Looking for a good plastic welder

[Pat Smith]

Does anyone know of a good person who does plastic welding.. or rather a person that does GOOD plastic welding. I need to weld a crack in a kayak, if no one knows someone I will teach myself to do it.

[docirv]

It is pretty easy to do and there are a lot of videos on line how to do it.

[tufnik]

I don't mind DIY too, but I see welding tools range from $20 to over $200. Still not sure how much to spend, but even the cheapies seem to do the job based on video posts.

[AbuMasgouf]

Someone mentioned earlier that Hobie sells one for a reasonable price. I also remember someone offering to let others borrow theirs for small jobs...

I hope either of those "someones" chime in

[Frogsauce]

I've done it for a neighbor using this: http://www.tapplastics.com/product/r...d_adhesive/435

I'm not sure where he found it though. May have gotten it off the internet. I just did the work for him because I have a workshop.

[Brian]

I know it would be a little bit of a haul, but Dave (kayak Dave) at River and Trail Outfitters fixed my keel on my Perception tandem 14. They are located on Knoxville Road, which is located on the right, right before the first bridge at Harpers Ferry. Also they will be having there annual used kayak sale starting October 11, the will post there list on the 10th.

[Salty Dog]

For what it is worth, I purchased a plastic welder from Harbor Freight. Model number 96721, for about $69.95. had a coupon. It is a forced air 1300W pinpoint welder. The only down side from reviews is that once you are done the job you have to turn the heat to 0 and let the air cool down the ceramic heat coil. If you turn it off prior to the cool down the heat coil will crack. I've used it to fix a couple of deep cuts. Works really well. The only trick I used was to heat the surface and welding rod with a heat gun prior to using the welder. just takes less time. the other trick is to keep the tip moving, if not you may sag the plastic on the yak.