i feel sorry for jim's sister cause 50% chance you just know he did something to her toy horses and now he's wishing this existed to make the process easier 😂
"There is a limit to how much fun you can have watching someone basically melt plastic" Sir you underestimate how drunk I am and how fascinating this can be.
Not to mention how stoned a lot of his viewers are. Remember a lot of people subscribe to Big Clive Live for his marathon live streams. For his next video, Clive will read the Isle of Man Yellow Pages while we watch paint dry.
If you want to have fun watching plastic melt, look at videos of 3d printers. I have one at home that I can record videos of. That way you can watch those videos to get the entertainment you need.
Well, to "knit" the crack together he could have put the staple in so it crossed the seam multiple times with it's squiggles. As-is you see how poorly it worked. Not intended use I think.
Another tip, use some kind of cheap tape, (painters, scotch) to hold the parts together for you, you can run it right through if the tape's in the way.
I agree with a little "twist" to seat a bigger area. TBH the "repair" shown just needs to hold the two halves in position for the install, after which they are "clamped" in place by design.
@bransonclayton Let me ask you a genuine question, where on that scale would you rank my channel? I find it very hard to break through the algorithm. Some times it feels like being an appendix, when seeing how few views new videos get, when having 50 times as many subscribers. :)
I was watching and paused to say the same thing. If the first one had been pushed in at the same orientation of the second one, that would have improved it drastically.
Its not only the wire holding it together, it welds the plastic around the wire together too. I use to set the wire in and turn or move it a bit in the plastic to weld a bit more and dig it in the Material.
Yep, you want to have the crack going through the waves like an X axis through a sine wave. I've seen these used a lot in automotive repair body work since all the body panels are plastic now and they can hide it with some filler like JB weld in the low spots, sand the high spots flat, and repaint.
We use these frequently, and we always put a twist on it before we let it cool so it has virgin uncooked plastic vertically above it, we find it holds much better on the ATV and side by side bodies we repair with them. We also pre-heat them to glowing red before we sink them in, instead of warming them while touching the plastic.
Yeah my first thought was I wouldn't want to be touching the output prongs heh. At least that baby transformer isolates the output, if only coincidentally.
It's worthwhile to remember that Temu basically brings together products from multiple suppliers (which are not necessarily the mfr) and ships them to you. You'll see them with multiple entries of exactly the same product, from different suppliers, at a different price to you.
I have not seen one of these before, but I was very impressed by your demonstration. There have been a number of occasions in the past when a tool like this would have made a good repair on cracked plastic mouldings, particularly where spare parts were unobtainable.
I have an old Weller soldering gun, it has a multi-turn primary and a one turn secondary. The tips were heavy gauge copper that were clamped into the secondary. It had a two-stage power switch, pull it harder and the output heat level increased. I did a lot of soldering with that gun, and it still works.
There are 2 versions of that weller. 1 goes from low to high power as you squeeze the trigger. The other goes from high to low. I forget which was the original.
6:48 No, your voice is not weird. We like your voice. I like your voice! Who cares if somebody doesn't. When I hear your voice, I feel like I'm watching some show on Discovery on TV, like old days. so it's not weird!!
It's one of those things that, looking back, would have come in handy so many times that it would have paid for itself a thousand times over. I'm glad you posted this. I had seen these before and told myself I really, really needed to grab one. Then with bike season staring to open up in my area I've been so busy that I completely forgot about it. Thanks to you, I've remembered again. So I already flipped over to order one to make sure the mighty brain fart does not strike me down yet again.
Resistive Thermoplastic Polymer Recombobulator! Nice and pretty handy, especially if hot stapling is combined with glue. Nice 73 meter. And now measure it once again just to see if it was not a Fluke! I use a 179 in my lab. More to come in the future, I think :)
thank you for years of helping me understand my tools & toys 🙏 I've actually been able to repair many household and workshop items from what you have taught me. I appreciate it so much when you open them up. you have saved me quite a bit of money over the years! 🌸❤️🙏❤️🌸
I saw a video, where they used a Soldering Iron with a flattened copper tip, to mend cracked plastic. They used the metal mesh (from coax cable), and melted it into the plastic.
...Common technique when I was growing up back in 1970s Glasgow. - Though strips of the thin Aluminium sold for patching car bodies would have been preferred to co-ax shield. - Along with staples from a stapler pushed through.
@@Unkn0wn1133 If it's a vehicle - You're supposed to do the repair on the (unseen) back of the panel and, if necessary, refinish the outside using paint, filler etc. - Something similar _can_ often be done on other types of casing. - It's that, or replacement.
@@aaakkk112 My Weller (circa 1970) did come with some flatterened tips for 'smoothing' plastic and the like but it never entered my head (or probably Weller's) to use a sacrificial tip - i.e. the wire 'staple' that these use. I shall buy some of the staples and see how they go.
I imagine a lot more guys like me are finding your channel due to morbid optimism for Temu finds. My bet is you'll more than double your subscribers by reviewing all the MOST EXPENSIVE Temu tools the rest of us can't risk wasting money on. Engineers can't not engineer, so your analytic methodology and quirks would be a godsend to non-electronic "man-stuff" as well....even if you don't get to say the word "schematic" as often 🤣
Seriously, I believe all the other channels are taking a $1000 payoff and $200 in free product, then wasting viewer's time by producing insignificant content about all the cheap crap the "rest of us" could afford to risk buying. Hoping Clive doesn't take the short-sighted Temu handout and tests the mathhhhsss of my theory.
These work wonderfully, I keep one in my toolbox and it's come in especially convenient when plastic trim pieces on equipment can be a few hundred bucks. 30 seconds with it, some filler,sanding and texturing and you can't even tell something was broken in the first place.
The wave pattern of that staple should zig-zag like a sine wave over your crack line. This way, you get multiple points of "welding" instead of just one, like your first staple. If your staple goes over your crack once, then it can be straight, like document staples, but then you need so much more of them 👍
This is an extremely useful tool to have. Initially they were mainly used by auto body shops to repair cracked plastic car bumpers. About 4 years ago they cost a ridiculous price of about $300 US, so I built one myself by modifying a microwave oven transformer. I repaired many cracked plastic items with it over the years and the repair is a strong as the plastic itself. Some plastics like polyethylene are impossible to glue together but this does a fantastic job on the repair. Funny, it's the same old story with the Chinese ripping off the the design and banging them out at a very cheap price.
Literally saved one big wing mirror frame for which the manufacturer wanted 450 bucks + paint + installation for the whole assembly. Got it stapled real good with one of these, I had a stick of similar plastic to melt on the scars, and a multi-tool to cut the sticking prongs and smooth out the surface. About 25 EUR total cost for the gun and staples. Never 25 EUR + my time were better spent. Still going strong after 2 years.
I absolutly love mine, it's already saved me a replacement mudguard for a motorbike (that would've been about £70 2nd hand. A replacement jack stand support for a Merc, a underpan cover for a renault, and I know it will save me more in the future. One of my better investments. Thanks for the video, saves me taking mine apart...
Wish I had one of these a week ago when I was fixing my car. Went with drilling holes and making custom staple-like things out of wire to join the broken plastic bits together.
just for your reference, the first staple you put in should have been rotated 90 degrees as it then gives more bridges across the crack we use a slightly more sophisticated one at work to align parts before actually being plastic welded Excellent video as always
I've used this system quite a lot in the past. The joints are mechanically strong(ish), and providing you can refinish the surface (or "staple" on an out of sight area) the end result is good. Obviously a LOT stronger than any glued joint (even epoxy), but definitely not OK for any "significant structural" purpose.
This is the sort of cheap repair kit I wish had been around years ago, it is such a useful way of making repairs to things like car bumpers, you can glue the seams then reinforce the repair with metal pins, quickly and cheaply. Using a simple transformer is a sensible low tech way to produce a relatively reliable repair tool
Dear Mr. Clive, what works fairly well, is to melt a piece of a nylon zip-tie between the broken part and the heating element. Enforces the structure of the part to be welded rather well. Plus you’ve got to burry the staple half way into the melted material. Cheers, Marco 🇺🇸
"There's a limit to how much fun you can have watching someone melt plastic." You underestimate the power of ADHD hyperfocus. I also watch my 3d printer print.
Nothing like spending hours watching a machine doing some kind of repetitive/iterative work Operating the vinyl cutter is one of the few kinds of work i can do for hours no breaks, just watching the machine go while i prepare more stuff to put on it, or because its some large cut that i have to supervise, if i'm not stimulated enough just put some music or youtube videos to listen to on the side
I have a similar kit, and I am favorably impressed with it. There are ample number and types of staples (flat, inside and outside corners), and they seem to be of stainless steel. I was expecting the electrics to be more sophisticated. The biggest use, IMO, is for car air dams or dashboard cracks. Thanks for the teardown.
After I found out about these, I bent some pieces of wire in the shape of the staples, held the pokey ends with some pliers, heated the staple with a lighter, and used them to repair some stuff. Worked mighty fine.
I bought a combination plastic and metal stick welder from Vevor this past summer. C$130.00 on sale. I haven't actually tried the plastic side of it yet. But the metal stick welder worked really well. We used it for some structural repairs at my restoration project a couple of months ago. It was a 3-day job, and that little welder kept up just fine. Even if it had failed shortly after the job was done, it would have been an excellent deal given the amount of weld it laid down over those 3 days :)
I guess I would have opted to either use a clothing iron with some parchment paper to prevent running the iron _(unless that wouldn't get hot enough?),_ or, a hot air gun and then used something to push it in one the plastic is gooey enough.
The Aluminium mesh sold for patching car bodywork, cut into strips and melted in with a soldering iron - that works quite well on plastic panels. Backing it up with epoxy resin over the repair makes things stronger.
Oddly satisfying. It’s important to note that thermal plastics like ABS will yield the best results, since the plastic can homogenize back to itself. Would be interesting to bond 3D prints together, since it’s all entirely thermoplastics. However, I would much rather it be temperature controlled, so you don’t burn the plastic.
Well it can only really work on thermoplastics, since thermoset polymers would not melt at all. If you manage to get it in, it’s from burning the polymer.
For the very first time Clive? You do surprise me! Back in (our!) 'RME days' heating up staples with a soldering iron and forcing them through a cracked plastic casing, was a common technique. - These are, admittedly an improvement on that improvised way of doing things... but this is definitely something I thought every Glaswegian geek grew up doing.
I have that/very similar model and have found it absolutely game changing. Have fixed multiple peoples Fridge door insert trays (milk/bottle holders), multiple boxes that would have continued to degrade.... saved myself the entire price of the gun with just the first fridge shelf.
I have seen these used for some pretty good repairs on some pretty expensive auto parts. With a little patience and some skill, you could use this for a ton of stuff. It is on my list, but right now I am cut-off from buying any more tools LOL.
This is very practical for plastic repairs, you use a few of these to hold the parts on place as well as some tape. Then use a low temperature soldering iron to actually weld the crack while use extra plastic as filler. Then reinforce the crack with more of these ties. And finish by smoothing over the work.😅
I got one of these recently from AliExpress (£12) and was surpsingly impressed with it, worked perfectly for what I needed. Was curious how basic or clever (basic it seems) it was inside! Well timed video with my curiosity, thanks. I also didn't realise the legs snapped off! I was using flush cutters. Everyday is a school day still
Like everything from China there are 'cost optimized' versions, like the ones I bought, which aren't pre-cut and thus don't snap off. It won't be long before the snap off versions are a historical footnote in the race to the bottom.
In the UK it might seem that neutral and live from mains are fixed because you can only plug one way - but in (…how do I say this politely… ) generally THE REST IF THE WORLD 😅 220v /110v AC have plugs which are reversible so they even got the live/neutral AC connection right, it really doesn’t matter how you plug it, transformer doesn’t care and the LEDS will respond to any half cycle anyway 😊
I have one of these, mine a rechargable pen-looking device. It also came with a flat head for smooting out a surface, and some extra filling plastic rods of different sorts. Haven't used it properly yet though, only did some tests. Seems to be a useful thing to be honest. Certain plastics are impossible to glue so this is handy.
I bought one of those from Amazon and it's pretty awesome. Those cheap a$$ refrigerator drawers that break easily and cost a fortune to replace, this type of tool works extremely well and save ton of money.
I had the exact same problem with cracked fridge drawers, but I used plastic bonding epoxy. Worked great though it looks like smeared snot. But metal staples embedded in melted plastic wouldn’t look much better!
I use one of this since over a year. Its the best chinastuff i ever bought! My daughter had a hole in her headlight and the used one i bought of ebay had broken tabs so i cut the tabs of her headlight and "welded" it to the other headlight. works perfect and is sturdy!
I ordered one of those a few years ago to repair a plastic model and my bike's mud guard. These are pretty useful, they do what tape would do in a much less discrete way, and melting stuff is always neat
I may find use for this some day. But, what is impressive is seeing a pro heat and feed plastic rod and truly melding material. It looked like an impressive wire feed weld line when I saw it.
My initial interpretation of the item was that it was a [plastic][welding gun], as in, a welding gun made of plastic… presumably a bad idea. Of course [plastic welding] [gun] makes more sense.
The plastic repair that was passed doen to me was to melt (ideally) small holes each side of the split, tear etc and to stitch the parts back together with plenty of thread or similar. Dental floss also works very well.. You can them apply a suitable glue to the thread and plastic and even if the glue doesn't bond to the plastic it will bond to the thread to create a good repair. Glues have come a long way but there are still some plastics that are hard to 'chemically' fix. Sewing might be more time-consuming, but you can also attack parts like you might stich-weld metasl to make a solid fix in complex shapes. Thanks for the vid Big Clive.
Iirc i saw long time ago in some video that in some kinds of races(i guess rally would be one of those) they do in fact stitch parts together if they break, they drill a bunch of holes on the sides of the crack, and then cross-stitch it back together using zip-ties, as an emergency fix in situ. Might have been on ChrisFix's channel but i'm not exactly sure
For anyone thinking of getting a plastic welder, be aware they are extremely situational. Generally speaking if the part has any load on it, it won't work long term (or usually short term eg the next time you use whatever you fixed). Also it is dependent upon the type of plastic. For purely cosmetic things, both the stapler and soldering iron types will be fine. Bottom line: avoid things that use plastic as parts that have a load/involved in motion, though that is largely impossible. Also, if using the soldering iron type especially, respirator and fume extractor.
I bought over of those from Temu recently. It says it works on 120 to 240v...(I'm in the USA) which is like... Kind of true, but it takes 10 seconds to heat up at all on 120. Wired it up to my 240v welder outlet and it actually works pretty well. Under load it's only putting out one volt. I immediately took it apart to see if there was a center tap, for 120v, but no. Then I realized i could make this wireless, because I have a couple of 2.5v 500F super capacitors (also from Temu). Works much better running off the Supercap. I want to rebuild it so it charges the cap from some 18650, but that project has been on my To Do list for a while now.
If you ever break a hotdog that's been electrocution cooked, you might be able to fix it with the Temu Welder. Worth a try but watch for the wire, they'd hurt worse than eating a pin bone in a fish. You could also bend the fastener into a shape like your initial and brand your hotdogs to ID them. No end to the joy. 8^) Cheers!
Saw the telltale bench top burn in another video and had to come find this. I purchased one of these a couple of months back and it works surprisingly well!
In mine, the white tip illumination LED is fed from a tertiary winding on the transformer, and even full wave rectified at that. No current limiting resistor, so they are doing something funky with the winding series resistance to limit the LED current.
If you end up actually using one of these, give it a small twist after inserting the staple for a stronger and longer lasting bond, a few degrees is all that's needed but up to 15 degrees is good.
Neat little device! I would have thought the metal wire would stay in the machine as opposed to staying in the plastic, but I imagine it gives it a bit of reinforcement.
Very interesting. Years ago, I used a soldering gun to do the same, but only to fuse the plastic to weld the pieces together, and afterwards, fused in office staples to reinforce the weld - ugly, but generally worked well. I have now a broken parrot cage pedestal and I'll have a look at this, if it's not too expensive.
Bought a one from AliExpress many years ago, was very sceptical but i have probably used over a 100 metal burnie bits in it fault free, if its plastic and broken ive melted it back together!
Wife got me one for $25 for fixing my split JD tractor hood. After you were testing whether it was hot at the beginning and dropped the staple I was laughing and hoping you were going to keep checking to see it got hot and accidentally branded yourself. They do heat up pretty quick.
Hi Clive. Another instructional and destructional video - awesome! Am I right in thinking if there is ever any break down of the insulators between the primary and secondary on the transformer that essentially the two brass studs would be live at mains voltage? It doesn't sound like the sort of component you want a lowest bid supplier for, but I guess the whole thing is made to a tiny budget. Cheers! Paul.
Having spent a good portion of my working life designing transformers, I can explain the safety separation between primary and secondary windings on this type of concentrically wound transformer. After the first winding (usually the primary) has been wound, a layer of insulation is applied. On top of this, a single turn of copper foil is applied, which has an earth conductor soldered to it. (taking care to insulate the ends from each other). Then, after another layer of insulation, the secondary is wound.
The first time I saw one of these plastic welders was in a TH-cam video on how to make one using the parts from an old microwave. The video was titled “This is why we don’t toss out broken microwaves”.
I bought this type of plastic melting / melding thing from china specifically to mend my sons electric car.... that thing is made out of plastic like 90% and he tend to crash a lot :D this thing can patch it back together like nothing :)
We have those plastic bins for the automated robotic arms. Ours cracked and the city wanted $165 to replace. Bought one of these from the jungle place. Worked well. Should last for a year.
Small tip, to help keep something together you could push the item against something heavy or something that wont move to help keep it in place while joining it together. Simple but effective, not that it matters for a short video i suppose though.
The thing about these plastic staplers is they need to be used in conjunction with other plastic repair tools like a "welder." Also you should turn the staples a few degrees after sticking them in plastic so they have a little more bite to them.
Standard in UK plugs. Intended to protect the appliance flex on our generously rated 32A @ 240V outlets. We can plug high loads like laundry equipment into any socket in the home.
In this instance the 13A rated UK plug was fitted I believe with a 13A fuse. If so this was incorrect, the supply current for the device would have been less than 1A so to protect the cable it should have been fitted with a much lower rating fuse. The most commonly available fuse being 3A, however fuse ratings of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10A are available.😏
Thanks for this video Clive, I have never seen one of these before, I can feel a purchase coming on! A quick reversal of the Live and Neutral would get that switch wired correctly. Not sure it could be called 'double insulated' but thankfully there is not an earth wire in sight!😃
This (just from amazon) Saved me 750€! We wrecked the mirror on our car. it broke clean off and was only held on by the wire that runs through the stem of the mirror. I 'welded' the mirror back together and filled the bottom with epoxy as good as possible. The mirror replacement from nissan would have cost me about 750€ and the replacement mirror is NOT available to buy as a normal person. I used about 9 staples on the mirror-stem. and melted the seam with a soldering iron thingy afterwards.
I wouldn’t call it a plastic welder because it doesn’t fuse it back together with more plastic. It just uses metal embedded into the plastic to make a skeleton. Leister make some of the best plastic welders that actually use plastic to weld the original plastic. Interesting video I wonder how long the repair will last.
We've used our soldering irons with stranded copper cable many times to repair POS touch screens that really should have been retired years ago. Works a treat!
for as cheap as it is, I could see that being a really useful tool in a garage. wether or not it's as strong a bond as CA glue, I couldn't say, but it would be great for holding a broken part together so the glue can set.
"There is a limit to how much fun you can have watching someone basically melt plastic"
Say to that to the 3D printing community
As part of the 3d printing community, we will watch plastic melt for hours.
Unless its Peek or Delrin. Fuck those filaments
Your voice is NOT weird. Your voice is one of the most pleasing on all of TH-cam.
I keep wanting him to say "Captain, she can't take it anymore".
As an American i find the Scottish accent to be a beautiful accent, I just enjoy listening to it.
Good voice for radio. A while back, the BBC started hiring newsreaders with regional accents, and Clive strikes me as a possible hire.
I would have to agree, it's not once or twice that I've fell asleep watching his videos and not because they're boring.
Based.
Looks like a handy branding iron for your little sister's toy horses.
Literally lol. Much agreed!
i feel sorry for jim's sister cause 50% chance you just know he did something to her toy horses
and now he's wishing this existed to make the process easier 😂
Her hamster
But not sister. I know what siblings are like.
@@hpekristiansenI once tried tattooing my hamster with a heat gun, didn't go well. Too much smoke and flames and frantic chittering noises.
"There is a limit to how much fun you can have watching someone basically melt plastic"
Sir you underestimate how drunk I am and how fascinating this can be.
Not to mention how stoned a lot of his viewers are. Remember a lot of people subscribe to Big Clive Live for his marathon live streams.
For his next video, Clive will read the Isle of Man Yellow Pages while we watch paint dry.
Yellow Pages ! what time is that on ?. @@petersage5157
I was thinking along those lines to. I would watch a 12 hour marathon of Big Clive melting plastic. 😂
If you want to have fun watching plastic melt, look at videos of 3d printers. I have one at home that I can record videos of. That way you can watch those videos to get the entertainment you need.
@@notsevenfeettall The brother who unironically uses the term "beginner's whiskey".
Once you've sunk the staple, give the gun a twist and embed it using rotation. This will provide far greater rigidity than a straight push alone.
Well, to "knit" the crack together he could have put the staple in so it crossed the seam multiple times with it's squiggles.
As-is you see how poorly it worked. Not intended use I think.
Another tip, use some kind of cheap tape, (painters, scotch) to hold the parts together for you, you can run it right through if the tape's in the way.
I like to rotate at least 8640 degrees…
I agree with a little "twist" to seat a bigger area.
TBH the "repair" shown just needs to hold the two halves in position for the install, after which they are "clamped" in place by design.
@@SpenceReam Aah, you have the "impact" soldering iron.
You sir are proof you can attain a million followers without manufactured drama or gimmicks. Us EE nerds appreciate you more than you know.
Very true...AND without a BS movie-like intro. I detest those.
Thanks. Much appreciated.
@bransonclayton Let me ask you a genuine question, where on that scale would you rank my channel? I find it very hard to break through the algorithm. Some times it feels like being an appendix, when seeing how few views new videos get, when having 50 times as many subscribers. :)
Note you should put the staples in the other direction, so it maximises the amount of times it crosses the break
I was watching and paused to say the same thing. If the first one had been pushed in at the same orientation of the second one, that would have improved it drastically.
Indeed... You need to have the wiggle across the crack.
You know what to do with that plastic crack...
Wiggle wiggle wiggle.
Its not only the wire holding it together, it welds the plastic around the wire together too. I use to set the wire in and turn or move it a bit in the plastic to weld a bit more and dig it in the Material.
Yep, you want to have the crack going through the waves like an X axis through a sine wave. I've seen these used a lot in automotive repair body work since all the body panels are plastic now and they can hide it with some filler like JB weld in the low spots, sand the high spots flat, and repaint.
@@pHuzi0n exactly. These are nice for diy fixing a bumper on a car you don't want to spend too much money on
We use these frequently, and we always put a twist on it before we let it cool so it has virgin uncooked plastic vertically above it, we find it holds much better on the ATV and side by side bodies we repair with them. We also pre-heat them to glowing red before we sink them in, instead of warming them while touching the plastic.
Great tip.
Someone read the instruction, naughty.
unrelated to this specific video but I really like how he warns us when he turns the lights back on for those of us watching his videos at 3 am.
Best time to watch them schurely ? 😃
Knowing temu I’m surprised it’s not just a switch that activates full line voltage across those 2 terminals
I've struggled to find dangerous stuff from Temu. It's been much safer than the crap sold on eBay.
Yeah my first thought was I wouldn't want to be touching the output prongs heh. At least that baby transformer isolates the output, if only coincidentally.
That wouldn't heat the wire. Need higher current CORRECTION: lower voltage.
Oh yes it would! Briefly though, very briefly.
It's worthwhile to remember that Temu basically brings together products from multiple suppliers (which are not necessarily the mfr) and ships them to you. You'll see them with multiple entries of exactly the same product, from different suppliers, at a different price to you.
I have not seen one of these before, but I was very impressed by your demonstration. There have been a number of occasions in the past when a tool like this would have made a good repair on cracked plastic mouldings, particularly where spare parts were unobtainable.
It's simple. It works. It's cheap.
No reason to change it or make it more complex. 🎉
Thanks for sharing
I have an old Weller soldering gun, it has a multi-turn primary and a one turn secondary. The tips were heavy gauge copper that were clamped into the secondary. It had a two-stage power switch, pull it harder and the output heat level increased. I did a lot of soldering with that gun, and it still works.
There are 2 versions of that weller. 1 goes from low to high power as you squeeze the trigger. The other goes from high to low. I forget which was the original.
I still use mine regularly, I have the original red one at home and the newer black one at work.
6:48 No, your voice is not weird. We like your voice. I like your voice! Who cares if somebody doesn't. When I hear your voice, I feel like I'm watching some show on Discovery on TV, like old days. so it's not weird!!
It's one of those things that, looking back, would have come in handy so many times that it would have paid for itself a thousand times over. I'm glad you posted this. I had seen these before and told myself I really, really needed to grab one. Then with bike season staring to open up in my area I've been so busy that I completely forgot about it. Thanks to you, I've remembered again. So I already flipped over to order one to make sure the mighty brain fart does not strike me down yet again.
Resistive Thermoplastic Polymer Recombobulator! Nice and pretty handy, especially if hot stapling is combined with glue.
Nice 73 meter. And now measure it once again just to see if it was not a Fluke! I use a 179 in my lab. More to come in the future, I think :)
thank you for years of helping me understand my tools & toys 🙏
I've actually been able to repair many household and workshop items from what you have taught me.
I appreciate it so much when you open them up.
you have saved me quite a bit of money over the years!
🌸❤️🙏❤️🌸
I saw a video, where they used a Soldering Iron with a flattened copper tip, to mend cracked plastic. They used the metal mesh (from coax cable), and melted it into the plastic.
...Common technique when I was growing up back in 1970s Glasgow. - Though strips of the thin Aluminium sold for patching car bodies would have been preferred to co-ax shield. - Along with staples from a stapler pushed through.
I did this, it worked but looks terrible.
@@Unkn0wn1133 If it's a vehicle - You're supposed to do the repair on the (unseen) back of the panel and, if necessary, refinish the outside using paint, filler etc. - Something similar _can_ often be done on other types of casing. - It's that, or replacement.
The number one reason I love Bigclive is that he can say the word "solder" without sounding like he is talking about a 'dirty' subject.
Making the "L" silent does make it swearing.
Solder? I haven't even bought 'er yet!
@@TheGreatAtario At least you don’t Sod - her!
Makes me think a little adapter for my Weller soldering gun to accept these staples would be handy.
GREAT idea!
You beat me to it!
@@aaakkk112 My Weller (circa 1970) did come with some flatterened tips for 'smoothing' plastic and the like but it never entered my head (or probably Weller's) to use a sacrificial tip - i.e. the wire 'staple' that these use. I shall buy some of the staples and see how they go.
Don't really need an adaptor. If you take out the tip, you can just push the staple into the holes. It only has to touch to make contact.
@@ParedCheeseProbably not, but the hole in the gun is significantly larger so the staple might move around too much. I'll have to get some and try it.
I imagine a lot more guys like me are finding your channel due to morbid optimism for Temu finds. My bet is you'll more than double your subscribers by reviewing all the MOST EXPENSIVE Temu tools the rest of us can't risk wasting money on. Engineers can't not engineer, so your analytic methodology and quirks would be a godsend to non-electronic "man-stuff" as well....even if you don't get to say the word "schematic" as often 🤣
Seriously, I believe all the other channels are taking a $1000 payoff and $200 in free product, then wasting viewer's time by producing insignificant content about all the cheap crap the "rest of us" could afford to risk buying. Hoping Clive doesn't take the short-sighted Temu handout and tests the mathhhhsss of my theory.
These work wonderfully, I keep one in my toolbox and it's come in especially convenient when plastic trim pieces on equipment can be a few hundred bucks. 30 seconds with it, some filler,sanding and texturing and you can't even tell something was broken in the first place.
The wave pattern of that staple should zig-zag like a sine wave over your crack line. This way, you get multiple points of "welding" instead of just one, like your first staple. If your staple goes over your crack once, then it can be straight, like document staples, but then you need so much more of them 👍
I'm confused. Not sure you mean you should use crack before welding plastic, or you should try it out on your own crack to see if it's hot enough?
This is an extremely useful tool to have. Initially they were mainly used by auto body shops to repair cracked plastic car bumpers. About 4 years ago they cost a ridiculous price of about $300 US, so I built one myself by modifying a microwave oven transformer. I repaired many cracked plastic items with it over the years and the repair is a strong as the plastic itself. Some plastics like polyethylene are impossible to glue together but this does a fantastic job on the repair. Funny, it's the same old story with the Chinese ripping off the the design and banging them out at a very cheap price.
Literally saved one big wing mirror frame for which the manufacturer wanted 450 bucks + paint + installation for the whole assembly. Got it stapled real good with one of these, I had a stick of similar plastic to melt on the scars, and a multi-tool to cut the sticking prongs and smooth out the surface. About 25 EUR total cost for the gun and staples.
Never 25 EUR + my time were better spent. Still going strong after 2 years.
Clive, your voice is calming. Don't talk shit about your voice. You could do those strange ASMR videos with great success.
I absolutly love mine, it's already saved me a replacement mudguard for a motorbike (that would've been about £70 2nd hand. A replacement jack stand support for a Merc, a underpan cover for a renault, and I know it will save me more in the future. One of my better investments. Thanks for the video, saves me taking mine apart...
Yes, this welder should be a staple in any man's tool room.
The Daddy Meter along with the Kink Palculator.... and transformers that are putting out!
Always fun to watch, thank Clive!
Wish I had one of these a week ago when I was fixing my car. Went with drilling holes and making custom staple-like things out of wire to join the broken plastic bits together.
just for your reference, the first staple you put in should have been rotated 90 degrees as it then gives more bridges across the crack we use a slightly more sophisticated one at work to align parts before actually being plastic welded
Excellent video as always
This is good to know, thanks...
his voice is always so calming
I've used this system quite a lot in the past. The joints are mechanically strong(ish), and providing you can refinish the surface (or "staple" on an out of sight area) the end result is good. Obviously a LOT stronger than any glued joint (even epoxy), but definitely not OK for any "significant structural" purpose.
This is the sort of cheap repair kit I wish had been around years ago, it is such a useful way of making repairs to things like car bumpers, you can glue the seams then reinforce the repair with metal pins, quickly and cheaply. Using a simple transformer is a sensible low tech way to produce a relatively reliable repair tool
Dear Mr. Clive, what works fairly well, is to melt a piece of a nylon zip-tie between the broken part and the heating element. Enforces the structure of the part to be welded rather well. Plus you’ve got to burry the staple half way into the melted material. Cheers, Marco 🇺🇸
"Try and hold it together" sounds like an excellent name for a song. (nothing to do with the content, just... arandom BigClive quote)
Could be a Sewerslvt album
That phrase is the story of my life ;-)
Thanks for releasing this one in the middle of the night, perfect for my insomniac depressive mood.
"There's a limit to how much fun you can have watching someone melt plastic."
You underestimate the power of ADHD hyperfocus. I also watch my 3d printer print.
Nothing like spending hours watching a machine doing some kind of repetitive/iterative work
Operating the vinyl cutter is one of the few kinds of work i can do for hours no breaks, just watching the machine go while i prepare more stuff to put on it, or because its some large cut that i have to supervise, if i'm not stimulated enough just put some music or youtube videos to listen to on the side
I have a similar kit, and I am favorably impressed with it. There are ample number and types of staples (flat, inside and outside corners), and they seem to be of stainless steel.
I was expecting the electrics to be more sophisticated.
The biggest use, IMO, is for car air dams or dashboard cracks.
Thanks for the teardown.
I have one and didn't know the pins snapped off :0
Thanks for showing that Clive
After I found out about these, I bent some pieces of wire in the shape of the staples, held the pokey ends with some pliers, heated the staple with a lighter, and used them to repair some stuff. Worked mighty fine.
I bought a combination plastic and metal stick welder from Vevor this past summer. C$130.00 on sale. I haven't actually tried the plastic side of it yet. But the metal stick welder worked really well. We used it for some structural repairs at my restoration project a couple of months ago. It was a 3-day job, and that little welder kept up just fine. Even if it had failed shortly after the job was done, it would have been an excellent deal given the amount of weld it laid down over those 3 days :)
Just had a friend trying to melt steel wool into a snowmobile hood to fuse a crack with a soldering iron, this is much less "rural" way, thanks!
Next time, use a little strip of aluminum window screen.
I guess I would have opted to either use a clothing iron with some parchment paper to prevent running the iron _(unless that wouldn't get hot enough?),_ or, a hot air gun and then used something to push it in one the plastic is gooey enough.
The Aluminium mesh sold for patching car bodywork, cut into strips and melted in with a soldering iron - that works quite well on plastic panels. Backing it up with epoxy resin over the repair makes things stronger.
Oddly satisfying. It’s important to note that thermal plastics like ABS will yield the best results, since the plastic can homogenize back to itself. Would be interesting to bond 3D prints together, since it’s all entirely thermoplastics. However, I would much rather it be temperature controlled, so you don’t burn the plastic.
Well it can only really work on thermoplastics, since thermoset polymers would not melt at all. If you manage to get it in, it’s from burning the polymer.
For the very first time Clive? You do surprise me! Back in (our!) 'RME days' heating up staples with a soldering iron and forcing them through a cracked plastic casing, was a common technique. - These are, admittedly an improvement on that improvised way of doing things... but this is definitely something I thought every Glaswegian geek grew up doing.
I have that/very similar model and have found it absolutely game changing. Have fixed multiple peoples Fridge door insert trays (milk/bottle holders), multiple boxes that would have continued to degrade.... saved myself the entire price of the gun with just the first fridge shelf.
I'm glad they snap off below the surface, this would be good for cracked bumper repairs
I have seen these used for some pretty good repairs on some pretty expensive auto parts.
With a little patience and some skill, you could use this for a ton of stuff.
It is on my list, but right now I am cut-off from buying any more tools LOL.
This is very practical for plastic repairs, you use a few of these to hold the parts on place as well as some tape.
Then use a low temperature soldering iron to actually weld the crack while use extra plastic as filler.
Then reinforce the crack with more of these ties.
And finish by smoothing over the work.😅
I got one of these recently from AliExpress (£12) and was surpsingly impressed with it, worked perfectly for what I needed. Was curious how basic or clever (basic it seems) it was inside! Well timed video with my curiosity, thanks. I also didn't realise the legs snapped off! I was using flush cutters. Everyday is a school day still
Yes, they are pre-cut, but they don't always snap off so well.
Like everything from China there are 'cost optimized' versions, like the ones I bought, which aren't pre-cut and thus don't snap off. It won't be long before the snap off versions are a historical footnote in the race to the bottom.
In the UK it might seem that neutral and live from mains are fixed because you can only plug one way - but in (…how do I say this politely… ) generally THE REST IF THE WORLD 😅 220v /110v AC have plugs which are reversible so they even got the live/neutral AC connection right, it really doesn’t matter how you plug it, transformer doesn’t care and the LEDS will respond to any half cycle anyway 😊
I have one of these, mine a rechargable pen-looking device. It also came with a flat head for smooting out a surface, and some extra filling plastic rods of different sorts. Haven't used it properly yet though, only did some tests. Seems to be a useful thing to be honest. Certain plastics are impossible to glue so this is handy.
I bought one of those from Amazon and it's pretty awesome. Those cheap a$$ refrigerator drawers that break easily and cost a fortune to replace, this type of tool works extremely well and save ton of money.
I had the exact same problem with cracked fridge drawers, but I used plastic bonding epoxy. Worked great though it looks like smeared snot. But metal staples embedded in melted plastic wouldn’t look much better!
Ahaaa...not sure how I missed this one, but now I know how you got that squiggly burn on the bench top.
I use one of this since over a year. Its the best chinastuff i ever bought! My daughter had a hole in her headlight and the used one i bought of ebay had broken tabs so i cut the tabs of her headlight and "welded" it to the other headlight. works perfect and is sturdy!
I ordered one of those a few years ago to repair a plastic model and my bike's mud guard. These are pretty useful, they do what tape would do in a much less discrete way, and melting stuff is always neat
I may find use for this some day. But, what is impressive is seeing a pro heat and feed plastic rod and truly melding material. It looked like an impressive wire feed weld line when I saw it.
My initial interpretation of the item was that it was a [plastic][welding gun], as in, a welding gun made of plastic… presumably a bad idea. Of course [plastic welding] [gun] makes more sense.
The plastic repair that was passed doen to me was to melt (ideally) small holes each side of the split, tear etc and to stitch the parts back together with plenty of thread or similar. Dental floss also works very well.. You can them apply a suitable glue to the thread and plastic and even if the glue doesn't bond to the plastic it will bond to the thread to create a good repair. Glues have come a long way but there are still some plastics that are hard to 'chemically' fix. Sewing might be more time-consuming, but you can also attack parts like you might stich-weld metasl to make a solid fix in complex shapes.
Thanks for the vid Big Clive.
Iirc i saw long time ago in some video that in some kinds of races(i guess rally would be one of those) they do in fact stitch parts together if they break, they drill a bunch of holes on the sides of the crack, and then cross-stitch it back together using zip-ties, as an emergency fix in situ.
Might have been on ChrisFix's channel but i'm not exactly sure
I've read that you're supposed to put a little rotation on the staple after it's been driven in. Basically locks it under the plastic.
For anyone thinking of getting a plastic welder, be aware they are extremely situational. Generally speaking if the part has any load on it, it won't work long term (or usually short term eg the next time you use whatever you fixed). Also it is dependent upon the type of plastic. For purely cosmetic things, both the stapler and soldering iron types will be fine. Bottom line: avoid things that use plastic as parts that have a load/involved in motion, though that is largely impossible. Also, if using the soldering iron type especially, respirator and fume extractor.
Temu for the win. I’ve been very impressed with everything I’ve bought there so far!
I have used one of these to fix a broken under tray on a VW T6, they work brilliantly.
You must have an absolute treasure trove of gadgets at your place!
I bought over of those from Temu recently. It says it works on 120 to 240v...(I'm in the USA) which is like... Kind of true, but it takes 10 seconds to heat up at all on 120. Wired it up to my 240v welder outlet and it actually works pretty well. Under load it's only putting out one volt. I immediately took it apart to see if there was a center tap, for 120v, but no. Then I realized i could make this wireless, because I have a couple of 2.5v 500F super capacitors (also from Temu). Works much better running off the Supercap. I want to rebuild it so it charges the cap from some 18650, but that project has been on my To Do list for a while now.
For USA, double the number of turns on the transformer secondary :)
If you ever break a hotdog that's been electrocution cooked, you might be able to fix it with the Temu Welder. Worth a try but watch for the wire, they'd hurt worse than eating a pin bone in a fish. You could also bend the fastener into a shape like your initial and brand your hotdogs to ID them. No end to the joy. 8^) Cheers!
Saw the telltale bench top burn in another video and had to come find this.
I purchased one of these a couple of months back and it works surprisingly well!
In mine, the white tip illumination LED is fed from a tertiary winding on the transformer, and even full wave rectified at that. No current limiting resistor, so they are doing something funky with the winding series resistance to limit the LED current.
Who could smell that burning plastic as the staple went in? 😂
Thou art a sorcerer!
I could smell that lol
I can taste it
"I love the smell of burning plastic in the morning"
Smelling both ABS (from childhood memories of action figures and magnifying glasses) and polypropylene (the most recent plastic I melted/burned)!
I bought one of these a year ago for fixing the undertray on my car it worked fantastic no issues
If you end up actually using one of these, give it a small twist after inserting the staple for a stronger and longer lasting bond, a few degrees is all that's needed but up to 15 degrees is good.
Clive and his big pink Sassy calculator always cracks me up.
What? Oh, you mean the 'Kink Paculator' 😮
@@tinkerbot4148 Palculator 😉
@@tubybubi thakyou for that.
I used one a few days ago to fix the panels on my old Honda, managed to get it rock solid :)
If your last name begins with M or W it would be a great livestock branding tool for your kids. Lots of fun, lots of uses!
I admire such practical cruelty! Your kids will thank you later when they finally realise you had their best interests in mind. 👍🏻🙂
Neat little device! I would have thought the metal wire would stay in the machine as opposed to staying in the plastic, but I imagine it gives it a bit of reinforcement.
Apparently popular for repairing plastic bumpers on cars. melt the staples in then use filler sandpaper and paint.
Very interesting. Years ago, I used a soldering gun to do the same, but only to fuse the plastic to weld the pieces together, and afterwards, fused in office staples to reinforce the weld - ugly, but generally worked well. I have now a broken parrot cage pedestal and I'll have a look at this, if it's not too expensive.
This makes it worth it being up at 2.30 am with a cold.
Feed a fever starve a cold. Get well soon :)
My thought exactly
Ditto! 🤧
Get well soon! 😊
.just woke up at 3am after sore throat sleep at 8pn.
It was either this or a made for tv flim on legend.
Bought a one from AliExpress many years ago, was very sceptical but i have probably used over a 100 metal burnie bits in it fault free, if its plastic and broken ive melted it back together!
Wife got me one for $25 for fixing my split JD tractor hood. After you were testing whether it was hot at the beginning and dropped the staple I was laughing and hoping you were going to keep checking to see it got hot and accidentally branded yourself. They do heat up pretty quick.
Wish I'd had one of these years ago when I kept dropping faired motorcycles. 😁
Hi Clive. Another instructional and destructional video - awesome! Am I right in thinking if there is ever any break down of the insulators between the primary and secondary on the transformer that essentially the two brass studs would be live at mains voltage? It doesn't sound like the sort of component you want a lowest bid supplier for, but I guess the whole thing is made to a tiny budget. Cheers! Paul.
I was tempted to unwind the transformer to check it out, but want to try the unit out first.
Sometimes these simplified products make me think how far they are going to take it.
That's what I watch these for, I'm surprised there was an actual switch.
Having spent a good portion of my working life designing transformers, I can explain the safety separation between primary and secondary windings on this type of concentrically wound transformer.
After the first winding (usually the primary) has been wound, a layer of insulation is applied. On top of this, a single turn of copper foil is applied, which has an earth conductor soldered to it. (taking care to insulate the ends from each other).
Then, after another layer of insulation, the secondary is wound.
Great explanation, thanks. To be honest, though, i'd bet they aren't wound so safely on a cheap Chinese transformer. Would be interesting to find out.
This one will not be wound safely.
I have one of these, and for the price, they're extremely handy. I've fixed loads of stuff with it and should it fail, I'd buy another in a heartbeat
For some reason, it was funny to see "Made In China" on the Tesla part, while trying to repair it with a TEMU purchase.
The first time I saw one of these plastic welders was in a TH-cam video on how to make one using the parts from an old microwave. The video was titled “This is why we don’t toss out broken microwaves”.
I bought this type of plastic melting / melding thing from china specifically to mend my sons electric car.... that thing is made out of plastic like 90% and he tend to crash a lot :D this thing can patch it back together like nothing :)
We have those plastic bins for the automated robotic arms. Ours cracked and the city wanted $165 to replace. Bought one of these from the jungle place. Worked well. Should last for a year.
Good old Walmart that place sure is a jungle
Handy things. Have been doing this with a torch: little bit less sophisticated but it gets the job done
Small tip, to help keep something together you could push the item against something heavy or something that wont move to help keep it in place while joining it together. Simple but effective, not that it matters for a short video i suppose though.
The thing about these plastic staplers is they need to be used in conjunction with other plastic repair tools like a "welder." Also you should turn the staples a few degrees after sticking them in plastic so they have a little more bite to them.
Love the fuse in the plug . Never saw that in USA but seems like a smart idea
Standard in UK plugs. Intended to protect the appliance flex on our generously rated 32A @ 240V outlets. We can plug high loads like laundry equipment into any socket in the home.
In this instance the 13A rated UK plug was fitted I believe with a 13A fuse. If so this was incorrect, the supply current for the device would have been less than 1A so to protect the cable it should have been fitted with a much lower rating fuse. The most commonly available fuse being 3A, however fuse ratings of 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and 10A are available.😏
Thanks for this video Clive, I have never seen one of these before, I can feel a purchase coming on!
A quick reversal of the Live and Neutral would get that switch wired correctly.
Not sure it could be called 'double insulated' but thankfully there is not an earth wire in sight!😃
This (just from amazon) Saved me 750€! We wrecked the mirror on our car. it broke clean off and was only held on by the wire that runs through the stem of the mirror. I 'welded' the mirror back together and filled the bottom with epoxy as good as possible. The mirror replacement from nissan would have cost me about 750€ and the replacement mirror is NOT available to buy as a normal person. I used about 9 staples on the mirror-stem. and melted the seam with a soldering iron thingy afterwards.
I wouldn’t call it a plastic welder because it doesn’t fuse it back together with more plastic.
It just uses metal embedded into the plastic to make a skeleton.
Leister make some of the best plastic welders that actually use plastic to weld the original plastic.
Interesting video I wonder how long the repair will last.
Yes, it does if you use the smoothing tool. Add waste zip-ties as filler, etc.
@@englishrupe01 lol
We've used our soldering irons with stranded copper cable many times to repair POS touch screens that really should have been retired years ago. Works a treat!
I always love hearing british accent. It sounds so nice. And of course, I enjoyed this video.
I felt a great disturbance, millions of my little ponies suddenly cried out in fear.
for as cheap as it is, I could see that being a really useful tool in a garage. wether or not it's as strong a bond as CA glue, I couldn't say, but it would be great for holding a broken part together so the glue can set.