Thats great info thanks to all that replied...
Simon
On 11 Mar 2004, at 12:53, Markus Zingg wrote:
>> Sorry for this OT request.
>>
>> Recently (Back end of last year) there was discussion about making
>> tanks and bits from PVC. There were also recommendations about how to
>> weld PVC - which hot air gun to use etc.
>>
>> I have purchased a suitable gun and some pvc welding rods but I am
>> wasting a lot of material trying to get a reasonable result. So far
>> all my results are disgusting and unusable. I would appreciate some
>> advice with regard to temperatures, types of welding rod and so on.
>>
>> My gun is a Steinel 2305 and I bought there rods. Are there better
>> types available? Should I give up and stick to glue (what a failure
>> that would be!!)?
>
> Hi Simon
>
> If you have the 2305 LCD you have the right one. Did you also got the
> propper nozzle?
>
> Then, ready made rods are often not so well suited. I could also not
> get propper results with the rod's. They very often differ from hte
> material you work with and that's a big problem. What I do is I
> usually cut off small srtipes (using a small circular table saw) of
> the material I'm welding cause then it's guaranteed to work well.
>
> Every material is having it's own optimal temperature. The material
> should not start to create bubbles, smoke or burn, and the temperature
> also depends a bit on how fast you work. I would just regulate the
> temperature up bit by bit until you see that it works well. Then,
> remember what temperature you have on your LCD display and set it to
> this temperature the next time.
>
> There IS a learning curve involved also. I remember that I had to
> trash the first four tanks until I got useable results. Start with
> just bending material. If you have the temperature set so as you can
> bend the material it's not too far away from what you need for the
> welding process. Play with it until you get a feeling on how it
> reacts. Then start to weld something simple (i.e. weld two plates into
> a T shape or such) until you have some practize.
>
> Don't give up, it's worth it in the end and it's a very flexible
> technology that you can use in many places. It's really worth
> investing some practizeing.
>
> Markus
>
>
>
>
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>
Simon Whitehead
s.whitehead@...