How to: weld plastic with soldering iron (radiator cover shave)

MIKE93SVT

Savior of Junk
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Posts
141
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
putting hood struts on the car so I wanted to clean up the radiator cover before painting it.

I'm not a pro. just a dummy who would rather figure out how to do something myself instead of paying for it.

tools needed:
regular soldering iron
piece of plastic
lighter

looked around and noticed that my garage shelves were a similar plastic. so I cut a piece out and trimmed it to fit:




then I put some tape over the top side to hold it in place and flipped it over. I applied a little pressure so that the filler piece was sitting a high by comparison and tacked it in place.



next take your soldering iron and run it right down the gap of the two pieces. create a channel but you're also bonding them together at the seam. then you can go from the outside and fold that lip back into the channel. basically blend them together by melting the two. flip it over and do the same thing on the top side. then use a DA sander or something and sand the whole area down smooth. you'll have some low spots after this step





last step was to use the piece I cut out as a filler plastic and melt it into the low spots. it was a combination of the soldering iron and dragging the plastic off into the gaps as well as a lighter and melting it to fall onto the cover. sand, melt, blend, sand. took a couple touch up rounds to finish it out. then sand the whole cover and inspect your work.

get some adhesion promoter, prime and paint.

Mike



 

MIKE93SVT

Savior of Junk
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Posts
141
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
Last sentence said the next thing coming was paint. Going to color match it to the car

Mike
 

redfirepearlgt

forum member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Posts
2,497
Reaction score
263
Nice iob Mike. Do you plan to rattle can the piece? Or does this require painting with a gun and paint that will adhere to plastic? I have no paint or body work background so that's why I am asking.
 

MIKE93SVT

Savior of Junk
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Posts
141
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
There's a specific plastic adhesion promoter to spray first. Then you can choose your paint

I'm having the local paint supply place load up about 10 rattle cans of PPG paint for the color code. It'll match perfect. Then for clear and protection, I'll use Spraymax 2k. It has a button on the bottom that you break, it releases a hardener inside and makes it just like the clear on your car.

Mike
 

redfirepearlgt

forum member
Joined
Mar 19, 2011
Posts
2,497
Reaction score
263
There's a specific plastic adhesion promoter to spray first. Then you can choose your paint

I'm having the local paint supply place load up about 10 rattle cans of PPG paint for the color code. It'll match perfect. Then for clear and protection, I'll use Spraymax 2k. It has a button on the bottom that you break, it releases a hardener inside and makes it just like the clear on your car.

Mike

Thanks.
 

TGR96

el blanco nino
Joined
Feb 15, 2011
Posts
10,353
Reaction score
26
Location
Huntsville, AL
looked around and noticed that my garage shelves were a similar plastic. so I cut a piece out and trimmed it to fit

^^^This part made me lol

You know you're a car guy when you are willing to sacrifice home and garage furnishings for your ride.

Nice work, Mike.
 

MIKE93SVT

Savior of Junk
Joined
Jul 14, 2010
Posts
141
Reaction score
0
Location
Hawaii
^^^This part made me lol

You know you're a car guy when you are willing to sacrifice home and garage furnishings for your ride.

Nice work, Mike.

haha thanks. it made sense at the time. worthy sacrifice

Mike
 

cbass

m̶o̶u̶t̶h̶s̶e̶x̶
Joined
Dec 6, 2012
Posts
4,921
Reaction score
4
Location
Rochester, NY
Patch the hole in the shelf with one of your wife's shoes. She'll understand that the shelf needs patched.
 

Latest posts

Support us!

Support Us - Become A Supporting Member Today!

Click Here For Details

Sponsor Links

Banner image
Back
Top