Had a plastic weld gun fail on me mid-repair yesterday

I was welding a crack on a Honda Civic bumper yesterday and my cheap plastic welder just gave up halfway through. The heating element stopped working and I had to finish the repair using my soldering iron and some steel mesh. Total pain because the plastic was already hot and started cooling down fast. Anyone else have a backup method for when your plastic welder dies on a job?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wesley12d ago

Is it really that big of a deal though? A soldering iron and some steel mesh sounds like it worked just fine. People have been doing plastic repairs with a basic soldering iron for years before those fancy plastic weld guns even existed. The plastic cooling down fast is just part of the game you gotta work quick regardless of the tool. Seems like you already had a backup method figured out on the fly so the gun failing was just a minor hiccup not a total disaster.

grays1312d ago

Twenty bucks says I would have said the same thing last year, "nah just use the soldering iron and move faster." But watching that plastic stiffen up while I was scrambling changed my mind. Having the right tool actually matters when you're on a clock.

simonp7612d ago

Yeah exactly, @the_wesley I gotta agree with you there. I mean, it wasn't a total disaster sure, but it's still a pain when your gear craps out mid job. I had almost the same thing happen with a cheap heat gun last summer. Was softening up some ABS plastic and the thing just started smoking and died. Had to grab my old trusty propane torch and finish it that way, but man the temp control was all over the place. So yeah, you make do with what you got, but it's not the same as having the right tool firing on all cylinders.