Mirror of /pweb.jps.net/~snowbum/alcorr.htm

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(and notes on maintaining plastic visors, windshields, repairing luggage, etc)
©

I put this first....on maintaining plastics....and it includes how to drill plastics first...etc.::
It's true that Lexan, and some polycarbonates in general, are relatively easy to drill, as opposed to such as Lucite Acrylic, etc. That said....
Some of the secrets to drilling and avoiding sudden grabbing and cracks from the drill bit on plastics are:
1. Hand sharpen the drill for very little angle to the cutting edges. That is done so the drill will not try to take a huge bite.....OR, purchase specialty drill bits.   A truly proper "plastics" drill bit has a sharp point of very small diameter, in a steep triangle shape, that does not travel down the drill shank hardly at all, UNTIL the rest of the drilling area, that makes the final hole size, has hardly much of an angle downwards at all....perhaps more like 120 degrees or so (90 degrees would be referenced to the shank). This means that the drill has a very tiny 'tit' to start the hole or align the drill to an existing tiny hole...and then the end of the drill that does the cutting is very broad....it almost acts like a spot-face or end mill...with a bit more angle.
2. Drill a small pilot hole first.
3. Use a SLOW drill speed, and don't use much pressure. Drill a small amount, then stop. Repeat. NEVER allow the drill or material being drilled to get hot.
4. For larger holes, 3/8 up, consider the use of a spot-face type of tool...which has a small drill bit at the center, and 90 degree cutting surfaces.   That is, this looks like a milling tool, with a center drill in it.
5. In some situations, a small countersinking, often done with a hand tool, on the two sides of the drilled surface, will 'break' the sharp edges. DO NOT do this edge breaking with a common larger drill bit...you WILL leave microscopic weak areas.    There is a plastics type of burr tool for this, but you don't really need it. What you want to end up with is a very smooth hole with just barely SMOOTHED edges...no sharp microscopic nicks!
The strength of the area to avoid cracks...and FUTURE cracks!.... is greatly enhanced by doing all this carefully.   I have actually shaped a wooden dowel...or even a pencil...and used a tiny piece of 360 grit sandpaper, by hand, to remove these hard-to-see nicks from drilling.   This results in a vastly better hole, which resists cracks.   Years ago, when such was available, I used the abrasive typewriter-eraser-pencils, shaped for small holes.
Hints for cleaning windshields, face shields, etc: Don't use paper towels. They WILL scratch plastics. Don't use Windex!...and nothing with amonnia in it!    Some chemicals will cloud plastics, and start doing it suddenly, after seeming to be fine. NEVER clean or polish plastics you are going to look through, in a circular motion....the swirl marks will drive you nuts when riding into a setting sun. SOME folks use Vertical on the outside, Horizontal on the inside....so they can see what you are doing; others use just one or the other on both sides.   Use a water dampened cloth over the plastic to soften bugs before removal...even if it takes overnight.   Many products are available to clean and then polish/wax plastics. Meguiar's Mirror Glaze is popular, amongst many products....I use their #10 and #17.     Don't use coarse products, don't use petroleum products. If the plastic is scratched badly, the process to remove the deep scratches is VERY laborious, and you need to know what you are doing.   Removal of sticky emblems are USUALLY best done with slight heat from a hair dryer (be careful!), and peeling them off.   Residues are tricky to remove without injuring the plastic. I usually use alcohol on a rag, and only briefly. The old motorcyclist's standby for windshields is Johnson's Pledge. It works, but is not necessarily safe for all plastics. SOME plastics will be damaged by such as Rain-X, so be cautious. An old trick, for those with very fine plastics, is to use a cloth dampened with common household vinegar. That does work.

The etching-type of wheel cleaners, screen door cleaners, etc., will help with the process of cleaning off aluminum and magnesium corrosion, but never let the stuff dry on the bike...always flush before it dries. First, something about the brake dust on the wheels: This can be difficult to remove. The very best method I know of is not some mag wheel cleaner spray (for the cast wheels) from the autoparts store, but to make a mixture of common household baking soda and dish detergent....and then add a FEW drops of water. This mixture works fine with old toothbrushes and a few drops of water. Syrup consistency seems about right. Wash off VERY thoroughly when you are done. In between serious cleaning of that sort, you might consider an old coffee-pot type of kitchen brush, many autoparts stores stock various types of long roundish brushes too, especially for use on wheels, used with your normal washing mixture. Some folks DO use mag wheel and hardware store aluminum cleaners. There are two basic types, one a silicate, one an acid. SOME work better than others, but do not allow ANY of them to DRY on the wheels! I have found that they help, some, once the wheels are cleaned the above way first....if the bike is washed relatively often. The BMW snowflakes have a clear coating which gets chipped and whatever at the rim, rather often, some of which is due to not being careful with metal tools ...that is...not using a bit of plastic or somesuch, to protect the rim when doing tire changes....ETC. Once the coating is disturbed, the wheel is more vulnerable. The coating can be touched up....most folks seem to just keep the cleaning process going. Use of Simple Green WILL help some, either full strength or diluted 50%, but do not let it stay in contact for very long, and keep it wet. It is OK to leave it in contact far longer than the commercial mag cleaners and aluminum cleaners though. AVOID using etching cleaners on clear coated wheels. The barrels, cases, etc., are a big problem in salt air. How you deal with this is more a matter of how much labor you intend to put out. Aluminum is not the same as iron, when it comes to oxidation versus rusting. There are also many types of aluminum in use. Aluminum tends to be self-protecting once the surface looks awful enough. well, sorta. To clean it up really nicely, you need abrasive methods. This means you will use such things as:

1. 3M, Scotchbrite, or similar, abrasive pads. Those are those green pads....you may have some in your kitchen or laundry. There are Industrial versions of these, 1/4" or so thick, both the kitchen and the industrial types are available as more abrasive and less abrasive.

2. BRASS, as well as aluminum, scouring pads. These are available everyplace as rolled-up/tied-up puffs of kitchen pot scrubbing things. A supermarket item. I recommend AGAINST any type of 'steel wool'....which tends to leave teeny bits of steel in the aluminum....which RUST!

3. Simichrompoli, or other compounds...takes lots of elbow grease for these....but you CAN end up with highly polished aluminum, if that is what you are after. Some types of aluminum staining is removed with this type of stuff too. In some areas, you can use power tools...with brushes and abrasive compounds and 3M pad pieces....all sorts of inventive ways of doing things. You can use brass brushes of the type used for cleaning gun barrels. I also use stainless steel brushes. I have quite a collection of various types and shapes of metal brushes, and I am hardly a fanatic about maintaining a bike to showroom condition....because I do NOT. Whatever methods you use, you will probably spend a lot of time at it, perhaps some every week, until you get the effect you want, if your bike is already badly corroded. Then comes the problem of how to maintain it all. If you do a regular cleaning with perhaps a modest grit 3M pad during the regular washing, that does fairly well. Some folks purchase some 'chrome' or 'aluminum' paint...and use some of that paint onto one of the 3M pads, to work the paint into the surface, after very thorough cleaning and drying of course, and then carefully wipe the surface to some paint in the pores. This really does work well, but changes the color a bit....more than a bit if you are overgenerous with the paint and not removing enough from the surface. The paint will really reduce the salt air corrosion by a big bunch though. It also makes for easier cleaning of the bike when washing it. It is impractical, and results will be very irregular, to use such things as anodization and other treatments for aluminum, on our airheads. It is a matter of the alloys. I want to WARN you about 'sandblasting'! This is quite often done during a top end job. The grit gets into everyplace, even when masked off. You never seem to be able to get it all out of important places. It may then get into the cylinder, rings, pistons....and your oil supply. DO NOT!! sandblast! Sandblasting is done with several types of media....sand, walnut shells....and on and on. SOME types of blasting is likely OK, but I do NOT have enough experience to do other than to say I THINK it OK. That would be carbon dioxide type of blasting...and MAYBE soda. Walnut shells are a bit iffy. Still, if you do blast, you need to protect the surface afterwards.

You can sand the luggage and repaint it. Common rattle-cans of truck bed liner paint work well, and may be available in more than basic black. When the luggage has cracks or has other damage you need to repair (new hard bags are VERY pricey!), the secret is to go to the hardware store and get a can of ABS pipe cement. If the repair requires filling in areas you can get white or black ABS sticks from SOME hobby stores (see URL below for other ideas), and dissolve shavings or shavings from some old ABS pipe, in such as Methylene Chloride....nasty stuff, so keep it off your body and do the work outside so you don't get exposed much to breathing in the fumes. If you need to fill areas, use that dissolved ABS material, dissolved to the point it is quite thick....it will dry very quickly after you force it into holes, fill wide cracks, even add sections. You can use aluminum foil or some plastic films, temporarily, to provide backing.
Here is a hyperlink to an article with more details:

Revisions:
01/28/2004: finally resurrected and uploaded as #44
08/13/2006: edit, revise, add information on plastics, etc.
02/19/2007: add luggage section, and expand a bit in 08/07.