Jeffery, if you look in the Victa frames section theres a thread i started about catchers. The black one i have got pictures of was a big mess. Had tin plate all over it and a big bit of aluminum under the bottom that was bent to the wrong shape.
I suppose an hour all up with the soldering iron to get it how it looks now.
A soldering iron and some thin strips of plastic cut from a busted bit of catcher with tin snips.
Its sort of like welding with a TIG or Oxy, melt the plastic and you need to do it full depth, then work the melted plastic back in the crack then with some thin strips of plastic off another catcher, melt that in as filler and tidy it up as best you can. Only thing is that plastic does not solidify as quick as metal, so if you keep that in mind, even with a smallish soldering iron like mine you can still get a fair area of plastic liquified at once, almost to the drip/sag stage.
If its badly cracked up, the best thing is to tack it at about 25mm spacings and get the whole thing looking like it should then go to work. They can be a pain to get into the right spot, catchers never seem to sid where i want them. About an inch is a good size to work on at one time, over any more distance the plastic thends too cool to much as you work back and forwards. Thats sort of how i do it, like a grader, back and forth getting it hot, then work the liquid plastic back in. Then go over the top melting a thin strip of extra plastic down onto it to fill it in.
If the underside needs to sit on something (like the top lip) you will need to get under and sort it so its flat. If you done it right, where you have fixed a split there should be blobs of plastic coming out from where the crack was on the inside. A row of lumps and bumps.
Comes out pretty solid, not as strong as original, but its better than no catcher at all. Only thing is it can look a bit ugly. Ive seen some of the motor bike plastics guys have done and they have sanded and worked the surface back down flat and its barely noticable at all.
The one pictured will be plated on the underside with galv sheet metal. I hand form it up out of flat, get the shape right so its snug up on the bottom where it sits over the axle. Use the steel lip thing thats in them std and rivet through the tin through the plastic through the strip and another couple of bits inside the catcher floor so that wheres its plated under the plastic is sandwiched.
I did this to my old Mustang catcher years back. It was still all good when i sold the mower last year.
Bob.
