Up from the slab!

[Valkpilot]

Several months ago, during a casual weekend ride, my right saddlebag lid came off and was run over by a rider-who-shall-not-be-named.
It was shattered.  We recovered most of the pieces, duct taped and bungied it back in place and it held the rest of the ride.

I bought some sheets of 1 mm thick ABS and a couple of cans of Oatey's ABS Cement and proceeded to stitch my own Frankenstein together.










I rattle-canned the paint and today put the final buff on it.  I'm pretty pleased with the result:

[LL]

Not a bad job 

[Skinhead]

Where'd You Get The Abs Sheets?

[Jack B]

 I'm impressed itlooks great what brand of paint did you use.

[98valk]

Wow!  Great job. Looks awesome.

Tell us about your buffing skills how u did it, please. 

[NCGhostrider]

How strong are the joints?  It looks great!
Lol I know where this will end up.

Craig
NcGhostrider
99 I/S

[Jess from VA]

Very nice work. 

Back from the dead. 

When mine was exploded, I couldn't even find all the peices or honda rack (freeway).

[Red Diamond]

Great job Dave, doesn't look like it was put together with so many pieces.

[Valkpilot]

I got the ABS sheets from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DCKGXKG?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_search_detailpage  Note that I only had to use small pieces for reinforcement and to fill in one triangular area.  I really bought it for a much bigger saddlebag and lid repair job that's hanging out in the garage.

I used DupliColor Universal Black and DupliColor Clear.

The ABS cement chemically welds -- it's not an adhesive.  So the seams are as strong as the original material, provided the cracks are fully filled.

I threw lots of ABS cement in the cracks, then used an orbital sander with 120 grit to knock everything down.  Low spots were refilled with ABS cement, pits filled with auto body glazing putty.

I used a heavy-layer primer then wet sanded with 800 grit, more primer, then wet sanded with 1500 grit.

The trick is to fog on the color in very light coats (50% coverage), shaking the can after every complete pass.  Repeat, repeat, repeat until you can see the overspray "melt" into the paint on the surface.  You want to get right to the point of sag, then stop a minute, then repeat.

At this point, provided the temp, humidity, and wind are right, you've got a pretty good looking paint job.  

Now let it dry for 24 to 48 hours.  I let this dry for a week or more between work sessions, because I was in when-I-have-a-minute mode on this project.

I then color sanded (wet) with 2000 grit to even out any orange peel.  Then I fogged on a couple more black coats and immediately began fogging on the clear.  Again, the trick is to take it to the point of sag where the overspray is melting in.  With clear, it will start to look milky in spots when you get it heavy enough.

After a week of drying, I lightly sanded with 2000 grit.  I had to address a couple of sags in the clear, but they were no problem.  

Finally, I used a 3M scratch repair kit that comes with a 3" sanding disk and two different pads.  Using a corded electric drill (cordless won't spin fast enough to be really effective) I started with 3M rubbing compound on the rougher pad and buffed the whole surface.  I kept a spray bottle handy and occasionally misted the surface.  You can burn the paint if you get too dry or stay in one spot too long.  Then I switched to the softer pad and McGuirer's Swirl Remover, again misting the surface to keep from being too dry.

I finished it off with two coats of Liquid Glass polish.

[RainMaker]

Looks better than mine that has never been broken.

[Disco]

Looks great, Dave!   

[john]

        " I'm pretty pleased with the result " .....         ???                    
           
                               magic .....

[f-Stop]

Wow!  Great job…I could only hope to have the vision and then the patience you showed to complete such a daunting task.

 

[HayHauler]

OUT.......STANDING!

Hay
Jimmyt

[Timbo]

Fantastic job, Dave.  Thank you for the well documented process as well....as someone said, you have a great deal of patience and skill. 

[BnB Tom]

  Yes indeedy!  Great looking
 
Had I known you enjoyed the 'paint and body' business so much, I might have have requested a quote on touching up MY saddlebag.

  You might recall the ugly scuff I received on my saddlebag which occured about a year ago. 

Seems as tho an electric gate closed faster that I anticipated.   


 

[SideCar]

Nice job 

[RDAbull]

Great job.  I showed it to a friend in the office this morning and he asked if he could send you the 56 pieces from his Vette's end for the same kind of work?

[Valkpilot]

Great job.  I showed it to a friend in the office this morning and he asked if he could send you the 56 pieces from his Vette's end for the same kind of work?

Large stacks of cash make many things possible! 

[Valkpilot]

Thanks to all for the compliments.  I've always enjoyed body work, but this is one of my more successful efforts.

Mostly what it takes is time.

There's a reason good paint jobs cost a lot.

[BnB Tom]

Large stacks of cash make many things possible! 


  WOW!  That's the same thing "The Donald" has been saying.     

[Valkpilot]

Well, back to the slab.

I took the bike to work last week and it sat in the sun all day.  Some sort of extreme paint/filler shrinkage occurred.  (Did you know that black surfaces will reach 150° F in full sunlight?)

So, I'll be revisiting the repair.  For one thing, I think I need to reinforce and stabilize the seams from the back side.

Not concerned that it's a fatal disease, just more work to get to the cure.

Paint is still shiny though!

[Jess from VA]

Fudgie puts leather condoms on his bag lids.   

[Valkpilot]

Fudgie puts leather condoms on his bag lids.  

Strangely, I find that completely in character. 

[Yfx4]

Just a thought....the filler is meant for metal? could the ABS expand/contract differently than metal and cause the problem? There are plenty of black cars with filler that have no problems....

Just thinking outloud....

[Valkpilot]

Just a thought....the filler is meant for metal? could the ABS expand/contract differently than metal and cause the problem? There are plenty of black cars with filler that have no problems....

Just thinking outloud....

I did not use body filler such as Bondo.  It's all ABS plastic/cement with tiny amounts of glazing putty to fill in pits and to level a couple of raised edges.

It behaved more like there was unevaportated solvent yet in the repair.  Hard to believe since I took such a long time to complete the project, but possible. 

I think the bigger issue is that I need to reinforce the seams more to prevent movement.

[Yfx4]

Just a thought....the filler is meant for metal? could the ABS expand/contract differently than metal and cause the problem? There are plenty of black cars with filler that have no problems....

Just thinking outloud....

I did not use body filler such as Bondo.  It's all ABS plastic/cement with tiny amounts of glazing putty to fill in pits and to level a couple of raised edges.

It behaved more like there was unevaportated solvent yet in the repair.  Hard to believe since I took such a long time to complete the project, but possible. 

I think the bigger issue is that I need to reinforce the seams more to prevent movement.

Gotcha. I am watching closely since I have some repairs to make.