Massca Plastic Welding Kit with Welder, Rods, Reinforcing Mesh, Hot Iron Stand, and Wire Brush - Plastic Bumper Repair Kit DIY Arts, Crafts & Professional Surface Repair, Portable 80 Watt

I first got the “gun” type. It worked ok but I got cramp from constantly holding the trigger, the handle was very hot, the tip was flimsy and the whole thing failed after one repair.I then got the “rod” type and it works much better. There’s no trigger or handle problems. The tip is much stronger and the plastic welding material melts better and can be manipulated much easier than that supplied with the other kit.I’ve saved hundreds fixing trash cans for rentals. I wish I had got this type first.

First Time out of the Box, plugged it in.. Nothing. Called Service and explained what happened and they immediately sent me a new Welder Kit to replace the one that didn't work. I was past the send back date on Amazon, but Massca went up and beyond what I would have expected. Great seller. Very Responsive. Thank You

The iron in this kit is fairly large so it can be held onto easily. It is heftily built and works great for heating up plastics to be welded together. The kit provides a good amount of the most-used plastic and is adequate. It heats up quickly and melts the plastic so that it can be smoothed along with the added plastic to repair a variety of plastic items damaged during use.The main problem in using the kit is that the wedge-shaped tips provided are made from material with too low a melting point and they begin to deform when they get hot. If any pressure is applied to the tip, the nearly molten shaft bends very easily and no amount of care will prevent this - short of not using the tip. To prevent the premature failures, when I purchase a new tip, I add some additional threads to the shaft and install a 1/4-28 nut on it. I then tighten the nut against the end shield on the iron after the tip is fully installed. This will keep the shaft from getting too hot and the pressure placed on the tip is transmitted to the end of the iron.Another thing I tried was to drill out the center of the shaft with a 3/32" drill bit and insert a 3/32" welding rod end into the hole. This keeps the molten end from bending under quite a bit of pressure. The welding rod usually has a little 'blow' left on it which, when forced into the hole in the shaft, will keep it from falling out again. These rods are from used up 3/32" welding rods.I have not tried the extra nut on the new tips yet, but the hollow shaft with welding rod inserted works very well with a 1/4-28 nut holding the two parts together and the shaft installed up to the nut tightly. I was able to complete a job that I was doing while I waited for the new tips to arrive.When the shaft breaks off, the portion of the shaft left in the iron renders it unusable until removed. The easiest way is to drill a 3/32" hole in the end as near centered as possible and use a small extractor to remove the piece. The extractors come in a set of four and the smallest will fit a 3/32" hole which only needs to be drilled 1/4" into the end. If it is easier, a Dremel tool can be used to grind a slot in the tip so that a small flat-blade screw driver can be used to turn the portion of the tip out. The copper material is pretty soft so working with it is easy. And it will not adhere to the iron very much.I have not located a better iron for the money. However, a distinct improvement could be made by adding an on/off switch to the power in and perhaps a thermal control to keep it from overheating. I turn the iron on by plugging it in and then prepare for the work to be done because it takes awhile for the unit to heat up, but then it overheats apparently - the tip is almost molten at the point where it exits the heater barrel. Even when you are very careful with the pressure applied, the tip's shaft will slowly deform and eventually break.

Ok so right out of the gate - glad I purchased, does exactly what I needed it to do, highly recommended.Now the back story:I had a cracked step pad on one of my truck step bars. Of course, you can't replace the pads themselves. You have to replace the whole bar - and they don't sell them one at a time do they? No, they don't. And plastic cracks don't get better with age, they get worse.So I was looking at fixing at home or spending several hundred dollars for a new set of step bars, and the install if I couldn't do it myself.Enter our hero - this little $25 plastic welding kit. Very easy to use and comes with everything you need for quite a few repairs like mine, or several even bigger repairs.Again very easy to use. So my step bar is fixed strong as new. Does it look brand new - no, it looks patched, of course. But is the repair strong enough to be dependable and last a long time - yes absolutely.I cleaned the crack and surrounding area with alcohol wipes. Then buffed it with the included wire brush.Then I cut some of the included metal screen to cover the crack and about a half inch all around. Then I let the tool preheat per instructions, and used it to basically melt the meatal screen into the base plastic of the step board so it became integral. i then used the plastic material "welding rod" included, to fill all gaps and smooth over the repair area to a homogenous blend and thickness. So now the area that was cracked is a steel-reinforced welded area of plastic. It cooled down evenly and is now as strong or stronger than the plastic around it. I'm sure there's some way to refine the look a little, but frankly since it is a part designed to get stepped on and dirty I don't mind it looking patched, really. I just need it to be strong which now it is.So in short - this little $25 tool is very easy to use, comes with everything you need to get working, and I can say with confidence it saved me $ several hundred dollars $, on the first use. I do recommend it.