money saver for plastics

[digschopper]

ok,this is not my idea,but i'm passing it along.i saw a YOU-TUBE video on welding plastic with a soldering iron. i wondered for years if it can be done. on polypropylene or polyethylene,yes it can. the alternative was "stitching" it up with wire ties.i just put 2 hrs into the back fenders of my yt125,and it's nearly done.
the iron didn't get all messy,the poly flows like solder,and if you work caarefully and slowly,it's the way to go.i did the inside leaving a "bead" like a mig weld to thicken the area.it may not have been necessary,but i went over the outside too,but very shallow. if it isn't pretty when i'm done,it wont matter,as i'm going to sand it and use FUSION plastic spraypaint to cammo it like the rest of the covers.

[haywiremechanic]

Yes, it works pretty well to use a soldering iron to weld polyethylene plastic fenders. I use a 100-watt Weller with a chisel tip about 10mm wide. I like to preheat the area to be welded with an 1100 watt electric heat gun before welding.

It isn't pretty when I'm done either, but you can quickly scrape it smooth with a "Surform" type woodworking tool. This is the same cheese-grater type tool used to quickly remove excess auto body putty before final sanding.

[hoosierlogger]

if you happen to have an old piece of broken plastic lying around you can use that as filler as long as they are the same color and type of plastic. that way you can put a nice thick bead along the bottom of the piece.

[Tuff]

someone should make a how to vid on this! :beer

[Taiser]

someone should make a how to vid on this! :beer

Agreed!!!!

[digschopper]

the yt's front fender was destroyed,so i used tin snips to cut "welding rods" from it. worked surprisingly well. my iron wasn't that powerful,but the youtube video said something like 180 to 220 degrees,and it was fine,although the chisel tip would have made it easier and faster. i have a vhs-c tape-type camcorder...will that load to the laptop( to send it here)with a fire-wire? all i know is,this saved me a bundle...i was going to throw the fenders out and try to find used decent ones,but it IS an '82 after all.