I put this up earlier today elsewhere;
Jeffery, (or in this case Greg) 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.
I didnt take the pictures to show what i had fixed, just the shape of the catcher. Truth be known it probably should have just gone in the bin. It was split both sides on the top lip that hooks over the body. Several cracks underneath, im sure there was a big one on the back too. You can see the crack on the right hand side. The RhS of the lip support was totaly gone and the LhS was split two ways. A bit of the front edge had busted away completely, ive cut that into thin strips to use as filler.
Id suggest practising on another catcher and see what results you get.
I wouldnt reccomend araldite, it does not bond well to the plastic, well none of the stuff ive used has. Its been a few years, maybe they make better stuff now.
My mate was telling me about a plastic glue system sold by a company called Wurth. I looked online but im not sure what part numbers it is exactly so you would need to chase up a Wurth rep.
My mate told me one of the trucks in his fleet (hes workshop manager) hit something hidden in the grass at a farm and smashed the drivers steps to bits. The driver bought back all the bits (feeling guilty i guess), new price was over $1500 or soemthing stupid. The boss said for my mate to use the glue, he was sceptical. He gave it a go, i think it was two part stuff and came with little bits of mesh and stuff if you need to reinforce in high stress areas. The whole time he was thinking it wasnt going to work. Once it was done he said it took full fat bastard body weight no drama and 8 months down the track it was still fine when the truck got sold.
He was pretty impressed with the stuff.
