[wraitherlx]

I recently picked up a cobra rear bumper for free that was damaged. I always wanted to try my hands at some body work/repair so I decided instead of having to pay someone to do it I would do it myself. With some insight, tips, and tricks from AJM I decided that I would tackle it. There are numerous ways to do it but the key is to figure out what type of plastic you are going to be repairing. After finding what the plastic compound was I decided that I was going to try the Plastic weld method. basically it is similar to soldering but with plastic. I was going to pick up some plastic welder from harbor freight until I found a great one on Craigslist that retailed for 250 but I got it for 50. Now the plastic welder came with fiberflex rods that allows the material to be flexible and it is not an actual plastic as more an adhesive/plastic/fiber combination.

1st step was to sand the area down where the crack is located and about 2" away with some gritty sand paper to allow the adhesive to bond to also on the edge of the cracks you want to kind of make a "V" groove to allow the adhesive to have more surface area to adhere to

2nd step is to tape the front side of the crack as to maintain the original form

3rd step is to, from the backside, take the welder and melt the fiberflex rods onto the material and then braze it over the crack. you are not going to be melting the original plastic but the adhesive as the welder will heat up the original plastic underneath the adhesive to allow them to bind together.

4th step is to either let it cool off or you can take some cool water to it to speed up the process just make sure to wipe off all water and allow to dry a little to ensure that if you have to go over it again that the adhesive will hold. I let it sit for about 15 minutes

5th step: smoke a cigarette and drink a beer

6th step: take the tape off the front and ensure that there is no residue left and repeat steps 1-4 but you will be working on the front and wont need the tape.

7th step: after allowing to cool sand area down so that it is flush
I havent done this step yet as there are other little things that I need to do to it still like taking a heat gun to the side that got bent and getting it back to its original form.

Now on to the before and after pictures

[wraitherlx]

[wraitherlx]

once I get more done I will post up some more info and pictures

[WhtStang00]

this is really cool, so all in all how much is this costing you?

[wraitherlx]

Originally Posted by WhtStang00 this is really cool, so all in all how much is this costing you?

so far it only cost me 50 (for the welder and rods) the sand paper I got for free from Cricket as he had some left over that I needed and I had the others. Not including my cigarettes and my beer

[ajm]

looking good

[WhtStang00]

lol!

so what exactly is a plastic welder?

[wraitherlx]

Originally Posted by ajm looking good

preciate it bro

Originally Posted by WhtStang00 lol! so what exactly is a plastic welder?

think of it as a soldering iron. It heats up material until it breaks down allowing it to bond with the material it is being applied to

[WhtStang00]

ah, ok gotcha

[00BlueMustang]

Looking a lot better. Are you going to paint it yourself?

[wraitherlx]

Thanks and yes sir. Trying to do all of this myself.

[mcqueen]

Lookin good wraith. Hope it comes out well

[wraitherlx]

preciate it bro

[Zatrekaz]

00BlueMustang...

You stole my quote!





Looks good wraith. That will be a good deal if you can get it perfect again.

[wraitherlx]

@ your quotes and thanks. Yeah should be good as new here soon.

[00BlueMustang]

Originally Posted by Zatrekaz 00BlueMustang... You stole my quote!

YOU STOLE MY QUOTE!!!

Wraith any updates?

[wraitherlx]

not yet, I was busy all day yesterday doing some side jobs so I wont be able to get to it until this weekend. Ill post up here as soon as do though.