Plastic welder preventative maintenance

Preventative maintenance that is easy, and will save you time and money –
We see a wide range of service issues on equipment that comes into our technical service centers. And while we carry a huge range of spare parts to enable us to fix problems and issues with customers equipment quickly and efficiently, there are a couple of things the customer can do to reduce breakdowns –

Here is an example (below image) of a tool that shows a lack of attention to one of the most simple preventative maintenance steps any customer can carry out to eliminate such breakdown issues.

clogged-tool-001

(CAUTION: Always unplug the tool from the mains before attempting any repairs! )

1. Cleaning the motor assembly
2. Cleaning the element housing

Firstly, unplug the tool from the mains. Remove the three screws from the green housing and remove. A compressed air supply with a blow gun can be used to ‘blow out’ any residual dust that may collect inside your hot air tool. The same procedure should be carried out to the heating element housing. Remove the four screws fixing the element housing to the black impeller housing. Carefully remove the stainless housing, then the cylindrical mica tube (the mica tube must be in good order, if not replace it) can be slide off the heating element. The insulator gasket can also now be removed, followed by a gentle forward pull to remove the heating element itself. Use the blow gun to remove any dust, and carefully blow compressed air into the element itself. Once complete and free from all dust, re fit the heating element, mica tube, insulator gasket and lastly the element housing can be screwed back in place.

Do not let your hot air plastic welder hand tool get like this !
This particular tool showed excessive wear of the carbon brushes (clearly the brush life was shortened due to excessive contamination), and a failed heating element – cost of this repair $ 247.00 , plus the downtime costs !

Watch the Vidoe on how to maintain your plastic welder for longer service life