How to weld plastic fenders

[blackshee555]

I rolled my banshee and cracked the rear plastics. Its not too bad, its crack all the way thru but you can push the all the pieces together. I bought a plastic welder. Does anyone know how to weld plastic? If so, how did it turn out? Is there a procedure out there?

[pondtunes]

I rolled my banshee and cracked the rear plastics. Its not too bad, its crack all the way thru but you can push the all the pieces together. I bought a plastic welder. Does anyone know how to weld plastic? If so, how did it turn out? Is there a procedure out there?

 

 

I played around with this a bunch back in college, I took a welding class as kind of a stress relief type course and ended up getting certified mig/tig/stick on plate and pipe. Anyways, we did some plastic welding for a week or so and I ended up bringing in some plastic inner fenders off my chevelle to see if I could save a buck fixing them rather than buying new ones as they were split and cracked in a couple places..

 

As with any welding you need to clean the joint you're going to make extremely well. All dirt, grease etc all needs to come off.

 

Your joints need to be clean and free of burrs, a file or sandpaper can help a lot here.

 

Probably the most important thing is to use filler plastic that is the exact same plastic as the plastic you're trying to weld. PVC or polyethylene plastics require a correct filler plastic of the same type! Just like you wouldn't use aluminum filler to weld steel.

 

You probably want to practice on some junk plastic first, if possible find something near the thickness as well as the same type of plastic that you'll be working on, heat control is just as important welding plastics as it is welding metal.. If you heat the work more than the filler or the filler is too thick you'll end up melting your plastics down before you can get a puddle.. Properly done you should be able to make a nice bead similar to what you would have tig welding.

 

 

You may want to weld it from the back side so the weld bead isn't so pronounced if you're going to sand it down and paint it this might not be an issue but there could very well be a visible mark from the repair.

 

Good Luck!

[Fast-Fibers]

Just like pondtunes said its basically the same process as welding metal. Unless you sand it down and paint it when you are done you will always be able to spot the repaired area, mostly because of discoloration of the heat affected zone and the color of the filler plastic.

 

Just like like anything else take your time, double check yourself and practice on scrap.

[blackshee555]

Just like pondtunes said its basically the same process as welding metal. Unless you sand it down and paint it when you are done you will always be able to spot the repaired area, mostly because of discoloration of the heat affected zone and the color of the filler plastic.

 

Just like like anything else take your time, double check yourself and practice on scrap.

 

Thanks for your help.

[Rodneya]

I rolled my banshee and cracked the rear plastics. Its not too bad, its crack all the way thru but you can push the all the pieces together. I bought a plastic welder. Does anyone know how to weld plastic? If so, how did it turn out? Is there a procedure out there?

 

I was looking at buying one of those welders to repair a Rv tank.

I decided to get it fixed by a local guy instead, and it was the best decision I made as the repair work cost the same as the repair kit, and after seeing the heavy duty equipment he used I would never have been able to get close to the same result with the small welder like you got.

 

I would say that a used set of plastics would be a better deal than repairing what you have, but you have already bought the welder. Try practice on a spot under the seat that wont be visible first to see what it will look like on the fender.