Leading Enfield-based plant hire specialists Mr Plant Hire who offer a comprehensive range of welding equipment for hire across the London area have put together this quick guide to thermoplastic welding.

Understanding Fusion Welding – The Different Terms

• Fusion Welding (or Heat fusion) and sometimes referred to as butt welding is a type of hot plate welding used to join two different pieces of a thermoplastic. It involves heating both pieces simultaneously and pressing them together which then cool to form a permanent bond.
  Fusion machines employ this process to join plastic pipes and fittings. They can be used to join polypropylene, polyethylene, PVDF and ECTFE pipes.
  The two planed surfaces of thermoplastic material (typically polyethylene) are heated against a a plate which is removed after a specified time and the two pieces are pressed together and allowed to cool under pressure to form the required bond.
• Socket Fusion uses custom-shaped and -sized heating plates rather than a basic flat surface, reducing the time required to heat and fuse the pipe. Socket fusion joins pipe and fittings together, rather than simply joining pipe to pipe and is usually used on smaller sizes of pipe (4″ or less).
• Sidewall fusion (or saddle fusion) is also based on hot plate welding. Sidewall fusion performs fusion into the side of the pipe wall, rather than end-to-end. Sidewall fusion is typically employed in conjunction with either socket or butt fusion methods as a complementary process. Many fusion machines designed for butt fusion are also equipped for sidewall fusion.
• Electrofusion uses built-in resistive wire to weld the joint together. The pipes to be joined are trimmed, cleaned and inserted into the electrofusion fitting and a voltage (typically 40V) is applied using an electrofusion processor, like the fusion machine 40v available from Mr Plant Hire.
  The processor controls how much voltage is applied, and for how long, depending on the fitting in use. As current is applied to the resistive wire, the coils heat up and melt the inside of the fitting and the outside of the pipe wall which weld together producing one strong joint.

Fusion machine 40v is first choice for London hire

Mr Plant Hire reports that the most popular fusion welding equipment hire in London is their Fusion machine 40v, particularly the 110V Geberit Fusion Esg Machine

These high quality robust ECUs present the most efficient way of supplying the power to energise wires in electrofusion fittings, to achieve the strongest quality welds on polyethylene pipes.

They are suitable for pipe joints up to 400mm outside diameter and easy to use:

• Simply enter the weld time from the fitting
• And, if no mains power is available, they can be powered by a tin 12 generator

Fusion Machine 40v hire along with a comprehensive range of alternative welding equipment hire to fusion welders – including diesel, petrol, oil cooled and inverter electric welders and welding accessories – are all available from Enfield-based Mr Plant Hire.

Contact the Mr Plant Hire team for advice and rates for your welding equipment hire.