cutting windshield down

[91nwl]

I would like some advice from someone who has cut down his windshield and was happy with the result. I would like to know;

* What kind of saw did you use? I assume a hand held electric jig saw.

* What type of blade is best?

* How did you mark the line? Tape?

* Did you have to do finish work on the new edge and what did you use?

 

My wind screen is a lot higher now that I have new Progressive fork springs, so I need to take about 4 inches off.

 

Thanks

[Thom]

i used a band saw to cut mine , 16 teeth to the in. i put mas. tap on both sides and drew a line , i used a file to clean it up . i cut it straight across and rounded the corners . ck out my gallery

[mother]

i use a circular saw with carbide tip blade on it. lay a couple of rows of masking tape on the windshield where you want to cut and protect the plexi from being scratched by the saw base. take saw and go across the mark slowly/ take your time as to cut a straight line. then take a palm sander and sand the edge smooth, then take fine sandpaper to finish the edge. this is a real fast and the easiest way to do it. lay an old blanket over your bike while doing this, as you will be making plastic dust/bits

[eagleeye]

I cut my stock 86vr windshield down with a jig saw and a medium tooth blade. Do add a bit of lubricant now and then or it will gum up. I also put down masking tape to keep from scratching the windshield.

I used a file and a palm sander to finish the job.

 

Now for the shocking part: When I removed the tape, the clear coat came off of the windshield. My windshield was pretty ugly, so I took the blue masking tape and removed all of the clearcoat from both sides of the windshield and it was beautiful. I use pledge on it when I wash it now.

 

But, I have since bought a new tall stock shield, but can switch easily.

 

I cut 2" off---seemed to be a perfect height to see over the thing.

 

Steve

[Squeeze]

as i have one for House Works ... i used this one ... with a Carbide, segment saw blade, circular, shown on the last Picture.

 

http://www.fein.de/fein-multimaster/us/en/applications/boat_renovation.html

 

 

That a really good Tools, may be a bit pricey but worth every Dime. Only Thing, the Tools are really overpriced. With such a Sawblade you can even touch the Blade, it won't hurt you a Bit.

 

I did not remove the Shield, just Duct Tape to cover and and a Line to saw along. 5 Minutes cutting and 10 Minutes sanding afterwards to give the Edge a nice Shape, and i was done.

 

My only Problem, the previous Owner laid the Bike down in the Past. So, there were two Cracks beneath the Shield Cover on the lower Edge. I didn't see them before, but after powerfull cleaning the Shield, this was also my first intense Cleaning on it, the Cracks came up and it broke on both left and right lower Edge. So, dont put too much Power on the Shield !! !!

[pegscraper]

I lopped four inches off of the top of the windshield on my wife's V Star 1100. Here's how I did it. I'll try to keep this short and readable.

 

Start by tracing the shape of the top curve on a piece of posterboard. Move the posterboard down to where you want the top to be. Lay out some clear tape on the windshield and drew a new line. (Later when I went to peel the tape up, it took off a clear coating where it was. I don't think I'd use tape again. Just draw the line right on the windshield.)

 

Rough it out on a bandsaw. I used a wood blade because it's all I have. Put a towel on the bandsaw table to keep from scratching things up.

 

Sand nicely to the line and get your final shape with a stationary table mounted belt sander. Again use a towel on the table.

 

Use a wood rasp by hand to bevel the new edge a bit on both sides.

 

Use a finish sander to smooth and round the edge. I started with about 100 grit and moved through a couple finer grits.

 

I finished by hand sanding with 360 grit. I thought I would need to use finer grits than this, but this was already better than the factory edge was. So I stopped there.

 

It doesn't take as long as this sounds. I think it took longer to type this than to do the whole job.

[West Texas Winds]

I have used a small butane tourch to finnish plexiglass edge it leave a smooth finnish alot smoother than sanding I do not klnow how well it will work on lexan Just a thought

[RockinRuss]

I cut a National Cycle acrylic windshield down quickly and easily with a cutting wheel on a Dremmel, then sanded the edge with medium then fine sand paper. I didn't use tape, just washable marker. I have also been told from Clearview tech support that is the method they recommend for thier windshields too, but it turned out that I didn't need to cut my Clearview windshield. If its not acrylic, then check with manufacturer how to cut it.

[dragerman]

Last week I cut 4 inches off the top of my windshield.

 

I made a template of the stock windshield on a piece of bristle-board. From that I traced my new pattern and cut it from the bristle-board.

I then used painters’ removable masking tape and covered the windshield about 3 inches each side of where I was going to cut. After that was done I taped the template to the windshield, traced the cut line on the tape then removed the template. I had other work to do in the fairing so I took the windshield off to cut it. I strongly recommend investing in the proper blade for cutting plastic, it works extremely well in a jigsaw and when you take your time with the cut there is little cleanup to do.

When I finished with the cut all that was required was a good flat file to round the edge. I imagine a palm sander with very fine grit works well too. I took my time and am very pleased with how the job turned out.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

I have done this with a jigsaw, and I wont repeat all the methods set forth here, except to add this:

 

When you are cutting, it helps to first make several straight perpendicular cuts, from the top down towards the new curved line, and stop just short of the new line. This way you have much smaller pieces that will fall off and not jam the blade, and it is much easier to cut this way. I took my windsheild off the bike, and used 2 inch blue masking tape, and covered the sheild on both sides of the cut, and on both sides of the 'glass', front and back. I set the sheild down on a piece of carpet on the floor of the garage, and did the cutting at ground level, in case I dropped it, it wouldnt get scratched while falling from a table or bench.

 

I then used a wire wheel on a bench grinder to 'form' the curve to a better line, then did the dremel and sanding to finish it off.

 

 

Edited May 13, 2008 by tx2sturgis