Hey y'all.
It's been a little while, lots of Cambridge to London commuting. No time for mods and TOO much time spent cleaning road crap off the bike and worrying that the M11 will leave me with square tyres before I even get to LOOK at the twisties in spring, let alone ride them!
But it finally happened. Even with heated grips (I used to fight it, but now I see that they are the ONLY way!) and HEAVILY chopped down hand guards, I had to admit defeat at the hands of Mother nature and lay up the bike for winter.
Of course, I carried out the usual ritual of a pre-winter bath and polish. I was about to throw over the dust sheet, when I remembered that the tank was near empty. And everybody knows that an empty tank, can turn into a rusty tank! AND the sun was up at this point. So, faster than the thought itself had formed, I donned the leathers and went the long way to my local Shell. SO good for the last ride of the year to be for fun NOT for work! Although it almost all came tumbling down as I found a VERY slippery patch on the second roundabout. Completely lost the front end for a split second. But hats off to the Metz Z6's, as they found grip again pretty sharpish and I even had time to look back and scowl at the offending diesel spill before leaving the panicked volvo driver that was following me in my freshly polished wake!
ANYWAY! Whimsy aside, the very next day the itch returned and I set about creating a summer outfit, so Polly could feel fresh and airy come the warmer weather. In the summer, particularly in town, the full fairing and touring screen left me feeling the heat! So I wanted a naked-ish look and a bit more airflow!
A while back, I purchased a busted fairing from Ebait for around £30.
[smg id=1459]
[size=1em]It was pretty busted up. Both indicator holes were ruined. and there were massive cracks on both sides near the rear sides. But that was ok, because my plan was to leave just enough to surround the headlights and allow mounting of a cut down standard screen.[/size]
[size=1em]On first inspection of the new fairing, I was happy that I was going to be chopping off ALL of the broken parts. [/size]Now, upon closer scrutiny, I realised that a few of the cracks were, at best, dangerously close to where I wanted to cut. I didn't want the stress of chopping to male the cracks encroach into my 'good space'. Also I found a few new ones (in the corners of the 'scoop' under the headlight.) that I hadn't seen before. SO, I decided that it was time to try out some plastic welding!
[size=1em]I had my tools ready, soldering iron and a dremel. I had the theory in my head. "Get the plastic hot, stick it together". Simple. [/size] :rollin
[size=1em]Of course, there's a little more to it. [/size]
[size=1em]First step is to create a groove into which i was going to melt the fresh plastic seam. Using the dremel, with a ball cutting tool, I cut a groove along the crack, about 1/3 to 1/2 way through the panels thickness. [/size]
[smg id=1460]
Next, you need some welding material. For me, this was easy because the best material to use, is a piece of the exact same plastic. (though having seen Noggy's infill panels in the 'Show Me Your Fazer' thread, I wish it wasn't!). Knowing that I was about to hack off some pretty hefty parts of the fairing, I knew that I had plenty of material to work with.
So I chopped the tip off of one of the fairing 'wings' and sliced it into little plastic welding rods.
[smg id=1461]
The next stage has a lot going on at once, and when you try it, it either just works, or it doesn't! (Like plastering, I'm told. But I've never tried it!). You have to put the tip of the soldering iron into the groove that you cut with the dremel. Push it well in so that the iron melts both sides, even protruding right through the panel a little on the other side. (This meant I would need to tidy up both sides after, but at least I was sure of a complete bond).
The iron will create a little localised pool of melted plastic, into which you must push your fresh stick of welding plastic.
[smg id=1462]
And then you just take the show on the road. Slowly move along the crack, feeding all of the stick of plastic in to fill the groove as it melts. I found that a little bit of a sawing or pumping action helped to fill the groove, kind of like icing a cake.
[smg id=1463]
It doesn't look pretty, but it's a good solid bond of plastic all melted to itself and so good for sanding back down to a smooth corner.
Heres one of the other cracks, partially sanded. You can see that it's going to leave a pretty smooth finish. And the fix itself, feels pretty damned strong. I gave it a good flex to test, and no cracking or splitting to speak of. (Obviously i did this AFTER it was sanded smooth, as making the join smooth removes any weak points or areas where stress can concentrate, effectively spreading any loading across the whole seam).
[smg id=1464]
Next, I set about hacking my purchase to pieces! I used PVC (or insulation or electricians) tape to mark out my cuts as it conforms to the curves of the panel, but also gives a pretty straight edge. Then with a disc tool on the Dremel, I cleaved the fairing in twain! With eye protection and supervision by a responsible adult, of course.
Here's stages 1, 2 and 3 of my trimming.
[smg id=1465]
I decided that the shape wasn't quite right. A bit too wide, and a bit too pointy (automotive design in the 90's was like the 80's but with more rounded corners after all!) so I carried out a few more cuts, including mimicking the shape of the original fairing at the top. Then I sanded and finished the fairing ready for paint.
[smg id=1466]
Next step, offer it up to the bike, and think about how much, or little, to remove from the screen...
It's been a little while, lots of Cambridge to London commuting. No time for mods and TOO much time spent cleaning road crap off the bike and worrying that the M11 will leave me with square tyres before I even get to LOOK at the twisties in spring, let alone ride them!
But it finally happened. Even with heated grips (I used to fight it, but now I see that they are the ONLY way!) and HEAVILY chopped down hand guards, I had to admit defeat at the hands of Mother nature and lay up the bike for winter.
Of course, I carried out the usual ritual of a pre-winter bath and polish. I was about to throw over the dust sheet, when I remembered that the tank was near empty. And everybody knows that an empty tank, can turn into a rusty tank! AND the sun was up at this point. So, faster than the thought itself had formed, I donned the leathers and went the long way to my local Shell. SO good for the last ride of the year to be for fun NOT for work! Although it almost all came tumbling down as I found a VERY slippery patch on the second roundabout. Completely lost the front end for a split second. But hats off to the Metz Z6's, as they found grip again pretty sharpish and I even had time to look back and scowl at the offending diesel spill before leaving the panicked volvo driver that was following me in my freshly polished wake!
ANYWAY! Whimsy aside, the very next day the itch returned and I set about creating a summer outfit, so Polly could feel fresh and airy come the warmer weather. In the summer, particularly in town, the full fairing and touring screen left me feeling the heat! So I wanted a naked-ish look and a bit more airflow!
A while back, I purchased a busted fairing from Ebait for around £30.
[smg id=1459]
[size=1em]It was pretty busted up. Both indicator holes were ruined. and there were massive cracks on both sides near the rear sides. But that was ok, because my plan was to leave just enough to surround the headlights and allow mounting of a cut down standard screen.[/size]
[size=1em]On first inspection of the new fairing, I was happy that I was going to be chopping off ALL of the broken parts. [/size]Now, upon closer scrutiny, I realised that a few of the cracks were, at best, dangerously close to where I wanted to cut. I didn't want the stress of chopping to male the cracks encroach into my 'good space'. Also I found a few new ones (in the corners of the 'scoop' under the headlight.) that I hadn't seen before. SO, I decided that it was time to try out some plastic welding!
[size=1em]I had my tools ready, soldering iron and a dremel. I had the theory in my head. "Get the plastic hot, stick it together". Simple. [/size] :rollin
[size=1em]Of course, there's a little more to it. [/size]
[size=1em]First step is to create a groove into which i was going to melt the fresh plastic seam. Using the dremel, with a ball cutting tool, I cut a groove along the crack, about 1/3 to 1/2 way through the panels thickness. [/size]
[smg id=1460]
Next, you need some welding material. For me, this was easy because the best material to use, is a piece of the exact same plastic. (though having seen Noggy's infill panels in the 'Show Me Your Fazer' thread, I wish it wasn't!). Knowing that I was about to hack off some pretty hefty parts of the fairing, I knew that I had plenty of material to work with.
So I chopped the tip off of one of the fairing 'wings' and sliced it into little plastic welding rods.
[smg id=1461]
The next stage has a lot going on at once, and when you try it, it either just works, or it doesn't! (Like plastering, I'm told. But I've never tried it!). You have to put the tip of the soldering iron into the groove that you cut with the dremel. Push it well in so that the iron melts both sides, even protruding right through the panel a little on the other side. (This meant I would need to tidy up both sides after, but at least I was sure of a complete bond).
The iron will create a little localised pool of melted plastic, into which you must push your fresh stick of welding plastic.
[smg id=1462]
And then you just take the show on the road. Slowly move along the crack, feeding all of the stick of plastic in to fill the groove as it melts. I found that a little bit of a sawing or pumping action helped to fill the groove, kind of like icing a cake.
[smg id=1463]
It doesn't look pretty, but it's a good solid bond of plastic all melted to itself and so good for sanding back down to a smooth corner.
Heres one of the other cracks, partially sanded. You can see that it's going to leave a pretty smooth finish. And the fix itself, feels pretty damned strong. I gave it a good flex to test, and no cracking or splitting to speak of. (Obviously i did this AFTER it was sanded smooth, as making the join smooth removes any weak points or areas where stress can concentrate, effectively spreading any loading across the whole seam).
[smg id=1464]
Next, I set about hacking my purchase to pieces! I used PVC (or insulation or electricians) tape to mark out my cuts as it conforms to the curves of the panel, but also gives a pretty straight edge. Then with a disc tool on the Dremel, I cleaved the fairing in twain! With eye protection and supervision by a responsible adult, of course.
Here's stages 1, 2 and 3 of my trimming.
[smg id=1465]
I decided that the shape wasn't quite right. A bit too wide, and a bit too pointy (automotive design in the 90's was like the 80's but with more rounded corners after all!) so I carried out a few more cuts, including mimicking the shape of the original fairing at the top. Then I sanded and finished the fairing ready for paint.
[smg id=1466]
Next step, offer it up to the bike, and think about how much, or little, to remove from the screen...
WATCH THIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQdQM825SMs