Soldering of plastics is used when performing repair work and installation of pipelines from plastic pipes. This process is fundamentally different from soldering metals. Accordingly, a special tool is required for this operation. The most commonly used gun is for soldering plastic. In another way it is also called a hair dryer or a heat gun. This tool is one of the most important for those who repair cars. Of course, you can’t do without a soldering iron here either. Another type of tool is used - the so-called “iron”.

Selection the necessary tool depends on the type of plastic from which the part being repaired is made. By appearance It is almost impossible to determine the brand of plastic, so before you start looking for a tool, you need to carefully examine the product: the manufacturer applies markings to almost all plastic parts.

There are two main requirements for a soldering iron:

• ease of use;
• short heating time to a certain temperature (not leading to overheating of the plastic).

The power of the soldering iron must be at least one hundred watts. Experts say that it is better to choose a soldering iron with a wooden handle. If the handle is made of plastic, then with prolonged use it begins to melt. Soldering irons are used to “assemble” a part from its fragments or to reinforce the product with mesh.

Gun (hair dryer)

Most suitable tool For plastic repairs, a 1600 Watt (or higher) gun is needed. Temperature air flow depending on the pistol model, it is in the range of 80-700 degrees Celsius.

Two types of pistols are available:

• with smooth temperature control;
• with discrete temperature control.

Smooth adjustment is most preferable, since such a gun is more versatile.

Pistols good quality are equipped with a variety of attachments. In addition, they are equipped with overheat protection. The most “advanced” models are equipped electronic regulators temperature.

Technology for preparing plastic parts for soldering

1. Preparatory work.

• Like metal, plastic requires preliminary cleaning of dirt. For this purpose, you can use regular detergents.
• Degreasing is the second mandatory step. You can degrease the surface of plastic parts with white spirit or any other solvent.
• Cleaning the surface of the product from various delaminations (old coating, etc.). The operation is performed using a sharp object (knife, sharpened screwdriver, etc.).
• Grinding solder joints. If the product is small, then this operation can be performed using sandpaper (p120). Large parts (for example, a car bumper) are sanded using grinding machines).
• Blowing the part to remove plastic dust generated during cleaning.

2. Soldering

• Before you start soldering, you should secure the parts to be soldered using a clamp.
• Plastic is soldered on both sides. First, soldering is performed from the “wrong” side.
• Tacks are preliminarily performed in several places in order to mutual arrangement parts were securely fixed. The tack pitch is 10-15 mm.
• After completing the tack welding, final soldering begins along the entire length of the connection between the parts of the product.
• Having finished the inner seam, you can begin to make the outer seam.

Soldering plastic pipes

Plastic pipes are soldered differently than flat products. Special equipment has been developed for them. This device is equipped with a heating base, which has holes for attaching attachments. Since the pipe is soldered only on one side - the outer side, for good result it is necessary to carefully observe the technological regimes of this process.

• Prepare sections of plastic pipes for soldering (clean off dirt and degrease)

• Warm up the device for several minutes (10 – 20). When the set temperature is reached, the indicator light on the device will go out (like on a household iron).
• Install a nozzle corresponding to the diameter of the pipe into the hole of the iron.
• Adjust desired temperature soldering (devices for are equipped with thermostats):

260 degrees – for polypropylene pipes;

220 degrees – for polyethylene.

• Insert the connected elements (pipe and socket) into the device nozzle and heat for a certain time. There are tables that provide data on soldering modes for plastic pipes:

Heating time;

Distance to mark;

Holding time (technological pause);

Cooling time.

So, for example, when soldering a pipe with a diameter of 20 mm you will need:

6 seconds to warm up;

4 seconds shutter speed;

2 minutes to cool.

If the operation is performed successfully, a ring will form at the soldering site.

Trouble may happen to your car on the road. A small collision or collision with a stationary obstacle can result in an ugly dent or tear appearing on the bumper or on the elements of the plastic body kit. Removing the bumper on a modern car means disassembling half the car, and this part costs big money. Engineers have developed a device that allows you to repair plastic parts without dismantling them. A soldering iron for plastic saves owners a lot of time and money.

Soldering iron for soldering plastic

The bumper is designed to protect the body from collisions and takes all impacts and damage. Traditional “tin” metal straightening, putty, painting is not suitable for this part of the body. For repairs you will need special equipment.

A soldering iron for plastic heats the damaged area to a certain temperature. Plastic can be heated to different degrees:

• Up to plasticity temperature. The material of the part becomes soft and flexible, its shape can be changed by hand. It is used to repair depressions, protrusions, warping and other deformations of a part without compromising its integrity.
• Up to melting point. The edges of the parts are melted and can be soldered into a single whole. Used in cases of plastic rupture.
• Up to destruction temperature. Not only the edge melts, but also large areas of the bumper material. Even if it was possible to form a seam, it will be fragile and short-lived. The repaired product will not be able to withstand operating loads.

Soldering equipment is equipped with heating temperature control systems.

Types of soldering irons for soldering plastic bumpers

There are several types of soldering equipment for plastic products on the market:

• Ordinary. Powerful soldering iron for soldering plastic with straight or curved tip. Designed for soldering broken and torn pieces of bumper. Such a device can reliably and permanently connect disparate fragments into a single whole.
• Thermal gun. It is used both for soldering parts and for straightening deformed areas. Equipped with a system for precise heating temperature control. This allows you to select operating parameters for each specific type of material, configuration and thickness of the bumper. The device comes with a wide range of attachments and accessories to facilitate soldering and straightening.
• Universal soldering station. A multi-tool combines several devices. Both a hair dryer and an electric soldering iron with a tip are connected to a common power supply. If necessary, they can be used either alternately or simultaneously to repair the most complex complex damage.

Most stations and heat guns have a standard nozzle diameter, which allows you to use the nozzles apart from each other.

Requirements for soldering irons for plastic

The main characteristic of the tool is its power. To be able to repair any damage, the power must be at least 100 watts. If the power is insufficient, the device will not be able to melt thick plastic. For hair dryers, power starts at 1500 watts.

In addition to power important parameter is the heating speed of the soldering iron tip. Conventional electric soldering irons used for electrical installation work, are not suitable - their warming up takes only a few minutes. For work on plastic, the heating time should be no more than 10 seconds. Otherwise, all the work will turn into waiting for warm-up.

And one more requirement relates to ergonomics. The device should lie comfortably in the hand, not obscure the working area, and allow the tip to be accurately guided to work area and control it with great precision. Excessive weight, quickly tiring the hand, will not allow you to work long and productively

The principle of operation of a soldering iron

Before starting work, the surface must be cleaned of dirt and thoroughly degreased, the edges must be sanded.

When using a soldering iron, use the tip to melt the edges of the parts to be joined. Next, they need to be pressed together and fixed until they cool completely. It's best to press the edges together in advance and process them at the same time. After cooling, a weld is formed, connecting the two workpieces into a single whole.

When using a hairdryer, a stream of heated air is directed to the damaged area, uniformly heating it until the plasticity temperature is reached. Now you can give the softened plastic any desired shape. For welding, a slot nozzle is put on the hair dryer, which forms a narrow flat stream of heated air. This stream acts in the same way as a soldering iron tip.

Another type of repair is stapling. Staples are inserted into the soldering machine, they are heated and pressed into the material in such a way as to connect the parts of the bumper into a single whole, providing additional strength to the weld.

When repairing cracks, they should be cleaned and deepened to a depth of half a centimeter until a V-shaped groove is formed. Holes should be drilled at the ends of the crack to prevent further spread. Next, use a soldering iron to connect the edges until the crack disappears completely.

The seam should first be passed with inside, the second pass is performed from the front.

If the shape of the surface cannot be restored completely, pieces of fiberglass are glued to the problem areas. After restoring the shape and integrity of the bumper, it is painted in the same way as metal parts. A layer of primer is applied to the sanded and degreased surface, and after it dries, two layers of paint are applied. As finishing carry out polishing.

Gun hair dryer

While working with a soldering iron, the material is leveled and redistributed by the tip. When working with a hair dryer, plastic filler rods are used, which are an analogue of solder when soldering or filler wire when welding.

Such rods are bought in stores or made independently by cutting up plastic waste. It is important to ensure that the rod is made of the same material as the product being repaired. The rod is sharpened on one side, and the other side is inserted into the retainer on the nozzle of the heat gun.

The device is moved along the soldering line slowly, tilting the additive rod at an angle of 40-50°. To connect disparate fragments, soldering is performed in several passes. First you need to connect the fragments together with short seams, at the rate of one or two per side. Next, the resulting assembly is applied to the entire part of the bumper. If the contours coincide, solder along the contour. In the last pass, the fragments are finally soldered together.

Technology for preparing plastic parts for soldering

First of all, you need to find out what kind of plastic the element to be repaired is made of. All of them are divided into two large groups:

• Solid. Marked with the symbols ABS, GF 15, GF 30, PAG.
• Soft. Usually not marked.

Distinguish them by appearance, without having many years of experience, difficult. Therefore, it is worth looking for markings on back side bumpers or body kit elements. The most durable plastic is polypropylene. Products made from it hold their shape well, have a good appearance and can be successfully repaired.

The preparation process consists of the following operations:

• Clean from dirt and old residues paint coating. Mechanical cleaning accompanied by washing with warm soapy water.
• Degrease. Common organic solvents, such as white spirit, are suitable here. acetone, etc.

Plastic repair

Careful surface preparation allows you to achieve High Quality works A refurbished product may simply not be distinguishable from a new one.

Application area

The widest area of ​​application for a soldering iron for plastic is car service, and above all, for repairing bumpers. They are also used to repair other plastic elements - body kit, rear-view mirror housings, plastic trim elements for the dashboard and interior.

The soldering iron allows you to repair any damaged plastic parts - for bicycles and motorcycles, snowmobiles and ATVs.

IN Lately The method is increasingly used in the repair of parts of various watercraft - fishing boats and even yachts, on which traditional wood is increasingly giving way to plastics and composite materials.

On the site of a private house, a soldering iron can be useful for repairing equipment and pipelines of water supply, heating, irrigation and sewerage systems, plastic frames greenhouses and greenhouses.

It is important to remember that only products from the same materials are welded in this way.

Hello to all DIY lovers!

Today I want to show one of the manufacturing options homemade soldering iron for plastic. Those who have scooters quite often encounter a problem when the plastic sheathing. And not only scooters, also car trim, bumpers, various plastic fastenings and so on, and so that all this can be soldered together efficiently, you can make such a device.

Materials and tools

To make a soldering iron for plastic you will need:

• two soldering irons;
• metal paper clip;
• sander;
• drill.

First of all, these soldering irons need to be slightly modified. We remove the handles, cut off the wires (I will replace them with better ones), then grind them down using a grinder wooden handles so that they can be fastened together. I used electrical tape, but you can also glue it together.

Now you can replace the wires; I don’t really like thin Chinese ones, so I completely replaced them with thicker ones. (I took them from an old tape recorder)
We bring out two wires from each soldering iron and connect them into one to the plug. Of course, you can not do this and leave two forks, but it seems to me that it will be more rational.

Now comes the most painstaking task. You need to remove both tips from the soldering irons, turn them over and drill holes about 2 cm deep in the flat side. Select the diameter of the holes individually according to the size of the staples.

After that, we put the stings in place and make a bracket. For the test, I made it from a regular paper clip; steel wire will also work. Types of staples can be viewed on the Internet.

Plastic soldering iron test

Next, insert the bracket into the soldering iron tips, wait until everything warms up well and you can solder.

After the plastic has hardened, you can bite off the excess with nippers or a drill and clean everything thoroughly. The test piece of plastic was thin, so it didn’t go deep; in thicker plastic, the bracket can be deepened further and then virtually nothing will be visible.

Video on making a soldering iron for plastic

So here it is useful tool I got it for soldering plastic. I would be very grateful if you could somehow finalize or improve this homemade product with your advice!

Everyone Thanks a lot for your attention and to new homemade products!

The bumper is the body component that is most often damaged various kinds due to the protective role of the part itself. Since today protective function often gives way to aesthetics, car enthusiasts began to pay much more attention to the condition of this spare part, and the materials for making the product have changed. Most often, the device is deformed due to:

• improper parking;
• collision of a car with a curb;
• collision with another car.

Replacing a part damaged by an accident is not cheap, and it is not always necessary - today there are many devices for correcting unevenness in the plastic of a car.

Crack on car bumper

Ordinary body repair will not fit this part of your car. The success of the work depends on the selected equipment for repairing components.

On the market you can find special sets for bumpers, which include a specialized soldering iron.

It helps to warm up required area plastic before high temperature. Thus, this equipment helps either crack components or correct unevenness in a short time. The power of the tool must be at least 100 W.

There are 3 stages of plastic heating:

• plasticity (you can change the shape of an object);
• melting (it is possible to join plastic parts);
• destruction (the welding seam using a tool turns out to be unreliable, which makes operation impossible).

Rune soldering iron

There are 2 requirements that are important for the quality functioning of a soldering iron:

1. Its tip should heat up quickly.
2. The equipment should be easy to use (fit comfortably in the hand, be made of heat-resistant material).

Tool types

To repair damage or connect broken parts of a car's surface, the following types of products are used:

• traditional soldering iron. It has a curved or straight tip (respectively, a design in the form of a gun or a pipe). Used for thermal connection of plastic fragments (including those used for cars), welding seams;

Classic soldering iron

• heat gun (hair dryer). Solders parts by supplying hot air (from +80 to +600 degrees). It has a system of smooth temperature control and is equipped with a large number of nozzles that help direct air to the place where components are soldered. Choose a device with a power of at least 1600 W;

Thermal gun for repairing plastic

• hot air soldering station. This set of tools combines a modification of a hair dryer and an ordinary soldering iron. The master, working with the equipment, can adjust the temperature in accordance with the technological task. Comes with tools a large number of nozzles

Hot air soldering station

How the tool works

To successfully repair your car, determine what kind of plastic your car's bumper is made of. The most popular are hard and soft plastics. Fiberglass without markings is considered soft. Hard plastics are labeled ABS, GF30 and GF 15 or PAG6. You are unlikely to be able to accurately determine the type of material by appearance, so you will need to find the corresponding indication on the back of the car components.

Experts consider models made of polypropylene (PP) to be the most durable. They look aesthetically pleasing on any car and tolerate alignment or soldering well.

Next, you need to familiarize yourself with the technology of working with plastic, prepare equipment for work and wash the components of the car you are going to repair. If necessary, dismantle components. After this the order preparatory work to level a plastic surface:

• degrease the work surface and sand it;
• Apply a special primer for such work, glue and fiberglass to the product. Be sure to work in a protective suit;
• after the fabric has hardened, apply another layer of glue and distribute it evenly with a spatula;
• After the surface has dried, treat it with sanding paper;
• Apply a layer of varnish and enamel and secure it with varnish.

The result of soldering a plastic bumper

If you need to solder cracks on the surface of the car, simply clean out the crack, drill the ends and deepen the crack to a depth of 5 mm to form a V-shaped groove. If the components fall apart, the parts can be connected together using a clamp.

Currently, the share of polymer materials in the design of a car is already more than 10% of its total weight(automotive interior parts, headlight housings, external body panels and external elements - bumpers, radiator grilles, fenders, etc.) and at the same time continues to grow. Most motor vehicles (scooters, motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles) have body kits made entirely of auto plastic. The world's largest vehicle manufacturers have appreciated the benefits of using polymer parts- corrosion resistance, low weight, resistance to dents (due to elasticity), economic advantages, aesthetics and aerodynamic characteristics, since plastic parts can be given a wide variety of shapes.

Most plastics used in the automotive industry are thermoplastics. When heated, thermoplastics become soft and can be repeatedly reshaped and joined by welding without losing the strength of the element. In practice, this means that plastic car parts can be repaired using hot air welding. Thermoplastic materials include, for example, polypropylene (PP), ABS plastics (ABS) and PBT, polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyamide (PA), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which are increasingly used in the automotive industry ,PVC). Great importance acquires thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), an impact-resistant copolymer in which up to 50% ethylene propylene rubber is embedded in a PP matrix. Only materials of the same name are welded, i.e. polypropylene with polypropylene, and polystyrene with polystyrene.

Welding is the simplest and reliable technology repair of damaged elements made of thermoplastic materials. Even a severely deformed bumper can in most cases be repaired, and repairs are much cheaper than purchasing and installing a new part. Using soldering iron welding, cracks, breaks in plastic parts, and damaged fasteners are repaired. Welding technology allows you to restore a part even if one or more fragments (splinters) of the damaged area are missing.

The technology for repairing plastic car bumpers uses a manual welding machine TRIAC S (Triac S) with the necessary attachments and accessories produced by the Swiss company LEISTER (Leister). This hair dryer is capable of heating the air pumped through it from 20°C to 650°C, and the temperature is smoothly regulated by the built-in electronics unit.

Most convenient for welding plastic parts vehicles is a manual device HOT JET S (Hot Jet S). This device is lighter and more compact than Triac (the weight of HOT JET S is only 375 g without cable, 600 g including a 3 m cable, and TRIAC series equipment weighs from 1 kg without cable). Thanks to its small dimensions (today it is the smallest manual welding machine with built-in air supply) HOT JET S (Hot Jet S) allows easy repair of parts complex shape, it is convenient for them to work in hard-to-reach places.

The temperature is also smoothly regulated by the built-in electronics. In addition to smooth temperature control, HOT JET S has smooth independent air flow control, which allows you to weld even thin materials. If the damaged plastic automotive part is located behind decorative elements (linings, moldings), then they should be removed. If decorative element glued, the adhesive can be softened with a stream of hot air at a temperature of about 300°C. Next, you need to remove the paint along the crack, approximately 15 mm on each side of the future weld. You can remove the paint using a grinder or a special scraper. Then using end mill a V-shaped jointing of the seam is made so that the edges form an angle of 90°, and the depth ranges from 2/3 to 3/4 of the thickness of the material being welded. After milling, the profile of the welding rod should coincide with the V-shaped profile of the seam, and the rounded upper surface of the welding rod should protrude 1-2 mm above the repaired surface.

Last preparatory operation– drilling the ends of the crack to prevent its enlargement. The welding itself takes place in two stages. First, you need to use a tack attachment to fix the parts to be welded - to carry out the so-called fastening soldering, in which hot air heats the bottom of the embroidered crack, after which its edges are connected by running a heated soldering iron tip. During this operation, small displacements of surfaces are usually corrected.

The most important rule for welding polymers is that only materials of the same name can be welded. Therefore, it is especially important to approach the identification of the material of the part to be repaired. Sometimes the manufacturer labels the part indicating the material. If there is no marking, a “test beam” should be used, successively welding reference rods to the part. Only materials of the same composition will give a strong connection. After the material has been unambiguously determined, a rod is welded into the embroidered crack using a quick welding nozzle. In order for high-quality welding to occur, it is necessary to strictly adhere to three important parameters:

• the temperature required to transfer the surface of the cut seam and the rod to a viscous-flow state (the entire rod should not melt!); welding speed, that is, the time of exposure of hot air to the material - this way the surface layers are heated;
• pressure on the material, under the influence of which a rapid and fairly complete fusion of surface layers occurs.

If there is access to the back of the part, it is recommended to perform reinforcement welding with a flat rod. This rod can also be used to weld thin parts. In hard-to-reach places, it is recommended to perform so-called pendulum welding - in this case, the quick welding nozzle is not used, hot air is supplied to the surfaces to be welded with pendulum movements, hand pressure on the filler rod is approximately 2.5 kg. After successful welding and complete cooling work surface further processing is not particularly difficult, polymer materials lends itself well to sanding and painting.

Hot air equipment, their kits and kits can be used not only for repairing bumpers. In the automotive industry widespread have all kinds of awning structures, for example, truck awnings. The material – technical PVC fabric – is a highly weldable material. Therefore, both repairing damage and manufacturing awning structures is not difficult - all you need is a special LEISTER “crevice” nozzle, which forms a stream of hot air that will be supplied between two sheets of the material being welded (laid with a slight overlap), and a LEISTER silicone stitching roller, with the help of which the pressure necessary for welding is created.

If we're talking about For serious tent production, it makes sense to use one of the LEISTER automatic welding machines for welding long straight seams. In this case, the operator sets the required temperature and welding speed, positions the machine on the seam, inserts a welding nozzle between the sheets to be welded, and the machine, moving at a given speed, performs welding in automatic mode. The advantages of automatic welding are obvious - the stability of all welding parameters guarantees high and repeatable quality of the weld, the speed of the process itself is five to ten times higher manual welding. When operating trucks, the problem of welding the so-called customs tape onto awning seams is relevant. And in this case, a simple and reliable solution is the use of manual devices and automatic welding machines LEISTER (Leister).

Hot air is extremely effective in shrinking special heat shrink tubes. It is also possible to perform non-contact soldering, because the air temperature on LEISTER devices is smoothly regulated and maintained in the range from room temperature to 650°C.

A directed stream of hot air will help remove old material easily and without damage. protective covering, remove pressed or “stuck” bearings, bolts, couplings, etc.

In the automotive industry, there are a huge number of tasks that can be easily solved with hot air. A variety of LEISTER devices, their quality and highest reliability proven over decades of global leadership, will help you cope with any problem.

Repairing a crack on a bumper using a GHIBLI pistol-type hot air gun (Ghibli)	Shrinkage of the heat shrink sleeve in hard to reach place using a compact hand-held device HOT JET S (Hot Jet S) with temperature and air flow control.
The TRIAC AT hand-held hair dryer with a digital interface will quickly cope with the repair of awning fabric.	The powerful hot air device ELECTRON ST (Electron ST) is widely used in car services to speed up the drying of varnish and paint.