Harbor Freight Plastic Welders

Any of you have one?

There are two designs. One is cheap ($17) and looks like a soldering iron, and the other is ~$65 and blows hot air through a straw.

Which is better? Pros/cons of each?

Couldn't I achieve the same thing by making a straw-tip for a regular $14 heat gun? Or am I overlooking something?

 

The one I bought from them looked a lot like this one:
800 Watt Plastic Welding Kit with Adjustable Temperature

It also had a pressure regulator and had to be connected to compressed air.

It worked great.














For maybe 15 minutes----------------------------------------------------------

 

We have a nice one at work but the air is needed to make them work good regardless of price.

 

Been There Done That.



In some cases the cheapo tool is enough to try out, for "proof-of-concept," then I buy a quality version.

In another case, HF sent the parts, and it has run like a champ for another five years now.

I've been wondering about a plastic welder…..

 

me too...my riding lawnmower has a flip up seat to access the engine, and the plastic housing is cracked and breaking to the point of needing to be replaced.
there was an "as seen on tv" magic plastic welder that I saw at Walmart. wife said it isn't worth 18 bucks. a new shroud is about 400 bucks. I'm not spending that on that.

I will check out the harbor freight model for sure. i don't have much more than a one time use intended for it, and I only need it to work great for 15 minutes!

 

ITLKSEZ, what are you trying to weld?

I repaired various plastic parts on a GMC Motorhome with the 'soldering iron' type.

The headliner was cracked and spreading in numerous locations.

I was able to weld in some wire mesh that appears to have fixed the problem.

I used the following: Polyvance 5700HT Mini Weld Model 7 Airless Plastic Welder - - Amazon.com

I'm in Spokane, just across the border, if you want to try it out...

 

Thanks for the offer! That's kind of you. It's a future project, but I have some motorcycle fenders and an airbox I was going to try to cut and stick back together. When the time comes, I might just hit you up on that. Good to hear you've had success.

 

I've been buying up all of the food strainers in Goodwill for the stainless steel mesh.

As the cost online for the mesh is quite high.

Or as they say in the south, 'They are mighty proud of that product'

 

Long Google Groups thread about joining polyethylene and polypropylene (PPE, likely what you gas tanks and fenders are made of) - Google Groups

There are apparently some adhesives that can used with an activator to join PPE. Plastic welding seems like an easier approach.