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[PTmowerMech]

I have repaired plastic tanks using the HF tool

80 Watt Iron Plastic Welding Kit

Amazing deals on this 80 Watt Iron Plastic Welding Kit at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

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And some pieces of old plastic gas can.
If the hole is buggared i would weld up the hole and install a new bushing and fitting in a new hole. Drill it , don't try and melt the hole.

I'm using a soldering iron at the moment. Have always used this one on these type of repairs. But I do like the bigger, flatter head of the one you posted. It looks like you could cover a lot more area in a shorter time.
Thanks man. More tools... WOO HOO

 

[Hammermechanicman]

I use milk bottles and a hot air welding gun but it is the same proceedure
Tried using chemical drums because they were thicker but it was really difficult to get both pieses glassy at the same time where as with thin material like milk bottles you get the tank glassy then introduce strips of milk bottle that become active almost instantly
Roll them down with a silicon or polished stainless steel roller .
Let it cool down stone cold , trim off any bad bits then apply a second bigger patch and if you are feeling anal a third .
Started doing this 3 years ago when I had a spate of JD 100 series tanks that were splitting along the seams
All of them are still running
You can practice on some 5 gallon chemical drums , usually there are ton of them laying around in the street
Done it on quite a few Stihl trimmer tanks as well .

I used to use milk jugs years ago but now they must be degadeable now so they will eventually break down in the land fills. Leave one in the sun for a couple weeks and it starts to crumble. They ruined milk jugs just like coat hangers for welding.

 

[PTmowerMech]

At my other shop, I had a couple of old fuel tanks I'd use just to have extra plastic. When I read something about using the same kind of plastic, It stuck in my head. I had black plastic (from the Craftsman under seat tanks). And the transparent under dash MTD tanks.
This one is a red tank. So I'm thinking about using an old gas jug.

Truth be known, it probably doesn't matter.

 

[bertsmobile1]

It's been a while since I read this, but isn't there something about melting two different types of plastic being a no-no? I can't see why it would matter. But I'm not a chemist.

Thermo plastics are a unique structure, very similar to glass .
Get them hot enough and the ends of the molecules become active and will join onto the end of the same plastic instantly , ie weld .
But yes it has to be the same type of plastic or the molecules can not bond.
The easy way to do it is check the recycle mark underneath and only use the same numbers .
BEcause plastics are not actually solid and because different plastics are attacked by different solvents only certain plastics can be used for fuel

 

[StarTech]

You also can get the plastic too hot and it dries out and become brittle.

 

[PTmowerMech]

Thermo plastics are a unique structure, very similar to glass .
Get them hot enough and the ends of the molecules become active and will join onto the end of the same plastic instantly , ie weld .
But yes it has to be the same type of plastic or the molecules can not bond.
The easy way to do it is check the recycle mark underneath and only use the same numbers .
BEcause plastics are not actually solid and because different plastics are attacked by different solvents only certain plastics can be used for fuel

The tank that I'm trying to repair, doesn't have a number stamped on it. The color, I'm assuming makes no difference, as it's the color of a gasoline can. So, I'm just gonna take a wild guess and assume the plastic will bond..

And also keep in mind @StarTech advice about getting it too hot. I didn't know this. But my normal way of welding plastic is to not let the iron stay in one spot too long. I guess I learned that when I learned how to repair brass and copper radiators and it just turned into sort of a habit.
I'm sort of guessing that the plastic, if it gets too hot, will turn black. For the most part, my plastic welds stay pretty close to the same color.

 

[bertsmobile1]

You will note the use of the adjective "glassy"
Plastics take on that appearance when the end bonds are active .
If you have ever watched a blow moulding machine, the bottles come out glassy type shinny and transparent
As they cool down they go translucient to opaque
test on a tab
But it must be really clean so it is rub with a STAINLESS STEEL wire brush then acetone
If it ain't clean then the plastic molecules will bond to the dirt and forever be inactive.
That is how plastic is coloured , with ground up chemical or industrial waste like lead oxides , red, yellow & white or cadmium oxide Yellow .

 

[PTmowerMech]

Update on this tank.

I cut some strips from an old gas can. The recycle number was 2. At first I didn't think it was going to work, because like @bertsmobile1 mentioned about the glassy look, i just couldn't get with the strips. Was thinking I'd wasted my time. And I still might have. Because after I get the other repairs made and get it fired up, the vibration may create a leak at my repair spots.

But at the moment, the three places I repaired, aren't leaking after about 30 minutes.

So I'm going to continue with the few repairs left and see what happens.

I'm gonna put the cap back on it and let it sit in the sun with a little fuel in it. The heat will make it swell some (even as cold as it is outside (54f). If it doesn't leak then, I should be ok, I hope.

 

[StarTech]

Warmer than here I awoke to 20F this morning and it still below freezing @12 PM. Expecting to drop into the teens tonight.

At 54F it would be considered a heat wave today.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

54 F. Feelong real bad for you there

Not.
Why did it turn the pic sideways?