Many summer residents sooner or later face a problem. There are two solutions here - to buy a ready-made one, but it is not cheap, or else to glue the material to the required width on your own.

It is possible to do this at home, especially when it comes to a small greenhouse.

For work you will need:

• directly polyethylene, but with a margin, since it will be necessary to overlap,
• paper,
• iron,
• flat surface, such as a table,
• if possible, two assistants.

How to glue pvc film - stages

1. Overlap two pieces of material.
2. Lay paper or ordinary newspaper, folded in half, so that it is slightly wider than the overlap.
3. Heat the iron, test on two pieces the optimal temperature at which they stick together. This will prevent a large piece of film from ruining.
4. Apply the iron to the overlap, while one assistant should level the joint, and the second should evenly move the material.

It is impossible to immediately remove the paper from the junction, as the pieces of the glued area may break. You must wait until it cools down.

If you have to cover a large greenhouse, you can purchase a special apparatus that will allow you to quickly and efficiently fasten wide pieces, and then the instructions, how to glue the film with an iron, not required.

VIDEO INSTRUCTION

Artificial reservoirs are popular and in demand today. This is a beautiful element of landscape design that can be found in many suburban areas. Someone sets up small ponds, someone makes large reservoirs, plants plants around them, starts fish.

To create high-quality waterproofing of any pond, regardless of its size, use a durable film - a simple and inexpensive material. Its advantages also include durability, environmental friendliness, resistance to ultraviolet light, pressure, temperature extremes.

With the help of it, you can create reservoirs of various widths and depths, it does not interfere with the cultivation of plants, animals and fish, and it is allowed to install this material even in the winter season.

VIDEO INSTRUCTION

The film must be selected based on the depth of the pond. So, if this figure is 75 cm, then the film thickness should be about 0.5 mm. For reservoirs up to one and a half meters deep, PVC with a thickness of 1 mm is purchased. Well, for deep ponds, butyl rubber EPDM is already suitable.

1. It is more convenient to lay the material in one whole piece, but often this is not possible, so the question arises, or the pond.
2. The first step is to remove dirt and dust from the coating.
3. Before laying the film, the pit is first cleared, stones, debris, tree roots are removed, the bottom is leveled, and a sand cushion is created. Boards are placed under the edges of the material, which are left even after the completion of the work.
4. Next, two pieces of film are placed on top of each other with an overlap of about 7 cm wide.
5. To connect the EPDM, you need a neoprene assembly adhesive or a special tape. PVC foil can be bonded with PVC glue or sealant.
6. The composition is applied in a thin layer on both sides, let dry for ten minutes and connect the lower and upper edges of the film.
7. The place of gluing is rolled with a silicone roller across the seam, then along. You need to press hard so that all air bubbles come out.
8. At the last stage, a plastic spatula is used, with which the entire seam is leveled, and it is additionally treated with an edge sealant. The result is a smooth and very strong connection that will provide reliable waterproofing of an artificial reservoir in summer and winter.

In construction, polyethylene film is used mostly as a waterproofing or heat insulator when it comes to film greenhouses. It has polyethylene and certain sound insulation properties, but not sufficient to be used as an independent sound insulator.

For gluing polyethylene, it is necessary to purchase such glue in advance, which is used for gluing plastic.

Can polyethylene be glued?

When installing waterproofing or greenhouses, it is often necessary to glue several pieces of polyethylene together in order to obtain a film of the desired size. But how to glue the plastic wrap, and is it possible to do it at home?

The question is not as simple as it seems initially. It is also known from the school chemistry course: the higher the polarity of the polymer material, the better it lends itself to gluing. The polyethylene molecule written in chemical symbols is very similar to a long chain, consisting of the same links - CH2-. This uniformity suggests that electric charges are evenly distributed inside the polyethylene molecule, i.e. it is non-polar. Therefore, polyethylene sticks together very poorly.

Welding of a polymer film: a - using an electric soldering iron; b - with the help of an electric iron runner; c - with an open flame.

Very often, adhesive mixtures are used for gluing polymeric materials, which are prepared from the same materials (or similar ones), dissolved in a suitable solvent. But this will not work with polyethylene - it practically does not dissolve in organic solvents.

Some polymers can be glued just because they have a rough surface. In this case, the glue solution fills the irregularities and, freezing, clings to them, tightly gluing the pieces of material together. But this cannot be done with polyethylene, since it has a perfectly smooth surface.

Therefore, if we talk specifically about the gluing process, then it is almost impossible to glue the plastic wrap at home. And in the industrial sector it has never been glued.

But although pieces of polyethylene cannot be glued together, they can be welded, or, more precisely, soldered, which has been successfully done for many years in industry, having developed many methods of such welding. But of this many methods, there are only two that can be applied at home.

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Choice .
How vapor barrier is carried out in ceilings.

Welding polyethylene with a hot object

Welding the film using an electric soldering iron: a - type of seam; b - an electric soldering iron device for welding a film.

The most convenient way to do this is with a metal roller with a heating device inside. But to make such a device at home, you need to have a sufficiently high qualification of an electrician.

Therefore, folk ingenuity has found a completely satisfactory replacement for such an instrument - an ordinary iron. Since polyethylene film of different grades melts at different temperatures, no specific recommendations for the temperature regime of welding cannot be given.

The heating temperature of the welding iron will have to be determined by trial and error. If the temperature of the iron turns out to be insufficient, the film will not boil, but if the iron is heated too much, the seam will turn out to be “overcooked”, weak, besides, the film on the sides of the seam will easily break. The only thing that can be advised initially is that the iron should not be too hot.

The soldering technology itself is very simple. To make the seam neat and even, it is better to weld on a flat wooden surface. The edges of the film should be placed on this surface with a slight overlap (0.5-1 cm). Along this overlap, you need to draw with the spout or edge of the heated iron. The passage should be no more than a second in one place, otherwise you will lose the film.

PVC film can be recognized by the yellowish tint of the roll edge.

But with this method of soldering, there is one very important negative point: the heated plastic film very often sticks to the iron. To prevent this from happening, it is better to cover the polyethylene seam with a thin sheet of cellophane before soldering, and then go over it with an iron.

The strength of the seam can be checked by simply pulling the sealed pieces in different directions. If the seam diverges, it means that the quality of the soldering is unsatisfactory, and you need to repeat everything from the very beginning. Some craftsmen perform this soldering not with an iron, but with a red-hot knife blade, claiming that it is more convenient for them. But this is already a matter of taste.

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Open flame welding of polyethylene

To verify polyethylene in this way you will need:

• metal or ceramic bars;
• a tool for welding (it can be a gas torch, blowtorch, spirit lamp, and in the absence of these, you can use a torch or even ordinary matches).

Electrical schematic diagram of connecting the "iron" to the network: 1 - constant wire-wound resistor; 2 - metal case; 3 - sting-ridge; 4 - textolite handle; 5 - stand.

The edges of the films to be welded must be fixed with metal or ceramic bars (wooden ones are not suitable for this purpose). It is necessary to fix it in such a way that a narrow strip of film (3-5 mm, no more) is visible from under them at the welding site. The bars are needed not only for fixing the film, but mainly in order to quickly remove heat from the films being welded, otherwise they, instead of melting, will burn out entirely.

Then you need to draw along the remaining open edge with a flame. The speed of the flame will also have to be selected empirically, especially since it will be different not only for each grade of polyethylene, but for each tool too. If the operation is performed correctly, then upon its completion, a dense roll forms, firmly connecting the two edges of the plastic film.

As an alternative to welding, when setting up greenhouses and greenhouses, two pieces of plastic sheeting can be stitched together. To do this, two pieces of film are overlapped on top of each other. The overlap should be 2-2.5 cm. Then an ordinary medical plaster is glued to the overlap on both sides. He will not hold on well, but this is not scary, the main thing is that the strips of the plaster lie exactly in the place of the overlap, one above the other.

Then, over the overlap, make two seams with large stitches. In this case, pieces of film are fastened with stitched threads, and the plaster, having a more durable structure of the material, prevents the threads from tearing the polyethylene. However, this method is not suitable for waterproofing, since the joints will allow moisture to pass through.

It should be noted that both welding methods are suitable only if it is necessary to combine polyethylene with polyethylene.

If it becomes necessary to glue the film to some other material, then you will have to look for a transparent film made of another material, which adheres better, and for which there are special adhesives on sale. Alternatively, it can be a polyvinyl chloride film.

Connect the plastic wrap in the described ways or look for something new, it's up to you. The main thing is not to be afraid to experiment, because if something cannot be done today, this does not mean at all that it cannot be done tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.

Good luck to you!

Nowadays, plastic sheeting is used in many fields. When performing some types of work, one has to resort to combining individual parts of this material. For example, equipping greenhouses and greenhouses, or to create vapor barrier layers during construction. In addition, welding of plastic films can also be carried out at home. In the article, we will consider what are the features of the connection of this material and what equipment needs to be used to weld the film with our own hands.

Welding of polyethylene is the process of joining individual sections of a material by heating to the melting temperature and compressing the layers. When the surfaces of the film melt, the layers are joined at the molecular level, the result of this procedure is a weld. In order for the quality of the seam to be high and it was as strong and reliable as possible, it is necessary to select good equipment, strictly observe the welding technology and not be mistaken with the heating temperature. This indicator should vary in the range of 130-160 ° C.

Note! If uncleaned areas are welded, then you should not be surprised at the low quality of the joints. Dirt particles falling into the molten mass destroy the molecular structure of the seam.

That is why the welding of the film must be carried out in strict compliance with a number of conditions:

• pieces of materials belonging to the same production batch must be welded,
• it is important to choose the correct temperature regime, if it is below normal, then the strength will be low, if the specified temperature is exceeded, the joint may deform,
• another prerequisite is clean surfaces to be joined.

In no case should you weld sections twice along the same edges.

Also, the welding machine influences the success of the work and the quality of the seam. It is important not only to choose the right device for welding the film, but also to be able to handle it.

Equipment

Welding of plastic film can be performed using an iron, a soldering iron, as well as special industrial devices.

Film welding with a household iron

You need to take an ordinary soldering iron, remove the end of the tip, create a cut using a hacksaw and place an aluminum or copper plate in it and fix it with a rivet. The surface of the plate must be processed and rounded on all sides with a file. The welding process itself is carried out as follows: at an angle of 45 °, the soldering iron is pressed and moves evenly over the parts to be welded. In the process of creating a joint, experts recommend placing a wooden base under the film.

Also, a wheel can be used as a nozzle. To do this, the end of the tip is also removed and a cut is created that is larger than the radius of the wheel. A hole is drilled in the sting body for the desired wheel axle (3-5 mm), after which an aluminum or copper disc (8-10 mm) is made. The disc is placed in the recess of the tip and is secured with an axle. The welding process itself consists in rolling a heated soldering iron to the desired distance.

Professional devices

To perform large-scale work (for example, to create coatings for large greenhouses), it is best to use professional devices for welding plastic film. The advantage of such devices is that with them you can adjust the parameters of pressure, temperature and the speed with which it will move along the seam. If you need to join sections of polyethylene from the same batch, then once having set the necessary parameters, the welding process can be carried out very quickly. Typically, such tools are equipped with deflection and tension rollers, due to which it is possible to pull the film webs to be welded at the same speed. Thus, a high quality of the seam is achieved.

There are various types of industrial devices on the market today. They can have both contact heating and heating, which is produced by means of hot air.

The quality of polyethylene welds significantly exceeds the strength and reliability of the sections that were connected using adhesive materials.

Summing up, it is worth noting that welding polyethylene at home is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. For this, various devices are provided with which you can obtain a high-quality and durable connection. A soldering iron and an iron will help to create a seam in a short time, the main thing is to observe the accuracy of the technology. If large-scale work is coming, then it is better to give preference to professional industrial devices. In any case, the final result will depend on your diligence and care. Also remember that when performing welding work, do not forget about personal

In many cases, polyethylene welding is required. Films of different thicknesses and textures are used in construction as a vapor barrier; it is needed in everyday life for arranging greenhouses and greenhouses. When assembling individual parts, it is useless to use glue or tape: a tight connection at the molecular level provides only a hot connection.

Manufacturers produce equipment of various modifications. It is impractical to acquire it for personal purposes, in order to use it, you need skills. Experts learned how to mount plastic wrap at home using household appliances. The soldering iron and iron, after a small improvement, replace the factory-assembled tool.

The melting point of polyethylene depends on its thickness. When welding polyethylene at home, it is necessary to observe the technological regime. Polyethylene is a very thin material, from 30 to 200 microns. How to weld it to form a strong bond:

• it is necessary to heat the equipment to the required temperature (from 130 to 160 ° C);
• the optimal welding speed is selected, with a slow one - the polymer is damaged, with a high one - a strong seam is not formed.

Some nuances:

• only homogeneous materials are mounted, they must match in texture, thickness, density;
• the surface in the seam area is well cleaned, foreign inclusions violate the tightness of the connection;
• only untouched areas are welded, it is necessary to retreat from the edge at least 5 mm, otherwise a homogeneous structure will not be obtained.

The marking template is placed under a transparent film or placed on top, then the paper protects the polymer, it is removed after the end of the work. It does not affect the quality of the seam, since it does not have time to stick tightly. Only microscopic fibers remain on the surface.

Film welding with a soldering iron

A standard 40–60 W household heating device, after the tip has been improved, is applicable for welding polyethylene film. But the sting needs to be improved, the standard one is replaced with a copper or aluminum bar. The area of ​​contact is small, up to 2 mm. Conveniently, when there is a rounding radius, the smooth movement of the tool is ensured.

The blade, sharpened on one side, simplifies the installation process: material joining and trimming of the edges takes place at the same time.

The finished tip is fixed in the soldering iron with a screw. Sometimes, for reliability, the edge of the sting is not left round, it is flattened, and then installed in the cut. Home-made welding equipment is used for packing small batches of hardware, manufacturing non-standard packaging. With its help, it is easy to make a case for a remote control, a case for a gadget.

It is inconvenient to weld pieces of film with a standard sting:

• too large a contact area, an inaccurate seam with beads is formed;
• heated polyethylene sticks;
• the strength of the connection is not ensured, there are many burn-throughs.

A simplified version of the tip is a copper or aluminum plate 2-3 mm thick. It is fixed with one side in a soldering iron, the other is rounded off, one edge is sharpened. It is pressed against the film at an angle of 35-45 °. Instead of a soldering iron, it is permissible to use a burner. It works in the same way.

Iron welding

An important step in overlapping polyethylene is the rapid cooling of the seam area. How to properly connect the film with your own hands using an iron:

1. lay the material on a wooden or other flat heat-insulating surface;
2. put a sheet of thick paper on top;
3. the iron is set to the “cotton” mode (the temperature is 120–150 ° C);
4. the seam is made with the sharp edge of the sole, it is tilted so that there is an angle of 5–10 ° with the surface of the paper;
5. Move the iron slowly, then put a wet rag on the paper.

For the strength of the seam, the operation is repeated 3-4 times.

Craftsmen make nozzles for irons with metal guides like skates. With their help, double and triple stitches are made. For the manufacture of attachments used:

• heat-resistant stainless steel, if you have the skills to install it;
• non-ferrous metals based on copper;
• aluminum-magnesium duralumin alloy.

Professional equipment for welding plastic film

Tools for welding dense polymers: PVC, HDPE, propylene and others are not used when joining polyethylene. It is permissible to use a hair dryer with a narrow nozzle, but to work they need skills:

• to form a strong seam, it is necessary to maintain the required speed;
• the gap between the polymer and the welding gun must not change.

The machine for welding a plastic film is structurally reminiscent of scissors, the polymer passes between the heated strips. It is equipped with regulators:

• warming up;
• material feed rate;
• the compression force of the soldering iron.

Metal or hot air is used to melt the polymer. The width of the feeding web is variable. The tool is usually designed to thread fixed rolls. Practice shows that industrial use of welding devices is more expedient than polymer gluing.

This problem is often faced by owners of summer cottages, greenhouses, home craftsmen, and even car owners. After failures, people start looking for information on a topic. Is it possible to glue polyethylene at all? In the article you will find the answer to this question.

Polyethylene and its properties

Polyethylene is a very common material with many excellent properties. It is used for insulation, for packaging, for protection against moisture, is an excellent electrical insulator, absorbs the most dangerous type of radiation - neutrons and therefore is used in protection against them, is completely chemically resistant. This latter sometimes turns from dignity into disadvantage. How to glue polyethylene? Bonding is a chemical and a bit electrical process, oddly enough. The molecules of the substances to be glued are attracted to each other by the unevenness of their electric charges.

That is, there must be such an adhesive in nature (and on the market) that adheres well to polyethylene, and when hardened, firmly holds the glued parts. So, the problem is that it is very difficult to glue polyethylene. Its molecules are electrically very "balanced", hence the extraordinary chemical resistance of the material. And unwillingness to stick to anything. However, the industry has figured out how to glue polyethylene. True, not all of this is suitable for home, but some may come in handy. Here are the suitable methods, selected by the rating of the resulting strength:

• Welding polyethylene
• Weicon Easy-Mix PE-PP glue
• Epoxy adhesive plus oxidizer

Welding polyethylene

The strongest seam is obtained when welding polyethylene. If done correctly. The fact is that polyethylene is molded hot, usually under very high pressure, which reaches hundreds of kilograms per square centimeter. And when it is reheated at atmospheric pressure until melting, it tends to shrink, a little, but this is enough to make it difficult to weld. Two types of welding can be distinguished: welding of film and welding of thick polyethylene (cans, pipes, etc.)

For welding the film, heated objects or a special apparatus for gluing polyethylene, more precisely, welding, are used. It works like this: both layers of film are pulled along a heated wedge, and then immediately welded with a pair of compressed rollers. With the correct selection of the temperature and pressure of the rollers, an excellent result is obtained - complete tightness of the seam.

But with a little practice, you can learn to glue polyethylene, even with an electric soldering iron or an iron through paper, so as not to spoil its sole. The clean edges of the film are laid on top of each other and lead through the paper with the edge of the sole of the heated iron.

A soldering iron with a clean tip, when turned on through a voltage regulator, will weld the seam even better without the need for paper. You can also make a clamp on the sting with a small, conveniently shaped metal nozzle. Then the sting can be used for its intended purpose, and the polyethylene will not be stained with solder or carbon deposits from the flux.

Bonding thick polyethylene is more difficult and requires a lot of skill. The best heating method: a portable gas burner (it is convenient to work with it), or a hairdryer with a nozzle for a narrow stream of + 250 ° C.

The procedure can be as follows:

1. Clean and dry surfaces thoroughly before welding.
2. Prepare a polyethylene joint filler. It is best to take a narrow piece of the same material.
3. Heat the edges of the seam before melting, let them “settle” a little. But do not get carried away with this process.
4. Start introducing the additive (see item 2), fusing it evenly on both sides of the seam to a thickness equal to the material.
5. Allow the seam to cool completely.

The same method is applicable when deciding how to glue polyethylene foam. The surface of the foamed polyethylene is not very conducive to adhesion, and it is better to weld it carefully.

For another way to weld thick polyethylene, see the video:

Bonding with filled acrylate adhesive

The best adhesive is Weicon Easy-Mix PE-PP. It is specially designed for materials with poor adhesion. Most liquids "stick" very poorly to polyethylene, and are simply squeezed out of the contact area.

But this glue contains the addition of tiny glass beads, which prevents the glue from leaving the place of gluing, forming a gap of the required thickness. Therefore, the gluing surface is sufficient and the glue, when solidified, bonds the surfaces firmly. It's hard to find better than gluing polyethylene.

The surfaces must be thoroughly degreased and dried before gluing. Glue can only be fed from the mixer in the original packaging. The best temperature for work is +21 ... + 23 ° С. Liquid glue lasts no more than 2-3 minutes. After applying a layer, you must immediately dock the surfaces. Full readiness of the seam (the highest mechanical strength) for polyethylene will be achieved in a few hours (4-5 according to the experience of those who worked with glue). Exposure of the glue line is carried out at a temperature of +15 to +70 degrees.

Epoxy bonding

This is the most affordable method when it comes to gluing, not welding. Before gluing the polyethylene, you need to prepare the surfaces.

Epoxy glue is not a glue for bonding polyethylene, but, nevertheless, phenol-formaldehyde resin has very decent adhesion to the surface of polyethylene. In this case, you need to proceed as follows:

1. Coarse the surfaces with emery cloth, then degrease and dry.
2. Treat both surfaces with a 15-25% solution of chromic anhydride or 20-30% potassium dichromate. (Caution, caustic substances and dangerous carcinogens!) You can take another strong oxidizing agent: a strong solution of potassium permanganate. It is not much inferior in efficiency, but much safer. After processing, dry the surfaces again.
3. Prepare epoxy glue according to the instructions.
4. Apply glue to both surfaces in a thin layer and join together.
5. Keep at a temperature of +30 ... + 45 ° C for several hours, but it is better to keep it for a day until cooked.

Conclusion

In case of high strength requirements, of course, welding should be preferred. If the welding is still accompanied by keeping the seam warm at about seventy degrees V for several hours with slow cooling, then the seam will have slight brittleness. The sharp cooling of the joint makes it brittle, especially in cold conditions.

Acrylate glue with a filler does not require mechanical surface preparation, except for unconditional cleaning and degreasing, which must always be done before gluing. You can even try experimenting with other acrylate adhesives by adding an additive in the form of crushed chalk or cement. It is possible that it will be possible to obtain a quality and very inexpensive recipe.

Epoxy adhesive is the most difficult to use, and the strength is not the highest. But as a last resort, and this may be the way out.