Hdpe

[jeffstevens763@g]

has anyone welded HDPE sheet how easy is it what sort of kit used to weld looking at a one off application.

cheers

[Poly]

Originally Posted by jeffstevens763@g

has anyone welded HDPE sheet how easy is it what sort of kit used to weld looking at a one off application.

cheers

I've done a little bit, of very basic HDPE welding. You can buy HDPE/plastic welding kit (on ebay) but for a one off it might be expensive. For very simple jobs you can use any source of heat - so a heat gun or soldering iron etc. Don't expect pretty results though.

Things to think about:
1. Does it need to look good?
2. Does it need to be water tight?
3. Does it need to be strong?
4. Is the structure heavy and likely to distort when welding (as neighbouring material softens)?
5. Is it particularly fiddley / tight to get to (e.g. internal welds on a tank).

I'd say if the answer to more than 1 of those is yes, then unless you really want to learn it and buy the kit find a company to do it for you!

[Pikey Dave]

Not done any meself, but we use a fair amount of plastic fabs at work. It's not hideously expensive to get done & they do a good job. They use a heat gun with a fine nozzle & a filler rod, pretty much like TIG or gas welding.

[jyasaki]

There are a couple of epoxies that will glue HDPE out now. 3M has a version that requires no pre-treatment, I believe. Others require a flame wash prior to application.

As far as welding, there are air and contact welders out. As Pikey said, the air method uses forced hot air, much like a heat gun. The contact method uses what is essentially a large soldering iron. Both will use a HDPE rod for filling.

Depending on what you're doing, it may be easier to screw things together. That's usually my first plan, with a fallback to welding or gluing if it needs to be watertight or something like that.

jky

[jeffstevens763@g]

thanks for the replys gents.
had a look on youtube some good info so bought a 1500w unit off e-bay £80 comes with a nozzel to put a root weld in then a choice of a fast weld nozzel which you feed the filler rod down to the heat source or a freehand nozzel which is similar to gas welding where you melt a pool in a circular motion to achieve the weld.
all you have to do is get the rods to correspond to the material you are repairing a mix can be bought for various applications.
for refrence you can buy weld units for as little as £40.

cheers

[jyasaki]

I got a contact type; I think it was $180 US. Came with a bunch of different rods for different plastic types.

jky

[jeffstevens763@g]

got the welding tool hot air gun with attachments bit bulky but i will used to it.pic of my first quick weld, weld rod fed through nozzel really happy with the results and confident i could build some serious stuff with it.

cheers