As an automotive technician I use the jounjip kit and found that for best results melt the wire mesh into the plastic before using the filler. Often times it’s stronger than the original piece and has saved my butt countless times. There is a learning curve and results become stronger and look better with practice.

I've done quiet a bit of plastic welding at a previous job and one flaw in this test I noticed is you're using dissimilar materials. For instance, if you're work piece is polyethylene you need to use a a PE filler rod and if it's polypropylene you need to use a PP filter rod. Using PE filler rod on abs you will never get it to bond and make a strong weld. Just a bit of advice if you ever do another plastic welding video, make sure to get filter rods of the same family as the work pieces to get professional results. I do like how you compared hot glue and JB welds.

As someone who suffers from Analysis Paralysis on anything I purchase I'm truly thankful for the time and energy you put into each comparison

Thanks for being the most thorough and honest reviewer out there. Your lack of taking sponsors helps you stay unbiased. Thats why we all love your content. Keep it up!

For those who don't know what HDPE means, it means high density poly-ethylene, and is manufactured differently than is Poly-ethylene. HDPE is typically used for fuel tanks, and fuel and oil containers in consumer goods. For one that is desperate to fix a plastic gas tank, cutting an oil container into strips the color of the tank, as this is the same plastic in both. I repaired a generator gas tank this way, and used a 100w soldering gun. It was leak proof, and was tested by two different mechanics, and they both approved. For white plastic repairs, isopropyl alcohol bottles are HDPE, and work just as well.

One of the biggest flaws, if you ever want to revisit this, is that the plastics need to be flame/plasma treated if you’re using epoxy (JB Weld) or other adhesives on them. We use epoxy all of the time to bond to plastic parts, the ONLY way they stick is if you flame treat or plasma arc the surfaces. Sheet molders/casters may also use mold releases and those have to be completely removed/burned off for the adhesives to work. Easiest way is to just use a blow torch and barely melt the surface, it’s essential to get the epoxy to bond. We’ve had employees forgot to flame treat plastic parts before potting and the epoxy pops out like a cake in a well greased pan.

I really appreciate you deciding to do a video on plastic welders and hot staplers as I've used both for several years, and was excited to see this one come out. Unfortunately, the processes used in the video were all wrong and completely invalidated the tests. Most of the principles used in metal welding apply here too. 1. You should make a small bevel at the junction of the 2 pieces, on all sides to be welded. 2. The plastic representing the base and the plastic representing the filler should both be melted and mixed together. 3. You can buy different types of filler rods online. The plastic used as filler needs to be the same as the base plastic. 4. The wire screen is supposed to be completely embedded into the base plastic. Not just "glued" on top using filler. 5. When inserting the staples into the base plastic, you should end with a slight twist to completely embed the staple and cover the entrance grooves. Would love to see a redo of this video if you decide it's appropriate. Thank you.

The big surprise for me was the hot glue. I NEVER would have thought it could hold up as well as it did. Great video, Todd!

PF added the weld before the mesh then additional weld on top. When it comes to plastic welding, I usually heat the mesh directly to melt into the original plastic before adding weld with the sticks. I've found this to be a better way of reinforcing the structural integrity.

Project Farm content is always “VERY IMPRESSIVE!”

FYI: Not only showing us what are the best products but helps most of us who have never tried any form of the tools you show....a big THANK YOU from all of us.

I've done a lot of plastic welding on airline luggage pods. The welder I used is similar to the Beyond Life type which has a preheating air jet. They work extremely well. The trick is to let the hot air do the work, and then force the rod into the molten plastic. It's about technique. For something as thick as your test pieces, you need to make V-cuts into the ends and then weld both sides. It would be very strong if done that way.

I work in the plastic dam lining industry. Plastic (particularly HDPE) oxidises quite rapidly, we what we do is use an angle grinder with a flap disk to scuff away that layer before doing any extrusion welding as it makes the bond much stronger. Also, for butt joins you need to fillet/v-groove the edges to increase the surface area, and also ensure all contact points are at melting temp so the new material can become part of the old. P.S. If your hot air gun is melting holes in stuff, turn it down - It's too hot! Just like MIG.

Technically speaking, I am a professional plastic welder. Some tips. Hot air welders are the best, they just take a little practice. The key is looking up the proper welding temperature, for HDPE it is 560-570 F. If you are too hot it will ruin the integrity of the plastic. Use the same filler material as the base material! Different plastics do not stick to each other. The base material and the filler material should be heated/melted the same amount and allowed to cool before you move anything. You are welding, not gluing despite how it may seem. Lastly, cleanliness is very important. Instead of sanding, I suggest scraping. You need to remove the oxidized layer of plastic on top because that cannot be welded properly. Cleaning with alcohol is important too. Look up videos on proper hot air plastic welding for more info. I think Leister has helpful content available.

Good video, I've been using a soldering gun to repair plastic for years now. Word of advice, place/clamp the wire mesh on the plastic then use the welder/iron to heat the mesh till you can press it into the plastic. Then use the plastic rods to cover the mesh so it can be sanded smooth.

Plastic welders are cool, but I'd really love to see you test budget multimeters. You can probably use a fluke as a control to compare the budget multimeters one feature at a time, ohm's, volts, amps etc.

The wire mesh should be thru-melted into the base piece being repaired and THEN have filler added to smooth. This can ONLY be done with the higher heat tools....also, when you retest using this method you should also add steel wool as this has been common for years and in pieces that really NEED to remain flexible without breaking the individual strands of steel wool seem to add a lot of flexibility without sacrificing breaking strength.....but as always GREAT FREAKING JOB!!!! One of my top 5 creators on KZfaq no doubt

I experimented with a few of these last year and found the metal staples to be awesome for adding strength to the piece. For some repairs, they are enough to hold the piece together by themselves. For the strongest repair, I’ve used the staples, mesh, and plastic welded into the crack. If you hold the welder onto the mesh so it gets hot and actually melts down into the plastic, it’ll be a lot stronger. One thing I’ve learned is that there is quite a steep learning curve with this type of repair. I would LOVE to have that OIMERRY one. It looks like a do-it-all machine that will make professional-level repairs. Thank you for doing this video, this is something I wish existed in the past before I had to learn by trial and error what works best for plastic repairs.

When doing plastic repairs in the past I have used a soldering iron, I find that works well enough for me considering its very rare that I repair plastic. Thanks for another great video as always :D

I think you need to revisit this one ASAP. I thought that the Polyvance plastic welder was the model that most people that were serious about plastic repair bought. I’m disappointed that this wasn’t added to the line for testing. Another point I’d like to add is that (Like with most things) technic is key and was lacking a little bit. I just want to see a fair shakedown. As always, Thank you for your Time and Dedication to making these unbiased videos! It’s greatly appreciated.

This guy never fails to provide us with amazing comparison content

I have zero experience with these gadgets but we routinely repair abs plastic tabs that are broken by knucklehead mechanics using impact tools on semi truck dash parts. We use a combination of wire mesh and fiberglass mat/resin to build new tabs. These trucks see 150k miles a year of pounding on the interstate and we have never had a failure. We have found that the few times that guys have come in with DIY plastic welded repairs, the plastic around the repair is brittle from the heat of the repair tool and is the point of breakage. Great vid Todd.

Tip I picked up: You can chuck a short piece of 3d printer filament into a Dremel tool and use that as a stir welder. Works pretty well with some practice. Use the same type of plastic filament as the part you're repairing.

Thank you for the terrific review and for all the hard work you put into these reviews!

🤩 I used a JB Weld product and plastic strips from an electrical box to fix our old pool cleaner head: worked fine for two more years! Plastic welding is something I should learn, however! Thank you Todd! 😎✌️

I can smell the smell of burning plastic through the screen haha 😄 great review as always

I'm surprised you didn't try acetone - it's a great option for certain plastics when you can't use heat. Being practically as viscous as water, it penetrates deep.

I really like the crafty way you come up with to do all these tests, Great Video, THANKS

For ABS, acetone welding and ABS/acetone slurry have never let me down. Sometimes it takes a very long time for the acetone to evaporate out if the slurry is put on very thick.

I've been welding plastics for 10+ years now after an autobody guy showed me his methods. I've adapted it over time and have had great success with aluminum window screen mesh, 2 part epoxies, and a $20 Weller soldering iron I purchased from Home Depot 10 years ago. I've fixed several different types of equipment and haven't had any failures that weren't from user error after the repair. Never had luck with a hot glue gun when I attempted it. Great video! I always check your channel before making purchases on tools lol. Keep up the great content.

Excellent tests. The staples are great for tensile strength and work better if you twist them once sunk into the plastic. I was really surprised the Ryobi glue gun did so well comparatively. Thanks for the video

Glad to see I'm not the only one who struggles to make plastic welding look like something other than snot bubbles :D

The beyond life welder requires a lot of practice and technique to use right but way more versatile. We use that style of welder for vinyl floor welding in hospitals in surgical rooms. You can't use any of the other style welder in situations like that Id recommend looking up vinyl floor heat welding. It should give you a good idea for how to make a good hot air weld. Nowadays even if I do not have a hot air gun, If I need to weld plastics I will melt both the base material and the filler rod right at the Joint area to get a very good repair. Similar to tig welding

I briefly worked for a company where we welded together huge research fish tanks with a plastic welder like the Beyond Life style you have here. The technique is very similar to arc welding and takes a lot of time to learn how to use well, but it did a great job of welding plastic parts together. We didn't use any metal reinforcement on our plastic tanks and they held up just fine with hundreds of gallons in them. The trick is to get the heat setting correct first and foremost, and then you have to move fairly quickly to avoid burning through. Like I said, it's just like arc welding, so you have to put some hours in to get it right.

Awesome! I have a kayak hanging in the garage that has a crack from an encounter with a pointy rock. I have debated the JB weld vs a welder. Many years ago my father would repair his green Colman canoe with quakerstate oil bottles... used some hot melt glue and a propane torch. The smell flooded back to me as I typed. Keep up the great work. Cheers from Wisconsin!!

That was very interesting to see. I've been aware of plastic welding and have even done it in an improvised fashion many times but I've never really been able to test them so being able to see these results is extremely informative. It would've been interesting to just see how an electric heat gun would do as well. I picked one of those up for ~$15 and it gets up to ~670F. For bonds I want to trust to last I typically leaned more towards epoxy as it has very rarely failed me. Aside from that I also use "construction grade" high temp hot glue sticks - the DeWalt flavor to be exact. Those also tend to do very well as they set up a lot tougher than those low temp or dual temp sticks. They don't do too well with tile or metal but that's understandable.

Good plastic welding is somewhat of an art form, and making sure you use the right weld method and rod for the kind of plastic is critical. It might be worthwhile getting an experienced plastic welder as a guest sometime and revisiting this one. I’ve seen good HDPE welds be stronger than the straight part and look beautiful, but that’s by an experienced plastic welder.

0:26 "they claim it can be used to repair a dashboard".... I'd hate to see what that "repair" would look like! 😂

This is the most extensive review I’ve ever seen. Kudos !

There's one other method of welding plastic components together that I learned as an Airframe and Powerplant mechanic, following the Cessna 152/172 Series Service manuals: Chemical welding. In essence, take some plastic chips that match the plastic you are trying to fix (don't use Polyethylene on ABS, for instance), and dissolve them in hard solvent (MEK or full strength acetone), best done in a resealable mini can. Mix it up thoroughly, to get a smooth consistency of this now thermoplastic paste. makes sure the repair area is clean, then wipe the area with some of the solvent and let it sit for a minute or two. Then you fill the repair area with your thermoplastic paste like you would using JB weld and let dry. once the solvent evaporates completely, you should wind up with the plastic weld being completely indistinguishable from the base material, but I've never actually put that to the test. Since you put it into a resealable can, the paste you have made will stay ready to use almost indefinitely, and if it does dry out, just add more solvent. Thank you for listening to my idea. I did enjoy the video, Though as other people noted, using dissimilar materials when trying to weld some of the plastics did not do you too many favors. There was still really good information on the welders involved.

The hot glue did a better job than I expected.

I have the Harbor Freight model, similar to the RX Weld, but same colors as the Jounjip. The Jounjip tips will fit as replacements but you need to rethread them as they are a bit larger (and more durable). I also have the hot staple gun, just one of the $25 ones from Amazon, they're all the same. Staples are universally sized. At the horse rescue I volunteer at we have one of the hot air ones but I haven't touched it. So I flip the soldering iron style ones over and use the tip to push into the plastic, lifting and pushing, making it look like I'm running a bead with a welder. I'm getting penetration that way and getting both pieces to bond together completely. I'll follow up with melting some of the plastic over top of the repair and smoothing it out. The wire mesh I'll use for anything that will see abuse or that really needs the structural integrity. I melt it into the plastic though, whereas it seemed you melted it to the plastic. I will often follow up with reinforcing it by melting more of the plastic sticks over the repair. The staples I find come in handy when doing larger cracks or getting into corners as they come with different shapes. (Sorry this is getting long winded) I will still weld around the staples and melt more overtop of them as I don't have flush cutters and regular wire cutters leave a little metal exposed to snag your skin on. We've been repairing plastic feed buckets that the horses have split by walking on them or whatever happens. The repairs have been holding up great. I've even repaired a damaged 5 gallon fuel can. ATV fenders? Oh, soooo many. I've been at this for several years now and have fine tuned my craft. Even structural tabs that maybe a screw will go through or a clip have been repaired with zero failures. Just had to pull apart a Honda Foreman to adjust the valves. Months ago I had done plastic repairs to fastener tabs and clips. They're all still holding up and this ATV gets ridden multiple times per day. It gets used for morning and evening feedings as well as normal ranch use, even for moving cattle. I think if you refined your methods you'd see a lot different results, but regardless, you're able to repair damaged pieces, potentially saving hundreds of dollars with a very minimal investment on tools. Time however, it's a very time consuming process.

I always appreciate your video's! I do have to say that there seem to be some glaring problems with this test and I'd suggest if you do it again you try some of the following. 1: Use a soldering iron with a fairly small tip, maybe between 1/16" - 1/8" and press it down through the plastic between the crack/break. Then either do a stir weld technique (spinning the iron or piece) or make small circles and move along the crack as it melts. I usually melt about 2x the width of the soldering tip. I've even used the tip of a hot glue gun if it gets hot enough 2: you need complete penetration of the heat on both sides of the plastic. If it is thick plastic I suggest warming the area (about 1-2" on either side of the crack/break) some how. A heat gun, hair dryer, hair straightener (ironer/flattener), toaster, toaster oven, torch (be careful & don't get too close). The warmed plastic melts much easier & kind of tempers the weld line and it seems to be less brittle 3: Use filler plastic of the same type. Identify the plastic by the recycle number (1-7 I think). Most 5gal buckets are HDPE and I use one of these for filler/patch material. Just cut strips to different widths. It's really nice to have some very thin ones to be able to feed it into tight areas. 4: Apply the staples after making the weld described above. Apply a top layer of plastic if desired. I'm sure you can make staples from any metal, even normal wood or cardboard staples (heavy duty shipping staples that so love to slice people open). Just bend to shape & heat with a torch. You can bond 2 layers/sheets of plastic together (on top of each other) at the edges by using a thin soldering iron tip about the same diameter as a single layer of plastic is thick. Do the spin weld or small circles with the tip inserted as far as possible along the edge.

Thanks for also providing a forum for folks with experience to give tips in the comments! I learn a lot from these videos but also from reading what everyone says after

This is great stuff. I have fiddled with plastic welding just enough to know its insanely complicated. Much like metal welding, you need the appropriate filler rod. Can't use ABS rods on PC base material or such. Prep is key too, I repaired a HDPE tank for a boat lift, and I had to carve out the crack to get some good penetration and actually stick the new filler plastic to the old plastic. Ended up holding up great for a long time, but the learning curve was a challenge. Thanks so much for making a great video!

i love your show to see new and cool tools. came for the tools, stayed for the comparisons.

Perfect timing for this video. I've been looking at purchasing plastic repair tools recently. Thank you for all you do!

Big learning curve here, the biggest issue I have found is identifying the type of plastic you're welding, you can't mix different base and filler materials and get good results, if possible remove a piece of the broken item some where else where hidden and use as filler material.

I think you should re-do this one and give it fillets or somehow else melt the joint. From what I've done and seen others do, it helps to (if possible) get the break melted. Otherwise the only strength comes from the thin layer you applied after the damage. Since it's plastic, it's possible to melt it back to almost original.

Another great video! I used black zip-ties, a big flathead screwdriver, and a propane torch to fix the plastic tank on my radiator. Worked great for over a year. I would rather have had a hot iron like these, but when you have to get to work. You use what you've got.

Another great review and love all the helpful comments too, shows what kind of audience you have!

Great testing !!.... thanks for sharing this with all of us !!

I didn't even know these existed! I always used a flat iron tip piece on my soldering iron. I really like that jounjip one with the tip that allows you to feed the repair stick through it. Definitely getting one now before the price goes up!

I was really surprised at how well hot glue with wire mesh did. Seems to me like JB Weld is the most practical solution unless you regularly find yourself needing to weld plastic.

Another great video! Really liked the comparisons of alternatives as well. Thank you, Todd!

Wow. I always wondered how good plastic welding worked. I love all the comments and constructive feedback. What a great video idea! And what a great community. Definitely in my top ten KZfaq creators. Thank you!!!!

Something I've noticed is the method of sanding that you use is in only a single direction and that is hurting the overall strength of your repairs. When sanding you should always use a cross method. The idea is to provide the most surface area possible. You should be able to see little crosses in your sanding grooves. You will be surprised at the difference it will make. Also I noticed that you are a little impatient with your iron give yourself a little more time starting out to sink the tip into the parent material. Just like with normal welding you gotta get penetration. It's not like hot glue. You have to make both half's into a state of matter that is borderline molten in order to achieve fusion.

Not how you plastic weld, you use the tip to melt the plastic together then fill if needed with more material. Try and use the same material, however the fiberflex works really good.

Another good one. I wish I would have found your test earlier when I was repairing broken headlight tabs. Keep up the good work

Very much appreciate all the time effort and money you put into testing. I find myself continually looking to see if you have tested products I use here in the shop daily, to see if there is a better product out there. Thank you!

What i noticed was that on the polycarbonate you weren't using the appropriate weld stick. It needs to match the type of plastic you are working with. That's why they all separated on the polycarbonate.

Love watching your experiments you help us buy better products

Thanks for the video, Todd! In the future, I'd love to see a soldering iron showdown!

Great video. Todd you never surprise me. It seems I have a project to do and then you have a video released on how to. I'm working on a crack on my plastic fuel tank on my farm tractor. Thank you for the video.

Some say with the staples, when you penetrate halfway into the material, you twist it slightly to gain more new material to anchor from...kind of like a twist-lock. I'm motivated to break something to test mine out that way 😁

I had a cracked refrigerator door and used a really cheap welder . I used a soldering iron from harbor freight. Still holding 🤞🏻

I've found that it helps a lot to match the type of plastic. when I tried to use the hdpe sticks that came with a hazard fraught plastic welder it held like crap. But when I used a scrap piece of abs it worked perfectly.

Would've loved to see Sci-Grip on this list. Making an ABS or Acrylic slurry for adhesive is like magic.

Awesome stuff. I have a plastic welder, I've used it to repair cracks and breaks in plastic bumper covers a few times. The staples are the way to go for strength for sure. You can make stuff look new again with enough time and other products! haha

Wow! This is a really good idea for a review. I have looked into solutions for cracked parts on my dash and stumbled across these kits a few times. Much appreciated. 👍

Loved this video!! A very common problem is cracked gas tanks. Perhaps you could use the plastic welding kits you already have and see which works best on cracked plastic gas tanks. If you do please be sure to use a new tank or one you have cleaned and are sure no gas fumes are present. Thank you

I've been using my soldiering station. First thing I fixed was a pair of eyeglasses. Having a digital temperature control makes a difference. Welding plastics opens up a lot of repair doors!

Making battery packs using spot welders are hit and miss. A review of these would be fantastic. Great job with this one, Mr. Farm, always a nice Sunday with a tool review.

Try some ABS pipe glue, I find it to work really good.

Thanks for the hard work and many useful tests. I get more from you than consumer reports.

I do plastic welding very often to repair anything that breaks like plastic porch chairs and the grass exit Shute on my riding mower. It is always as strong or stronger than original. I do often use the staples to bond it and make it strong but the major key to plastic welding is to get the plastic melted very deep for maximum penetration. I try to get halfway through the thickness then again halfway through on the other side for complete penetration. even with the staples. and if you use wire mesh it should be melted deep into the plastic and not just stuck on the outside, the welding rods are really only to fill gaps in the plastic that the original plastic leaves as you weld it. Not to put a thin coat over the break as you did. I actually was surprised that it held as much in your tests as it did. But it was interesting to watch. I enjoy all the testing you do and often make my purchases of items based on how well they did in your tests!!

It would be really interesting how acetone solvent welding holds up in comparison on the ABS and polycarbonate parts!

Could I request best electric pencil sharpener? Teachers are struggling with poorly made products. Compare them with cheap/expensive pencils and to the old crank sharpener in most classrooms still

Just like traditional metal welding, polymer welding has one hell of a learning curve. Ive used hot air and iron style welding and prefer hot air because you have an indicator before everything gets messy.

Excellent tests! Out of necessity, I've repaired several plastic items, mainly with a 140v/100v weller soldering gun. As others have mentioned, I've had better luck heating the screen directly into the original piece & using minimal filler. Great content & thanks!

Super glue and baking soda also bonds really, really well.

Part of the issue with bonding plastic is that the heat adds extra carbon, which makes the repair area more brittle on parts that have to flex (motorcycle fairings). You can use a soldering iron or wood burner. V notch you repair on both sides and gently heat the area with directed heat from a heat gun with a nozzle. Tack the parts together at several points. Get a wire screen patch cut, Fill the V notch with plastic, zip ties work well, and embed the mesh making sure to fill the v notch on both sides. Then use JB weld like Bondo to feather the repair on the presentation side. The other side can be left a bit rougher.

Your videos are always educational and interesting. Thank you.

The weekly content never ceases to amaze me-week in/week out everything applies to our day-to-day needs on a genuine/useful level. Thanks Todd. God bless. Btw, I love hearing you say: *"Made In The USA."* It's good to know we're cranking out more than potato chips, SNL skits, and corrupt politicians. 😳

Great vid. I can see that a decent soldering iron can cover the jobs of any of these, but the iron tip with a hole and triangular shoe looks worth buying / copying. One idea that came to me for testing was multiple buckets to repair so you could pressure test each repair. And with the butt weld test pieces, bevelling the join would really help as would much, much more heat and time before feeding in filler material. It looks like none of them melted into the parent material. The Beyondlife is beyond hopeless, however. It's not you it's him!

I use a simple soldering iron and mix the breaks together going back and forth lengthways completely mixing the two halfs together at the break. Works great for me. Seems like these methods just add stuff to the top and bottom and don't do anything where the two pieces touch.

I appreciate the video. I was planning on ordering one of the Allturns for installing the staples to help strengthen the welds that I occasionally need to do and this seems to confirm that it will help. I have just been getting by with a soldering iron while doing these repairs. When I do a repair, I first clean the plastic with soap and water and then rub it down with rubbing alcohol. I then stitch the existing plastic together with the tip of the soldering iron going perpendicular to the crack. This holds the pieces together while I'm working on it. I then go back over it with the tip angled down at a 45 degree angle to create a V pocket into the crack. This gives me a pretty good weld with the existing plastics. I then melt additional plastic to the V pocket and work the new plastic into the old. I'm sure I could make stronger welds if I knew how to identify what plastic I was working with and obtained the correct filler plastic but since I don't know this I just do my best. So far I haven't had a repair fail and the plastic that I typically use as a filler is the black automotive plastic that I find that at almost any intersection from traffic accidents. Most of my repairs are on plastic parts on mowers and other lawn care equipment. I only end up plastic welding once or twice a year.

Project Farm is my first stop when something need repair, thanks for the help!

After having just repaired a car bumper with a couple of cracks in it. I can say that the effectiveness' of the repair is really more about technique than the tools used to achieve it. I bought the Allturn gun with the staples and mesh kit, before this review. Melting the mesh into the base plastic rather than using the plastic sticks to bond it is far more effective. Cleaning and sanding the base plastic is really more for decontaminating it than for for providing a good bond. Melting the base plastic to itself rather than relying on the filler material for the initial bond is also the best. Try to use the filler material as filler, but to also melt the base material into it. The Allturn setup is a really good value at $35 and it works really well. That's the one I would recommend for the occasional plastics repair. It'll pay for itself the first time you use it and it comes with everything you need to tackle many repair jobs.

When I wad 18 I worked for an auto body shop..specifically I rebuilt plastic bumper covers. We had a few of those hot iron and rod type welders but they never got used. We used a plastic welder that used heated nitrogen to melt these gnarly 1/8” thick x 1” wide strips of some sort of plastic. The strips would go on the inside of the bumper cover and the outside would just get finished cosmetically. That stuff was invincible. You’d tear a new hole in the bumper cover before you pull the repair apart.

Great Video! Thanks very much! The work you do on these videos is so very useful and very much appreciated!

Great video, thanks for all the work you put into them.

This topic could probably use another video where you test the different kind of joints. Lapped, corners, shattered edges, maybe even dissimilar plastic, etc. Lots of opportunity for testing real-world examples of these fixes!

It would be interesting to see a comparison with just using the same plastic dissolved the appropriate solvent (acetone, toluene , xylene etc..) as a glue.

Your videos are so informative! Thank you for what you do!

Remember that the filler has to be able to flow with the workpiece-it needs to be the same kind of plastic. I cut filler strips from scraps of the same plastic type. For plastics that can be solvent-welded like PVC and ABS, that’s always my preference. But for waxy plastics like polyethylene, welding with hot air does the job, if I’m using filler strips cut from the same material. I use a Harbor Freight hot-air welder that uses an airstream from a compressor regulated down to about 15 psi. Welding with it is about the same as arc-welding steel with steel filler, except that there is no slag to foul restarts.

I liked that you included jb weld. It wouldn't of occurred to me to out in a welder review, but it really increases the value of the results. This is why I've watched your videos before making major purchases (drill, generator, chainsaw)

Would have been interesting to see a soldering iron in the mix. Really I’m not seeing much of a difference except the tip shape. Maybe max temp?

The reason you had problems using the hot air welder is you set the temperature way too high. You need to set it high enough to melt the substrate and rod but not melt either one to liquid form. For HDPE I would probably set it to 325 to 375 F. For thicker materials you can got higher. If used properly, the gun will melt the contact area of substrate and rod, creating the weld bond. I’ve used this type of gun for a lot of welding HDPE, PVC, ABS, PP with great results both for physical strength and water tight containers. It does require more skill and practice than the hot iron methods but the results are much cleaner. Not what you experienced.

Love your videos, they all help me very much on what to buy and what not to buy! Thank you!!!