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Reviews: Urethane
Supply Company's ATV Plastic Welder
| Today’s review comes from the Urethane
Supply Company of Rainsville, AL
They supplied us with an ATV plastic welder.
The kit comes complete with detailed instructions, heavy
duty 42 watt heating element (with special tip), and 15 feet of
polyethylene welding rod. |
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I know that some of you may say “Why not
just buy a new part?” Well
in this scenario we’re using a radiator cowl from my Kawasaki
Tecate. If you know
one thing about this quad it’s that parts for it are VERY
rare.
Welding
Polyethylene
Polyethylene is a
"thermoplastic", meaning that it can be melted and
reshaped with heat. When you weld PE, you perform a fusion
weld, meaning that you melt the welding rod and base
material together.
Urethane Supply's
polyethylene welding rod is clear or "natural" in
color. During the fusion welding process, you are intermixing
the colored base material with the clear rod, so the weld will
take on the color of the surrounding area. Because of this, our
PE welding rod is compatible with any color of base material.
Step 1 - Align the
Damage
Before you do anything,
clean the plastic with soap and water and let it dry.
Then use Super Clean Plastic Cleaner to remove any
further contamination.
Use aluminum tape or duct
tape to hold the pieces together temporarily while you
do your weld. Tape it on the front side and do your
first weld on the backside.
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Step 2 - Melt in
V-Groove
Using your hot welder
tip, melt in a v-groove along the crack about halfway
through the plastic. You can do this by angling the
welder down and melting it in with the tip. We also have
a v-grooving tool or you can use a Dremel bit to create
the v-groove.
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Step 3 - Melt in the
Welding Rod
Using the
Polyethylene welding rod, melt the rod into the v-groove
using the hot welder tip. Fill the v-groove with melted
plastic rod about one inch at a time. Before the melted
rod cools down, remove the rod from the welder tip and
go back over the area and thoroughly melt the rod and
base material together. |
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Step 4 - Melt in
Reinforcing Mesh
This is an optional step
in case of a tear to the edge of the plastic. To
reinforce the stress area right at the edge, cut a small
piece of 2045W Stainless Steel Reinforcing Wire Mesh and
melt it directly into the plastic on the backside. The
mesh acts like rebar in concrete to spread the load out
into the base material. Reinforced this way, the repair
can actually be stronger than the original material!
Remember, the Reinforcing Mesh is an optional component
and does not come standard with the ATV Fender Welder.
Be sure to order some if you want to reinforce your
repair like this.
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Technical
Point: Polyethylene, like all thermoplastics, get their
strength from long, intertwined carbon molecule chains. When the
plastic breaks, these molecule chains are also broken. Even
after welding, there will still be a discontinuity in the
material where the repair is. Therefore, if the part is
subjected to stress again, it will more than likely break again
in the repaired area. Reinforcing with the stainless steel wire
mesh is the best way to strengthen the repair as it will
transfer stress into the original material.
Refinishing
Polyethylene
Polyethylene is an
"olefin", or oily, plastic. It's the same material
used for gas cans and water bottles. Its chemical reactivity is
very low - it is resistant to solvents, acids, just about
anything.
The good thing is
that mud and dirt wash off very easily because almost nothing
sticks to it. The bad thing is, paint won't stick to it either.
Actually, you can get paint to stick a little bit using of USC's
Plastic
Magic Adhesion Promoter, but if it's subjected to any abuse
(as dirt bikes and ATVs are), the paint will come off very
easily.
Because neither
paint nor fillers will stick to polyethylene, it's really not
worth trying to refinish it. Unfortunately, this means you can't
get your part to look like new again. If you want your part to
look brand new, you're going to have to buy a brand new part.
However, if you just want a part that functions and gets you
back on the trail, we can help you.
Contact Info:
Urethane Supply Company
1128 Kirk Rd.
Rainsville, AL 35986
[ www.urethanesupply.com
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