DIY Fusing PVC/Vinyl

[hoboid]

Hello!

I want to show a trick how to fuse vinyl sheets airtight together. I dont read it aeady her, maybe not all know the technique.
Its very simple and 100% tight. But it has an big disadvantage ... it may be dangerous to health by breathing the toxic steam.

What you need:

- PVC sheets of the same (!) material
- an iron
- baking paper

The iron worked for me with the *** level as best.
You have to apply the baking paper between iron an the vinyl sheets. If you dont use the paper or something else, the sheets will only melt the iron left holes in it -> not airtight!
make a test run before you use your "good" material. i got the best results, when the vinyl was shining trough the baking paper.
I use a long slat under the vinyl sheet so i got a relative straight fused border.
if its cooled down, the vinyl is inseparable!

Caution!

The toxic gases are not good for your health!
If you do this, so on your own risk.
PVC produces a hazardous acid emission when you heat it over 100°C. Not to mention the freed softener.
So only do this in very well ventilated rooms or better outside!
Never breathe the emission directly!

[Like Ra]

it may be dangerous to health by breathing the toxic steam.
...
PVC produces a hazardous acid emission when you heat it over 100°C.

HCl as far as I remember...

You have to apply the baking paper between iron an the vinyl sheets.

I would add another layer underneath.

I used this method to fuse polyethylene. Actually the only method for polyethylene.

[Strappado]

I still hesitate to try this, even though I have two projects, that I would really try to do. How often did you fail until you were successful?

My first project is to change a wide cape into a narrow one, that I can just get into and hardly move my arms.
My second project is about a sauna suit with collar entry and closed feet. It is slightly too short, so I would like to add rings at the legs, to make them longer.

Big question: The sauna suit is made out of pvc, but it has two different surfaces. One is smooth and really pvc-ish. The other side is rough, like a tiny waffle-iron. Do you think, this could work? It seems to be a single layer, but perhaps, two sheets are fused together. Anyway, I will try the cape first, which is definitely one layer of definitely pure pvc. As for the sauna suit, I am still inclined to look for a pro to do that for me.

[hoboid]

There exists many different kinds of pvc, pe and so on ... my experience is, that aeady different subtypes of pvc wont work together. How the surface is structured doesnt matter in my opinion, so same material will stick together, different not, or at least the most not.

Do you have no example-material to test your plan?

[Strappado]

Ok, the cape should be fairly simple, except for the measurements. There are quite a few strips to cut samples from.

The suit is another matter, excess material from all seems is cleaned out pretty well. But perhaps I can find a suitable piece.
Or, perhaps, I should resort to glue? I wonder, how compatible is "any" pvc is with pvc-glue? Still the same problem, I have to have a sample from the suit. However, I can test the glue on the other piece of pvc, that I want to add, by glueing it to itself.