Aaron Horrocks

It's been over 10 years, but this post was referenced elsewhere, and I was asked if I ever did get a "plastic welder" and fix my vest? I did! I got the MiniWeld Model 6 (5600HT) from the Urethane Supply Company. It was the heaviest duty one that works on 120V (110V), and the other models use 240V (220V). The repairs have held these last 10 years... even though a few other things have broken on it. So far I have yet to use the vest for filming, only for cosplaying a Smartgunner Colonial Marines from the movie ALIENS. Which, by the way, we did some photos and filming this weekend.

I think the worst thing cluttering up my garage is the 20 ton press, but when I need to bend a piece of metal up to 1" thick, it's a life-saver.

A weld, should be the best form of repair. If it doesn't hold, which would be surprising, I can weld it again, and weld another patch on. Or in fact, do that from the start. If the "weld" fails, I can always do a patch job after the fact, with more plastic or riveting or screwing in an aluminum plate. Or buy a replacement plastic part to have sown in on the leather. This plastic welder, is the largest heaviest duty 120V, made in USA one that I could find. It's for fixing automotive plastics. I'm sure that it will do the job. I'm going to be giving this thing a try in a month or so, depending on USMC training... As far as the $150 plastic... Tap plastics would be about $30 a square foot, and I'd just have to trim to size. For my technical expertise, I've used to build robots, firearms, restore 1950s Army vehicles, and I've done a bunch of wood shop and arc welding classes. I'm pretty confidant that I can fix this plastic part if I use the right tools.

So I took this vest into Tap Plastics, and the expert there said it was polypropylene. I bought a plastic welder, and with all the welding rods it comes with, I could swear that the vest material closer matches polyethylene. Does anyone know for sure which plastic type is sown onto the leather?b

Peter Abraham at Tiffen has basically said that they can't repair it because they couldn't get parts for it. But I'd be under the impression that a new piece of - whatever this plastic is - could be cut to size and sown back into the leather... Janice, could you cover what is it that you would do, and the cost? Thanks.

I recently picked up this vest, and upon fitting and resizing, I found a huge crack all the way across the plastic of the strap that goes over the right shoulder. I don't think I should use this vest until I get that fixed, since all the wait will be on the thin strip of leather. Can I try to glue this together? Or melt it back together? What type of plastic is this? Maybe I should just send it to the professionals?

I've read that the 3A Arm with "Gold Springs" can support up to 57 pounds, but now on this thread I see that 65 and even 70 pounds are quoted. Does anyone actually have a solid figure? Did these products ever come with a manual?