Yard cart patching ideas

[stickshift]

My yard cart has a hole and a crack running along the bottom. Any suggestions on how to repair?

Seems like a hard plastic, perhaps polypropylene? I have irrigation hose made of the same material and it gets soft with application of a heat gun, so possibly I could melt/fuse this with a similar plastic to patch the hole and crack? Or maybe JB weld some kind of patch material?

 

[rsanter]

Use plastic or sheet metal and make a patch (boat patch) that covers the damaged area.
Use an epoxy to apply a patch to both sides and then use bolts or rivets through the patches on either side of the patch

 

[jeepinerdeep]

^ that looks like a prime candidate for some schmutz, aluminum and rivets from the hardware store.

 

[Shiftless]

The aluminum patch with pop rivets is a great idea.

Another approach would be to clean and rough up the affected area and apply some JB Weld, then some fiberglass mesh, and top it off with some more JB Weld.

 

[juddspaintballs]

Rivet or screw a metal patch on the underside, clean up the whole area, and fill in the void with JB weld. Sand it down smooth once cured. You won't notice the patch that way and it won't catch on a shovel or get crud stuck in it.

 

[CJM8515]

I would fiberglass it. Reinforce the bottom with metal of some kind and fiberglass over it with either bondo kitty hair or straight up fiberglass

 

[stickshift]

Thanks for the ideas. I like the riveting solution, and picked up the cheapest HF riveter. I have some scrap aluminum sheet, so I'm thinking I'll rivet an aluminum patch to both sides (so the rivet doesn't pull through the plastic of the cart if only patch one side).

Then maybe JB weld along the edge of the patch on the top side, allow to cure, then sand smooth as @juddspaintballs suggested. Might skip this step though, as I probably wouldn't be trying to shovel out of the cart once it gets nearly empty - just easier to dump out contents and shovel the dumped pile.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Perfect candidate for this.



C'mon, it turns a screen door into a boat.

 

[bczygan]

Proper way is to first identify the material.

Here is a chapter on plastic welding:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cwtbwmhf970qgpx/Weld%20Plastics.pdf?dl=0

Bill

 

[stickshift]

I ended up using scrap aluminum and riveting it in. Only could get aluminum on one side; just too hard to press rivet through alu-plastic-alu sandwich and hold it there while operating the riveter (need more than 2 hands). But rivets are firmly pulled up against plastic and didn't pull through plastic, so one sheet of alu is good enough.

Worked out well and was able to use the cart yesterday for some gardening. Thanks for the suggestions.

The $5 HF riveter was OK; several of the rivets (Arrow rivets) broke off well above where they should have. Not a big deal and easy to trim those flush using Dremel cutting wheel.

 

[Shiftless]

Glad you were successful.
In the future, realize that you can use a tiny washer along with the pop rivets to reinforce and minimize the possibility of pull through with plastic.

 

[Marctrees]

They actually sell those back up washers w the exact correct ID next to the rivets.

Marc

 

[Monza Harry]

Glad you were successful.
In the future, realize that you can use a tiny washer along with the pop rivets to reinforce and minimize the possibility of pull through with plastic.

They actually sell those back up washers w the exact correct ID next to the rivets.

Marc

They would have likely helped with your projecting breakaway stud situation, I suspect the nail head [for lack of a better term] pulled right up to the flanged part of your rivet [instead of at or near the bulged part inside your cart] actually causing a Radial push against the bed material that will cause more damage down the road, those sort of items will deal with compressive loads better than the radial load trying to spread the part away. I think [I know you didn't really ask for that, so I'll give this for free ] you should drill them out and go from the inside of the bed down with the metal where it is currently, [outside/bottom of cart] that will eliminate the need for the washers mentioned above and leave you with a smoother finish inside, you could even spot face a hair [Brad point Drill bit?] and end up with a nearly flush repair on the business side. Harry
https://arrowfastener.com/fastener-category/rivet/18/
https://www.rona.ca/en/back-up-plate

 

[stickshift]

Glad you were successful.
In the future, realize that you can use a tiny washer along with the pop rivets to reinforce and minimize the possibility of pull through with plastic.

They actually sell those back up washers w the exact correct ID next to the rivets.

Marc

Good idea on using washers. Good to know they make matching washers in case I need to rivet other items where I'm concerned about the rivet puling through the material.

 

[stickshift]

They would have likely helped with your projecting breakaway stud situation, I suspect the nail head [for lack of a better term] pulled right up to the flanged part of your rivet [instead of at or near the bulged part inside your cart] actually causing a Radial push against the bed material that will cause more damage down the road, those sort of items will deal with compressive loads better than the radial load trying to spread the part away. I think [I know you didn't really ask for that, so I'll give this for free ] you should drill them out and go from the inside of the bed down with the metal where it is currently, [outside/bottom of cart] that will eliminate the need for the washers mentioned above and leave you with a smoother finish inside, you could even spot face a hair [Brad point Drill bit?] and end up with a nearly flush repair on the business side. Harry
https://arrowfastener.com/fastener-category/rivet/18/
https://www.rona.ca/en/back-up-plate

This went so far over my head, it may as well have been written in Mandalorian.

 

[Burl]

Go to the local DOT or your county road station, look for used road signs, usually made of aluminum, put one over the whole floor. Done.