Anyone ever use these ?

MUST HAVE TOOL, that tool has saved me many times. Just the other day the spinner on my weather station broke, I glued it and while the glue was still setting I hot staple welded the pieces together. It is a game changer when you need it. no cons.
 
I've used two different plastic welders - one basically a soldering iron, and the other a kind of single-nozzle version of the thing you linked. The single-nozzle thing is awesome for fabbing up tanks and boxes, the soldering iron version is OK for some repairs, but not a favorite.

GsT
 
Yes. I used one like that last year to fix a crack on a John Deere lawn mower cowling. Worked very well, took just a couple of minutes to get the hang of it. Because the crack was in a spot that got stress on it when opening the cowling I added epoxy and fabric to the inner side. Not sure it was needed though. Very solid fix that looks good from the outside.
 
Reddinr said:
Yes. I used one like that last year to fix a crack on a John Deere lawn mower cowling. Worked very well, took just a couple of minutes to get the hang of it. Because the crack was in a spot that got stress on it when opening the cowling I added epoxy and fabric to the inner side. Not sure it was needed though. Very solid fix that looks good from the outside.
Click to expand...
So this exactly what I am planning . The lower cowlings on the JDs are known for cracking . I have a GT235 that is cracked and don't want to put out $270 for a new one , only to crack it again . :)
 
Save yourself money and use a stripped electrical cord and a paper clip to do the same job.

Tune in tomorrow for more good “safe” money saving advise.
 
FYI the price for this at Amazon Canada is 105.00$ go figure
 
I saw a soldering iron that was modified by removing the tip and modifying a short piece of 1/4” id copper tubing to insert into the soldering iron.
The copper tube was cut at an angle
Regular zip ties would pass through the modified copper tube.
The copper tube would heat the base plastic and melt the “filler “ zip ties to effectively weld the materials together.

I also have seen a soldering iron modified with a brass screw and a brass freeze plug.
The broken plastic would have steel staples or steel mesh placed in the broken area and heated until the plastic melts, then pressure would be applied to the soldering iron to encapsulate the metal
 
This is a tool that I’ve filed away for “How am I going to fix this bumper/cowling/plastic thing,” and when I first saw it I wondered if you could do the job with a paper clip and Weller soldering gun.
 
mmcmdl said:

Pros or cons ? :dunno:
Click to expand...

At the US price, there are no cons.

It will do what it says. You've gotta have a plastic that's friendly to this sort of thing, and the strength/durability/appearance of the repair will vary greatly from one plastic to another. Just like it says, you heat that wire and melt it into the plastic a little ways. You'll want some GOOD flush cutting side cutters, as the ones pictured are gonna leave "stumps". You want as little sticking up as possible. Try taking the end of a brad nail and sanding it flat. Then do it without scratching the surface it's flush to..... It's an adventure to figure some of that stuff out. Then, all the holes you've melted the staples into, those have to be "smoothed" with the flat gadget. Picture smoothing out scratched plastic with a butter knife that you've heated with a propane torch...

It's kind of an art form, and it WILL produce acceptable results in a TON of applications. It will not produce new plastic, and it's a challenge to make broken plastic look new. This is not a fault of the tool, it's a characteristic of the plastic.

Now that I've made it sound like something that should be passed up.... No, that's not my intention. These do what they say. Get one if you think you might have a use. It's just not the fast, easy, and faultless as they are in the idealized advertisements. But they're a good thing to have. Mine (another brand, same crap) has brought both joy and tears. 99 percent of the tears though were from finding out "sooner than I would have liked to" that the plastic in question was meltable but not really repairable, and from the lack of knowledge of the art form of smoothing and forming plastic to look "passable" after repair. Seriously, broken plastic equals nothing to loose by trying. You'll get some big saves, to cover the tool, and you'll get some big disappointments. The successes are great, and the failures were already "dead", you just didn't know it yet.

FWIW, the stainless "staples" are manditory, even if you do a DIY route with a soldering gun. (I have no idea if that even works...) Paperclips rot out no many how many layers of paint go on it, they shatter at the mention of vibration, and are generally ill suited. Although they WILL melt right in. Not that I've checked.
 
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