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Old 07-01-09, 08:03 PM   #61
AC_Hacker
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Location: Portland, OR
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Default Progress on Polyethylene Fusion Heater...

My fusion heater is coming along also.

I used the following thrift-store, garage sale & junk bin items in making it:

* 300 watt heating element from mini-sandwich maker

* Teflon coated aluminum from heavy aluminum skillet

* Heat controller from unrelated skillet

Here are some pix:

This shows the plates milled out to accomodate the heater element. I also milled a plate on my drill-press using a quarter inch drill-bit. It looked like hell but worked. Howard has a NC shop and did a perfect job in just a few minutes (shown). Not shown in this pic is a channel I drilled out to recieve the temperature controller probe.

This shows the front of the unit. I still need to put a cover over the deadly voltage parts.

This shows the back of the unit.

This is a graph of the unit heating up when the dial is set to "400".

This shows the unit with the dial set to "367"... actually just a bit past 350.

So the skillet heat controller is working just great. The physical integrity leaves something to be desired, and the elecrtical safety is such that it is inviting an early death.

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I want to thank HJB for his knowledge, interest and suggestions, so I'm naming the unit the "HJB Junior".

Quote:
EDIT (11/29/2011): There are two types of HDPE fusion welding being done, butt welding and socket welding.

The electric welding paddle, shown above, worked very well, for butt welding, and I am still using it.

The second type of HDPE welding, socket welding, requires Teflon coated parts of a precise size, that cannot be found on the second-hand market. Thanks to rhino 660, a reader and persistant EcoRenovator from Florida, a source for these parts has been found at a reasonable price, making DIY socket welding equipment also possible.


Source for socket Faces...

...the persistant EcoRenovator will still have to solve the heater and heater-controller problems, but therein lies the fun!
Best Regards,

-AC_Hacker

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Last edited by AC_Hacker; 11-29-11 at 10:55 AM..
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