plastic weldind problems

[jlc_84]

i've been trying to fix the ferrings on my bike by plastic welding with a soldering iron and zip ties. when i got done the area fixed was very brittle. so i tried again with thicker zip ties and same problem. after that i tried to use a plastic coat hanger and on one side of the ferring it worked pretty good, but on the other side it is still brittle. what should i do to make it work right?

[squiggy]

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=77439

You may find what you need in there.

[steves]

It sounds like you are using the wrong filler material, or you are over heating it.

Harbor Freight sells a pack of ABS welding rods. I use a programmable soldering station, and the sweet spot is usually around 450* F. Much hotter and the plastic burns... much cooler and it doesn't flow.

I'm not sure what you are using the zip ties for... but you want to build up the material, and use V- notches for strength... then blend into the surrounding material.

[ATOMonkey]

How do you know it's brittle?

[hardlydangerous]

use epoxy for chits sake
once you get the plastic that hot it will always be brittle
permatex plastic weld is your friend

[jbo197]

use epoxy for chits sake
once you get the plastic that hot it will always be brittle
permatex plastic weld is your friend

+1

[Vandil]

Plastic Weld + Fiberglass weave backing.

Fixed all my cracked plastics like that.

[Kfreak]

I honestly do not think a soldering iron and zip ties will work. I'll give you credit for trying.

[IndyGunner]

haha zip ties?!? thats probably the funnies thing ive ever heard. Try soldering duct tape on next time, that should work great and put sand in yer gas tank to polish your ports.


Note: dont, i was kidding.

[HexKrak]

haha zip ties?!? thats probably the funnies thing ive ever heard. Try soldering duct tape on next time, that should work great and put sand in yer gas tank to polish your ports.


Note: dont, i was kidding.

Zipties would actually work ok on smaller scale stuff. He's really not that far off.
*pro tip* You're not as good at being a **** as Arsenic is.

[md86]

I just did MANY many cracks on mine just stitching both sides with a soldering iron just to see what would happen . Used some extra plastic I had laying around to fill in some of the thinner spots (donor fairing bits ) .




The OTHER side has even MORE cracks . I didn't reinforce them properly (as I said , I just got a wild hair up muh pooper , and broke out the soldering iron to 'speriment ) . Actually feels pretty solid to me . And anyone who's seen my bike KNOWS how bad them plastics is .And I must say , I actually kinda like the stitched look . I MAY even keep it that way when I eventually get around to painting it ....

[ATOMonkey]

Zip ties are close enough to ABS to use them as a filler material.

ABS is a thermplastic resin, not a thermoset plastic so you can melt it and reform it without doing any damage to the molecular structure.

Just don't burn or boil it. It doesn't put up with that stuff very well, but even then, not terrible. If your welded joint is always cracking it could be that you didn't get it hot enough to melt the crack together with the filler, and you were just melting zip ties onto your fairings without fixing anything.

At the end of the day, who really cares. It's just decoration. Not like your fairings are a load bearing member of the bike and are going to be under constant stress.

I've done lots of plastic repair with a soldering iron and zip ties. After you grind down the "slag" you can't even tell it was repaired. None of mine have ever cracked.

The only thing that will screw up a plastic weld will be if some previous yahoo tried to repair it with fiberglass or epoxy. If that's the case, then just forget about welding it and fix it with epoxy.

[scottynoface]

*pro tip* You're not as good at being a **** as Arsenic is.

+10000000000000000!!!!!

AHAHAHAHAHA! You read my mind, Hex ftw again.

And anyone who's seen my bike KNOWS how bad them plastics is .And I must say , I actually kinda like the stitched look . I MAY even keep it that way when I eventually get around to painting it ....

If it looked any other way, it would not be your bike.

Road warrior ftw.

[jlc_84]

some yahoo from katriderz told me to use zip ties. i ended up drilling holes and using wires to stitch it.

[88kat60009]

ya ever since i worked on a dirt track car, i always kinda liked the stitched plastic body work too haha