ok. so im trying to fix my plastics.. is it easier.. to fix a cracked piece or one that has cracked off and needs to be "reconnected"... im trying to figure out if i should just buy a whole new plastic peice thats cracked or salvage the peice that already fell off..

THANKS PEEPS

 

It is easier to repair a crack than reattaching a piece. I have a plastic 'welding' kit which is basically a soldering iron with a couple of special tips and some extra plastic rods to fill in and strengthen the broken area. It take some practice, but it is pretty easy to do. The problem with attaching a piece is purely getting the two pieces to line up and stay in the correct position.

 

That plastic welding kit you're talking about is crap. Pure crap. Go to an auto parts store and buy, "plastic weld." It's a two-part epoxy that has a strength of 3500psi... that's strong! It's super easy to use.

What I would do to re-attach a piece, is this...

use the plastic weld to attach a piece of strong plastic to each broken piece - this gives you a, "cleat," so to speak. It's just something that you'll later use to attach the two pieces together and make your life a hell of a lot easier. Let the plastic cleats dry, then attach the two pieces using the plastic weld. Go easy at first, make sure everything is lined up where it should be. Once that dries, and you're satisfied, go back and goop the hell out of the entire backside of the pieces. Make sure that sumbitch ain't never coming apart again.

After that you'll need to sand everything and get it ready for paint.

If you're trying to avoid painting, just use duct tape. Either do it right or duct tape dat ****!

 

I repaired my plasitcs and they were pretty bad. Not the best job in the world but it looks pretty good. First thing I did was drill some holeson each plastic that needed to be put togetther, plastic-weld and jbweld after. the holes that I drilled are for the the plasric tie wraps to hold the parts together. I'll post a pic so you guys can see what it looks like. After all that I sanded everything down then used bondo to even the height out alittle. Worked like a charm . Like I said i will post pics. If you need me to explain more just ask.

 

"plastic weld" is the way to go.

 

I just finished repairing 5 peices of the fairings on my bike. i couldn't find that "platic weld" stuff, but i found almost the same thing in a two part epoxy with a strength of 1500 psi. it dries in about 5 mins. it's ready to sand in 2-3 hours. Sanding it is apita though! I learned my lesson and started gluing from the back so that just a little would come through the crack and out on the other side, that way you can sand down the crack smooth. it even worked on the fiberglass upper that came with my bike! It worked pretty good as filler for hole or large gaps, but it is a pita to sand lie i said. It only cost me 3.00 plus a few hours of sanding and looks great.