Plastic welder

[Alias]

  I have a couple of small cracks in the bottom of the tub in my Fish Trap.  Has anyone used a plastic welder to fix cracks on their tubs?  Just wondering how it worked out?

[duke31]

i used JB WELD, with success. solved my problem

[svonasek]

Plastic welders work great, but I wouldn't spend the money on one if you only need it once. You can but 2 part plastic epoxy that will work for what you need

[FenDog]

You could also try PTEX that they use to repair the base of skis and snowboards. I've had great luck with it on everything from the intended to a coleman canoe that had a hole in it.

[gaudetskie]

Do you know of anybody who will rent you one? They do a great job!
Nick.

[Alias]

 I found a cheap one at harbor freight for 15 bucks and then saw a video on youtube of a guy using one that looks just like it. It's just the rod with the iron on the end of it with a tube that holds the plastic stick that melts.   Were you guys thinking I was talking about something else?

[jpicks]

Depends on what the plastic in the sled is made out of.  It's likely polyethylene, in which case it's a bit on the tricky side to weld because too much heat (even with a plastic welder) will literally cause original material to practically shrink away and will leave you with a bigger hole than what you started with.  You're better off to rough up the material, and use a bit of flexible 2 part epoxy and a fabric patch or thin piece of plastic to reinforce the crack (similar to repairing fiberglass). 

...or just be like everybody else, and use duct tape   

[Alias]

Its the original tub from Clam. I'll look into the epoxy, thanks

[Layne]

I own one and do a fair bit of welding with it. You can get poly welding rods but the trouble is getting the right grade of PE, it does weld fairly nice if you use lots of heat and have a powerful enough air compressor. Take it to your local plastic fabrication shop and they can likely do it for you, properly and cheap. The 2 part epoxies actually work quite well so you can look into thoses too, I forget the brand I used last but it was yellow and man did it stick. Good luck.

[Alias]

 Just did a google search on 2 part epoxy. Found one called Gflex with a video. I think it will work, but the cracks are kind of wider. I may have to cut plastic strips to fit over the cracks and then use this product.