Hey Lads,

I have owned a cheap plastic welding kit from Harbor Freight now for at least 5 years. I picked it up at one of their outdoor sales and thought it was just a gimmick and never once thought it could fix anything effectively - boy was I wrong!
A friends RV had a badly cracked door panel and since it was of no big consequence, I decided to try it and see if I could mend some of the cracks without resorting to glues and epoxies. MIND - BLOWN!
These plastic welders are amazing and can do much more than simply cosmetically bridge cracks in plastics. If done correctly, it is a permanent repair that is hella-strong.
The front, plastic cover under the nose of my XK8 has seen a lot of scrapes and bumps over its life and has been cracked in half since I purchased the car 4 years ago. I never thought for a second that this was a part that could be effectively fixed and so I left it alone. With the success of the door panel repair, I went after the cover and spent some time working on it with the kit and some techniques I learned online. The cover is made of FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastic) so I didn't have high hopes that a simple plastic stick could repair this to my satisfaction - wrong again.
I will grab a picture in a bit before I install it back on the car but after a quick coat of paint, the cover looks nearly perfect (minus its legacy abrasions). Whats more is that it is VERY strong - nearly as strong as the original composition.
These kits are under 20.00 at HF and if you have ever needed to repair any plastic part on any project you have worked on, toss the glues and epoxies back in the drawer and grab yourself one of these kits.
Can't approve enough.

 

I actually used one of these a couple of years ago on a broken plastic piece on my pool filter. It's still holding, so yes it does work.

 

Well done....

 

I have one and used it on many parts of my Gold Wing motorcycle. When done right and finished well you can not even see were repair was done.

Ship

 

I may be wrong but I have noticed there is not much info on the Leister type copy plastic welders on the forum despite a lot of people (myself included) asking if anyone has any experience of them.
Well I decided to bite the bullet and buy one off ebay. It cost £88 inc postage from Germany. I'm under no illusion that this is a cheapaneese copy but I have to say the quality seems superb.
It feels heavy ish rather than a container of fresh air. The switch feels substantial and also the control potentiometer is reassuringly tight and secure. The tips supplied are welded stainless steel by the looks of it and even the weld is very neat, it looks like its been tigged which definitely is not what you would expect from the usual far eastern crap.






I have to say I think it is a really nice machine for the money. This is the 1500 watt version and can kick out some serious heat. The temp is also very controllable. Once set to the desired level it seems to stay there.
Now I am by no means an expert on these or indeed plastic welding in general but it does feel like a professional tool.
I had a play with an old spool to see what its like ( I know the correct way is to v the crack and add filler) . This was really just an experiment melting a saw cut back together. It looks messy as I was just seeing what would happen with the machine set at different temperatures. I managed to make a really strong join by manipulating the two edges together with the end of a screwdriver.


I am reading complete guidelines here At the weekend I intend to do a proper repair on a cracked bumper so I will share my experiences.

 

I used the Polyvance welding system to repair the front bumper cover on the XK8 a couple of years ago. Required PUR welding rod. Repair is still going strong. Follow the directions, and be sure to use the proper welding rods. For the bumper, I also used the Polyvance Flexible filler as part of the finish work. Much better than bondo. Also used the tool to repair cracked plastic fenders on my Mercedes ( Used GTX filler rod).