Sand blasted my fairings yesterday...

[ATOMonkey]

Turned out really well. I was blasting at about 60 psi with crushed garnet. I could have gotten away with a more aggressive medium. I mostly used it for bolt recesses, and other areas that would be hard to reach with sand paper.

I took it down until the color started to look at little "thin" Should make a good base for painting later.

Tomorrow I'll hit it with the DA sander to even things out and get out any sand that might be stuck in the surface.

All in all, I was pretty pleased with how it worked out.

Pics to follow...

[ctandc]

Yeah I'd like to see some pics of that myself..

[ATOMonkey]

This first picture is a fairing that is half blasted. The left side is blasted, right side is not.


THis is a picture of all my plastics after one round of blasting.

[Breeze]

Well..I wouldn't have believed it either till saturday. I'm in the middle of painting a bike right now as well. After reading this I thought, yeah right. Well, took my happy self out to the garage and a fairing. It actually did work very well. Thanx for teachin this old dog a new trick...

[md86]

Now you can do MY fairings .....

[ATOMonkey]

I used a piece of 240 wet paper and went over everything by hand to make sure there was no imbedded garnet in the paint.

As you can see, the plastics were repaired in a previous life, and correcting those repairs has been the hardest part so far. Lots of bondo and fiberglass. YUCK!!

The cracks that had not been repaired before welded up really well with a soldering iron and zip ties. I used my die grinder and most coarse stone in my box to blend the welded seams smoothe. Sand paper rolls would have been better, but I didn't have any at the time. I kept the pressure down so I was grinding plastic and not melting it.

They're pretty much so ready to be sprayed now. Just gotta clean them up real good and make my half assed paint booth.

[Breeze]

Now you can do MY fairings .....

Hey...I could do that...

[md86]

Yeah .... then maybe we should talk ......

[syaps]

What is your best recommendation for repairing cracks? I am use to working with metal not plastic. I am about to start repairing my Kat, ordered new carbs, throttle cable, and want to repair the fairings, and paint them. I think I want to try my hand at fiberglass and mold in a different set of headlights. I'm not big on the Bug eyed headlights.

[md86]

See "plasticwelding" .....

[ATOMonkey]

Soldering iron and zip ties is my preferred method for fixing cracks.

Takes a steady hand, and is a bit of an art form, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty quick and easy.

If you're repairing big holes, then you're pretty much so forced to use fiberglass. Fill in any low spots with resin though, and stay away from bondo and other body fillers. They don't work. It won't be a "good as new" repair, but it'll definitely be better than riding around with big gaping holes in your fairings.

Someone else patched up his holes with steel mesh and said it looked pretty cool. Kind of a "rat ride" or "street fighter" approach to cosmetic repairs.

[syaps]

Thanks I'll give it a try, have you heard anything about the plastic welders at harbor frieght? Or do you just recommend a cheap soldering iron with a flat tip? Also how well does fiberglass bond to ABS? When I mold those new headlights in I'm going to have to build the frame out of fiberglass, then cut the fairings and combine the frame and the main fairings to keep the 2 piece wrap around look.

[md86]

If you're repairing big holes, then you're pretty much so forced to use fiberglass.

No you're not . Scrap ABS . Get some junk fairings and cut out the section you need . Tha's MY plan , if I ever get around to it .

[ATOMonkey]

No you're not . Scrap ABS . Get some junk fairings and cut out the section you need . Tha's MY plan , if I ever get around to it .

Well, yeah, this would be the way to go, but there aren't many bike j/ys around here for me to pick and pull fairings.

I've done this type of repair on a car before, and getting everything to like up right is a HUUUUUUUUGE *****.

Trim, fit, trim, fit, trim, fit, trim....****....weld weld weld, trim, fit, trim fit.... lol

Thanks I'll give it a try, have you heard anything about the plastic welders at harbor frieght? Or do you just recommend a cheap soldering iron with a flat tip? Also how well does fiberglass bond to ABS? When I mold those new headlights in I'm going to have to build the frame out of fiberglass, then cut the fairings and combine the frame and the main fairings to keep the 2 piece wrap around look.

Plastic welders are the exact same thing as soldering irons. They might have a lower heat though, I don't know for sure. The last propane soldering iron I bought actually came with a plastic welding tip. I don't use it though, because it's a pain in the *** to get it light and keep the cylinder filled.

I just use the el cheapo electric iron with the flat or pointed tip. It does a great job at melting plastic. The flat tip seems to work a little better than the pointed tip.

Fiberglass bonds decently well to ABS. The real problem is that ABS is more flexible than fiberglass, so you can get cracks in your paint where the two meet.

If you stay away from body fillers and give it a couple skim coats of resin, you might be ok, but no guarantees.

[Astro4x4]

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=67611&highlight=fairing+repair

http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=93714&highlight=fairing+repair&page=2