Fabrication with plastic

[Hammer1963]

Something a little different for you guys to take a look at. Most people use some sort of metal in the fabricated pieces in this section. This time we are using plastic! The item I have fabricated is a Ram air tube for a 2014 Ford Focus ST. Being a turbocharged car, the ST can use all the cool air it can handle. The donor material for the tube is from a Lexus ES 330 rear bumper and multi-surface shop vac attachment. The photos pretty much explain the process that I used.

First off I cut my donor plastic to the appropriate size and went to work. A heat gun, Plastic welder, Plastic hot stapler, precision square, miter saw and some 2 part urethane adhesive.

 

[Hammer1963]

The finished product and the engine and car that it will be feeding the cold air to.

 

[blind]

That came out nice. Did you use the urethane adhesive to smooth out the joints?
I need to finish a bumper that's been shaved/smoothed but have been afraid of urethane cracking.

 

[Bobhdus]

Good job! I have a Seelye hot air plastic welder and I have welded up to 8" Schedule 80 CPVC with it. If your technique is good it can be every bit as strong as glue. It's saved us a bundle on not having to buy more fittings and redo whole piping sections just to get to a bad joint. There are also some interesting art sculptures made with hot air plastic welding. Imagine that, the plastic media is easier and cheaper to obtain than steel.

 

[Hammer1963]

Thanks blind and Bobhdus! This was an enjoyable project. A lot of thought went into figuring the angles and lengths needed to make it work. Quite a bit of trial and error

I used a Urethane products airless welder on this plastic as it is a PETE plastic. I do have an air welder as well that I use for ABS and other harder plastics. The joints are filled with Valvoline 2 part urethane adhesive/filler and a welding material called Uniweld. I then used a die grinder with both carbide burrs and mounted stones. I also used a 2" & 3" orbital sander. I finished it with SEM Black Bumper coater

 

[gus1962]

That is just a superb job.

 

[zkling]

Great job.

 

[chruler]

Nice job!

 

[bczygan]

You've inspired me.

I need a new toilet seat!

Now I can make my own from one of those bumper covers you find on the expressway!

Actually, those are some mad skills.

Wish I knew more. Plastics are a mystery to me, even though my dad worked at Dupont in the 50's.

 

[toofart]

Nice work!

 

[TauntDevil]

Amazing work. I tried fixing a crack in my plastic gas tank with a plastic welder but it instead caught fire from what I assume was heat alone since it doesn't have a flame or anything... Shame.

 

[Bobhdus]

Great job. We also used ours for repairing our powder coat booths that had teflon sheets for the enclosure. There are tons of good videos out there for different techniques. The best ones I have seen for using hot air were on the Seelye website. They only cover hot air, but the principle of how to know the types that are weldable (burn test) and the procedures are top notch in their free manuals and videos.