i've been trying to fix the ferrings on my bike by plastic welding with a soldering iron and zip ties. when i got done the area fixed was very brittle. so i tried again with thicker zip ties and same problem. after that i tried to use a plastic coat hanger and on one side of the ferring it worked pretty good, but on the other side it is still brittle. what should i do to make it work right?
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It sounds like you are using the wrong filler material, or you are over heating it.
Harbor Freight sells a pack of ABS welding rods. I use a programmable soldering station, and the sweet spot is usually around 450* F. Much hotter and the plastic burns... much cooler and it doesn't flow.
I'm not sure what you are using the zip ties for... but you want to build up the material, and use V- notches for strength... then blend into the surrounding material.-Steve
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Originally posted by Edbean View Posthaha zip ties?!? thats probably the funnies thing ive ever heard. Try soldering duct tape on next time, that should work great and put sand in yer gas tank to polish your ports.
Note: dont, i was kidding.
*pro tip* You're not as good at being a **** as Arsenic is.Katriders.com, we've got dumb answers!
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I just did MANY many cracks on mine just stitching both sides with a soldering iron just to see what would happen . Used some extra plastic I had laying around to fill in some of the thinner spots (donor fairing bits ) .
The OTHER side has even MORE cracks . I didn't reinforce them properly (as I said , I just got a wild hair up muh pooper , and broke out the soldering iron to 'speriment ) . Actually feels pretty solid to me . And anyone who's seen my bike KNOWS how bad them plastics is .And I must say , I actually kinda like the stitched look . I MAY even keep it that way when I eventually get around to painting it ....
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Zip ties are close enough to ABS to use them as a filler material.
ABS is a thermplastic resin, not a thermoset plastic so you can melt it and reform it without doing any damage to the molecular structure.
Just don't burn or boil it. It doesn't put up with that stuff very well, but even then, not terrible. If your welded joint is always cracking it could be that you didn't get it hot enough to melt the crack together with the filler, and you were just melting zip ties onto your fairings without fixing anything.
At the end of the day, who really cares. It's just decoration. Not like your fairings are a load bearing member of the bike and are going to be under constant stress.
I've done lots of plastic repair with a soldering iron and zip ties. After you grind down the "slag" you can't even tell it was repaired. None of mine have ever cracked.
The only thing that will screw up a plastic weld will be if some previous yahoo tried to repair it with fiberglass or epoxy. If that's the case, then just forget about welding it and fix it with epoxy.Last edited by ATOMonkey; 06-18-2009, 01:04 PM.
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Originally posted by HexKrak View Post*pro tip* You're not as good at being a **** as Arsenic is.
+10000000000000000!!!!!
AHAHAHAHAHA! You read my mind, Hex ftw again.
Originally posted by md86 View PostAnd anyone who's seen my bike KNOWS how bad them plastics is .And I must say , I actually kinda like the stitched look . I MAY even keep it that way when I eventually get around to painting it ....
Road warrior ftw.90% of motorcycle forum members do not have a service manual for their bike.
Originally posted by BadfaerieI love how the most ignorant people I have met are the ones that fling the word "ignorant" around like it's an insult, or poo. Maybe they think it means pooOriginally posted by soulless kaosbut personaly I dont see a point in a 1000 you can get the same power from a properly tuned 600 with less weight and better handeling.
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