What type of plastic?

[m2500tvr]

I'm looking simply for some opinion corrobation to help me identify a plastic so I can make the correct repair. Does anyone happen to know what type of plastic TVR used for the heater/A/C box/center control housing in the 280i/350i/others? The portion of this assembly that houses the switchgear has come adrift of the heater core/A/C box. They were originally joined via plastic stick welds. Identifying the type of plastic used will help inform how I go about reaffixing the switch gear housing back to the heater core/A/C box.

Thanks.

- SJ

'67 Lotus Elan S3 dhc 45/6210
'76 TVR 2500M 3559TM
'85 TVR 280i dhc

[dickymint]

It would be a thermoplastic type, as thermoset plastics can't be welded (ie. they don't melt).

[wedg1e]

I bet it has 'poly' in the title...

I once had a motorcycle fairing plastic welded: the repair guy got his hot air gun and several rolls of plastic 'rod' and proceeded to lay down lines of molten plastic inside the fairing to see which type would meld best.
Turned out to be chlorinated PVC...

[pistolar]

The material is polypropylene

[m2500tvr]

I checked out the cars each of you have. Wow. It would be fun to have some of that over here in the States.

Okay, so it's got poly as part of it's name, it's a thermoplastic, and it's polypropylene. How do you know it's polyprop? Is there any way besides welding (in whatever form), or using mechanical fasteners, to get this stuff back together again? I actually like the idea of screwing everything back together again so that it might come apart again, neatly, should it need to.

Thanks,

- SJ

[pistolar]

Here goes:

Polypropylene cannot successfully be glued. Normal practice when fabricating is hot air welding. Firstly the two pieces are tacked together using a hot air gun with a tack nozzle which is a flat piece of metal heated by the gun. Secondly a weld is applied by melting a welding rod along the joint.

In the UK and Europe the material is fabricated into chemical vessels,fume scrubbing plant, specialised laboratory ductwork etc.

The guns in the UK are also used by vinyl floor layers to join sections.
The guns are made by leister see link for further info www.leister.co.uk/

[wedg1e]

pistolar said:

Here goes:

Polypropylene cannot successfully be glued. Normal practice when fabricating is hot air welding. Firstly the two pieces are tacked together using a hot air gun with a tack nozzle which is a flat piece of metal heated by the gun. Secondly a weld is applied by melting a welding rod along the joint.

In the UK and Europe the material is fabricated into chemical vessels,fume scrubbing plant, specialised laboratory ductwork etc.

The guns in the UK are also used by vinyl floor layers to join sections.
The guns are made by leister see link for further info www.leister.co.uk/

I can feel a trip to Ebay coming on...

How come you know so much about it? You a fabricator?