How to Melt Plastic With a Soldering Iron

How to Melt Plastic With a Soldering Iron
Written By
Tricia Lobo
Tricia Lobo
Published: Apr 12, 2011
Updated: Jan 10, 2019
1 minute read

Soldering irons, which produce a significant amount of heat, are often used to melt and weld plastics. As such, they are very useful around the household: in instances when glue does not adequately fix a plastic tool, soldering often does. However, soldering plastic can give off dangerous fumes. If you choose to solder plastic, solder it outside, and wear a soldering respirator to protect yourself from the fumes.

Heat up your soldering iron, outside. Put on the soldering respirator, per manufacturer's instructions.

Touch the end of your soldering iron to the area of your plastic that you want to melt. If you are welding two pieces of plastic, place them adjacent to one another, clamp them together, and touch the soldering iron to the groove between the two pieces of plastic, allowing them to melt.

Move the soldering iron over the two pieces of plastic. Add plastic filler to the plastic as you move the iron, to avoid warping.

Things You'll Need:

Things You Will Need

  • Soldering respirator
  • Soldering iron
  • Plastic filler
  • Tricia Lobo

    Tricia Lobo has been writing since 2006. Her biomedical engineering research, "Biocompatible and pH sensitive PLGA encapsulated MnO nanocrystals for molecular and cellular MRI," was accepted in 2010 for publication in the journal…

    Sponsored
    Our Pastimes Logo

    A destination for the avid collector and weekend hobbyist alike, Our Pastimes features articles and tips about your favorite cards and games, hobbies and more.

    Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

    Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.