanks for the vid. have some freezer draws that need cracks repairing. super small nails and zipties I'm thinking. never thought of a soldering iron. was gonna buy a staple heat gun version. saved me 60 quid a draw
A great way to get a smooth finish with out sanding is to use a deep well socket to smooth it as you weld. Great video thank you for sharing, fix it don’t fill the landfill. 😃
Thanks for this. I'm repairing a cracked HVAC box in a car and so far I just JB plastic weld (so glue) a piece of abs on the inside. Once that dries I might try this on the outside of the box to really make it air tight then heat and bend another piece of ABS and JB plastic weld that to the outside. So on top of the soldered plastic. Won't look super pretty will look better than it looks now (you can see a hole with the ABS on the inside. It will cover up the melted plastic too. I would do it all on the inside but it's so deep in the box and along an edge so can't fully get in there from the inside.
Thank you for the video I did the same thing for my hard plastic podcast stand and now all I'm doing is letting it cool off before I add the light o the stand
If you can get your hands onto some pure acetone you might be able to drip a little between the cracks to melt the plastic a little . To bond it maybe.
You flatten the top of the soldering iron so it looks like a spatula. Once you have a flat tip you insert it between the two broken edges wait till it melts both sides and smash it together as quick as possible for a solid bond. If you do it this way it is not a repair anymore (like in this video), it is refurbished.
Plus a woodworking iron insures that you don't burn the plastic most plastics weaken with a soldering iron it produces more extreme heat. And a woodworking iron comes with different iron tips
steel expansion under temp changes is much less than plastic, might slowly weaken as product heats and cools... nylon is thermoplastic that melts at 250c rather than 125celcius for hdpe, nylon thread might work better, similar rate of expansion
I'm not sure if that zip tie is the same material as the cap. I think most zip ties are nylon and I have no idea what the cap is made from, maybe ABS. I'm also not sure how much it matters!
@@survivalistor6195 no hahaha.. he quite literally broke whatever weak seal he put on it. Watch it again see how he man handles it , it cracks and then on out he fake jiggles it cause he knows what he just did.. watch his hand jiggles but not the cock waterer. It's very believavke because that tool does not get to the right temp , he's using 2 different types of plastic, the top and then the zip tie for God sake he tried to melt down.. that ain't happening then as he put the metal surround on it he said be sure to melt the base.. NO... You don't melt the base you lay down a welding rod then the metal the melt it through then layyer another welding stick on too of it.. the plastic the top is made of melts into bread crumbs if you didn't notice .. what's gonna melt to bread crumbs beside butter or cheese... Alright then that's what she snapped
my case is it is a screw hole it's broken all the way outside while halfway on the inside(theres a hole for screwing) I have redid welding it 3 times already but it's still flimsy and gets break off
I have half a dozen lawn mower HDPE fuel tanks and nothing works on their leaks. It's like "whack-a-mole" - fix one leak and you then have to chase it leaking somewhere nearby. Low reactive plastics won't bond to anything I have and soldering (both flame soldering or iron soldering) using spare HDPE doesn't work either
Preheat the surfaces first then sandwich the steel wool in and tach. Then use filler after packing the gaps with steel wool again. Thats the way !! Good video
I think he's right, you'll probably for want to do that out side with a mask cause that smoke is really really TOXIC. My friend was burning trash outside and it had plastic in it and he was standing real close. Cause of the smoke he inhaled he had to be rushed to the emergency room
Brilliant, thanks. Do you know if it is stronger than using 2 component epoxy glue? I usually use 2 component epoxy glue, which I can "mold" around the edges. Often this works, but not always. Your welding method is probably faster in giving you a usable repair, compared to waiting for the glue to hardened, but it probably takes more of your time.
This will only work temporarily. If he had melted the two edges from inside out this would be permanent. It is not easy to do and only someone who is steady handed and quick would have the know how. Hear how it cracks as he tries to show his handiwork in the end.
If you want to ever use it for soldering again, you're probably best buying a new tip. I find that after exposure to plastic/etc, solder will no longer wet the tip, regardless of how much cleaning and sanding you do to it. (Something like Hakko FS100-01 Tip Cleaning Paste will restore the tip and allow it to wet with solder again, but unless you're soldering regularly, for the $10 the paste costs, you're better off just buying a couple extra tips, then dedicate one to plastic.)
I bought a metre of copper rod the same diameter as my soldering iron tipe. Using about 8 cm of the rod at a time i have a good supply of spare tips that I can use. By bending, filing, etc these tips you can have all the shapes you want to reach narrow places, or sharp edges, or flat plastic pieces etc. For those who have to ask how to clean a tip, don’t diy anything; you don’t have the imagination or common sense needed for this type of work!
I’m AWS certified welder. I built radiation machines for hospitals for years.. the problem with this is, nothing plastic is worth ur time, and now ur tip on ur soldering iron is screwed so u have dedicated tip to plastic. Between my torch and a coat hanger I can do this without damaging ur iron tip. Heck I can use a stove instead of a torch. I understand ur theory. The steel mesh is a good idea tho. I would t go that route. It’s plastics. U buy China stuff u have to ruin ur soldering tips. U have a Rotary tool? Cut the other half of the handle off and carve groves on the lid to make it a twist top, make it a spindle style top
Great video man. Great idea.
For the people who are picking on what he should have done and not done, please make your own perfect video with a perfect solution and watch others comment on it.
At least he made a video and we can build upon it.
We all came to this video on how to plastic weld, meaning we weren't sure.
Amen!!
Stumbled across this video as I am totally new to the plastic welding world. So much practical information in under 5 minutes. The clear instructions make this now seem completely approachable. Thanks for taking the time to make this video.
Thanks man!! After watching your video and one by another RUclipsr, I decided to make an attempt at fixing a broken cup holder in my truck. It worked perfectly; nice strong bond. I'm pretty sure it will last for a long time. Another "skill" added to the skillset!!
Thanks a bunch, I have an old Christmas Decoration that had a door opening mechanic, but it broke on the inside, so I was originally planning on using a simple glue to repair it, however when that failed that's when I came across the idea to look videos up about this.
I would have never thought to use my iron to plastic weld, but thanks its really effective.
Excellent Welding Plastic 101 Tutorial, Greg!
Take away quote "weld plastic... sounds a lot more sophisticated than it is"! Thanks for adding "I'm just going to use a soldering iron" part too... it's not what you got but how you use it that counts, right? Love the steel wool reinforcement and zip tie welding rod tips... Thanks for scoolin' this old nailbender! Best, Matt
I rarely give a nod to this plastic welding idea but I must agree that the presentation is above most others that I have seen.
Use of the plastic zip ties was ace, I’m definitely going to use this technique- thanks mate!!
Thanks for the informative video I was able to repair an old shopping cart my mom loved. 👏🏿
Sir I must give you my ultimate compliment! That is slicker than Snot on a Door knob!
Nice plastic welding video. I would've never of though to use steel wool as reinforcement mesh. I have always used 2 part epoxy glue as it's cheap and readily available at the dollar store for $1.25. Nevertheless, this method is an excellent alternative if you don't happen to live near a dollar store.
Example you provided is very clear and easy to follow. Good work!
2-part epoxy can sometimes fall off.
Very useful video, others have done very little to impress me.
Great tutorial! Now a video on measuring the force it takes to pull apart would be awesome!
I need to do this for a drawer shelf for fridge what is the strongest way to weld plastic that is cracked? JB weld for plastic perhaps?
Great idea using the steel wool. Thanks for sharing
I was about to say! I wonder how much that changes the strength (quantitatively)
FANTASTIC Iwas goiny to throw out my boiler with the cracked base and after watching you for 2 minutes I went and fixed my boiler base. Thank you so easy
nice video. I like the idea of using the steel wool. I have been using small pieces of paper clip bent into a Z pattern to melt into the fracture line. Except for the initial tack welds, most of what you are doing is cold welding, just melting filler onto the site without much "welding" or melting of the primary plastic. It may bond the area but is far from a true weld in strength. Thanks
I was thinking that, primarily because he's using what I'm thinking may be a non-compatible plastic (zip ties=nylon; not sure what the repair item is made from, but I doubt it's nylon.)
Lay a V between the cracks with the iron, same effect as grinding a v in metal before welding two pieces together. Then follow up with using the iron to sweep plastic from surrounding area or a filler piece of the same plastic (you didn't even use the same plastic, your trying to mix nylon zip tie and PP or whatever that was) into the V. Trick is, just like welding, you need enough heat to actually melt the base but in the case of plastic not boil and char the plastic, that makes it brittle. You sweep the plastic into the v and smooth it over flush with the surface. I cut tiny pieces of metal out from a sheet and burr them up with the cutters of a pliar. You them melt those into the surface, pushing the iron on them until they sin/k in and become embedded, crossing over your weld like a stitch. /Keep a wet towel nearby and cool the iron if you notice it smoking and getting too hot. Do it like that and you'll be pod racing in no time.
Make a video of what you suggested. That should help others.
I need to reprair a 130 gallon fishtank frame, this would be the safest way to do it without shutting the entire community down for a day. Good job! thanks😊
Very Interesting! I normally use JB Weld, but that has a 24hr cure. Could see using both together, with the spot weld to hold the breaks. Thanks!
Coronavirus time means fix everything you can
Not for those of us who is broke who just fix everything we can! XD
I just got done fixing an office chair plastic lumbar support using a similar method. I have another one I need to fix and figure how other people do it. Mine was mix with plastic filler, cover with hot glue, top it all off with epoxy! Little black paint if I cared about aesthetics.
@@AnickYT lol
@@ktmediavideo Funnily enough, still holding up strong! Although found a alternative fix using just 6 zip ties rates for 100 pounds each. When you are a broke high school student with no job because of lockdown, you gotta get clever with limited supplies you find at home!
Gonna give this a try, for sure. Thanks, Greg!
For people looking at doing this :
Please clean the piece, you're gonna get impurity in the weld
And plunge the welder a lot deeper in the plastic, to weld correctly to the center of the piece
(and you can integrate clip to the weld)
thanks for the vid. have some freezer draws that need cracks repairing. super small nails and zipties I'm thinking. never thought of a soldering iron. was gonna buy a staple heat gun version. saved me 60 quid a draw
A great way to get a smooth finish with out sanding is to use a deep well socket to smooth it as you weld.
Great video thank you for sharing, fix it don’t fill the landfill. 😃
Thanks for this. I'm repairing a cracked HVAC box in a car and so far I just JB plastic weld (so glue) a piece of abs on the inside. Once that dries I might try this on the outside of the box to really make it air tight then heat and bend another piece of ABS and JB plastic weld that to the outside. So on top of the soldered plastic. Won't look super pretty will look better than it looks now (you can see a hole with the ABS on the inside. It will cover up the melted plastic too.
I would do it all on the inside but it's so deep in the box and along an edge so can't fully get in there from the inside.
You're brilliant, buddy! That's fantastic!
I just bought my first soldering iron, and this video is very helpful!
Would be interesting to see which side is stronger. Could attempt to pull the handle straight up in the center to see which side breaks first.
Great teaching! Thanks bud!
Quick & to the point! Great video, thanks for sharing!
This is an awesome video and I very much appreciate it.. 👍
I would definitely recommend wearing a face mask when you do this if your not outdoors.
Don’t be a wuss
@@AquaTech225 my man
Now you need a facemask outdoors too :c
@@WvlfDarkfire indoors more like...
Excellent. Great stuff ! Thx.
Thank you, now I'll fix my broken ones...
Thank you for the video I did the same thing for my hard plastic podcast stand and now all I'm doing is letting it cool off before I add the light o the stand
Absolutely brilliant, very great idea.
If you can get your hands onto some pure acetone you might be able to drip a little between the cracks to melt the plastic a little . To bond it maybe.
You flatten the top of the soldering iron so it looks like a spatula. Once you have a flat tip you insert it between the two broken edges wait till it melts both sides and smash it together as quick as possible for a solid bond. If you do it this way it is not a repair anymore (like in this video), it is refurbished.
Plus a woodworking iron insures that you don't burn the plastic most plastics weaken with a soldering iron it produces more extreme heat. And a woodworking iron comes with different iron tips
@@whydontyouaskme Thanks for the tip!
@@whydontyouaskme Could you link a good example of an iron with a good selection of tips like you spoke of? I'm currently using a 25W Soldering Iron
Thanks for the lesson!
steel expansion under temp changes is much less than plastic, might slowly weaken as product heats and cools... nylon is thermoplastic that melts at 250c rather than 125celcius for hdpe, nylon thread might work better, similar rate of expansion
great and quick
Great video. Thanks
Very cool video thank you for sharing this it is really helpful.
So cool! Saves us some money from throwing stuff away
I'm not sure if that zip tie is the same material as the cap. I think most zip ties are nylon and I have no idea what the cap is made from, maybe ABS. I'm also not sure how much it matters!
haha "our filler rod" , well it works so +1
btw wear googles , some fumes attac the eyes too.
Don’t be a wuss
The crack sounds at the end make me doubt xD
Hahaha lol😆😆😆
Thats not a crack, thats a rapping sound from his fingers on plastic
@@survivalistor6195 no hahaha.. he quite literally broke whatever weak seal he put on it. Watch it again see how he man handles it , it cracks and then on out he fake jiggles it cause he knows what he just did.. watch his hand jiggles but not the cock waterer. It's very believavke because that tool does not get to the right temp , he's using 2 different types of plastic, the top and then the zip tie for God sake he tried to melt down.. that ain't happening then as he put the metal surround on it he said be sure to melt the base.. NO... You don't melt the base you lay down a welding rod then the metal the melt it through then layyer another welding stick on too of it.. the plastic the top is made of melts into bread crumbs if you didn't notice .. what's gonna melt to bread crumbs beside butter or cheese... Alright then that's what she snapped
He knew it cracked cause cut the video asap.
Great idea with wool to reinforce the plastic!!!
Zip ties for nylon plastics, I assume. Or does it actually bond to other plastics?
my case is it is a screw hole it's broken all the way outside while halfway on the inside(theres a hole for screwing) I have redid welding it 3 times already but it's still flimsy and gets break off
Works great! Thanks. So, anyone know of common items that are made of polycarbonate? Bonus points if it comes in red!
Terrific vid, thanks a heap!
If you have some fine steel window screen that would really make it strong steel not plastic, lol.
This was brilliant! What do you do/use to clean the soldering iron tip?
Acetone when it's cool
I have half a dozen lawn mower HDPE fuel tanks and nothing works on their leaks. It's like "whack-a-mole" - fix one leak and you then have to chase it leaking somewhere nearby. Low reactive plastics won't bond to anything I have and soldering (both flame soldering or iron soldering) using spare HDPE doesn't work either
This is so cool! Lol I love it
thank you for this i just fixed my light
Preheat the surfaces first then sandwich the steel wool in and tach. Then use filler after packing the gaps with steel wool again. Thats the way !! Good video
Please make a video of what you suggested.
that was awesome. great info thank you
I think he's right, you'll probably for want to do that out side with a mask cause that smoke is really really TOXIC. My friend was burning trash outside and it had plastic in it and he was standing real close. Cause of the smoke he inhaled he had to be rushed to the emergency room
At what temperature should the soldering iron be at?
I wrapped copper around my soldering iron to make a copper tip. It'll be on a video i release in a month.
Did the steel wool rust after awhile? (Or were you able to cover it enough)
Great video.
Brilliant, thanks. Do you know if it is stronger than using 2 component epoxy glue? I usually use 2 component epoxy glue, which I can "mold" around the edges. Often this works, but not always. Your welding method is probably faster in giving you a usable repair, compared to waiting for the glue to hardened, but it probably takes more of your time.
This will only work temporarily. If he had melted the two edges from inside out this would be permanent. It is not easy to do and only someone who is steady handed and quick would have the know how. Hear how it cracks as he tries to show his handiwork in the end.
Can you use the soldering iron again for metal/circuit soldering, or is the tip pretty much ruined by the plastic?
Its easy to remove plastic from solder tip, just scrape it off with iron wool while the iron is just starting to cool down.
Pretty freaking ingenious
Excellent job.
The best teqniques. My favorite and strong.
Great vid, thank you
Super useful and no nonsense, thanks very much
Nice job !
how do you clean the soldering iron
Thanks ! Will try this :)
Thanks for sharing!
Well I never knew that. Thanks very much
So should we use special solder tips for this or will it clean up with no lasting damage to the tip?
Great thank you
"bring in that filler rod" - black tire wrap lol nice
I have a plastic boat and I want to add plastic flotation pods do you think this method would work
Just use super glue it’s really work strong on blastic
Nice job
Thanks bro.
Is that about a 25 Watt soldering iron or something hotter than that?
good tips, thanks man... (y)
Great idea using a zip tie for filler..
I would have super glued it underneath it first and then tack welded it
how long did this last? thanks for sharing
Grinding a v groove would help penetration, and create a more solid joint.
Nice
Okay so welding plastic is just like welding metal
Thanks a lot
How do you clean the plastic off the soldering iron tip?
heat it up and get it really hot and dip it in steel wool a few times or with wet sponge
Or take it to a grinding wheel
If you want to ever use it for soldering again, you're probably best buying a new tip. I find that after exposure to plastic/etc, solder will no longer wet the tip, regardless of how much cleaning and sanding you do to it. (Something like Hakko FS100-01 Tip Cleaning Paste will restore the tip and allow it to wet with solder again, but unless you're soldering regularly, for the $10 the paste costs, you're better off just buying a couple extra tips, then dedicate one to plastic.)
I bought a metre of copper rod the same diameter as my soldering iron tipe. Using about 8 cm of the rod at a time i have a good supply of spare tips that I can use. By bending, filing, etc these tips you can have all the shapes you want to reach narrow places, or sharp edges, or flat plastic pieces etc. For those who have to ask how to clean a tip, don’t diy anything; you don’t have the imagination or common sense needed for this type of work!
@@andrecrouse9704 rude. How did you learn? These are a start for someone who never has done it.
Fantastic
I’m AWS certified welder. I built radiation machines for hospitals for years.. the problem with this is, nothing plastic is worth ur time, and now ur tip on ur soldering iron is screwed so u have dedicated tip to plastic. Between my torch and a coat hanger I can do this without damaging ur iron tip. Heck I can use a stove instead of a torch. I understand ur theory. The steel mesh is a good idea tho. I would t go that route. It’s plastics. U buy China stuff u have to ruin ur soldering tips. U have a Rotary tool? Cut the other half of the handle off and carve groves on the lid to make it a twist top, make it a spindle style top
I would have used a plastic glue on that first then carry on with your procedure.
Great
An important issue is that you have to take precautions, because that smoke of the welding plastic can harm your lungs, producing a nice tumor!
Seems like some 3,500 lbs per sq inch epoxy would work much better and faster. Also expoxy isn't very expensive
Thsi kind of welding depends on plastic type ...
is it a normal solder or specific one for plastic?
It's just a normal iron
"i think made a very solid repair!"
nope.
Sounds like it crack at the end lol