How to fix a hole in a hot water bottle.
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I have to pass a 6mm diameter metal tube through a hole in a plastic bottle to seal it.I have a bottle with a 6mm hole that I used to make a metal tube that is thigh passing through it.
What is the best way to seal this hole?The relative pressure from inside to outside is not expected to be very large.
The iron tube is not expected to move often, so it will be good to have some mechanical resistance if possible.
It's hard to bond to PETE.It does contract if you melt it, so here's an experiment to try, it may take several attempts to get the feel of how the plastic behaves at the melting point, but at least for the bottles, you have an endless supply):
In the area of the tube that will be next to the bottle wall, wrap a strip cut from another bottle many times tightly around it, and hold it in place by using a soldering iron or a piece of wire to melt it.Use a heat gun to melt the windings and let them cool.You would expect it to be water tight if it becomes mechanically tight.
If so, put the tube in the bottle so the collar is against it.Wrap another strip around the tube on the outside, against the bottle, and repeat the process.The heat from the tube can be used to melt the first collar and the wall of the bottle, but not so much that it falls apart.
If you can't get the tube through from the inside of the bottle, try to get it through the first collar on the outside.Adding a PETE washer cut from another bottle on the inside will provide more wall material in the melting area.It's possible to put a metal washer on the tube against the wall to help heat the material.If the bottle's neck is still in place, you can still use the PETE washer on the outside for extra wall material.
If the first approach doesn't work out, I would stick the tube through the bottle and seal it on the inside, but you could do this outside if you wanted to.
Put a thick band of rubber on the bottle wall around the tube.Put a loose-fitting metal washer on the tube and press it against the rubber, hard enough to spread the silicone flat behind the washer and squeeze a little rim of silicone out around the edge.The washer's hole should be filled with Silicone.The tube should be sealed to the washer with a little more silicone.
The seal will be improved if you do this on the inside.If you have to do it on the outside, you're relying on a bond between the silicone and the PETE, and that may not be good, especially if the tube is moved.