Pt 1 2021 New Heat Fusion: Join two sheets of coroplast
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- Опубликовано: 18 окт 2024
- A viewer suggested a new method to join two sheets of coroplast and I have to try!
The result is really good. There is limitation also. This method is easy to do, very strong and looks like a water tight joint. One side of the joined surface is very smooth. I can find good use of this method. I will try an alternate method to fuse these sheets in my next (Part 2) video.
It's been a couple years since I first found your page, so when I came across it this week I was happy to see you're still putting out so much excellent material. Seriously, one of the most underrated and undersupported channels on youtube! I just started coroplast building, and looking forward to sharing a couple ideas I have for bonding.
Thanks for you kind words, comments and support. Looking forward to your input in bonding coroplast! Cheers!
Thank you. Super handy.
You're welcome! Glad you find that useful. The latest from viewers are: 1. We can glue two sheets together using contact cement to create a larger sheet to build boats. 2. Sheets can be glue together with polypropylene hot glue stick. Polypropylene is the same material to make coroplast, therefore I melt the coroplast and joint them together is the same idea as using hot glue stick. But it has to be polypropylene glue sticks, other types will not work..... cheers!
Very interesting. I suggest using clamps to hold the wood firm and even on the outside of the "coroplast sandwich". Also, if you heat from the top in a 90 degree downward direction by setting large coroplast sections straddling a sawhorse or step ladder instead of placing it on the floor it will let gravity create a rounded bead and you wont need to smash the melted excess. Perhaps reduce the amount melted to 1/2 inch as well. Cool experimental test. Very well explained and demonstrated. Thank you for sharing your video.
Thanks for your guidance. Yes, I was acting conservatively and allowed more coroplast to be melted. Also, the coroplast I used is 6 mm (a bit more melted coroplast than a 4 mm one).Will try what you have suggested. Thanks for sharing your excellent method in fusing coroplast!
Thanks for this!
My pleasure! Hope you can use this method for your project.
Hi Hong, I successfully built a six foot kayak for my young son using your Gen12 plan at 2/3 scale. I wish I could show you the video but it came out great and I was able to build it from a single sheet of 4'x8' 4mm coroplast! I have not had as much luck with the 10' kayak. When my friend and I attempted to fuse the two sheets in the middle, we did not achieve a good bond. The coroplast became thin on both sides but did not adhere. My guess is we were too conservative with our heat. Does coroplast have a heat profile that once you heat it once it and it cools, it becomes much less likely to fuse when heated again? I'm afraid if I go at it with heavy heat now I will end up with a paper thin seam and my boat will fold up on me like a lawn chair. I'm wondering if the 3M 5200 Silicone would bond to Coroplast and be a good choice at this point. I could trim the worst few inches of my compromised edges, lose a little length, but then bond the two shortened sheets with marine grade adhesive. I see you tested Gorilla glue but I don't see a test with the 3M product. Thanks for your guidance and for introducing me to the wide world of coroplast building! (btw- after seeing my kayak, my dad is thinking of making a bimini for his sailboat out of wood ribs, coroplast and fiberglass).
Thanks for the good news (building the smaller boat) and the not too good news (bonding). A good news is if the coroplast sheets didn't stick together the first time (due to not enough heat to both sheets ), if you apply heat (the right amount - I will explain later) and redo it, they will stick together. If the coroplast has not been fully compressed (to the point that the inner channels all collapsed) it will bond well. Even if they are in the form of a plastic sheet, it will still bond. But you lose the structural strength the inner channels bring. Yet the sheet of plastic is very strong also, but it is a bit rigid and more difficult to fold (or more likely to crack at the fold). The question is what is the right amount of heat: it is better to over heat it, but not to a point the plastic melt and shrink. You want the surface to melt, but not shrink. i.e. the area to be bonded is start losing strength to remain flat and support itself. When it starts to bend or getting very 'flex'. Same with the other part of the sheet which it will be bonded with. That is the right amount of heat. Once they are all heated to this point, you have may be 10-20 seconds to place both sheets together. Next important step is to compress two sheets together with a piece of plywood on top of the joint, or use a long piece of 2"x4" wood. Do not apply too much force that the channels of both sheets completely collapsed. Then hold the plywood or 2" x 4" wood in place until the joint cools down. You do not need to have the sheets /joint to be 100% fused, which is not easy with hand tool. You will have to apply silicone sealant to make it water tight. Please watch this video ruclips.net/video/rmotKWDNlYg/видео.html The fused joint is to provide sufficient strength to handle the pulling/tensile force (much better than tape)
Another option is to use contact cement. The boat posted here ruclips.net/user/DIYUSAcommunity built by Susan used contact cement. I also watch a video of another builder used that to build the foldable boats. I believe this would work well. I would have two sheets overlapped at least 1.5' to 2' (or more) so the joint will be water tight. This overlapping will also provide a strong floor at the middle of the boat.
Hope you will have a good handle of it (heat fusion) in you next try. Otherwise, use contact cement.
If you still have problem, please let me know. I will make a video to demo this fusion step. The only problem is I don't have 4 mm thick coroplast.... all used up... I have the 6 mm ones only.
Cheers!
If there was a demand for fusing large sheets, I would develop a machine working with a cavity into which one sheet is continuously forced against another that is confined. Forcing the respective edges against each other is step one in my process. Step two is pressuring a 2 in wide strip of tubular aluminum from both side of the joint , this accomplished in an actuated system of steel using hydraulic or mechanical lever action. Step three is pressure-filling the alu tubes with oil heated to fusion temperature for the plastic. Release of finished welded joint to occur when a suitable traveling has been observed in one sheet towards the other, possibly after the heated oil is chased away into a hot oil tank by oil from another oil tank having cooling input. The temperature control could also be done electrically as I have done for a nordic ski injection production machine in Finland.
Thanks for your input. You do know a lot more in perfecting this fusion techniques than I do. One of my goals is to create something others can easily copy. I got my coroplast from China. They can ship a much larger sheet and the size is probably limited by the size of the shipping container (8'x20' or 40'). Ultrasonic welder can create a very strong joint but cost a few thousand dollars. At least we have simple methods to fused coroplast together, though not perfect, but good enough for now. Cheers!
People I know are too lazy to watch anyone laboring on something difficult as you often do. They seem to think that sooner or later a new process will make all this fast and easy. They say...let's wait a little and have a good time...Something better will crop up!
Thanks for sharing. I enjoy watching people building fancy stuffs on your tube. I know I will not do that (such as an electric plane) but I still enjoy watching that. I have been watch people building foldable boats. Finally I started building one, and then the next one . Glad I have time to do that. :-)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you.
Thanks! Much appreciated! Blessings!
@@DIYUSA The honor is mine when i may bless people in our Lords name.
It's the least i can do for Him and for you. :))
Take care brother and keep those canoes coming from the shipyard. :))
@@Romin.777 thanks!