Anyone do plastic welding?

R

ReeferAl

Premium Member
I've been thinking that the only way I may be able to save my Oceans Motions 8-way is to find someone who can weld the connections for me.

I have an OM 8-way that started coming apart about 6 months after I got it. I had assumed that the pipes must have been welded to the body as the pipes only extend about 1/4 in into the body and that is not nearly enough contact surface for PVC cement to hold. I was wrong- the parts are only glued together, so it's not surprising that they have been coming apart. I've tried regluing them, but they just won't hold with so little contact surface.

So, if there's anyone who can do plastic welding, I'd be willing to pay to have it done as I'd really like to get my CL going again. Unfortunately I don't know anyone locally who does it.

Allen
 
its not that hard......and i think it's called arizona tool you can get a kit for like 80bucks there nice to have........:)
 
There is a local reefer here that does plastic welding, but it is in Idaho.

You could try sending him a pm garfvolunter is his handle.

Kim
 
I would really expect Ocean Motions to immediately send you a new unit without even wating for you to send them the old one back first. Just tell them what happened them give them the URL for this post. This is the most used widely viewed Aquarium forum on the web. I am sure they would love to see you write a follow up post saying they immediattely took care of the problem at no cost. I would even ask them to send a paid postage label for you to send the old unit back to them at their cost.

That would be a definite show of negligence if their design calls for solvent welding with anything less than a depth equal to the outside diameter of the pipe.

Keep us informed on how they handle the problem as it is nice to here how good their technical and customer support is when they have obviously blundered.

I had previously always heard only good things about Ocean Motions equipment, but if what you say is true, they either blundered or they need to hange their assembly methods.

Wow, solvent welded, thats sad and obviious negligence.
 
Thanks for the responses. I hesitated to contact OM because I bought the unit just over 3 years ago and it seems that's beyond the time that one could really expect warranty coverage. Although the first joint came apart after 6 months or so, I re-glued it and it held up until the next time I had to handle the unit for cleaning and then another connection came loose, which I re-glued. After the 3rd connection needed to be re-glued I took it off line. Because it would hold together as long as I didn't mess with any of the connections, the problem stretched out over a couple of years. After the 3rd failure though I just felt I was asking for a disaster since the OM is under my tank.

I guess I'll give Paul a call and refer him to this thread at least to see what he says about the connection method.

Allen
 
Warranty aside, Paul @ OM would, I'd think, at least recommend the best method of repair. I've never had the slightest problem with my OM4, but I know he's responded well and taken good care of others who have had a problem.
 
If Pauldoes not stand behind his product or considers your claim unbelievable., I have several laramy welding outfits and could easily repair it but guranteeing the reapir would be difficult without having plastic rod that matches the platic type he i uses. It is quite possible he uses something like HDPE plastic rather than PVC and if that was the case neither welding with PVC rod or using PVC solvent welding would work well. Most large body shops have plastic welders as do radiator repair shops. There are simple methods of testing for plastic types that would simply mean shaving off a small piece of the plastic. they involve seeing if the plastic floats or sinks when placed in water and what color the smoke is when the plastic is burnt.
 
I have a laramy plastic welder too but I really sucked at welding because I think it takes a lot of practice and experience. What kind of tip do you use therealfatman?
 
I would use a regular speed feed tip. For his application I would likely use 3/32 to 5/32 rod depending on how much plastic had to be ground away. I also do not know what schedule pie is used on the OM's. I would probably only use about 3 or 4 psi air pressure and a 350 watt element. I would with a burr grind a small bevel on the body of the OM at each port where the pipe was not presently attached and grind off any plastic glue or solvent melted plastiv c in the area tobe welded before welding. Where the pipe was already attached I would grind a V groove at the intersection of the body and the pipe and weld there also. It has been a few years since I have welded anything but flat sheets of plastic though so I would have to check the book on air before I jumped into welding it. With a piece as small as this it should really be held and turned by one person and welded by another or it would need to be placed on a stool or something that could be easily walked around while welding it.
 
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Paul generally even picks up the phone at night so call him anytime (within reason - I'm sure the man does sleep).

This thread also prompted me to look at my OM. My adapters that screw into the body of the OM are screwed in to the point where only 1-2 threads show on the outside so they are screwed in pretty darn far.

As far as welding (which I know nothing about) it would be two different plastics. One being PVC and the other being that hard grey plastic whatever it is.

They are originally put together just using teflon paste on the threads.
 
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It is not possible to thermal weld to diffrent platics together as all both the plastic parts and the rod must melt together and form a homogeneous mixture. A mixture of plastic would be very weak.
I would think if it was threaded pipe screwed into a tapped hole that would appear obvious.

The pictures I have just pulled up off the web show just tapped and threaded Oceans Sotions 4 way's and a Squirt. Both of them show threaded holes and no pipes.

If dissimilar pipe were screwed in and PVC cement was used also it is quite possible that the mainbody will have to be redrilled and the holes tapped out and bushings put in the new threaded holes to bring them back down to the proper threaded hole size. It would likely take a fairly large plumbing or electrical firm to have on hand the drill bit, tap and dies for pipe threads as large as 1-1/4" for tapered pipe threads. It would mean having large tap and die equipment not commonly uses as it is more commom for them to just have pipe threaders not taps or large drill bits. If standard prices were paid for the work it would be cheaper to just by a new OM body without the guts or motor. most mav chine shops would usually only be set up with taps and dies for standard machine threads.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15235945#post15235945 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by therealfatman

The pictures I have just pulled up off the web show just tapped and threaded Oceans Sotions 4 way's and a Squirt. Both of them show threaded holes and no pipes.
Click to expand...

The OP has an OM-8... totally different construction.
 
Call Paul just to get his input!! He has been more than kind and extremely helpful with me. He is a great guy and offers top notch customer service!!

If you insist on welding call Paul to verify what kind of plastic you have. Then a plastic supply should have the type of welding rod that you will need. Wrong rod - no hold.

Then most commercial flooring places have installers that weld for a living - ask them for a name of one of your better installers. or if you have a local plastic supply they should be able to weld it or know of fabricators that can weld for you.
 
JB WELD should work. I used it recently to retro-fit an eheim 1260 to replace the aquabee on the deltec cal reactor. Someone else have done that before and it has been more than a year with no leaks or other issues.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I've contacted Paul late yesyerday by email and he answered back so right now we're working on the problem. I'll let everyone know how it turns out and go from there.

RussM is correct- the 8-way is constructed differently. The joints are not threaded.

Allen
 
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