Now about each of them.
Soldering iron. Most main instrument in this case. It is used to connect fragments of plastic, reinforcing with a mesh, for welding seams. The criteria for choosing a soldering iron are quite simple. It is desirable that the handle was wooden, since the plastic one starts to melt after the 3rd bumper. Power not less than 100 W, otherwise the process of soldering the bumper will turn into a "long-playing song".
Fen. It is also called a professional, construction, industrial, thermal gun. When choosing it, you should pay attention to the power, it should be at least 1600W. The temperature of the directed air flow is also important, depending on the hair dryer, it ranges from 80-700 degrees. The air temperature control has 2 options:
1. smooth temperature adjustment - allows the most extensive use of this tool
2. multi-position adjustment
It is better to purchase a hair dryer complete with various nozzles for directing the air flow. When purchasing such a kit, be sure to ask about the overheating protection function. Otherwise, a hair dryer that does not have overheating protection may fail.
There are also hair dryers with electronic adjustment. temperature conditions. Due to the precise regulation of flow and temperature, they are used for various kinds works: plastic repair, metal soldering, hot pressing, welding of various materials.
Which one to use is up to you. It all depends on the scope of this tool.
Personally, I use such a heat gun for welding plastic.
Welding of plastic occurs due to the reinforcement of the bumper with a plastic welding rod. This is probably the simplest and reliable method bumper repair. Welding rods are versatile and suitable for all types of plastics.
Especially for you, dear visitor of my blog, I wrote down detailed video, about how to repair a plastic bumper with a hairdryer using welding rods.
Materials for the repair of bumpers. Bumper repair equipment. Bumper welding. Hair dryer for bumper repair. Repair of plastic bumpers. All this in one video.
Here's what we got!
Fast and reliable. On such bumpers I give a guarantee of 2 years, with adequate operation.
CHECKOUT for this thermo hair dryer you can visit my website. Reliability and quality guaranteed!
Email me [email protected] in the subject of the letter, indicate "THERMO HAIR DRYER".
FULL NAME. Delivery address and phone number in federal format.
Delivery time from 3-7 days depending on the distance.
You can also purchase welding rods separately.
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Hot air soldering station. This is a 2 in 1 complex (soldering iron and hot air gun). The advantage over a conventional soldering iron is the fine adjustment of the heating temperature. It also comes with a variety of interchangeable tips. different types works.
Welding rods. They are used for welding plastic seams with a heat gun using special nozzles. You can buy them in specialized stores, or make your own from an old bumper.
Fiberglass. Reinforcing material consisting of chopped fibers bonded to each other with a polymer binder. By soaking polyester resin a strong reinforcing joint is formed. Ideal for bonding and reinforcing plastic car parts.
Putty for plastic. It is applied to the plastic parts of the car, has high strength and flexibility, which is important when repairing the bumper.
Primer for plastic ("Velcro"). Used for wet-on-wet dyeing. Any primers and 1-2k are applied over it. paints. Provides good adhesion to all types of plastics. Easy to use, dries quickly, looks like liquid-diluted metallic silver. This is a special metal component that is added to make it easier to control the application process.
Clamp. Auxiliary tool for fixing the part. It is convenient to use when repairing a bumper to connect and fix plastic fragments.
Table of melting points for plastics.
| Material type | St. in the cold | Holy Island when heated | Combustion | Reaction to solvents |
| PP(polypropylene) | Flexible and tear resistant | Easily softens | Burns without soot | Does not dissolve |
| ABS | brittle to break | Bubbles when overheated | Strongly smokes | Soluble in acetone |
| RA(polyamide) | Brittle | hard to melt | burns badly | Does not dissolve |
In my opinion, these are the most important tools and materials for car plastic repair. Many manufacturers recommend different adhesive compositions"new generation", with which you can quickly and efficiently glue the bumper. They also offer various reinforcing tapes, metal meshes, devices for reinforcing cracks in plastic using metal brackets, and more. You should not spend money on all this, and even more so use it in repairs, because it is possible that someone will redo it after you.
When the bumper is deformed, motorists face one important question: completely change it or resort to repair? Most drivers understand that acquiring a new bumper is irrelevant, and moreover, an expensive undertaking, but you can repair it - this will save you money, and the bumper will not get any worse, especially since the quality and external data after repair often do not differ from the newly acquired bumper.
Nowadays, manufacturers are increasingly resorting to the use of plastic for the manufacture of automotive parts such as aerodynamic suspension, tanks, fenders, side mirrors, fender liner, headlight housings, and front and rear bumpers. Standard bodywork repair work are not suitable for plastic, so it is necessary to select special tools so that all manipulations are carried out efficiently and at no particular cost.
In this topic, we will talk about a soldering iron for bumpers and consider the basic requirements for this tool. In addition to all this, we will try to understand the typology of soldering irons for bumpers, and also learn how to use them.
1. Requirements for a repair tool
Like any other, a soldering iron for bumpers serves to heat the part of the structure, the material for which is plastic, to a temperature at which a plastic part can be connected to another.
To date, it is customary to distinguish three main stages of heating:
1. Stage of plasticity (the object becomes plastic, and it can be given the desired shape).
2. Melting stage (in this state, sufficiently high-quality welding of various parts is possible).
3. Stage of destruction (despite the fact that the operation was successful, the weld turns out to be rather fragile, so the operation of such a structure is no longer possible).
In fact, any soldering iron, no matter what power and purpose it has, has two main requirements that must be taken into account when choosing and buying a tool. The first requirement is the fact that the soldering iron tip must heat up quickly enough to a given temperature. In order to meet this condition, the power rating of the soldering device must be higher than 100 watts.
The second requirement is comfort and ease of use. This requirement also applies to the location of the soldering iron in the hand of a specialist, and its capabilities for high-quality soldering, and the material from which this device is made. Based on these requirements, most suitable option is a soldering tool that has a wooden handle, because, unlike plastic, during long-term operation at elevated temperatures, it is less prone to wear.
2. Types of soldering irons
Many car repairmen, in order to restore a plastic bumper, use both traditional soldering irons, which are intended for soldering radio and electrical circuits, and special devices, which are designed for the repair of bumpers. Let's look at what types of soldering irons you can find in the automotive market, as well as the owners of which specifications they are.
So, for starters, it is worth mentioning the traditional soldering iron, which is used to work with electrical appliances. Such a soldering iron comes with a straight or curved tip, it can have a straight design or a pistol shape. It is customary to use a traditional soldering iron when working with plastic, when it becomes necessary to connect individual parts or fragments of a plastic bumper by thermal action. It is also used when it is necessary to weld seams or equip the workpiece with a reinforced mesh.
Another type of soldering iron is hot air gun, or, as it is also commonly called, a thermal gun or a blow gun. Thanks to this tool, soldering is carried out by supplying a jet of air to the treated point, which is heated to a temperature in the range from 80 to 600 ° C. In order for this tool to be used in different temperature and technological conditions, it was equipped with a special smooth thermal control system. In addition, the hot air gun, as a rule, is equipped with a set of various nozzles. Such nozzles provide an accurate direction of the flow of hot air to the place of soldering.
The thermal gun has the highest efficiency, the power of which reaches at least 1600 watts. Finally, the third most productive type of soldering iron is the hot air soldering station. It is a kind of complex that combines an improved modification of a standard soldering iron and a hair dryer blower.
The main distinguishing feature of this station is the fact that when using it, the operator has the ability to adjust operating temperature exactly in accordance with the technological task assigned to this or that operation. The station, as a rule, is completed with various nozzles-tips. Now let's figure out how to correctly use a soldering iron for a bumper.
3. The principle of operation of a soldering iron
In order to successfully repair a car bumper, you first need to determine what kind of plastic it is made of. The most popular are hard or soft plastics. Soft plastic refers directly to fiberglass without marking. All hard plastics are labeled ABS, GF30 and GF15 or PAG6. Accurately determine the type of material, guided solely by appearance, you are unlikely to succeed, so you should look for the corresponding indication, which is located on the back of the vehicle components.
The most durable parts, according to experts, are considered to be made of polypropylene. They look good on the car from an aesthetic point of view, and, in addition, they tolerate soldering or leveling very well. After you have determined what kind of plastic the bumper is made of, we get to work with a soldering iron. Before picking up this "miracle tool", do not forget to pre-wash the bumper, and if necessary, dismantle it.
Also, before proceeding with soldering, it is necessary to do a number of preparatory work:
1. Degrease the work surface and sand it.
2. Put in place a special primer for such work, as well as glue and special fiberglass. Follow safety precautions and perform all work in a protective suit.
3. After the fabric becomes hard, it is necessary to re-apply one layer of glue and evenly distribute it using a spatula.
4. When the surface is completely dry, it is necessary to process it with sanding paper.
5. Finally, it is necessary to apply a layer of varnish to the treated area, and then enamel, which must be fixed with the same varnish.
Now you can start working with a soldering iron. It is important to remember that soldering must be done at an angle of 45 degrees. Do not rush, do soldering consistently and carefully. When repairing a bumper, it is important to use a suitable nozzle in order for the work to be carried out as efficiently as possible. If necessary, the weld can be re-created in the same place.
Modern cars have a lot of plastic body parts. They are presented for most models with bumpers, mirrors, sills and moldings. In an accident, they can crack. The restoration of such parts is carried out by soldering. These works can be carried out with various equipment, but the professional tool is the plastic soldering apparatus discussed in this article.
Features of choice
Welding gun is also called hot air gun and hot air gun. It is believed that options from 1600 W are most suitable for welding plastic. The welding machine, depending on the model, can provide temperatures from 80 to 700 °C. The instruments under consideration are divided into two types depending on the temperature control device. Thermal guns of one type have smooth adjustment, and the other - discrete.
It is advisable to purchase a plastic soldering machine with smooth adjustment, since such equipment is more versatile. These options provide the ability to weld a wide variety of plastic options.
In addition to those mentioned, there is also a third type of temperature controllers - electronic. If welding machine equipped with such a regulator, which means that it belongs to the most advanced models. In addition, a high-quality welding gun is characterized by being equipped with an overheating protection, as well as the presence of several nozzles.
The welding gun must be selected based on the type of plastic that the part to be repaired is made of. It should be borne in mind that it is impossible to determine the brand of material by sight, so you should look for the manufacturer's marking on the part.
Device example
As an example, the Nordberg WP3 welding gun is considered below. This unit connects plastic parts by fusing staples from of stainless steel. This method of welding provides a high strength of the seam, in comparison with conventional soldering, due to which this welding machine can be used to restore plastic elements subject to significant mechanical stress during operation.
This welding machine has a power of 800 W, is designed for a rated voltage of 220-240 V and a current frequency of 50 Hz. The surface temperature of its welding head can vary from 0 to 300 °C.
The welding gun in question provides first class electrical protection. The device is equipped with a heater with a control system, the welding gun is protected from overheating thanks to a temperature control system.
High quality of connection is reached thanks to the fact that this gun for welding provides uniform heating of staples. At the same time, the gun is easy to use, which facilitates repairs and reduces the time for its implementation. The device is equipped with a polyurethane handle.
soldering iron
In most cases, a plastic welding gun is used in conjunction with a soldering iron. It is used to connect fragments of a split part as well as mesh reinforcement. To successfully complete the repair, you need to correctly select this tool.
The main requirements that apply to it are ease of use and a short heating time to the required temperature. The last condition can be met if the soldering iron has a power of at least 100 watts. In addition, it is advisable to choose a soldering iron with wooden handle, since the plastic part may melt during prolonged operation.
Preparing for welding
Before starting welding, the damaged part must be prepared. Preparatory work includes several steps, which are discussed below:
- First of all, it is necessary to clean the damaged part by washing with detergents.
- The second step is degreasing. To do this, use solvents, such as white spirit.
- If there are any delaminations on the surface of the repaired part, for example, represented by a paint and varnish coating, you need to remove them with a sharp object like a knife or a sharpened screwdriver.
- Next, you need to grind parts of the part adjacent to the defect. For this, sandpaper with an abrasiveness of P120 is used, however, if the surface to be treated has a large area, grinding can be significantly accelerated by applying grinder with a circle of similar grain size.
- Finally, you need to clean the work surface from the residual grinding products, represented by plastic dust, by blowing. This completes the preparation of plastic for welding.
Carrying out repairs
Plastic soldering also includes several steps, the implementation of which is discussed below.
- First you need to combine the connected fragments with a clamp.
- Tacks should also be made at several points in increments of 10-15 mm to securely fix the relative position of the elements to be joined.
- Plastic welding is carried out from two sides, starting from the back, along the entire length of the joint.
- Upon completion of welding of this seam, they move to the outer one.
Watch a video on how the plastic repair machine works.
Must meet two basic requirements:
- it must be comfortable
- it should heat up quickly, but not overheat the plastic
The soldering iron in the photo above is the most good option for all the time that I have been repairing plastic. Its power is 100 watts. It is not expensive and works for quite a long time. It also has a light bulb that illuminates the place of soldering, sometimes it can be very convenient. To make it more convenient to work, you need to grind off the tip of the sting a little in it so that it heats up faster. Periodically (every 2-3 months of hard work), when the soldering iron starts to heat up worse, you need to clean the sockets. To do this, unscrew the bolts, take out the sting, clean it with a fine sandpaper connection points and collect everything back. If the sting burns out or breaks, then it can be made from ordinary steel wire or a nail of suitable thickness. The minus of this soldering iron is one periodically you need to let the transformer cool down otherwise it will burn out.
In the photo above, the soldering iron that I use now. I bought it because of the power of 200 watts, but otherwise it's a complete disappointment. It is one and a half times heavier than the previous version, which is less convenient. The sting is very easy to bend, I had to replace it immediately. Seats stings after 15 minutes of operation begin to transmit current worse, as a result of which it does not heat up to the desired temperature. In general, on the first day after the purchase, I had to redo the floor of the soldering iron. The only plus compared to the first option in this soldering iron is that the transformer practically does not heat up.
Also, for soldering plastic, you can use a conventional soldering iron with a power of 50-100 watts. So that the sting does not cool down so quickly during soldering, it must either be cut off or driven inside so that it sticks out 2-3 centimeters. If the soldering iron heats up slightly, you can unwind several turns of the spiral.
At present, the share of polymeric materials in the construction of a car is already more than 10% of its total weight (car interior parts, headlight housings, exterior body panels and external elements - bumpers, radiator grilles, fenders, etc.) and continues to grow. Most of the motorcycles (scooters, motorcycles, ATVs, snowmobiles) have a body kit completely made of autoplastic. The world's largest manufacturers Vehicle appreciated the advantages of using polymer parts - corrosion resistance, low weight, dent resistance (due to elasticity), economic advantages, aesthetics and aerodynamic characteristics, since plastic parts can be given a wide variety of shapes.
Most plastics used in the automotive industry are thermoplastics. When heated, thermoplastics become soft and can be repeatedly reshaped and joined by welding without losing the strength of the element. In practice, this means that plastic car parts can be repaired using hot air welding. Thermoplastic materials include, for example, polypropylene (PP, PP), ABS plastics (ABS) and PBT, which is increasingly used in the automotive industry - polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polyamide (PA, PA), polystyrene (PS, PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC). , PVC). Of great importance is thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) - an impact-resistant copolymer in which up to 50% of ethylene-propylene rubber is embedded in a PP matrix. Only materials of the same name are welded, i.e. polypropylene with polypropylene, and polystyrene with polystyrene.
Welding is the simplest and most reliable technology for repairing damaged elements made of thermoplastic materials. Even a severely deformed bumper can be repaired in most cases, and repair is much cheaper than buying and installing a new part. With the help of welding with a soldering iron, cracks, breaks in plastic parts, damaged fasteners. Welding technology allows you to restore the part even if one or more fragments (fragments) of the damaged area are missing.
In the technology of repairing plastic car bumpers, a manual welding machine TRIAC S (Triac S) with the necessary nozzles and accessories manufactured by the Swiss company LEISTER (Leister) is used. This hair dryer is capable of heating the air pumped through it from 20°C to 650°C, and the temperature is smoothly regulated by the built-in electronics unit.
The most convenient for welding plastic parts of vehicles is the manual HOT JET S (Hot Jet S). This device is lighter and more compact than the Triac (the weight of HOT JET S is only 375 g without cable, 600 g including 3 m cable, and equipment of the TRIAC series weighs from 1 kg without cable). Due to its small dimensions (today it is the world's smallest manual welding machine with built-in air supply) HOT JET S (Hot Jet S) makes it easy to repair parts of complex shape, it is convenient for them to work in hard-to-reach places.
The temperature is also continuously regulated by the built-in electronics. In addition to the smooth temperature adjustment, the HOT JET S (Hot Jet S) has a smooth independent adjustment of the air flow, which allows you to weld even thin materials. If the damaged plastic automotive detail located behind decorative elements (overlays, moldings), then they should be removed. If decorative element glued, the adhesive can be softened with hot air at approx. 300°C. Next, you need to remove the paint along the crack by about 15 mm on each side of the future weld. You can remove the paint with a grinder or a special scraper. Then, using a face mill, a V-shaped seam joint is made so that the edges form an angle of 90 °, and the depth is from 2/3 to 3/4 of the thickness of the material to be welded. After milling, the profile of the welding rod should match the V-profile of the weld, and the rounded top surface of the welding rod should protrude 1-2 mm above the repaired surface.
The last preparatory operation is drilling the ends of the crack to prevent its expansion. The welding itself takes place in two stages. First, it is necessary to fix the parts to be welded using a tack nozzle - to carry out the so-called bonding soldering, in which hot air heats the bottom of the embroidered crack, after which its edges are connected by running a heated tip of the soldering iron. During this operation, small displacements of surfaces are usually corrected.
The most important rule for welding polymers is that only materials of the same name can be welded. Therefore, it is especially important to approach the identification of the material of the part to be repaired. Sometimes the manufacturer puts a marking on the part indicating the material. If there is no marking, a “test beam” should be used, successively welding reference bars to the part. Only materials of the same composition will give a strong connection. After the material has been unambiguously determined, a rod is welded into the embroidered crack using a quick welding nozzle. In order for high-quality welding to occur, it is necessary to strictly maintain three most important parameters:
- the temperature required to transfer the surface of the cut seam and the rod into a ductile state (the entire rod should not melt!); welding speed, that is, the time of exposure to hot air on the material - this is how heating is carried out surface layers;
- pressure on the material, under the influence of which there is a rapid and fairly complete merging of the surface layers.
If you have access to reverse side parts, reinforcement welding with a flat bar is recommended. This rod can also be used to weld thin parts. In hard-to-reach places, it is recommended to perform the so-called pendulum welding - in this case, the fast welding nozzle is not used, hot air is supplied to the surfaces to be welded with pendulum movements, hand pressure on the filler rod is approximately 2.5 kg. After successful welding and complete cooling working surface further processing is not particularly difficult, polymeric materials lend themselves well to grinding and coloring.
Hot air equipment their kits and kits can be used for more than just bumper repairs.
In the automotive industry, all kinds of awning structures, for example, awnings of trucks, are widely used. The material - technical PVC fabric - is a well-welded material. Therefore, both the repair of damages and the manufacture of tent structures are not great work– all you need is a special “slotted” LEISTER nozzle, which forms a stream of hot air that will be supplied between two sheets of the material to be welded (laid with a slight overlap), and a LEISTER silicone pressure roller, which creates the pressure necessary for welding.
If we are talking about serious tent production, then it makes sense to use one of the LEISTER automatic welding machines for welding long straight seams. In this case, the operator sets the required temperature and welding speed, positions the device on the seam, inserts the welding nozzle between the sheets to be welded, and the device, moving at a given speed, performs welding in automatic mode. The advantages of automatic welding are obvious - the stability of all welding parameters guarantees a high and repeatable quality of the weld, the speed of the process itself is five to ten times higher manual welding. During the operation of trucks, the problem of welding the so-called customs tape onto awning seams is relevant. And in this case, a simple and reliable solution is the use of manual devices and automatic welding machines LEISTER (Leister).
Hot air is extremely effective in shrinking special heat shrink sleeves. It is also possible to perform non-contact soldering, because the air temperature on LEISTER devices is smoothly regulated and maintained in the range from room temperature to 650°C.
A directed stream of hot air will help you easily and without damage to remove the old protective covering, remove pressed or "stuck" bearings, bolts, couplings and the like.
In the automotive industry, there are a huge number of tasks that can be easily solved with hot air. A variety of LEISTER devices, whose quality and the highest reliability have been proven by decades of world leadership, will help to cope with any problem.
Removing a crack in a bumper with a GHIBLI pistol-type hot air gun (Ghibli) Shrinkage of the heat shrink sleeve in hard to reach place using a compact hand-held device HOT JET S (Hot Jet S) with adjustable temperature and air flow. The hand dryer TRIAC AT (Triak AT) with a digital interface will quickly cope with the repair of awning fabric. The powerful hot air apparatus ELECTRON ST (Electron ST) is widely used in car services to speed up the drying of varnish and paint.
