Homebrew PCBs

why welding?  does that give superior results to gluing?  PVC is 
really easy to glue but looks a little messy if not careful.  I use 
it for water pipes (pressured and unpressured) and it holds pretty 
well.  Just curious.

also, I made my tank with plexiglass and aquarium sealer.  Kind of 
ugly but works just fine.  I was a little nervous but it has stood up 
to a fair number of etchings.



--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Simon Whitehead 
<s.whitehead@c...> wrote:
> 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Bookmarks and 
files:
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> Simon Whitehead
> s.whitehead@i...