What plastic welding is and what tools are the best for it
Almost everything nowadays is a kind of plastic, at least partially, if not fully, made of it. And its popularity and low price doesn’t mean it is durable enough — plastic things are breaking far more often than metal ones, etc. Especially if we’re speaking about everyday things. And that’s when plastic welder is coming out of your pocket, handy as hell to fix the damage.
Plastic welding itself is the process of melting two thermoplastic details into one using a heat source — a plastic welder or a heat gun. And if you stop thinking about plastic as if it’s something cheap and disposable, you’ll find having a heat gun at home very useful. You can repair almost everything that’s made of plastic using it — from toys and furniture to home appliances and car interior parts.
So, in this article we’ll speak about plastic welding itself and find out about which tools are the best for it.
How plastic welding is done?
Melting plastic parts and combining them together is as easy as it sounds if you have the tools. You just need to heat up details’ edges and stick them together, carefully pressing them to each other until they’re hardened. That’s all, remembering that you’re working with a high heat and must be careful and cautious.
And you won’t need anyone at all to fix a ton of your issues — even if it’s your very first time welding plastic, you can do it on your own, following simple instructions. All you need is one of those welding kit types:
Hot gas welder or a “Heat Gun”. Heating fan for a heavy duty jobs like fixing plastic pipes, cracked furniture and some other big things. And you can even use it like a fan literally when you need to strip off some paint or make something dry. Only one thing matters here — you must combine parts that were made of the same material.
Liquid plastic welder or “Airless welder”. Perfectly suitable for fixing small cracks and sticking together things that are made of a different plastic, creating something new. You’ll just need to apply some liquid plastic and wait while it hardens.
Of course, there are lot more plastic welders — from laser-welding to ones utilizing high frequency electromagnetic waves. But you don’t need them if you’re not pro at it. Furthermore, some of them are not affordable because they’re suitable for using on factories.
What are the best plastic welders?
There’s no such thing like best plastic welder. It’s a matter of choice and preferences that are different. You can learn more about plastic welders by yourself — check it out here and choose one thereafter. But here are the ones that we had chosen:
WELDY 3400W Welding Machine Kit
Powerful heat gun that was made for really heavy duty — it weighs about 7 kilos. It’s great if you need to fix a big plastic barrel or a tube and it has one outstanding option — you can insert 3mm or 4mm welding rod and make an airless welder out of it. But it’ll still be expensive and heavy.
Leister Triac ST 1600W
Small heat gun suitable and powerful enough for everything that you’ll need, heating up the air to 700 C. Capable of doing almost same things that its powerful counterparts can. it is also reliable, mobile and not overpriced.
Polyvance 5700HT Mini Weld Model 7
Airless welder, powerful enough to do the thing, precise and compact, thus suitable for everyday usage and causing no collateral damage during repairs that needs accuracy. It’s a great thing to buy if you need a really precise tool to fix a lot of small things.
What are the safety measures?
So, choosing the best plastic welder of all and deciding to buy it for yourself, you must remember that you’ll work with a high het. Literally, no less than 200 C. So you’ll need to remember some safety measures:
Be very careful. Always turn your welder off when leaving, and use heat-resistant stand.
Always prepare your workplace. There must be no obstacles and things that could be melt by a heat gun.
Always use goggles or at least glasses. You have only one pair of eyes, and they’re not heat-resistant.
Always use heat-resistant gloves. Burns are very painful. And you’ve got only two hands and ten fingers.
Always keep welder away from pets and children. Especially heated welder.
Always use proper materials. You need your welder working right, right?
Be very careful. Not a repeat, but another reminder. Do not rush and remember the rules.
So, choose your own best plastic welder wisely, follow safety measures and fix everything nice and clean or create some marvelous things with it.