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| Plastic Welding - No More Seams!; Scary pics inside... | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Feb 28 2008, 02:01 AM (250 Views) | |
| COS_Vader | Feb 28 2008, 02:01 AM Post #1 |
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Det Founder
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WARNING: This is not something everyone will want to do, because the potential to really, really screw up your armor exists if you make a simple mistake. You'll have to practice with scrap a few days before you'd dare try it on your only set of armor. Just started playing around with a $99 hot air plastic welder I picked up at Harbor Freight last week. You have to be very, very careful about the temperature setting, practicing a few hours on scrap ABS to make sure it doesn't burn the plastic but melts the seams evenly. Here's some first results: ![]() ![]() With a little practice and a lot of luck, I'll soon have a set of seamless RC armor. All I'll have to do is clean it up, fill in the old rivet holes, fill in any gaps with ABS rod (can pick it up at Harbor Freight as well, but it's cheaper on the internet and you buy only what you need), then hit it with a sander and it should be good to go.Just thought I'd share a new idea. Kev RC-1422 |
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| crazas | Feb 29 2008, 01:18 AM Post #2 |
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Detachment Leader TX 3758
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Nice but with my skills this is way too scary for me !!!! LOL |
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| COS_Vader | Mar 1 2008, 06:48 AM Post #3 |
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Det Founder
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Yeah, it is pretty scary. But I taught a guy tonight and he's plastic welding his clone.
He's a quick learner.
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| SpitFireScout | Mar 3 2008, 07:30 AM Post #4 |
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Advanced Member
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awesome, i'll need to look into one of those, my dad has all sorts of hard plastic laying around and he has wanted to get a plastic welder, fun to see it in action. So you have the welder gun, which heats up the air and then you work in the plastic rod to add material in as you heat everything up? |
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| COS_Vader | Mar 3 2008, 01:18 PM Post #5 |
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Det Founder
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Yup. That's how it's done. You can tac weld without rod, but you always want to reinforce your welds with rod. Hardest part is figuring out what rod to use, as all abs is not the same as I found out the hard way.
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| SpitFireScout | Mar 3 2008, 08:56 PM Post #6 |
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sounds alot like Brazing a metal welding method, or Stick Welding. |
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| COS_Vader | Mar 4 2008, 02:21 AM Post #7 |
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Det Founder
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It is.
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All I'll have to do is clean it up, fill in the old rivet holes, fill in any gaps with ABS rod (can pick it up at Harbor Freight as well, but it's cheaper on the internet and you buy only what you need), then hit it with a sander and it should be good to go.





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7:17 PM Jul 11