GSX 750 Katana Pop up head light plastic renovation.

 

Even though plastic welding has been around since the seventies it is still surprising when a faring from that era comes in, how much fibre glass has been used to patch up the damaged areas. We were asked if it was possible to repair the plastic panel on a GSX 750 Katana the one with the pop up head light.

From what I have already said you would have gathered that these panels were in a bit of a state. Of all the farings that turned up it was the left and right side nose panels 

( the nose cone in this case is divided into three section two sides and a Bezel that fitted around the pop up head light) that presented the biggest challenge. The customer wisely turned up with two panels for each side. The problem was to work out how much of each panel was the original plastic and which pair had the least fibre glass holding it together.

Fortunately the headlight bezel only had a cross shape lug missing. In itself not a difficult repair

 but time consuming to reproduce. All the side panels were heavily damaged where the side mirrors would be mounted. One of which had a big bit missing.

The first thing that needed to be done was to get rid of the large quantity of fibre glass from the damaged areas. 

Once it had been ground off the outside of the panel. The stuff caked over the inside was gently persuaded to leave home, coming away in one piece. Almost leaving it clean enough to weld. It just go’s to show if it had not been fibre glass both sides it would have fallen out ages ago.

The one thing plastic welding does not like is contamination of any kind. Which meant we had to remove as much of the residue as possible to be sure it would repair properly.

Once that was done new plastic was cut into shapes to replace all the missing bits. Because alot of the damage was concentrated in one place we had to be careful about over heating. By phasing the repair it would keep the heat shrink to a minimum, making for a better repair over all. You also have to take into account when renovating old plastic it has a tendency to get very brittle. A way round it is to temper the area with some heat before you start welding it together. This also helps to drive out any water that the plastic has soaked up over the years. This leads to a stronger weld and a satisfied customer.

Bumper Repair.

Two pack urethane repair material.

Not all the plastic that turns up at our door can be repaired by gas welding. Dare I say it that we have to resort to two pack bonding don’t get me wrong it is a good repair but 90 seconds to apply the adhesive is not on some occasions  enough time to get the job done.

Related articles

• Car Bumper and Scratch Repair (athingforcars.com)
• Build A Sign ~ Custom Bumper Magnet Review (amomwithalessonplan.com)
• Ford: Aftermarket bumpers used in repairs often inferior (usatoday.com)

Top Ten Faring Repairs?

 

This just a bit of fun. Our top ten repairs.

 

 

1. Welding up a  cracked  panels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Windscreen finger replacement.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Sections broken out.

 

 

 

 

4. Relocating mounts on headlights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Ground off plastic from bikes that have slide down the road.

We rebuild these with plastic not filler.

 

 

 

6. Panel support mounts.

 

 

 

 

 

7. Making mount post from scratch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Broken panels.

 

 

 

 

 

9. Missing part taken from a donor panel.

 

 

 

 

 

10. Small parts made from scratch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we had the idea to do this everyone thought it was great. The reality is that we could not agree in what order they should be placed or if we had the images required to make the top ten. It would be fair to say that these are the most common repairs we see and to a certain degree can be complicated  to complete.

Welcome to the New Year.

Welcome to the New Year we hope that our customers are well and rested looking forward to what 2017 has to offer. As we look back at 2016 – it was busy for us but not in way we had expected.

On a few occasions we failed to keep up with the demand and thank those that were caught up in it for their patience. For the first time we had to close the workshop to all work, due to the unprecedented heat during the summer. Not that many of us remember it now with all the grey, rain and cold.

We have noticed that we are seeing more older bike plastic for repair. These have proved to be more challenging to repair technically speaking because of their age. Brought back some fond memories though!. One of the jobs in particular comes to mind which, came in the form of a rare battery cover from a classic Suzuki. As always we work with our customers to get the best possible out come.

We are happy to talk to anybody that has a problem with broken plastic. It is part of our service to inform not just sell our ability to repair. It is our way of giving something back. Maybe you will remember us in the future when it comes to that job that does need our expertise.

We have published a guide on how to repair plastic properly using plastic welding which is available from blurb and from time to time we run plastic welding courses. (At the time of writing we have no planed dates for these courses.)

With the festive period over it is back to work as usual. I should say it is good to be back, but to be honest we have not stopped, as there is now a new web site and a twitter feed for Plasweld.

Best wishes for the New year.

Tweet tweet.

 

The best looking coffeehouse and coffee in Lincoln

We have opened a twitter account under the name of @pw_mitch it is a little thin on content and followers for now but we are working on it when we can. If you so feel inclined please join us and we will follow you back. A bold statement I know. I am always surprised at the number of friends we make and not in a cynical way.

It is a marketing tool but we will not be flooding it with special offers and adds. It will be an extension of the blog with some of the posts you see here being promoted there. We will be commenting, posting and sharing things that interest us and hopefully you.

Come joint the party we look forward to seeing what you get up to as well.

Top Ten Faring Repairs?

 

This just a bit of fun. Our top ten repairs.

 

 

1. Welding up a  cracked  panels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Windscreen finger replacement.

 

 

 

 

 

3. Sections broken out.

 

 

 

 

4. Relocating mounts on headlights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

5. Ground off plastic from bikes that have slide down the road.

We rebuild these with plastic not filler.

 

 

 

6. Panel support mounts.

 

 

 

 

 

7. Making mount post from scratch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

8. Broken panels.

 

 

 

 

 

9. Missing part taken from a donor panel.

 

 

 

 

 

10. Small parts made from scratch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we had the idea to do this everyone thought it was great. The reality is that we could not agree in what order they should be placed or if we had the images required to make the top ten. It would be fair to say that these are the most common repairs we see and to a certain degree can be complicated  to complete.

We are open!?

 

 

Yes we are not open all day Saturday from 9 am to 5 pm. It is for a trial period. If it is popular we will extend it after the new year. 

It’s time to retire and repair for next year?

 With the bad weather coming it is time to get all those crack and nicks repaired so your bike is in top condition for the new years season.

I’m reminding you now, it will be to late next year. You’ll be sorry.

 

New look sister site.

Plasweld.net is starting to come together, please have a look if you have the time. If you have any suggestion please leave a comment.  I think it will be a work in progress for sometime.

Huge savings.

It has been pointed out to us that maybe our £35 starting price is not that well understood so I am hoping that this article will make it a lot more transparent.

This is how the web site puts it across We have a starting price of £35 per job no matter how many parts you send to us.

NC 24 nose cone

So what are we saying?

If you give us one broken part it is going to cost at least £35. Now if you have two broken parts and give us both at the same time we believe that you are all assuming that it is going to cost you from £70 when in fact it may save you £15 +. Say you give us three parts at the same time what then? That could mean a saving of £25+ and four parts £35+ There is an accumulative affect to the number of parts you give us at once. That is why we say it is priced per job and not per part.

There are some thing’s to take in to account, all the examples are based on a basic repair, if you deicide to enhance the finish then the savings decrease. Also the complexity of the repair affects the price; ie if all the parts are broken in three then the amount of saving will be next to nothing or may cost even more. The savings are not infinite and beyond that point there is no further reduction. On average when someone sends or gives us a multi part repair ( job ) they get a saving, this is because the parts have differing degrees of damage which allows our customers to make savings.

Come closer Shhhh! While no one is listening, I should not be telling you this but you could get together with your friends and send or give us a number of parts collectively then all of you will benefit from the reduced price but don’t let on that I have told you. It will be our secret.