Best Plastic Welders of 2024

Welding plastics seems like an uncommon thing, but plastics too can be welded. If you are looking to purchase a plastic welder, you should probably read through this guide to find out. We’ve gone over the good and the bad about each one, to make it easier for you to choose the right plastic welder for your needs.

As plastic car parts age, they become brittle and are more prone to cracking. Cracks can also come from accidents, stress, and improper use. This leaves us in a position where we have to repair, or replace the cracked part and it is often expensive.

Glues can be messy and the result isn’t always visually appealing. Dried glue smears are unsightly and oftentimes impossible to remove. Also, glue isn’t always a long term solution, sometimes it just doesn’t hold up well.

The best plastic welders offer a quick, easy, and long term solution. When done correctly a plastic weld will blend in and hold up indefinitely, making it an effective solution.

PLASTIC WELDER BUYER’S GUIDE

Amount of Power the Plastic Welder is capable of

The power of plastic welders is measured in wattage. Unlike topside creepers, the higher the wattage a plastic welder has, the higher its max heat setting will be. However, in most plastic welders’ guns, airflow is required to distribute this heat and effectively soften the plastic to form a strong weld.

Too much heat, with poor airflow, will result in the repair taking longer to finish, as well as, burned-out heating elements and potential damage to the material being welded.

This can also lead to burned plastic and an ineffective weld. Unlike nut drivers, Too much airflow can also negatively impact the integrity of your weld as it cools the air temperature.

The best plastic welder will have a narrow and consistent airflow, like that in a hot glue gun, a temperature range suitable to your plastic-type, and a visible temperature display in the form of a dial, or display.

Welding Type and Tip Compatibility

There are 3 types of plastic welding, these are tack, pendulum, and speed. Each method is used for different types of repairs, or fabrications and will produce a different kind of weld. These methods rely on the application of the device, as well as the movements of the welder, which is not a feature found in staple guns.

Different tips also produce certain weld styles more effectively than others. Depending on the style of the welder, the tip you need may, or may not be included, or compatible.

Contact welders are less useful in this aspect, as they use a limited selection of tips, that change the shape of the contact point. Heat guns, on the other hand, offer a wider variety of uses and are compatible with a larger selection of tips.

The Intended Use of the Plastic Welder

Not all plastic welders will work for every repair job, or project. Professional welders require powerful, high wattage devices, with adjustable heat settings. They need their welders to be able to effectively heat and join industrial plastics while being durable enough for prolonged, frequent use, like grass shear.

In contrast, a hobbyist, or someone only needing to do a few quick repairs would be better suited to a simpler, easier to use the device. They need a plastic welder that is inexpensive but can still finish a job quickly, with the user needing minimal experience.

Therefore the intended use of your plastic welder and your experience in using one directly relates to which plastic welder is best for your needs.

The Heating Type

There are 3 styles of plastic welders. The first style is contact welders (airless). These welders use a heated metal tip, much like a soldering iron, to melt the plastic as it touches it. This style is useful for quick welds that require small, precise welds.

Welds produced by contact welders are usually only suitable as filler welds and not for structural integrity. This is because they form a thin bond between the two pieces, much like glue, instead of melting the pieces together. These devices are better suited to small projects.

The second style of plastic welders are heat guns, these devices use a blast of hot air to soften the pieces being joined while allowing you to weld them. The softened state allows the pieces to bond with each other, as well as, with the welding material.

Which makes for a much stronger bond, suitable for structural repairs. This style of the device will produce a durable and long-lasting weld. These devices are good for both large and small projects.

The third style of plastic welder uses high frequency, or ultrasonic waves, like in digital torque adapters, to create heat and melt the plastic. This style of the welder is often only used in factory and laboratory settings and is not readily available to most professionals, or hobbyists.

BEST PLASTIC WELDERS

Beyondlife Plastic Hot Air Welder

Beyond life, a gun is not only sturdy but also pretty durable. It weighs at most 3lbs which is a very friendly weight that makes it very compact and convenient in the job. The plastic welding gun set produces a hot air jet that softens the sections to be attached and the important plastic filler rod making it quit a professional tool.

While working with this gun, you can simply adjust both power and temperature to achieve the required energy for the job. This gives you a lot of versatility to be able to work with an array of materials. The plastic welder is used to repair plastic hardware like tarpaulins, truck curtains, membranes, kayak, water tanks, car bumpers, vinyl flooring, etc. However, some buyers didn’t like that there are limited accessories featured in the kit.

Go2Home 1600W Plastic Welder

With this plastic welder, a strong case for carrying the accessories is included to facilitate easy transportation. The machine has temperate levels ranging from 30°C to 700°C which will surely be able to work well on different kinds of plastic materials. Also, Go2Home 1600W is very flexible and user-friendly allowing the user to complete the job fast.

Another quality that makes Go2Home 1600W stand out is the fact that it has low noise increasing your comfortability during the work. It features a heat-resistant tube and re-heating protection unit that guarantees a long-time service as well as safety. This welder is mostly utilized to weld tarpaulins and TPO materials etc. However, it heats up slowly and you can burn yourself easily.

Polyvance 5700HT Airless Plastic Welder

Polyvance’s 5700HT Mini-Weld Model 7 is the most versatile plastic welder on the market for light-duty repair work on virtually any popular plastic material.

The Mini-Weld Model 7 comes with eight different kinds of plastic welding rod which match today’s most common plastics on cars, motorcycles, ATVs, kayaks, canoes, outdoor equipment, and virtually anything made of plastic.

With Polyvance’s Model 7 welder, you’ll be able to repair plastic bumpers, headlight tabs, fan shrouds, radiator tanks, windshield washer bottles, inner fender liners, motorcycle fairings, ATV fenders, and more.

Weldy 1600W Professional Hot Air Equipment

If you are a fan of professional grade tools and want to purchase a professional-grade hot air plastic welder gun kit, maybe you’ll love this one from Weldy. Coming with a robust and compact design, this hot air tool allows you to work on versatile types of elements, including plastics and PVCs.

Steinel Heat Gun Kit

Steinel Gun offers a lot of features that make sure you can do all your plastic welding without a hustle. The machine is very convenient guaranteeing professional results of the work. It comes with an adjustable and user-friendly LCD. Additionally, there are numerous attachments included and all come in a stylish carrying case.

Another good thing about this machine is that it’s very affordable. So, if you’re looking for a quality plastic welder and you don’t want to break your bank account, this should be a good choice.

In terms of performance, it’s not only efficient but features exceedingly high power with lots of airflow controls. However, this machine needs advanced welding skills to be able to use it well.

Hobie Kc Welder Pro

Kc Welder is a great welding machine that is only made for some selected types of plastics. This welder is good for individuals looking to repair polyethylene materials. When it comes to plastics, this machine is not very good. It melts them very slowly and therefore won’t get the job well done. However, if you want to repair any hardware made of polyethylene materials, this should be the best plastic welder to invest in.

The machine comes with a medium-sized power of 80Watt element. Also, it sells at a reasonable price and you can be certain to afford it. Moreover, it’s pretty easier to control the temperature and you’ll enjoy working with it. However, just as mentioned, this welder is not recommended for all plastic types and the welding rods diameter is not up to the standard.

Master Appliance ProHeat Series Plastic Welding Kit

The Master Proheat Plastic Welding Kit makes fabricating and repairing thermoplastics fast and simple. Each kit is a self-contained, general-purpose plastic welding system with everything needed for hot air welding a wide variety of thermoplastic materials: auto bumpers, rigid and flexible plastics, tarps, liners, covers, tents, inflatables and more

Go2Home 1080W Split Hot Air Gas Plastic Welder

This plastic welding kit includes the plastic welder, 1 pipe, and an extra heating core. This kit is suited to most plastic repair projects, including most high melting point plastics. It is suitable for fiberglass, roofing, flooring, and many other plastic repairs, or fabrication jobs. The air quickly heats plastics to a softened state, allowing jobs to be finished quickly.

Gino Development Plastic Welding Kit with Plastic Rods and Mesh

It is every car owner’s dream welder. Fix the bumper, or the dashboard, or anything else that falls apart from the car with this welder. It arrives with black plastic rods that are supposed to work on PP, TEO, and TPO materials. To work with different color plastic or different materials, you may need to purchase extra plastic rods depending on your requirements.

The unit weights merely several ounces and also costs only a little. But it works wonders on fixing expensive items. This unit is also backed by a long warranty. The quality did not seem sturdy enough to last long though. Even if it will survive a short time, the money will be well spent on this welder I can bet!

Chicago Electric Plastic Welding Kit with Adjustable Temperature

Here, you will get a welder with a long air pipe and a long power cord. It is a basic type of plastic welder that works with the air. The advantage is, it does not have a bulky head of ‘no-air’ welders. So, it is easier to deal with and get flawless results.

It may have an extremely long air hose, which is always a burden if you not accustomed to using basic welders. Besides, there is additional control attached to keep the air pressure under control. To control the temperature, there is a potentiometer on it too.

It does not include any additional nozzles, silicon rollers, or plastic rods. So, you must have an idea of how to use it and have all the assortments you need to make this work, for example, air compressor.

CONCLUSION

Be mindful and purchase your very first plastic welder today so that you don’t have to keep purchasing new items just for small damage.  For professionals, you should have even more concern about choosing your plastic welder. Because this is what that keeps your pocket full, right?

Use this guide to pick your plastic welders, and you will be pleased you did.