Plastic welder

[mark38090]

Anybody ever try a plastic welder on fenders? I see harbor Freight sells one pretty cheap and I was wondering if it's worth a try?
www.harborfreight.com/ and the item # is 41592

[moose 53]

The plastic welder from Harbor Freight actually works pretty good .The Kawasaki plastic is oily and I haven't been able to weld it .Other types may weld just fine.

[PA-ATCer]

I purchased one and tried it on the plastic cowling of my Suzuki TL1000S, it takes quite a bit of practice but seems to work pretty well.

[Paradox2221]

I have a plastic welder that I have used on the fenders of my atc70's with descent results. You need to practice for a while prior to working on a large piece.
If you have a scrap of the same type material as you will be repairing you can use it as the welding rod .... I have a set of old fenders that were pretty bashed up that I carefully cut into narrow strips to act as rods.... READ THE INSTRUCTIONS that came with the plastic welder.... remember the unit can get up to 600 degrees, so wear hand and face protection.

One thing I have noticed is that the weld can become brittle... for large repairs I use fibreglass... not the welder... With patience you can do quite well... but don't expect great things at the beginning......

Good luck with your repairs.....

[Squirrel Master]

I used to have one of those very welders from harbor freight. It is really intended for heavier urethanes like car bumper covers. It gets too hot and seems to change the properties of the plastic, making it brittle. I personally have had the best results using a good old fashined soldering iron and some filler rod cut from scrap fenders of the same color. This method keeps the heat more localized and can make a very strong and tidy weld with a little practice. Whatever you do, make sure you practice on some srap plastic first! Oh.....and for what it's worth, the heating element burned out in that plastic welder after just a few uses. All of my other harbor freight tools seem to be holding up just fine. Good luck with your project!:beer