Recommendations on fixing broken plastic

RobbyD

RobbyD

Active Member
Some of you may seen in the recent purchase thread I got a smokin deal on a 01 zx7r.

There's a couple plastic pieces broke I need to fix. Two posts on the back of the gauge cluster and a mounting tab on the back of the headlight.

Can someone recommend a strong epoxy or does anyone have any experience with plastic welding?
 
I use ABS Cement from the plumbing dept on ABS plastics found on many bikes. If you can support the two pieces good, the two edges basically melt to form one piece.
 
There is also a plastic puddy by Permatex I think or JB weld that you mix/kneed together then spread on the parts and it bonds really well, then you can sand smooth, I used it on broken ATV fenders and it held great.
 
I use a dedicated soldering iron. dremel out a groove and use donor plastic of the same as filler rod, you can alos buy filler rod from Harbor Freight, but don't bother with the hair dryer machine for plastic welding.

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A buddy of mine had a plastic welder that worked great...just use filler rod with it and start the body work process after and you couldnt tell it had been fixed.
 
1fasgsxr said:
A buddy of mine had a plastic welder that worked great...just use filler rod with it and start the body work process after and you couldnt tell it had been fixed.
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Many commercial ones are likely real good, I was referring to the Harbor Freight one and it is not good for fairings.

LOL:
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His was more like a soldering iron if memory serves me correct..no hair dryer type...he bought a lot of salvage bikes and flipped them.
 
I plastic welded up the fairings on my ZX9r a few years back. I looked at all the welders and ended up making a step-down adapter for my heat gun instead. I bought the rods and welded the fairings up.


It's not easy. Be prepared to muck stuff up and distort things if you go down this route. However, when you get it right it's as strong as the original part.


Your ZX7 should be regular ABS like my bike was. The rods were pretty cheap from memory and you could buy any colour so you could colour match and leave the inside welds alone.


If you've got a bunch of broken bits to practice one, then go ahead. Otherwise the Acetone slurry glue is probably the most user friendly / easiest option.


EDIT: Just realized you're not actually doing any fairings so go the glue option.
 
The thing with a good soldering iron is you keep the heat local, no distorting the panel is all.
 
Oh? I have used both and see no difference, but aesthetics in the process, a little abs/acetone filler and all is good. Brings back memories of a three day old bike crashed into the band inside a bar. Beer is slippery stuff :eek:
 
Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I ended up plastic welding it. It doesn't look pretty but it's actually extremly strong.

On one of the broken headlight taps I reinforced it on each side by using a piece of paper clip melted into it then covered back up with some filler.

I just used a crappy soldering iron I had laying around and I'm very impressed with the strength it all has.

 
Tune-A-Fish said:
I use a dedicated soldering iron. dremel out a groove and use donor plastic of the same as filler rod, you can alos buy filler rod from Harbor Freight, but don't bother with the hair dryer machine for plastic welding.

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Was that seat cut in half and narrowed?
 
o1marc said:
Was that seat cut in half and narrowed?
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Not the seat, but the tail section... yes, I took roughly .75in out, you can see the Yamaha is missing the MA in the middle
 
Tune-A-Fish said:
Not the seat, but the tail section... yes, I took roughly .75in out, you can see the Yamaha is missing the MA in the middle
Click to expand...
Ya, nice job finished in red.
 
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