Cutting the plastics
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05-08-2005, 01:37 AM
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Cutting the plastics
i want to cut my plastics on my quad (front)...i like the way they look cut but dont have the money now to buy maier ones that are already cut..anyways mine are like new...i dont really ride in mud so i dont care about crap gettin on me..but anyone have any ideas on this..any kind of idea's on a certain way i should cut them...i want them to look cool and still have some plastics left...i dont want to total cut them off...any ideas...
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Cutting the plastics
Alright Ill give you my plastic cutting experience. I decided to cut my front Quadzilla fenders, it was a learning experience for sure. Here's what I can tell you. Get yourself a rag and a dry erase marker of a contrasting color to your plastics. Unless your plastics are super scratched dry erase markers should come right off. Now make sure your quad is flat and level with a lot of room infront of it so as you work along you can continue to step back and eye up your handywork for evenness.
Now step back and check your fenders out. Spend plenty of time looking them over, top and bottom, and thinking about what will give you the look you want and also ergonomically be practical. Are your fender supports removeable easily and will you be removing them. if not you have to plan that into your cut
Next when you have an idea of what you want to do start drawing. Draw out how you want them cut on one side. take a look and make ajustments to it until its what you desire. At this point attempt to replicate your drawing on the other side. Once you do this take a step back and take multiple good looks to be sure they are even because this is a key step. Once you think they both look like what you want and are even then you can move on to the next step
Remove the bulk of the plastic. If your cutting a lot off its a real good idea to cut off the majority of extra plastic in chunks. Leave yourself around 4 inches more plastic then where you drew your final cut lines. This will help you loads because when your trying to cut nice and close that extra plastic can get super floppy and make an even cut much more dificult.
Now its time to make your real cut. Stand back and double check everytning looks to be drawn right because theres no going back you can only take more off. you have an extra 4 inches to move things around if you need. if your good to go then begin cutting. try and cut consistenly on one side of the line or in the middle because a marker is a relatively thick line unless you buy a thin tip dry erase marker, wich is what I did. Its a good idea to cut out to the end and take off the chunks of excess 4 inch plastic every 6 or 8 inches so you dont end up with plastic in the way of your cutting utencils.
OK now for your tools:
I found a manual jig saw to work best for me Very controlable and turns very tight. I suppose you could use an electric jig saw but the advantage is manual you can go nice and slow to get that cut closer to right on your first try. Taking your time will pay off with this entire experience.
Dremmel: I started off trying to cut with my dremmel and found the jig saw to be better. Maybe i didnt have the right tool but i found at the speed it was spinning it sometimes melted the plastic as it was cutting it which left clumps of plastic that had to be trimmed up and sanded later. Another fun part of the dremel is a fine yellow dust (whatever color your plastics are) that was everywhere including in my lungs when I blew my nose. It gets in your skin kind of like fiberglass shavings can and it itched for a day or two. Nothing serious but i dont think it gave a better cut so why deal with it.
Sandpaper. After making your cut right on the line using different grits of sandpaper is the way to go to fix little imperfections (humps and valleys in your strait lines and curved edges) End with a fine grit sandpaper to smooth everything down. The sanding just takes a little experimentation. Start with finer grits and work your way up when you test. somthing too gritty will scratch your plastics. i rounded my top and bottom edges so slightly so they werent sharp to the touch you could do them however you want. thats personal preference.
I hope this helps you. Mine came out pretty good but they would come out better if i did it over again now that I know what i just put.
Now step back and check your fenders out. Spend plenty of time looking them over, top and bottom, and thinking about what will give you the look you want and also ergonomically be practical. Are your fender supports removeable easily and will you be removing them. if not you have to plan that into your cut
Next when you have an idea of what you want to do start drawing. Draw out how you want them cut on one side. take a look and make ajustments to it until its what you desire. At this point attempt to replicate your drawing on the other side. Once you do this take a step back and take multiple good looks to be sure they are even because this is a key step. Once you think they both look like what you want and are even then you can move on to the next step
Remove the bulk of the plastic. If your cutting a lot off its a real good idea to cut off the majority of extra plastic in chunks. Leave yourself around 4 inches more plastic then where you drew your final cut lines. This will help you loads because when your trying to cut nice and close that extra plastic can get super floppy and make an even cut much more dificult.
Now its time to make your real cut. Stand back and double check everytning looks to be drawn right because theres no going back you can only take more off. you have an extra 4 inches to move things around if you need. if your good to go then begin cutting. try and cut consistenly on one side of the line or in the middle because a marker is a relatively thick line unless you buy a thin tip dry erase marker, wich is what I did. Its a good idea to cut out to the end and take off the chunks of excess 4 inch plastic every 6 or 8 inches so you dont end up with plastic in the way of your cutting utencils.
OK now for your tools:
I found a manual jig saw to work best for me Very controlable and turns very tight. I suppose you could use an electric jig saw but the advantage is manual you can go nice and slow to get that cut closer to right on your first try. Taking your time will pay off with this entire experience.
Dremmel: I started off trying to cut with my dremmel and found the jig saw to be better. Maybe i didnt have the right tool but i found at the speed it was spinning it sometimes melted the plastic as it was cutting it which left clumps of plastic that had to be trimmed up and sanded later. Another fun part of the dremel is a fine yellow dust (whatever color your plastics are) that was everywhere including in my lungs when I blew my nose. It gets in your skin kind of like fiberglass shavings can and it itched for a day or two. Nothing serious but i dont think it gave a better cut so why deal with it.
Sandpaper. After making your cut right on the line using different grits of sandpaper is the way to go to fix little imperfections (humps and valleys in your strait lines and curved edges) End with a fine grit sandpaper to smooth everything down. The sanding just takes a little experimentation. Start with finer grits and work your way up when you test. somthing too gritty will scratch your plastics. i rounded my top and bottom edges so slightly so they werent sharp to the touch you could do them however you want. thats personal preference.
I hope this helps you. Mine came out pretty good but they would come out better if i did it over again now that I know what i just put.