Plastic Repair 101 Hosted by Prof. Projekt

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Forget everything but this. You are undertaking the following endeavor at your own risk, patience and steadiness of hand.
1. Buy a cheap soldering iron for around $10-$15 with an assortment of tips at the hardware store.
2. Match the broken piece up to the area it came from.
3. Heat the soldering iron and tape the piece back into place on the visible (painted) side in order to work from the inside.
4. Using a broad tip with the iron at full operating temperature, slowly and gently touch the seam/crack so that you "sweep" the molten plastic over the cracked area.
4.a. You can use a circular motion once you have effectively covered the crack with molten and now hardened plastic. 4.b. WARNING: Do not get too anxious and JAB or gouge the plastic with the iron, just try to achieve as uniform a repair as possible on the inside of the piece. Penetration is not critical.
4.c. This should give you the results you desire.
5. If you are a perfectionist you can experiment with repairing the painted side but I would advise against that.
5.a. To do this you can use rough sandpaper (80 or 60 grit) to rough up the painted side if you intend to have it repainted.
5.b. Once rough you can go ahead and use the iron on the crack and repeat the melting, sweeping, circular motion until you have made the repair indistinguishable.
5.c. Then rough grit sand it again, fill it, contour sand, finish sand, prime it and topcoat.
5.c.a. Plastic body filler can be used to fill the repaired area in order to eliminate undulations
6.  It is a very easy process and once you do one time you will probably want to go into business doing it yourself because it is such a piece of cake.

Endnote: When it comes to cracked motorcycle plastics you can easily accomplish a very aesthetically pleasing repair with minimal time and work.

Edited on 3 August 2005
Addition: The Eastwood company website has a description of the best technique for the most durable type of weld that would withstand a strong effort at separating the sections that have been repaired.  This is in fact the best technique to use when aesthetics and PAINT PRESERVATION is not critical. I merely wanted to mention that the techniques I have quoted above are for the individual that would like to simply fix the unseen side and return the panel to a near original appearance. Each damaged panel must be evaluated for damage and ease of repair. If you low side and scrub all of the plastic creating a friction hole you must then decide whether you want to undertake the repair. That type of damage requires a different method to repair and can be accomplished with specialized body filler products designed to bond with whatever you are working with. It is actually a pleasant way to spend an evening focusing on the repair and forgetting about problems at work or with the Missus. So give it a try. What's the worst that could happen? Buying a new panel.
Check out these links.
<a href="http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/ZczRCoIwFAbgZ_EJTrZSdjmmaUkZOcPtZowYIujsIorePkXmoJ2rw3f-_4AADsKod9eqVzca1UMDIpIbGSbH-TSvaA

_8j4gnKFkIHVbBi-DUCj0tEu3YSrlHOPOeh_RubbtayvxccrFWupztUuZy2HXP-ThouGkj62oK8HjyuMxA9LpVjy9U

UMAVnkPtpvkUhATBDz5nS2Q!/delta/base64xml/L0lJSk03dWlDU1EhIS9JRGpBQU15QUJFUkVSRUlnLzRGR2dkWW5LSjBGUm9YZmcvN18wXzdPRw!!?PC_7_0_7OG_root=GST1T4S9TCgv&PC_7_0_7OG_output=html&PC_7_0_7OG_gvel=VBF19DZVHXgl&PC_7_0_7OG_vroot=GSLPLPKL4Xge&PC_7_0_7OG_node=GSYDRNV8J5be&PC_7_0_7OG_theme=us_aad_portal_3_0&PC_7_0_7OG_command=AbcPageHandler" target="_blank">3M Filler Putties</a>
<a href="http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/ZczRCoIwFAbgZ_EJTrZSdjmmaUkZOcPtZowYIujsIorePkXmoJ2rw3f-_4AADsKod9eqVzca1UMDIpIbGSbH-TSvaA

_8j4gnKFkIHVbBi-DUCj0tEu3YSrlHOPOeh_RubbtayvxccrFWupztUuZy2HXP-ThouGkj62oK8HjyuMxA9LpVjy9U

UMAVnkPtpvkUhATBDz5nS2Q!/delta/base64xml/L0lJSk03dWlDU1EhIS9JRGpBQU15QUJFUkVSRUlnLzRGR2dkWW5LSjBGUm9YZmcvN18wXzdPRw!!?PC_7_0_7OG_root=GST1T4S9TCgv&PC_7_0_7OG_output=html&PC_7_0_7OG_gvel=VBF19DZVHXgl&PC_7_0_7OG_vroot=GSLPLPKL4Xge&PC_7_0_7OG_node=GSDMZ2KDD4be&PC_7_0_7OG_theme=us_aad_portal_3_0&PC_7_0_7OG_command=AbcPageHandler" target="_blank">3M Body Repair Fillers</a>
Eastwood Company Plastic ID and repair tutorial



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wish you posted this before i spent 300 bucks on a new front fairing....might try and fixt the old one now
 
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Great advice...but you can grab a plastic welder and some abs sticks for hard ware stores about $150... for a couple of guys with some broke plastics not bad to buy...good have for your Club..
 
i've had to repair my tail section on my ninja 600. i went to home depot and got some plastic weld for less than $10. it was great stuff. hard as a rock. unfortunately, the tail was designed so poorly that it cracked again in another spot.
i used it on the inside of the tail. it hardened to a dark grey color. it is located in the paint aisle near the glues and epoxy's.
just another option
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I've repaired my plastic similarly to the process above the only additional step I use is to cut matchstick size strips of similar plastic that you are repairing (another damaged piece for plastic stock) and fill the repaired area with these. I believe it adds a little more strength to the repair.
 
If you guys wanted to see a vid of this in action check out my vid I did last year:

- Platic Welder: Tutorial[/url]
 
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