Torn/ripped plastic pants

[dprdinky]

So I'd love to here what you people do with torn and ripped plastic pants, other than just throwing them away.

I know there is some liquid glue type of stuff for repairing plastic in general, but I'd love to hear the best approach to this.

My apologies if this has already been addressed.

thanks.

 

[h200420012]

whatever you do.. don't use superglue.. It will fix the tear but then harden the plastic and result in cracking.

You could use maybe a clear silicon gel? I remember my dad fixing my TMNT turtle blimp(made of vinyl) with it and it worked perfectly.

 

[Trevor]

Sorry, mine just go in the trash. I don't wear cloth diapers all that much, so my tolerance for damaged plastic pants is pretty low. I guess if I were so inclined, I'd look into vinyl or plastic mending products, depending on the material of the pants. If you come up with anything good for it, it's probably worth throwing in the wiki.

 

[PFD]

Prevention is the answer. Don't buy vinyl, unless it's vinyl covering nylon or polyester. Those pants don't tear, even after a year of hard use. Urathane might be good, too, but I've never tried them.
Then there's the expense of the glue and the material you're going to mend them with: it might be cheaper to start with a new pant.

 

[ballucanb]

Nothing works that great for patching plastic pants, I tried useing hot glue, it melts the pants material, the only thing you can do is use tape as a temporary fix, put a peice of tape on both sides of the rip or hole.

But once you try to clean or wash the pants the tape lets go,or you could use duct tape it will hold longer.

 

[Millenniumfalsehood]

You could try welding the sides together by overlapping them slightly, sandwiching them between two pieces of sheet metal, and applying heat such as a soldering iron. Not too much, so you don't melt the thing, just enough to force the pieces to meld together; you'll be able to tell by the metal sheet collapsing. I use that method sometimes to repair cracked plastic parts when I don't particularly care whether it looks pretty.

 

[Pojo]

You could try welding the sides together by overlapping them slightly, sandwiching them between two pieces of sheet metal, and applying heat such as a soldering iron. Not too much, so you don't melt the thing, just enough to force the pieces to meld together; you'll be able to tell by the metal sheet collapsing. I use that method sometimes to repair cracked plastic parts when I don't particularly care whether it looks pretty.

Then you could pull a Bender and say "Bite my shiny metal ass"

 

[Valentine]

Talk to a pool supply store, and ask them for advice. You might not want to say what it is exactly that you are repairing though.

 

[ricky]

Talk to a pool supply store, and ask them for advice. You might not want to say what it is exactly that you are repairing though.

LOL, as I was reading the thread, I was remembering how I repaired several pairs of mine. I've got a broken spring in my truck seat, and if I'm not careful getting into the truck, it pokes through the seat and right into my jeans, and right through my plastic pants. I've accidentally done that about 4 times.

But on to the fix. I had this pool repair kit that I had gotten from Walmart, and I figured "why not?", it's made to work on plastic, {vinyl}, so I tried it, and it worked. The kit came with this thin, clear sheet of patch material, and some glue. I cut out some pieces just big enough to cover the hole on the inside and outside, and glued them down. When I ran out of glue from the kit, I use this stuff I got from a model store, it's called "Plastruct" plastic weld general purpose plastic solvent cement. It's a clear liquid in a glass bottle, and has a brush attached to the lid so you can brush it on. It seems to work great for this, as every pair I've patched is still holding just fine. I've even repaired the side seam on one pair when it came apart about 4 or 5 inches. I've done it with just the glue on the seam, but it works much better if you apply a small strip of the patch material with the glue too.

Hope this answers your questions and helps everyone with this problem.

 

[cmon6969]

all you need is some 3 inch tape from rubber roofing I have not tryed it but I think it would work

 

[Millenniumfalsehood]

LOLWhen I ran out of glue from the kit, I use this stuff I got from a model store, it's called "Plastruct" plastic weld general purpose plastic solvent cement. It's a clear liquid in a glass bottle, and has a brush attached to the lid so you can brush it on. It seems to work great for this, as every pair I've patched is still holding just fine. I've even repaired the side seam on one pair when it came apart about 4 or 5 inches. I've done it with just the glue on the seam, but it works much better if you apply a small strip of the patch material with the glue too.

Hope this answers your questions and helps everyone with this problem.

Plastic Weld works on plastic pants?! I've got like eight bottles of that stuff for building models! Thanks for letting me know!

 

[ricky]

Plastic Weld works on plastic pants?! I've got like eight bottles of that stuff for building models! Thanks for letting me know!

Yes, it works well for that. But you got to make sure you keep some pressure on the joint or repair until the glue sets up, or it;ll come back apart. And I usually add some more glue to it after the initial stuff sets up, just to be sure that I've gotten it glued together really good.
Now I have had it come back apart on me when I was first trying this, so it may take you a little practice before you get the hang of it.

Good luck on your repair, I'm glad I was able to help.

 

[Mauiman]

These are all good temporary solutions and all however even when macgyvering the solutions you will still need to completely replace them. Though it is a very clever way to make it stretch.

 

[Eclipse]

Actually I read this earlier but did not think of it. You can melt plastic and most of it will turn into liquid and when its a hot liquid you can just use that as the adhesive to seal it up 100%, just will leave kind of like a small rough place on it, kind of like a scar on a human.

If you do, try to decide that do it outside and wear a mask or something cause those fumes are bad for you. Except I will admit I have done this with plastic, but never plastic pants so I am not 100% sure if it is a different kind of plastic than what I did it with.