Can the welders restore plastic to it’s original strength or even stronger? Let’s find out! Let’s compare several plastic repair options using two types of plastic welders. Plastic welders compared for repair strength on HDPE, ABS, and Polycarbonate.
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➡ Products Tested In This Video (in no particular order):
Beyondlife: https://amzn.to/440PxbG
RXXXWELD: https://amzn.to/3DQy5ft
OIMERRY: https://amzn.to/3qkKdCh
JOUNJIP: https://amzn.to/445DE43
Allturn: https://amzn.to/44eeIYw
Ryobi Hot Glue Gun: https://amzn.to/3YyYXtC
J-B Weld Plastic Bonder: https://amzn.to/3s6s77B
J-B Weld Original: https://amzn.to/3KAp3qo
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Just about everything is made of plastic These days and sooner or later that Plastic is going to crack so the Question is can you actually repair it Using a plastic welder well let's find Out let's test the welders on three Different types of plastic HDPE abs and Polycarbonate finally we'll see if JB Weld is actually better than the plastic Welder at a price of 22 is this rxx well How just call it the RX weld the plastic Welding repair kit includes an 80 watt Iron 20 black rods sandpaper and Stainless steel mesh they claim it can Be used to repair a car bumper dashboard Kayak canoe or fuel tank the RX weld is Made in China and the RX weld is Advertised as producing 80 watts and it Did better than advertised at around 86 Watts let's see how long it takes for The welder to warm up and the RX weld Welder mid to approximately 480 degrees Fahrenheit after three minutes at five Minutes it's all the way up to 642 Degrees and 10 minutes is up and the RX Weld is very hot at 791 degrees Fahrenheit let's kick off our first test I'll use an oscillating tool to make Eight cuts through the side of a water Bucket that's made of HDPE I'll sand the Entire repair area with coarse grit Sandpaper and then I'll clean the Plastic with rubbing alcohol preheat Welder for five to ten minutes before
Use apply welder tip to the end of the Repair stick melt and spread the repair Stick Over the cracked and damaged area The RX weld welder does take longer than Anticipated to melt the welding plastic Sticks after allowing the welder to warm Up for five minutes it took about three Minutes to make the repair why not just Use a hot glue gun this hot glue gun by Ryobi only cost 23 dollars but it did Not come with a battery the Ruby is made In China and hot glue melted around 275 To 350 degrees and the Royal behind glue Gun is at 285 degrees after three Minutes and Ruby hot glue gun is at 342 Degrees Fahrenheit at five minutes and Hot glue gun has finally warmed up to 384 degrees after 10 minutes of warm-up Time hot glue adhesive might not stand Up to water exposure for a long period Of time but this should offer a Temporary repair at a price of 37 is This all-turn 100 watt plastic welder It's a hot stapler kit fix car bumpers Dashboards radiators and more you can Make a repair that can withstand shock And twist the alternate is made in China And the alternate only has to heat up One staple and they'll make very quick Work of it at 51 Watts after only 5 Seconds the staple is already at almost 700 degrees Fahrenheit and it only took 10 seconds for the staple to reach over 1000 degrees Fahrenheit and a staple
Reached a maximum temperature of 1 380 Degrees Fahrenheit in about 30 seconds While a staple isn't needed for this Repair let's do it anyway to see how Well it works and hot red staple had no Problem melting its way into the side of The bucket it took about 30 seconds to Install and then allow the staple to Cool I'll go ahead and clip off the legs Of the staple I installed the welding Attachment and the welder heated up very Quickly and is making pretty quick work Of melting the plastic repair stick it Took about a minute and a half to make The repair the repair definitely won't Win a beauty pageant but I think it will Hold water and the price of sixty Dollars is this June jet plastic welding Kit the kit includes a plastic welding Iron two welding tips 20 welding rods One sandpaper two stainless steel wire Mesh one wire brush and one welder stand The junip is made in China and the June Chip is very close to the same as the RX Weld at 87 Watts however the June jib Does warm up a lot faster and is 200 Degrees warmer than the RX Weld and Three minutes at 680 degrees Fahrenheit Hi and the June jip is at 953 degrees Fahrenheit after five minutes and 10 Minutes is up and the well to reach the Maximum temperature of 1126 degrees the June jip comes with a couple of Different welding heads I'll go ahead
And use the one that allows the welding Stick to be fed into the welding head The June chip has had five minutes to Warm up I really like being able to feed The welding stick into the welding head It really helps and the repair took just Over a minute still not a beauty pageant Winner but it sure looks a lot better Than the all-turn at a price of 134 Dollars is this oi Mary welding kit it's Designed for repairing all types of Plastic including plastic bumpers the Kit comes with 800 pieces of hot Staples Includes a hot staple unit a cutter a Triangle electrode and a power line Includes five power levels the oi Mary Is made in China carefully insert Desired staple into one of three Possible positions Neo Mary emitted 108 Watts very briefly before it dropped off On the highest heat setting the staple Made it to 1 825 degrees Fahrenheit in Only five seconds just like I did with The alternate I'll go ahead and install A staple in the repair area I set the Welder to heat level three and yo Marries extremely fast at just under six Seconds for the entire process of Installing the staple I've installed a Welding head and I'll go ahead and Increase the welding heat setting to Level five since the old Mary did not Come with welding sticks I'll go ahead And use some that I purchased for the
Review just like there is with welding Metal there's a little bit of a learning Curve with welding plastic once again Not the most beautiful weld but I think It's good enough to allow the water Bucket to hold water at a price of 190 Dollars is made by Beyond life the Beyond life is a 1600 watt plastic Welder the plastic welder heat gun will Produce a jet hot air that softens parts To be joined also includes plastic Filler rot the Beyond life is made in China press the power switch adjust the Temperature control knob to the desired Position and the Beyond life advertises 1600 Watts but the unit I'm testing is At less than 900 watts however at three Minutes the temperature is already at 770 degrees at five minutes the Temperature is at 890 degrees and it's Still increasing and a well to reached a Maximum temperature of 932 degrees after Just under 8 minutes and the Beyond life Has had three minutes to warm up I'll Use the welding head that allows plastic Sticks to be fed into the head compared To the other brands the Beyond life Seems more difficult to use the hot air Are coming from the welder quickly melts The bucket so I'm attempting to melt the Plastic welding rod while keeping the Welding head pointed up and away from The bucket unfortunately I still managed To melt a small hole in the bucket
Definitely the ugliest of all the welds And hopefully it'll hold water so I buy The with a plastic welder when you can Just use some JB Weld plastic bonder for A price of just eight dollars includes 0.85 fluid ounces or 25 milliliters JB Weld claims that their plastic bonder Works on thermoset and carbon fiber Composites thermoplastics and coated Metals and concrete the strength is 3770 PSI set time in 15 minutes and you can Sand it in 30 minutes JB Weld is made in USA after removing replaceable cap press Down on plunger and squeeze equal Amounts onto disposable surface and mix Thoroughly apply with appropriate tool And an even coat and a JB plastic weld Has a pretty low viscosity I find that a More pasty consistency is a little bit Easier to work with let's compare the Plastic bonder against the JB Weld Original I bought the industrial size of 10 ounces for 18 sets in four to six Hours and cures in 15 to 24 hours just Like plastic bonder the JB Weld original Claims to work on plastic and PVC the JB Weld is made in USA applied with Appropriate hand tool and an even coat Squeeze equal parts of each tube on a Disposable surface and mix thoroughly And the JB Weld original forms more of a Paste and is very easy to work with for Applications on a vertical surface a Paste has a huge advantage since the JB
Weld takes 24 hours to cure we'll check Back on this later in the video and see If the bucket will hold water I cleaned All the plastic parts with rubbing Alcohol and sanded all the parts with 120 grit sandpaper let's start the Testing with HDPE since it has a lowest Melting point at around 275 degrees Fahrenheit then we'll move on to abs and Polycarbonate it's a very common plastic That's used in patio furniture drainage Pipe trash and recycling bins car parts And even Plastic Lumber the RX weld had 10 minutes to heat up even with such a Long warm-up here the RX weld is Struggling to maintain enough heat to Melt the plastic welding stick and the Total time to make the repair is around 5 minutes I built this next tester to Measure the failure load of each of the Repair test pieces the rollers on each Side of the tester spin freely and the Plunger in the middle will press Downward until the test pieces fail to Serve as our control let's start off With with an undamaged test piece and The HTTP test piece is a quarter inch Thick and just over an inch wide and it Takes right at 65.2 pounds to fold the Test piece all the repaired test pieces Have had 12 hours since the repairs have Been made and the JB well test pieces Have had 36 hours to cure so let's test Both of the RX well test pieces and the
RX weld test piece that was repaired With only plastic weld broke at 15.6 Pounds I'll go ahead repeat the same Repair but this time I'll add some wire Mesh the wire mesh should provide a Pretty big structural Advantage as long As the plastic is becoming hot enough to Make good penetration into the test Pieces and the total repair time is Around 10 minutes and I'm not sure that The test pieces became hot enough to Bond with the melted plastic in the wire Mesh and the wire mesh really help the Test pieces repaired by the RX welder 46.47 pounds are about three times as Strong as a test piece without the wire Mesh one thing for sure is that the hot Glue gun is definitely a lot easier to Work with compared to the welders I'll Use wire mesh in the test piece to give The hot glue gun the best chance to Perform well and the total repair time Is very quick at less than a minute and Hot glue with the wire mesh repair did a Great job of adhering to the http e 54.24 pounds to move into first place Ahead of the RX welder I'll go ahead and Install four Staples using the All turn And the alternate installed all four Staples in about a total of 40 seconds a Good clip off the staple legs using the Cutters while I didn't show the entire Repair I did weld some plastic over the Staples to add strength to the test
Piece and they all turn folded at 25.6 Pounds since it's still in one piece Let's test the strength going in the Other direction and the other side of The repair is even stronger at 34.3 Pounds so the Staples are offering a lot Of residual strength even after the Original damage let's go repair a second Piece and this time I'll melt some Plastic over the repair area and the All-turn seems to be making a lot more Heat compared to the RX Weld and it took About a minute to melt the plastic over The mesh and the wire mesh did help the Strengthen the repair just a little at 32 pounds testing the opposite side of The repair once again the repair once Again performed a little bit better this Time at 36.4 pounds and the June chip in The RX weld may look a lot alike but the June jet makes a lot more Heat and the Plastic well stick is becoming a lot Hotter and seems to be more liquefied Compared to the RX well compared to the RX Weld Repair the June chip definitely Looks a lot better and the high heat From the June jib really helped with a Very strong repair and 61.9 pounds is Almost as strong as the undamaged test Piece I'll go ahead and make a second Repair and this time I'll use the wire Mesh once again the June jet seems far More efficient at melting the plastic Welding rods and keeping the repair area
Adequately hot from just looking at the Repair area it seems to have pretty good Penetration and looks pretty strong Unfortunately adding the wire mesh to The repair didn't help the June jib 48.36 pounds is still pretty good and The old Mary makes very quick work of Heating up the Staples the first test Piece will be without the wire mesh and The o'mares making very quick work of Melting the plastic welding rods and the Old Mary repair held up really well Making it to 53.3 pounds which is good Enough to move into second place behind The June gym testing the opposite side Of the repair the oh Mary repair still Offered decent strength at just over 22 Pounds and this plastic welder also Makes plenty of heat to keep the plastic Hot enough to embed the wire mesh and The wire mesh really added a lot of Strength to the old Mary Weld Repair 61.8 pounds is the strongest of the Repairs made with wire mesh testing the Opposite side of the repair just over 38 Pounds is still pretty strong and to be On life did not come with a clear set of Instructions and I'm not doing a very Good job of making the repair however it Does claim that it is designed to repair Many types of plastic including car Bumpers water tanks swimming pool Linings and more I made a repair with Wire mesh and one without and a test
Piece without wire mesh gave up at just Over 24 pounds unfortunately the weld Didn't do a good job of sticking to the HDPE and the wire mesh really helped out A lot of strength into Beyond life Welders repair 48.1 pounds or twice as Much as the plastic only repair it'll be Very interesting to see how much of a Strength difference there is with and Without the wire mesh the plastic binder Has a very low viscosity and it isn't Helping much with holding the wire mesh In position after 36 hours of cure time The JP plastic bonder without the wire Mesh broke at only 1.1 pounds and the Wire mesh really helped the JB Weld Plastic bonder just over 30 pounds is a Huge Improvement but far less than most Of the plastic welders and the plastic Bonder really struggled to form a good Bond with the HDPE test piece and the JB Weld original forms a paste and that Makes it very easy to work with it did a Great job of holding the right our mesh In position and a JB Weld original Without the wire mesh performed a lot Better than the plastic bonder at 13.8 Pounds and the JB Weld original repaired With the wire mesh held up a lot better At 53.8 pounds so taking into account Just the strongest of the two repairs With or without the wire mesh the June Chip came out on top at 61.9 pounds oh Mary performed almost as well as 61.8
Compared to HDPE ABS plastic does take a Little bit more heat at around 390 Degrees Fahrenheit and ABS plastic is Used to make gardening tools car parts Such as dashboards and pipes I used wire Mesh to repair the ABS test pieces the Repairs I made with JB Weld took place 24 hours before the plastic welders and I didn't use wire mesh let's go and test The strength of the undamaged ABS Plastic test piece and the scale is Overloaded at 90 pounds so a good change Out the scale with one that can handle a Lot more force and a quarter inch ABS is A lot stronger than the HDPE at 132 Pounds and the RX weld welder really Struggled to make enough heat to form a Strong bond with the ABS plastic 19 Pounds in the wire mesh Broke Free from The test piece and aerobi hot glue gun Lays down a very thick adhesive layer And that really helped 64 pounds is the Best yet just like the RX weld the All-turn really struggled to gain a good Grip on the ABS however 37 pounds is About twice as much force as the RX Weld And the June chip welder makes a lot More heat and that really helps with Weld penetration 68 pounds is good Enough to move into first place over the Ryobi and the yo Mary really benefited From four Staples along with the wire Mesh 76 pounds is good enough to move Into first place ahead of the June jip
Welder I'm pretty confident that the Beyond life welder is capable of Performing better but not in the hands Of an unskilled welder like myself at 26 Pounds I made the repairs using JB Weld Products 24 hours before making the Repairs with the plastic welders and I Didn't use wire mesh even without the Wire mesh the JB Weld plastic bonders Still perform well at 30 pounds just Like the plastic Ponder the JB Weld Original did a fantastic job of bonding With the ABS and 85 pounds is good Enough to move into first place ahead of The omary so JB Weld without wire mesh Came out on top at 85 pounds oh Mary Finished in second at 76 in the June Chip 68 pounds polycarbonate takes a lot Of heat to melt at around 550 to 600 Degrees Fahrenheit it's used to make Plastic eye lenses safety glasses Headlight covers phone and computer Cases luggage and more let's first test The undamaged polycarbonate test piece And the polycarbonate is the strongest Yet at 142 pounds or 10 pounds more than The ABS and the RX weld with the wire Mesh made it to 46 Pounds and the RX Weld really struggled to gain a good Grip on the polycarbonate and aerobi hot Glue gun leaves a very thick layer of Glue which really helps a lot with Strength and at 65 pounds before the Weld finally broke and they all turn
With the help of Staples performed very Well at 57 pounds even after the plastic Repair and mesh tore away the Staples Are still holding and the June jet makes A lot of heat but all the extra heat Didn't help and the Jew jib weld broke At five pounds just like the June jip The oh Mary makes a lot of heat Fortunately the Staples really help keep The repair piece together at 39 pounds And I really struggle to do a good job With the Beyond life welder and the weld Broke at 32 pounds and the plastic Bonder is a very hard and brittle repair Epoxy and it works very well with hard Plastic like polycarbonate even without The help of the wire mesh the weld gave Up at 38 pounds and the JB Weld original Continued used to outperform the JB Weld Plastic bonder and the JB Weld original Gave up at 40 pounds or two pounds Better than the plastic bonder so the Ryobi hot glue repair came in on top at 65 pounds and the all turn finished in Second at 57. so let's see if the Plastic bucket holds water after the Repairs unfortunately there's a pretty Good stream coming out with the all-term But that's definitely my fault for Missing the spot there's also a very Small Leak with the RX weld however After one more effort I'm sure that both Of these leaks could be fixed I had a Lot of fun testing plastic welders and I
Really like the welders that put in hot Staples especially the oh Mary brand However if I was looking for the other Style of welder just a hot iron I really Like the June zip it makes a lot of heat All the videos in this channel including This one our viewers suggested so if you Have a video idea I hope you'll take Time to leave a comment thanks so much For watching please take care and I look Forward to next time