5600 wavy floor

[dmichaelm]

So last year pops took the ice house out. Not sure if he fell asleep or he and the buddies got into some condition where they weren't focused, but they put a bit too much heat on the floor. The 5600 has a wave in the plastic floor from the cooker/heater. It still works, but does not link together the way it necessarily should. I would like to get it back close to good before the season.

Thoughts?

[Hoffer]

Im no expert - but I have a 5600 too and that plastic is pretty tough stuff. I think once that has been heated and formed - there really isnt a good way to get it back in shape again. Good luck and maybe someone else will pipe in with a good idea.

[c0untryf1sh3r]

I think Hoffer is right, thats some pretty tough plastic to try and mold back original shape. We used to have a 5600 and my brother and I would fish for a solid 12+ hours everytime we took it out and never had a problem with the floor warping from too much heat. But anywho, I'm by no means an expert as well but maybe if you get an acetelene(sp?) torch with a brazing head you might be able to slowly heat it back up and get it close to what it was. I'm not saying it will work for sure(insert all needed disclaimers and warnings), and taking a torch to a plastic sled probably isnt the best idea but hey, we've all probably done stupider things in the past.

[crappiebuster]

If you have access to a commercial grade heat gun id use that.

[Sonicrunch]

Plastics are my life.

Having said that, if the plastic is of a type that can be remolded, (and I would guess that it is) you would have to do a lot of nice even heating.

My recommendation would be to use the same thing that heated the floor and distorted it in the first place.

Get it warm enough to "remold". Do your remolding, and then dump water on it to cool it and "freeze" the form you want it to have.

[c0untryf1sh3r]

Get it warm enough to "remold". Do your remolding, and then dump water on it to cool it and "freeze" the form you want it to have.

Wouldnt you run the risk of cracking the plastic by throwing water on it versus just letting it cool down naturally?

Just a thought, I dont know all the physical properties of plastic but the last thing anyone wants is a cracked floor in a porty.

[Sonicrunch]

Wouldnt you run the risk of cracking the plastic by throwing water on it versus just letting it cool down naturally?

Just a thought, I dont know all the physical properties of plastic but the last thing anyone wants is a cracked floor in a porty.

You are right, the risk is there, although probably insignificant. Cooling the plastic quickly will greatly reduce the time in which the plastic need to be held in the preferred form.

On second thought now, considering the plastic is relatively thin, and ambient temperatures are low, letting cool naturally might be enough. My new recommendation would be to try it while cooling naturally, and if that takes too long try it again with dousing it with water or some other cooling method.

To the OP: can you post pics so we can get an idea of what we are working with here?

[dmichaelm]

I'll try to get something up in the next day or so.

[dmichaelm]

If you look you can see the bow on the link and how it affects the points where the floor clips together. Then from the other view you can see some of the dip in the floor. The result is that when it is set flat, opened up, you can step on one side and the other pops loose of the linkage. Not the end of the world, its usable. But frankly it annoys me and stuff gets bumped around from the floor shifting if you are moving around in the house.

Thanks

[dmichaelm]

Update

Tonight my buddy came over with his heat gun. We took the sections apart, and tackled each individually. We evenly heated the areas that were buckled up, then weighted and cooled them with water. Some sections we did twice. It isn't back to factory, but i didn't expect it to be.

Most of the major waves have settled down and you can snap it back together. When you walk in it, the pieces don't bounce loose at the connection points.

I think, to firm it up, I am going to get some flat hinges and bolt two to each side of the floor. I hope that it will help with the stability as well as keep the house opening and closing nicely.

Thanks for the advice and thoughts. Note: with as much heat as it took to get it to be pliable, I would probably skip the torch.