Welding plastic

Can any plastic be welded? Any thermoplastic, that is?

Given that the filler has to be the same material as the "stock", is it hard to identify it?

Thanks, Bob

I think you had the idea - thermo - might be the issue.

Some are not by a long shot.

Mart> Can any plastic be welded? Any thermoplastic, that is?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For me, right now, that's the $64 question. My HF welder came with a small bundle of filler rod, in three different colors--each color is a different plastic, but not a clue as to what each one is. When I approach a repair job, I won't usually know what plastic it is either. So what do I do? Try one thing after another until I either ruin the job or find the right filler by trial and error?

"Late model" plastics may have a recycle number moulded into them- check the "out-of-sight" areas to see if it's there. Wiki has a listing of the numbers and what the materials are.

You may be able to "reverse-engineer" by checking Wikipedia's recyle number listing, and seeing if any of the characteristics of the plastic you have match up. Not quite as easy as a spark test, but might work...

"Martin H. Eastburn" wrote in news:lsnjm.598005$ snipped-for-privacy@en-nntp-06.dc.easynews.com:

This might help:

I have another link, I think at work, that includes whether if floats or not. It really works.

Ken

Make that:

The more, the better. In the past I've been frustrated using plastics identifiers. One I remember used a question-answer decision tree, usually ending with "Sorry, there are no plastics that fit those answers". Gaaa!!

Bob

White - ABS Green - Polypropylene Gray - Polyvinyl Chloride

BUT you can buy filler rods from other sources as well.

Bob Engelhardt wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news1.newsguy.com:

I couldn't find it yesterday. Buried in a list of links. I'll keep looking.

I just got to get organized....next week!

Ken

"Steve W." wrote in news:h6mc01$34a$ snipped-for-privacy@aioe.org:

Also McMaster-Carr:

Ken

I was all keen to get a plastic welder until I read the replies & remembered the futility of my trying to identify plastics in the past. Now I think that plastic welding may be great in an industrial setting where the material is known precisely, but not so much for the hobbiest.

Thanks for helping me avoid that frustration, Bob