I've noticed after looking over my panniers that one of them has a split in it, it's about 4 inches. Now I'm thinking of saving this said pannier by plastic welding has anyone ever done it before. Or has anyone repaired any of their pannier

(Don't really see any point of chucking it).

When I had Krausers I used to take the brute-force approach to repairs i.e. an ally plate and lots of pop-rivets/small button-head allen bolts. I never trusted plastic welding. I think it was the L/H pannier on my Guzzi G5 that would have given the Terminator a good run in the rivetted ugliness stakes.

If you might chuck it anyway I guess the real question is "does it melt properly?".

I believe they are made of ABS plastic.  Should be marked somewhere on the inside for recycling purposes.  If so, I would get some thin ABS thermoforming sheet at a plastics supply house and use ABS plumbing cement to bond a piece of the sheet to the back of the crack.  The cement has solvents that will weld the the patch to the case material.  Much stronger than heat welding.

I had one pop open on me and wear away the front corner of the lid before I could say" What's that noise?" I fibreglassed it. It's functional, but not perfect. The mechanic next door said to try spray putty or car bog to give it a smooth finish.

I had a small crack in the outer shell, and my locksmith (yes really) recommended Loctite 406
It has worked well and I'd recommend it, here is some info on it.
http://www.loctite.com.au/3320_AUE_HTML.htm?nodeid=8802625486849

Interesting replies thank you, I've got some loctite somewhere so I'll give that a go first off see if it results in anything good. Otherwise I think I'll try the rivet idea. It's ok at the moment however if the pannier is full I wouldn't really trust it.

fibreglass on the inside, easy and you don't have to be too tidy then once sealed you can spray putty /bog sand up the hairline cracks

If you find a small piece of the same type of plastic you can use acetone to glue them together. Not the fake sort chicks use to remove nail polish but the proper stuff. If the two surfaces don't mate completely you can make a sort of slurry by melting some plastic shavings in acetone and apply to the surfaces. Either way you gotta clamp or hold firmly till set. The less glue you use, the stronger the bond

Drilling and rivets will actually stress and weaken the area. Fibreglass will stick but how long it will last is difficult to say. The problem with both these is that the pannier will flex quite a bit.

Someone further up suggested plumbers glue. I think that would be worth a try. Test a small area first.

Capt., I suggested the plumber's ABS cement.  The black stuff that has plastic dissolved in it.  I have used it to assemble tweeter arrays for PA speaker systems.  The cement makes a bond stronger than the pieces being joined.  You just have to make sure the stuff you are welding is ABS.  I am pretty sure the panniers are, but it doesn't hurt to check for the ABS recycling symbol.  As I mentioned, applying a patch is the way to go as it will make the repair much stronger. 

I would also drill a small hole at the very end on the crack and fill it with cement.  This will help prevent the crack from spreading further.  Sort of a second line of defense.

There are many solutions, this is the best one I have found.  PlastiFix, supplied by the Urethane Supply Company.

See their video.  Even though they used white resin in the video, you can order it in black.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4RECGjEOnE

I have used the method that Delboy uses in this video.  It worked great for me.



Using plastic ties and wire to add material and strength mean I think the repair is the strongest part of the case.  Do it on the inside of the case and if you line it up right the crack should be virtually invisible from the outside

i have done this with my panniers ,a very old set ,i just didnt use any extra material like cable ties ,good idea though ,i just melted it from both sides , since i didnt care much about the look of it .

k-rider

Unfortunately if they are made of ABS then a cable tie won't do the job as it's a different plastic. It's a straight forward repair by plastic welding using a mini heat gun. ABS welds fantastic and I'd happily do it for anyone that requires

 I'm glad I stumbled on to this topic. I'm gonna give mine a go and try to repair it the same method.