General Discussion Anything SuperHawk Related

Plastic welding

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 05-16-2008 | 08:41 AM
  #1  
trackdayhawk's Avatar
Thread Starter
medium fast guy
Back Marker
 
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 212
From: western MI, rust & pot hole capital of the world
trackdayhawk is on a distinguished road
Plastic welding

Has anyone had success with welding fairing plastic? I just bought a welder and am going to play around with it. It uses heated air to melt, and includes welding sticks for the various types of plastic. (poly, abs, etc) I am also looking for about 6 inches of the left fairing ear where the mirror attaches, if anyone has a piece they can provide, it would be appreciated. I'll let the group know how it goes, I may have stumbled onto a new career!
Old 05-16-2008 | 08:51 AM
  #2  
FTMS's Avatar
Senior Member
Superstock
 
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 284
From: Warren, NH
FTMS is on a distinguished road
I have a plastic welder, a little different then the one you have. It works O.K.. Make sure you clean everything and get everything hot enough to get a good bond. With your style that uses the hot air it is not a bad idea to pre-heat the area you are working on with a heat gun. I have gone away from plastic welding in favor of autobody adhesives for plastic that are easier to use and seem to hold up a lot better. But if a have a piece with a hole in it I do use the plastic welder because I can fill and then shape the hole afterwards.
Old 05-16-2008 | 09:18 AM
  #3  
lhoward1134's Avatar
Senior Member
Back Marker
 
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 122
From: Greenwood, IN
lhoward1134 is on a distinguished road
I had a neighbor who would get wrecked bikes and fix the plastics. He would press some wire mesh into the back with a soldering iron or similar before welding the plastic to make the joint stronger. If it's somewhere visible though, this may not be preferable. That's all I've got.
Old 05-16-2008 | 11:58 AM
  #4  
Syclone's Avatar
Boosted
SuperSport
 
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 642
From: Sioux Falls, SD
Syclone is on a distinguished road
I helped a buddy plastic weld the fairings for my wife's Ninja, everything held well until I flexed the fairing "pivot" too much while installing. Even then, only part of the weld split.
Old 05-16-2008 | 12:45 PM
  #5  
smokinjoe73's Avatar
Senior Member
MotoGP
 
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 5,053
From: NYC
smokinjoe73 is on a distinguished road
The mesh idea works best for strenth. I had someone ride my bike & crash it with a new givi e45 on it. Several large pieces of the polyproplyne(sp) were punched right out. With the mesh(screen) method I rebuilt the missing areas & it was structuraly sound to use. I used the iron type welder that heats up & melts the rod as it passes through. You can use a soldering iron to heat & melt the mesh into the plastic. You can also get huge rolls of ABS or PPL welding rods cheap at McMasterCarr. It is good to practice on a test piece before you have at the real thing.
Old 05-23-2008 | 02:00 AM
  #6  
fundgh's Avatar
Senior Member
Back Marker
 
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 224
From: Fresno, Ca
fundgh is on a distinguished road
I did some plastic welding on my fairings and found it to be a total pain in the ***. It worked and the fix came out strong. But I found it very hard not to burn through, warp the plastic, get bubbles, melt surround areas, adjust the air flow to make it any better, etc. But it turned out much stronger than superglue! And after some sanding/grinding/bondo/sanding/painting, it looks ok on the front side. Still looks nasty on the backside, but nobody's looking there.
I see why fiberglass stuff is better track use where crashing and repairing could be more common. I would much rather work with glass and resin than plastic welding.
Old 05-23-2008 | 04:44 AM
  #7  
happytrack44's Avatar
WERA #44
Superstock
 
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 265
From: About 57 miles south of VIR
happytrack44 is on a distinguished road
Best weld comes from using strips of the same plastic as you are welding (Honda Superhawk scraps to fix Superhawk).
Keep one hand touching the backside of your weld area and remove heat when it gets uncomfortably hot to avoid burn thru.
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
captainchaos
Modifications - Cosmetic
6
07-18-2009 12:50 PM
Circuit_Burner
Classifieds
4
05-30-2009 07:45 PM
SlowHAWK
Technical Discussion
42
05-21-2009 06:15 PM
11strings
Technical Discussion
33
02-12-2009 07:58 PM
NOrrTH
Modifications - Performance
18
11-17-2005 08:47 PM




All times are GMT -7. The time now is 07:52 AM.


Top

© 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands



When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.