It may be obvious, but it is important to use a filler rod that is chemically similar to the plastic item you are welding on. He cut strips from discarded pieces of the air box to be sure that the types of plastic matched, and did a great job. The rods that come with the kit are color coded by the type of plastic they are made of, and this is explained in the instructions with the kit. Most plastic items have an icon molded into them that uses standard symbols to tell you what type of plastic the item is made from, so you can use the correct filler rod from the kit or a home-made filler strip, like he did. The triangular tip that came with the kit is very helpful in smoothing out the welds, as he demonstrated. This was an excellent demonstration of how to weld pieces of plastic together. Thanks for making it.
Was not aware of the material ID being stamped into products. Good tip. I have been wanting to add this tool to my work bench for some time. i have heard that the best filler is from the same material such as pieces cut of the item being repaired. The plastic welding really sounds very similar to metal welding in theory.
@@zookr Hey, if it is the right material for the job at hand, why not? They are correctly shaped and cheap. I'm gonna look into it. I thought the milk bottle strips for PET was a great idea, too.
My intake resonator got damaged. It is nylon, zip ties are nylon, so I used them as welding rods. My bumper was damaged. It is polypropylene and so was a cheap plastic folder that I bought from Walmart, so I used that to patch it.
I’m a welder and I’ve never seen this before!!!!! So cool. Now I have options when I’m pastiche breaks too. Man you opened a whole new door for me. Good job by the way!
I am a retired Sheetmetal worker. This is very similar to soldering. Never thought of plastic welding. Wow I could of used this yesterday. The glue didn’t work.
impressive mate, ive been a plastic welder for 20 years. ive hot air welded, butt welded, electrostatic welded, spin welded, extrusion welded and even injection welded but ive never seen this stuff. nice job and cheers for sharing
Thank you for sharing. I like how you kept your work neat and not just slop gobs of plastic onto your work. Then smoothing over the areas when you were done. Great work! 😀
Hi Martin, I need a plastic welder so your video is the first and only one I watched. You did a fantastic job. The music is perfect that you put on with it. I had a deer hit on the front of my car. Only hurt the driver side headlight breaking the mounts. I used some JB Weld. Still have some holes to fill in, pieces that were lost, so wanted a welder. Thank you so much for your video. Taking a bike ride over to H.F. then finish the job. Norman
Just wow Martin! You did such a stunning job in that ram air. Now with a bit of sanding and a coat of paint it should look like factory! All the best, Cristian
Thanks for a video that’s gets straight to the point. Most people just talk, talk, talk, and there’s nonsense going on in the background. But none the less, Great tool!
Had this thing for years, I use it at my small engine shop all the time, from mending plastic covers to resealing gas tanks, a good supply of plastic that I use is from gallon milk containers, I use a sharp razor blade and cut it into strips, I also clean the end of the iron on my wire wheel once it has cooled off to keep and clean tool. ..... Great video, I subbed
Thanks, Martin. I’m going to get one of these welders to repair the little plastic bumper grill on my car. You’re demonstration gave me the assurance that it’s an easy job. And, it’s cheaper to buy the tool than a new part.
I just drove 40 miles to Harbor Freight to buy a plastic welder set to repair the air dam on my truck. I was dreading having to remove it and buy a new one until I heard about this set. Saving a lot of time and money.
I did this for a living for quite a number of years. As in welding metals, there are a ton of different techniques, such as dielectric, hot air etc. etc.. One of the most common materials you’re likely come across is HDPE. It’s used for milk jugs, gas cans etc. and most of the time it’s stamped into the product by the recycle symbol. If you’re going to use this tool, you should look up a plastic burn test sheet online. Shave a small piece off of the plastic you want to repair and burn it. When you burn the shaving with a lighter (in well ventilated area) it’ll give off a smoke pattern to identify the correct plastic filler you need for the repair. Sometimes you’re able to weld plastics together using this method with the wrong filler material. It looks good and seems fine but when introduced to load, vibrations, time, etc., it will fail. I’m not insinuating you did that in the video. Just throwing some more info out there. It’s hard to believe you can buy this for 16$ but if it works, it works. You’ll probably save some people an expensive trip to the shop. Cool post btw.
Very informative video on plastic welding. Was researching plastic welders and found they vary in price from $16 to several hundreds. You sold me on the Harbor Freight one. Thanks. The comments section was also very informative on types of plastics and keeping the screws tight in the device.
Wow I learned a couple things watching this video new plastic welding myself but will be recording my experience this afternoon after I get my kit in the mail. Will be repairing a few kayaks me and my brother bought and I think the Gap welding trick will come in handy thanks for the visual tip!
Exactly what I'm looking for, Sir. I have a Craftsman mechanics toolbox made of molded plastic and one of the hinges snapped off right at the seam. The size of the toolbox is ideal for portable jobs, and I would hate to throw it away just because of a broken hinge. I think this tool will do the trick and I'm sure I'll find many more projects to use it for. Thanks for your video and you truly are a master plastic welder.
Thanks for the review Martin. Most of us should be able to say we have wasted more than $16 on a tool we never use. Have a piece of windshield cowl trim that broke off. Instead of replacing the entire $70 part this just might do the trick vs epoxy.
While attempting to replace my heater core in my pickup I broke my housing. You've sold me. I'm going to Harbour Freight tomorrow and purchasing one to repair my heater core housing! Thanks for the video!
Buy an extra pack of the welding rods just to have on hand. It will be worth the extra few bucks up front should you need it! Depending on the crack, this one is probably going to go much quicker than the hot air unit, as that model has a tremendous learning curve, and this design is pretty straight forward. Best regards with the heater, I'm sure you would be needing it as the weather is here! But please be sure to do the work with good airflow, and hopefully it's a cover that you are able to bring into a garage, as doing out in the cold won't help the plastics adhere well, and your fingertips won't like you for it. For additional strength, permatex 2 part plastic welder epoxy may help. It's never really turned the project to junk, as it either sticks, or peels right off of plastics it doesn't bite into. PVC is a great candidate, but some of the harder and softer (brittle or pliable) it just refuses to stick to. It's a blend thing, the agents simply won't fuse with some blends of plastics.
One really important/helpful thing to mention is to use foil tape tightly (flush) on the backside to catch whatever may be inadvertently pushed through too far to the other side. I think this is used at 5:45 . It’s very worth noting! And used by many even for small cracks.
Works best if you have some of the same plastic you are trying to fix for filler. If possible that is. Some plastics don't play very well with others. Some do. I've found that if you have some of the original plastic for the repair it is a lot stronger of a repair. Great video. One of the best I've seen on this item
Thank you very much for making this video! I need to fix a panel on my daughter’s car that would cost $80 used. Now I am confident I can salvage the old one. Much obliged!
What fine work, this is art honed by experience! Sure wish I'd found this before we went to the junk yard to replace the door panels on the Jeep (cracked-out screw holes, next time we fix ourselves). Thanks for the inspiration, you got me ready to learn and practice!
I did not know this existed. I took a old butter knife and made wooden handles. A propane torch to heat the tip and off I go. One of these is in my future. Thank You.
It occurs to me that there are industrial sized soldering irons on Craigslist all the time for pennies on the dollar and adapting one of those to this purpose would probably be easy.
Thanks a million. I was just in my local Chula Vista CA Harbor Freight and told the cashier that I don’t like coming in because I purchase too much stuff. In reality I love going to Harbor Freight but I always have to come back because I needed just one more thing. Well, I’m not going three days in a row but the next time I’ll definitely get this unit plus the plastic welder with the internal fan. Thanks again
I used this on my Stihl BR 350 throttle trigger. The ring around the hose snapped into two pieces. I welded it back together and it was solid. Reassemble it and it worked great.
Outstanding, straight-to-the-point, helpful, informative, hands-on-use-of-the-item video with NO foolin around B_llsh_t antics in the video editing !!!!!!!! haha Good job man !! I will buy one now !!
I do not have this unit. I have used my electric soldering gun to do plastic welding and I have used black and white zip ties to do most of my welding. They do a very good job as well. I think I will be going to buy one of these tomorrow as I see the head has a better shape for doing what I need to do. Thanks
This cheap one works better than my more expensive hot air HF welder that connects to an air compressor. In fact I had two of them a few years ago and none worked. Maybe it just me but heat element burned out on both units. Too much air it won't melt, too little air it gets hot and element burn out. No problem with soldering electronics, plumbing or welding metals, just not plastics. LOL. This video gives me motivation to try again. Thanks for the upload.
ME TOO, that thing, at least for me, was TOTALLY useless...put me off of plastic welding, but now, seeing this, I'm gonna hop on down to HF this morning and get one of these puppies. What HE was producing here would have saved me GOBS of time and money over the last 20 years.
As I do plastic welding for a living be aware. I have used this process with pretty good success for such materials as polyurethane, sometimes LDPE, gas tanks, but keep in mind this is not the number one proper way to weld plastics. Welding plastic is a fusion process, not a melting process, which requires hot air and equally heating the area of the break with the matching rod material. While his work looks good, I would love to be able to test his welds. Some times, many times the welds look good but will peel right off. A basically solder iron does not fuse, it melts and typically a melt is not a weld. To hot on the rod, not enough under the break.
Appreciate you commenting. Nice to hear from someone that does this for a living. I know exactly what you're saying about having two get both parts to fuse together to make a proper weld. This iron is kind of nice though for unexperienced people. I have the hot air welder and I personally do not like it. The hot air welder is not for a novice, it takes some practice.
@@martinbuilt Yes. It is not nearly as simple as it looks and does require knowledge of all plastics and what you are welding and a lot of practice and failures. I guess the best rule I can give for folks is to keep in mind when welding plastic is that if you are melting it you are not welding it, however a cold weld, not hot enough, is just as bad.
I have a heat gun. Would it be a ood idea to heat the base plastic first with the hear gun, and then use this soldering gizmo to apply another plastic piece? If so, what temperature should I shoot for?
@@censusgary yes and no ... That's can be a little bit tricky. This is why I'm not a big fan about hot-air welders because it takes some experience and not something you just jump into. Like if you decided you wanted to weld metal and pulled out a MIG welder if you've never done it before not so easy. Yes I think that would help Bond the two pieces together the problem you run into is if you apply too much heat to the main piece it can become distorted from the Heat. That's the problem I've run into with the hot air welder I have, I'm just not used to it yet.. if you have something to practice on I would recommend that first.
never seen it at the store.didn't know they sold these. just what i needed. THX..looks like you have to buy the rods separate doesn't come with any..seen them listed separate. tu
Very cool. I’m going to pick one of those up. I have the perfect project for it. Maybe now I can fix the plastic front grill on my mower. Btw that particular grill is not available to buy anymore so I can either fix it or try to find a used one. I think your way is the way to go. Thanks bud. Great video! I didn’t know that a plastic welder even existed until your video came up on my feed.
Glad you came across my video. I also used it to make a custom grill for my 04 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I did a video on that turned out really nice I thought.
I've used my $5.00 soldering iron with a set screw for the tip. Just cut a nail and used the head of the nail to work the plastic. Not as good as this toy but , eaaaaa ! It's what I had to work with.. Works to mend cracked dash boards too.
What kind of dash boards, the normal semi hard plastic type? What do you use for "filler" material. This sounds like something I could use right now. Is your "handle" a take off on pulse jet...funny?
This has been around for many years. The reason it is not more popular is that the area that is heated up in the repair will over time become very brittle and vibration will make it fall apart. High heat areas and out in the weather this will fail faster. So I see it as a temporary work around just my 2 cents.
I’ve seen videos before and it looked bad but you seem to know what you’re doing idk how many times I’ve almost bought it and last minute left it . Will be going tomorrow to pick it up to help me on my custom taillight project
THANK YOU FOR POSTING ! The camera is so good, I can almost smell the plastic smoke! Nice job. Plastic, by itself, looks good, but by cutting some screen wire and melting it into the existing plastic and then sandwiching it with your filler rod, makes for a strong repair, that's lots less likely to break, any time soon. Just saying. Thanks again! Great video! Bill from Tn. 🇺🇸
The loose screws are due to the fact that they use thermo-plastics like ABS to make the handle so if you have the handle above the heat element it softens where the screws tie into the handle. Very common on inexpensive soldering irons. The trick is to never keep the handle in the heat path for too long. Let the iron rest horizontally, don't hang it by its cord or attack your weld by keeping the iron directly vertically above the work.
I am a trucker but as a side business, I repair truck interior and paint interiors. I use this kit but I don't use the filler rods, it doesn't hold up to the vibrations of a semi truck. I use the welding iron to set stainless steel mesh into the plastic and then I rebuild the broken tabs with epoxy. Broken tabs are the biggest issue on modern semi interiors, and this kit works perfectly for it.
I had some plastic trash cans I repaired using my soldering iron, but think I'll get one of these plastic irons because the larger tip and higher wattage should make it a bite easier. I need to fix a headlight's mounting brackets that gotten broken by a deer I almost missed!
Great video ! I have a ton of automotive plastic parts that I could repair rather than trying to track them down at a junk yard. Just my opinion, there is no reason to add music to a TH-cam video unless it’s a music video. Hearing the noises that the tool makes adds value to the video ! Thanks again for making this. I can’t wait for Harbor Freight to open up so I can go get this tool !
I've always walked right past these plastic welder things and never thought twice about it. I'm dealing with the bumper tabs on my bumper being broken right now and because of your video and great demonstration of this product I will be purchasing one of these tomorrow and hopefully be able to fix the bumper. Also for your screws listening up issue try a little bit of high heat loctite
It may be obvious, but it is important to use a filler rod that is chemically similar to the plastic item you are welding on. He cut strips from discarded pieces of the air box to be sure that the types of plastic matched, and did a great job. The rods that come with the kit are color coded by the type of plastic they are made of, and this is explained in the instructions with the kit. Most plastic items have an icon molded into them that uses standard symbols to tell you what type of plastic the item is made from, so you can use the correct filler rod from the kit or a home-made filler strip, like he did. The triangular tip that came with the kit is very helpful in smoothing out the welds, as he demonstrated.
This was an excellent demonstration of how to weld pieces of plastic together. Thanks for making it.
Was not aware of the material ID being stamped into products. Good tip. I have been wanting to add this tool to my work bench for some time. i have heard that the best filler is from the same material such as pieces cut of the item being repaired. The plastic welding really sounds very similar to metal welding in theory.
Zip ties as "welding rods" ???
@@zookr Hey, if it is the right material for the job at hand, why not? They are correctly shaped and cheap. I'm gonna look into it. I thought the milk bottle strips for PET was a great idea, too.
My intake resonator got damaged. It is nylon, zip ties are nylon, so I used them as welding rods. My bumper was damaged. It is polypropylene and so was a cheap plastic folder that I bought from Walmart, so I used that to patch it.
@@zookr ... which are usually made of either nylon or polypropylene (PP) and therefore only useful for repairing similar plastics.
I’m a welder and I’ve never seen this before!!!!! So cool. Now I have options when I’m pastiche breaks too. Man you opened a whole new door for me. Good job by the way!
It's more like brazing or tig welding because you are using both hands and filler rod. The ABS I'm doing is very slow and hard to melt.
3D Possible but then pens won’t weld anything due to the only thing heated is the rod. It’s more for modeling building things
I am a retired Sheetmetal worker. This is very similar to soldering. Never thought of plastic welding. Wow I could of used this yesterday. The glue didn’t work.
No nonsence video. No dogs, no cats, no kids running everywhere. Just what I was looking for. Thanks, good job.
Gary Penney What a ass u r
@@alcapone4905 How's that an ass? Some of us appreciate getting things done.
impressive mate, ive been a plastic welder for 20 years. ive hot air welded, butt welded, electrostatic welded, spin welded, extrusion welded and even injection welded but ive never seen this stuff. nice job and cheers for sharing
My wife snipped up my credit card but now I know i can fix it thanks
Hey, for real, that's the funniest thing I've read all day
She did the right thing. Credit scores are a lie.
🤣
Need to do something with that wife of yours...
🤣🤣
Thank you for sharing. I like how you kept your work neat and not just slop gobs of plastic onto your work. Then smoothing over the areas when you were done. Great work! 😀
We use to do this as kids building models. Butter knife & a lighter....who knew 😁
Hi Martin, I need a plastic welder so your video is the first and only one I watched. You did a fantastic job. The music is perfect that you put on with it. I had a deer hit on the front of my car. Only hurt the driver side headlight breaking the mounts. I used some JB Weld. Still have some holes to fill in, pieces that were lost, so wanted a welder. Thank you so much for your video. Taking a bike ride over to H.F. then finish the job. Norman
Great video. Exactly what I was looking for. I had just heard of "plastic welding", and wanted to see it in action.
Just wow Martin! You did such a stunning job in that ram air. Now with a bit of sanding and a coat of paint it should look like factory!
All the best,
Cristian
Thanks for a video that’s gets straight to the point. Most people just talk, talk, talk, and there’s nonsense going on in the background. But none the less, Great tool!
Had this thing for years, I use it at my small engine shop all the time, from mending plastic covers to resealing gas tanks, a good supply of plastic that I use is from gallon milk containers, I use a sharp razor blade and cut it into strips, I also clean the end of the iron on my wire wheel once it has cooled off to keep and clean tool. ..... Great video, I subbed
Wow, awesome idea!
When i was a kid i used a soldering iron and the plastic from car model sets that all the pieces are connected to.
@@ethanwasme4307 ki 9j*no777nn,
@@isailwind3471 WELL, you were ahead of the power curve here, weren't you? Don't you wish you had made a specific tool and patented it. ;-)
I have heard of folks using zip ties as filler too. Specifically the freebies from Harbor Freight
Thanks, Martin. I’m going to get one of these welders to repair the little plastic bumper grill on my car. You’re demonstration gave me the assurance that it’s an easy job. And, it’s cheaper to buy the tool than a new part.
How did the bumper turn out?
I bought mine a couple years ago. Today we are using it to repair a crack under the sink, drain pipe. Easy to use, works Great
Thank you Martin. Now I can repair many things at home!!! May GOD continue to bless you!!!
I have seen this item but never came across any reviews until now thanks!
I just drove 40 miles to Harbor Freight to buy a plastic welder set to repair the air dam on my truck. I was dreading having to remove it and buy a new one until I heard about this set. Saving a lot of time and money.
Glad you found the video helpful. Thanks for watching.
I did this for a living for quite a number of years. As in welding metals, there are a ton of different techniques, such as dielectric, hot air etc. etc.. One of the most common materials you’re likely come across is HDPE. It’s used for milk jugs, gas cans etc. and most of the time it’s stamped into the product by the recycle symbol. If you’re going to use this tool, you should look up a plastic burn test sheet online. Shave a small piece off of the plastic you want to repair and burn it. When you burn the shaving with a lighter (in well ventilated area) it’ll give off a smoke pattern to identify the correct plastic filler you need for the repair. Sometimes you’re able to weld plastics together using this method with the wrong filler material. It looks good and seems fine but when introduced to load, vibrations, time, etc., it will fail. I’m not insinuating you did that in the video. Just throwing some more info out there. It’s hard to believe you can buy this for 16$ but if it works, it works. You’ll probably save some people an expensive trip to the shop. Cool post btw.
Thanks for commenting I appreciate all the information. Always nice to hear from the experts.
I was holding my breath watching you. I use this kit all the time and works great! Thanks for showing your technique
I'm glad you liked it.
Thank you for watching.
Very informative video on plastic welding. Was researching plastic welders and found they vary in price from $16 to several hundreds. You sold me on the Harbor Freight one. Thanks. The comments section was also very informative on types of plastics and keeping the screws tight in the device.
glad you liked it, yes those screws do come loose but for $17 it's a good deal.
Wow I learned a couple things watching this video new plastic welding myself but will be recording my experience this afternoon after I get my kit in the mail. Will be repairing a few kayaks me and my brother bought and I think the Gap welding trick will come in handy thanks for the visual tip!
A fix for a broken dehumidifier tank is in the cards! Thanks for the idea.
Exactly what I'm looking for, Sir. I have a Craftsman mechanics toolbox made of molded plastic and one of the hinges snapped off right at the seam. The size of the toolbox is ideal for portable jobs, and I would hate to throw it away just because of a broken hinge. I think this tool will do the trick and I'm sure I'll find many more projects to use it for. Thanks for your video and you truly are a master plastic welder.
did you ever try it? I got drill cases and socket set cases with broken plastic hinges, seems like an awesome fix
Thanks for the review Martin. Most of us should be able to say we have wasted more than $16 on a tool we never use. Have a piece of windshield cowl trim that broke off. Instead of replacing the entire $70 part this just might do the trick vs epoxy.
Scott McIntyre
Yeah epoxy or the plastic welder either one would probably work well. As long as you're doing the underside.
I've wondered about one of those for awhile; looks like I'll have to pick one up! Good video, thanks for sharing it with us.
While attempting to replace my heater core in my pickup I broke my housing. You've sold me. I'm going to Harbour Freight tomorrow and purchasing one to repair my heater core housing! Thanks for the video!
Buy an extra pack of the welding rods just to have on hand. It will be worth the extra few bucks up front should you need it! Depending on the crack, this one is probably going to go much quicker than the hot air unit, as that model has a tremendous learning curve, and this design is pretty straight forward. Best regards with the heater, I'm sure you would be needing it as the weather is here!
But please be sure to do the work with good airflow, and hopefully it's a cover that you are able to bring into a garage, as doing out in the cold won't help the plastics adhere well, and your fingertips won't like you for it. For additional strength, permatex 2 part plastic welder epoxy may help. It's never really turned the project to junk, as it either sticks, or peels right off of plastics it doesn't bite into. PVC is a great candidate, but some of the harder and softer (brittle or pliable) it just refuses to stick to. It's a blend thing, the agents simply won't fuse with some blends of plastics.
Thanks for the advice!
One really important/helpful thing to mention is to use foil tape tightly (flush) on the backside to catch whatever may be inadvertently pushed through too far to the other side. I think this is used at 5:45 . It’s very worth noting! And used by many even for small cracks.
Works best if you have some of the same plastic you are trying to fix for filler. If possible that is. Some plastics don't play very well with others. Some do. I've found that if you have some of the original plastic for the repair it is a lot stronger of a repair. Great video. One of the best I've seen on this item
Great video, was using a heavy duty clip on lower bumper on my silverado I am going to try this for a permanent fix.
Thank you very much for making this video! I need to fix a panel on my daughter’s car that would cost $80 used. Now I am confident I can salvage the old one. Much obliged!
Glad it helped 👍😊
Excellent video -- thank you! I just picked up one of these today!
What fine work, this is art honed by experience! Sure wish I'd found this before we went to the junk yard to replace the door panels on the Jeep (cracked-out screw holes, next time we fix ourselves). Thanks for the inspiration, you got me ready to learn and practice!
Thank you for watching.
This is amazing. Thank you for pointing this product out and showing some of the possibilities that you can do with it. Great video!
Thank you. Glad you found it helpful. 😊
I am impressed...wish I’d seen this years ago.
My welding teacher in 1988 told us this would happen someday. Cool, now I can fix my motorcycle fairing without a lot of fiberglass.
I did not know this existed. I took a old butter knife and made wooden handles. A propane torch to heat the tip and off I go. One of these is in my future. Thank You.
You make it look easy! I have a project that I might be able to repair..... Thanks!
Excellent work! Super good video. Thank you.
Damn it! Now I want one!
It occurs to me that there are industrial sized soldering irons on Craigslist all the time for pennies on the dollar and adapting one of those to this purpose would probably be easy.
Thanks a million. I was just in my local Chula Vista CA Harbor Freight and told the cashier that I don’t like coming in because I purchase too much stuff. In reality I love going to Harbor Freight but I always have to come back because I needed just one more thing. Well, I’m not going three days in a row but the next time I’ll definitely get this unit plus the plastic welder with the internal fan. Thanks again
Glad I could help
Nice video. I love Harbor Freight, and didn't know they had this plastic welder!
I used this on my Stihl BR 350 throttle trigger. The ring around the hose snapped into two pieces. I welded it back together and it was solid. Reassemble it and it worked great.
GREAT VIDEO, Beats the heck out of my way with plastic and a bic lighter.
Thank you. I really appreciate that. I'm i'm glad you liked it and found it helpful.
Nice Job. Great Video. I definitely learned something.
Chiltons ref books on the shelf, this guy has my utmost respect.
Thank you.
Nice work sir!
Outstanding, straight-to-the-point, helpful, informative, hands-on-use-of-the-item video with NO foolin around B_llsh_t antics in the video editing !!!!!!!! haha
Good job man !! I will buy one now !!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
Thumbs up it is. Good demonstration .
I bought one of these and it has more than paid for itself. I have repaired several items with it.
Yeah I've done several projects myself I like it much better than the hot air welder.
I do not have this unit. I have used my electric soldering gun to do plastic welding and I have used black and white zip ties to do most of my welding. They do a very good job as well. I think I will be going to buy one of these tomorrow as I see the head has a better shape for doing what I need to do. Thanks
This cheap one works better than my more expensive hot air HF welder that connects to an air compressor. In fact I had two of them a few years ago and none worked. Maybe it just me but heat element burned out on both units. Too much air it won't melt, too little air it gets hot and element burn out. No problem with soldering electronics, plumbing or welding metals, just not plastics. LOL. This video gives me motivation to try again. Thanks for the upload.
ME TOO, that thing, at least for me, was TOTALLY useless...put me off of plastic welding, but now, seeing this, I'm gonna hop on down to HF this morning and get one of these puppies. What HE was producing here would have saved me GOBS of time and money over the last 20 years.
I never even heard of “plastic welding” before today. Very interesting. I gotta have one. Great job!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks! Very thorough
As I do plastic welding for a living be aware. I have used this process with pretty good success for such materials as polyurethane, sometimes LDPE, gas tanks, but keep in mind this is not the number one proper way to weld plastics. Welding plastic is a fusion process, not a melting process, which requires hot air and equally heating the area of the break with the matching rod material. While his work looks good, I would love to be able to test his welds. Some times, many times the welds look good but will peel right off. A basically solder iron does not fuse, it melts and typically a melt is not a weld. To hot on the rod, not enough under the break.
Appreciate you commenting. Nice to hear from someone that does this for a living. I know exactly what you're saying about having two get both parts to fuse together to make a proper weld. This iron is kind of nice though for unexperienced people. I have the hot air welder and I personally do not like it. The hot air welder is not for a novice, it takes some practice.
@@martinbuilt Yes. It is not nearly as simple as it looks and does require knowledge of all plastics and what you are welding and a lot of practice and failures. I guess the best rule I can give for folks is to keep in mind when welding plastic is that if you are melting it you are not welding it, however a cold weld, not hot enough, is just as bad.
I have a heat gun. Would it be a ood idea to heat the base plastic first with the hear gun, and then use this soldering gizmo to apply another plastic piece? If so, what temperature should I shoot for?
@@censusgary yes and no ... That's can be a little bit tricky. This is why I'm not a big fan about hot-air welders because it takes some experience and not something you just jump into. Like if you decided you wanted to weld metal and pulled out a MIG welder if you've never done it before not so easy. Yes I think that would help Bond the two pieces together the problem you run into is if you apply too much heat to the main piece it can become distorted from the Heat. That's the problem I've run into with the hot air welder I have, I'm just not used to it yet.. if you have something to practice on I would recommend that first.
@@martinbuilt
Agreed.
I salute you for showing me the Harbor Freight tool and how to use it. Polyvance tools is so expensive. Thank you so much ❤️.
You are so welcome!
Great video, I will try to use this for my bumper repair n make a video.
You do very nice and neat work.
Thank you!
Thx for the video I needed this iwill be back for more
Good demonstration Thank you. Use locktite on your screws.
Thanks! that worked far better than I expected!
You're welcome, great to hear!
love this guy
The fill music isn't bad, at all. Maybe the best I've heard in an instructional video. Great welding job, too.
Yeah the music is actually from the TH-cam Library.. thank you!
never seen it at the store.didn't know they sold these. just what i needed. THX..looks like you have to buy the rods separate doesn't come with any..seen them listed separate. tu
You're work is crazy clean! Harbor freight needs to sponsor you
Thank you, I appreciate that, and yes they should...lol
Very cool. I’m going to pick one of those up. I have the perfect project for it. Maybe now I can fix the plastic front grill on my mower. Btw that particular grill is not available to buy anymore so I can either fix it or try to find a used one. I think your way is the way to go. Thanks bud. Great video! I didn’t know that a plastic welder even existed until your video came up on my feed.
Glad you came across my video. I also used it to make a custom grill for my 04 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I did a video on that turned out really nice I thought.
I've used my $5.00 soldering iron with a set screw for the tip. Just cut a nail and used the head of the nail to work the plastic. Not as good as this toy but , eaaaaa ! It's what I had to work with.. Works to mend cracked dash boards too.
What kind of dash boards, the normal semi hard plastic type? What do you use for "filler" material. This sounds like something I could use right now.
Is your "handle" a take off on pulse jet...funny?
This has been around for many years. The reason it is not more popular is that the area that is heated up in the repair will over time become very brittle and vibration will make it fall apart. High heat areas and out in the weather this will fail faster. So I see it as a temporary work around just my 2 cents.
I’ve seen videos before and it looked bad but you seem to know what you’re doing idk how many times I’ve almost bought it and last minute left it . Will be going tomorrow to pick it up to help me on my custom taillight project
i used that for my blend door repair,worked great..thanks
That's exactly why I bought it originally to repair a blend door.
I bought one for my blend doors too! Its the only think i bought it for. I hope i can find other uses for it.
REALLY wish I would have known about this when I was filling the gap between my body kit and bumper
Love it. Thanks. Gonna fix my sled today.
Thank you I'm glad you liked it and found it helpful 👍
I bought one of these today and will probably use it in A project I am currently working on. You make it look easy lol I subbed
Thank you, it is way easier than a hot air plastic welder.
THANK YOU FOR POSTING ! The camera is so good, I can almost smell the plastic smoke! Nice job.
Plastic, by itself, looks good, but by cutting some screen wire and melting it into the existing plastic and then sandwiching it with your filler rod, makes for a strong repair, that's lots less likely to break, any time soon. Just saying.
Thanks again! Great video! Bill from Tn. 🇺🇸
Thanks for watching Bill, that's funny you can almost smell the smoke, I definitely could and probably not that good for me either.
The loose screws are due to the fact that they use thermo-plastics like ABS to make the handle so if you have the handle above the heat element it softens where the screws tie into the handle. Very common on inexpensive soldering irons. The trick is to never keep the handle in the heat path for too long. Let the iron rest horizontally, don't hang it by its cord or attack your weld by keeping the iron directly vertically above the work.
Thanks for letting us know.
GREAT POINT! Thanks for sharing!
And don't grab it like a pencil. Ouuuuuccchhhhh!!!!
Thanks for the video
Dude, you’re awesome. Just bought one. New subscriber
Thank you for watching, subscribing, and supporting the channel. I really appreciate that.
You are a genius! Very impressive.
Thank you, I appreciate that. I'm glad you liked it and found it helpful.
I have a older version of that welder that had a reg that went to my aircompressor from HF love mine
I am a trucker but as a side business, I repair truck interior and paint interiors. I use this kit but I don't use the filler rods, it doesn't hold up to the vibrations of a semi truck. I use the welding iron to set stainless steel mesh into the plastic and then I rebuild the broken tabs with epoxy. Broken tabs are the biggest issue on modern semi interiors, and this kit works perfectly for it.
Thank you for sharing
I've seen some people really botch this up but your actually pretty good at it. Nice job!
Thank you, Chris!
Mine works great. Holds up too .
I had some plastic trash cans I repaired using my soldering iron, but think I'll get one of these plastic irons because the larger tip and higher wattage should make it a bite easier. I need to fix a headlight's mounting brackets that gotten broken by a deer I almost missed!
Good music too thanks Martin!
Glad you enjoyed it
That was fascinating to watch. Did a good job, and you did a good job also!
Thank you very much! 😁
Great job
Good job bro looks awesome
Cool! I can use that plastic rod for electronics sub assembly fastening too!
I'm glad you liked it and found it helpful. Thank you for watching.
Very cool. I have a tool box that I fixed with zip ties now I can fix it right thanks I'm going to get one great job
Glad to help
I have this it works really well.
works on radiator tanks also and headlight tabs
I'm going to go buy one now.
Nice work, really smooth. I think you would be a good metal welder. 👍😎👍
Thank you appreciate it!
Great video ! I have a ton of automotive plastic parts that I could repair rather than trying to track them down at a junk yard. Just my opinion, there is no reason to add music to a TH-cam video unless it’s a music video. Hearing the noises that the tool makes adds value to the video ! Thanks again for making this. I can’t wait for Harbor Freight to open up so I can go get this tool !
anonymous98 is right great demonstration i was smoothing the plastic with him lol
thank you so much me and my dad are building a quad and the plastics are cut so we bought one of these and didn’t know how to use it
glad you found it helpful
Wow. You make that look easy.
Thank you. I'm glad you liked it.
going to buy one tomorrow
I've always walked right past these plastic welder things and never thought twice about it. I'm dealing with the bumper tabs on my bumper being broken right now and because of your video and great demonstration of this product I will be purchasing one of these tomorrow and hopefully be able to fix the bumper. Also for your screws listening up issue try a little bit of high heat loctite
I'm glad you liked it and found it helpful thank you for the tip.
How did it go?
Looks like a worthwhile tool to try. You have the technique down! Thanks for sharing.
Great job buddy thanks
Thank you I'm glad you liked it and found it helpful.