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Armor/AFV: Techniques
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HOw to weld PE????
mimeda
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Posted: Friday, September 19, 2008 - 06:35 AM UTC
I am a little bit tired of using CA for my PE sets, its painful and a mess so I was planning to learn how to weld them. Any suggestions as for where to get a welder, materials, techniques, etc?????

Thanks a lot

Mirko
Spiff
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Posted: Friday, September 19, 2008 - 06:47 AM UTC

Quoted Text

I am a little bit tired of using CA for my PE sets, its painful and a mess so I was planning to learn how to weld them. Any suggestions as for where to get a welder, materials, techniques, etc?????

Thanks a lot

Mirko


ABER has a nice tutorial on the tools needed and how to do it. It's a two part article:

Part 1 Tools required

Part 2 How to

Hopefully this will give you the answers you need.
goodhunting
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Posted: Friday, September 19, 2008 - 06:55 AM UTC
A long long time ago when Vinnie B. aka Teacher was still here he did an article on a gizmo that glued PE using heat and adhesive matter...

Sorry forgot the name of it and due to the price I never bought one. Perhaps someone else has some experieces with it...

GH
betheyn
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AEROSCALE
#019
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Posted: Friday, September 19, 2008 - 08:32 AM UTC

Quoted Text

A long long time ago when Vinnie B. aka Teacher was still here he did an article on a gizmo that glued PE using heat and adhesive matter...

Sorry forgot the name of it and due to the price I never bought one. Perhaps someone else has some experieces with it...

GH

This is the one, Etch Grip .
I see this in the flesh and it is a nifty little tool, if a little pricey.
Andy
GeraldOwens
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Posted: Friday, September 19, 2008 - 03:08 PM UTC

Quoted Text

I am a little bit tired of using CA for my PE sets, its painful and a mess so I was planning to learn how to weld them. Any suggestions as for where to get a welder, materials, techniques, etc?????

Thanks a lot

Mirko


You can't weld it, but you can use a process called soldering, using melted lead. Any store that deals with small electronics should be able to supply you. It's used to make permanent electrical connections.
mimeda
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Posted: Saturday, September 20, 2008 - 06:03 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

A long long time ago when Vinnie B. aka Teacher was still here he did an article on a gizmo that glued PE using heat and adhesive matter...

Sorry forgot the name of it and due to the price I never bought one. Perhaps someone else has some experieces with it...

GH

This is the one, Etch Grip .
I see this in the flesh and it is a nifty little tool, if a little pricey.
Andy


OK, so basically what this thing does is apply heat over the PE piece, melt the plastic underneath and attach it????? Can't I do with a regular soldering machine???

mimeda
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Posted: Saturday, September 20, 2008 - 06:06 AM UTC

Quoted Text


Quoted Text

I am a little bit tired of using CA for my PE sets, its painful and a mess so I was planning to learn how to weld them. Any suggestions as for where to get a welder, materials, techniques, etc?????

Thanks a lot

Mirko


You can't weld it, but you can use a process called soldering, using melted lead. Any store that deals with small electronics should be able to supply you. It's used to make permanent electrical connections.


Thanks for your reply, that's what I was thinking, but do we need like a particualr amount of Watts in the soldering machine??? Where do you get the lead filament ??? Usually the ones you can get on stores are huge in caliber????? Should I look in Micromark or places like that???

Finally, does the metal on most PE sets will be soldered with this lead material???

Thanks a lot everybody for your replies so far...

mirko
capnjock
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Posted: Saturday, September 20, 2008 - 06:12 AM UTC
Micromark has what you need for both regular soldering and resistance soldering. Understand, soldering is for metal-to-metal and NOT for metal-to-plastic. Hope it helps
capnjock
jaypee
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Posted: Saturday, September 20, 2008 - 06:53 AM UTC
For soldering
solder sold now will be lead free, since about two years ago. if you are going to solder get a solder wick to remove excess, and some flux too. loads of soldering tutorials on the internet for electronics but the same techniques apply.

for metal to plastic if you don't like CA try future, or varnish to hold small bits.

rs and farnell, or similar will do really small soldering equipment.
electronic components are as small or smaller than pe parts.

That Etch grip looks cool but a custom tip and a variable heat soldering iron will do the same thing. the melting point of the glue it uses must be below that of styrene. neat idea.

mimeda
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Posted: Sunday, September 21, 2008 - 05:02 PM UTC
Ok everybody, so i went to Radioshack and got everything I needed. I did several attempts with spare pieces of PE and works great,, just need to be more precise but works. Now, the only problem is that sometimes I scratch things with alluminum from soda cans and apparently this type of solder does not works with this metal.......any suggestions???
dbudd
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Joined: March 23, 2006
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Posted: Sunday, September 21, 2008 - 05:29 PM UTC
No, it won't work with aluminum. Soldering or welding aluminum is extremely difficult and is really only done by well trained professionals. You'll have to buy sheets of brass to scratch parts from if you want to solder them.

Also, make sure you keep the iron clean and tin it after each use, the Radio Shack iron I had corroded very quickly. I read some comments online and just about everyone mentioned having the same issue. I ended up buy a really good Weller iron from Ebay.
c5flies
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Posted: Sunday, September 21, 2008 - 05:31 PM UTC
Aluminum soldering requires a different type of flux containing Zinc Chloride, and a high tin solder. Check back with Radioshack, see if this type of flux comes in a water soluble style so you can wash it off. If not, make sure you clean up the parts well (also with regular flux). Zinc Chloride is a bit more corrosive than regular flux and I don't know how it can affect the finished model.
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